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  • 1.  Need advice on solar panels for field station

    Posted 05-23-2024 02:44 PM
    My daughter and her husband are paleontologists and spend each summer leading a museum research crew digging dinosaur fossils in Montana.  They want to expand the solar on their base station's camper.  They currently just have one small panel for charging laptops & phones.

    They now want panels to keep two 12V deep cycle marine batteries charged for LED lighting at night and also charging more laptops (big crew) as well as emergencies.  

    As a non-profit organization their funds are limited, as well as their time frame (leaving for the field next week).  A quick search showed them this model.  Could you please advise if this is appropriate size and cost-effective model?  Thank you for your advice!

    Here's their request:  


    We are thinking of buying these for our camper. Any major pros or cons about this model that jump out to you?

     

    https://www.amazon.com/Renogy-Monocrystalline-Solar-Charger-Controller/dp/B015DFS7X8?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1 -




  • 2.  RE: Need advice on solar panels for field station

    Silver
    Contributor
    Posted 05-24-2024 12:00 PM

    400W across 4 panels (100W Ea.) 12V etc.. I checked and Renogy does make 12V 100W panels with front tempered glass (Important). Amazon does not however tell you the exact model they are using, so I could NOT check that by model number. Other than that, pretty typical...

    400watts across a PSD (prefect solar day) will yield anywhere between 1 and 5 KWH depending on time of year and latitude.

    So keeping it simple, I see no reason to not buy them. They are selling right now on Renogy's site for $100ea, I.E. $400 for 4. So the extras are "free".

    So an OK deal...

    And BTW, I apologize up front for the image, but I just can't help myself:

    Oh No!



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    william fitch
    Owner
    www.WeAreSolar.com
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  • 3.  RE: Need advice on solar panels for field station

    Posted 05-24-2024 01:09 PM

    Hard to beat the price and should be fine. Sometimes you need more power than you think. Peak usage is going to be in the morning and evening, as the team will be in the field all day digging. One thing to consider is how the panels are mounted. It looks like the kit has Z brackets to mount them flat on the roof of an RV. This is good for traveling down the highway but is not an optimal angle once parked. Consider deploying these panels on ballasted ground mount array that will allow for a better angle of incidence and possible manual tracking. Should be some rocks lying about in the area that could be used for the ballast. This would allow for a much greater daily solar harvest from the small PV array.



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    Tracy Dahl
    Retired
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  • 4.  RE: Need advice on solar panels for field station

    Posted 05-24-2024 01:24 PM

    That  would work.  You need the included charge controller and I have had Renogy products that have worked well for me.  If they will be moving a lot and can't mount them on the roof maybe a foldable option like this would work better.  But if they have room to mount on the roof and/or they are in the same spot for weeks at a time you can punt on the extra price for easy portability.    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TKKYW7G/ref=sspa_dk_detail_4?pd_rd_i=B09TKKYW7G&pd_rd_w=Elxwi&content-id=amzn1.sym.68f30e61-3dba-4ebe-8f1b-a0b000b95ff8&pf_rd_p=68f30e61-3dba-4ebe-8f1b-a0b000b95ff8&pf_rd_r=T70PPW516912FM35BZYX&pd_rd_wg=BCq5Y&pd_rd_r=afe82571-b33d-4d27-bf05-0d00fadcbc8a&s=lawn-garden&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM&th=1 



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    David Hrivnak
    SalesEngineering
    EcoLogical part time
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