Solar Panel deal, one day only (1/24/09)

[speedoo]

Seems like a good deal for USA shipping only at:

Woot : One Day, One Deal (SM)

$100 for a Sunsei SE-1200 18 Watt Solar Charger, with 10 amp controller.

There is a kit available to hook two together at Amazon, $45 IIRC.

Today only. What do people think?

[Maren]

Originally Posted by speedoo

Seems like a good deal for USA shipping only at:

Woot : One Day, One Deal (SM)

$100 for a Sunsei SE-1200 18 Watt Solar Charger, with 10 amp controller.

There is a kit available to hook two together at Amazon, $45 IIRC.

Today only. What do people think?

In general, I think buying without knowing having all the questions answered first is a sure way to waste money and end up with a lot of odd stuff.

On the other hand, who would have thought a toaster that can toast images onto bread could have been so useful? I've made a ton on EBay selling pictures of Jesus and Putin

[speedoo]

Originally Posted by Maren

In general, I think buying without knowing having all the questions answered first is a sure way to waste money and end up with a lot of odd stuff.

On the other hand, who would have thought a toaster that can toast images onto bread could have been so useful? I've made a ton on EBay selling pictures of Jesus and Putin

Agreed, but in this case what I am most interested in is whether people think this panel would be ok as a battery bank maintainer for coastal cruising, particularly since my boat will sit on a mooring unattended for weeks at a time. I think it offers enough wattage, and at this price it's not the end of the world if it does not hold up well and has to be replaced.

[cubicle_zombie]

Just bought one for my camping trailer. Thanks for the heads up.

[anotherT34C]

Since the $99 includes the charge controller (usually about $30) It's a pretty good price.

If you shop around, you can usually find the panels alone for about $130.

18 Watt maximum won't run your refrigerator or autopilot, but it'll keep your batteries topped off nicely while sitting at anchor, running a bilge pump, cabin lights, and DVD player.

I just bought one, thanks for the heads-up.

[MarkJ]

18 watts is very small. The Budget Marine catelgue starts at 55 watts and goes to 150 watts.


But dont take nothing from me, I am only in the research phase of solar

[Hud3]

I think it's only use would be for keeping a battery bank that's already fully charged, or close to it, topped up for a boat sitting for a time on a mooring or at anchor. 1.2 Amps isn't enough to run much of anything onboard in realtime. The 13.7 V float setting would rule it out for AGMs, I believe. Mine require 13.2 V float.

[anotherT34C]

Should be perfectly acceptable (even overkill) for what speedo needs. In real time, it should run a small chartplotter, depthfinder, a radio, a cell phone, replenish from anchor light use...

Just maybe (definitely) not all at the same time.

[speedoo]

I went for it. Thanks, everyone for your comments.

[bottleinamessage]

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. Sunsei are, in my opinion, the worst panel made. I had two sets (4 panels) and each set failed within a year. Save your receipt and hope you have better luck than I did.

[speedoo]

Originally Posted by bottleinamessage

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. Sunsei are, in my opinion, the worst panel made. I had two sets (4 panels) and each set failed within a year. Save your receipt and hope you have better luck than I did.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. How were you using them?