Mark-Rodgers

I was debating on buying a solar panel kit for a while, and I got a bonus check for buying my house from the Govt, so I used some of the money and went to Harbor Freight Tools and bought one of their 45 Watt Solar Panel Kits.

They normally sell these for $249, but I see them advertised in the store all the time for $199 but if you get their E-Mail ads or follow their Twitter account, then they have AWESOME deals. They had the kit for $159 in their E-Mail ad, so I printed out the coupon and went shopping.

I got the kit and got it home. Its all packaged in one nice box, not too heavy.

Here is a list of whats included.

• Three 15 Watt Solar Panels
• Metal Frame
• Charge Controller w/ Digital Display  + DC Jacks
• 2 Florescent 12 Volt lights + Wiring harness
• Battery Clips
• Power Adapter Wire

After assembling the kit and putting it outside, it started charging up my 12Volt, 20AH battery right away. Its not the best battery, but it does the job for now, till I can get my other batteries setup. So far after about 2 weeks, it runs all my 12 volt electronics at my desk with no problem.

• Police / Fire Scanner
• VHF Ham Radio
• CB
• HF Ham Radio

It stays between 10.8 – 12.6 volts. The scanner is left on 24/7.

Here are a few Pro’s and Con’s about the kit.

PRO’s

• Everything is included except long wire and a better or inverter
• The newer kits have a LCD voltage meter, older kits didnt have one.
• 5 volt USB port, works great for charging my cell phones, since I fix/repair/sell them, it saves power on wall wart plugs.
• Cigarette lighter jack
• Low voltage light
• Panels work good in low light
• Panels work good with light snow on them

CON’s

• For a “Green Product” there sure was a lot of Styrofoam in the box, but it was to protect the fragile panels.
• The metal frame sucks for anything besides temporary use. It doesnt bolt together, it simply slides together and isnt very stable. Its not roof mountable as-is.
• The USB port is up-side-down, but no big deal
• The power terminals are a little too close for safety

So far, Ive had good results with the basic as-is kit. Im planning on doing a few mods to improve its performance. I plan to add another kit in a month.  Im also going to install a switch to be able to change between battery voltage (default)  and panel voltage.

So far, Ive had good results with the basic as-is kit.Im planning on doing a few mods to improve its performance. I plan to add another kit in a month.  Im also going to install a switch to be able to change between battery voltage (default)  and panel voltage.

I also want to construct a large frame to hold 3 or 4 kits and be able to rotate the panels by motor on a old large satellite dish pole to point towards the sun better. I noticed that when the sun moved around 3pm-7pm (Michigan Winter) it moves about 60* from East to West and moving the panels directly to the sun improves the voltage from 1.2 – 2.5 volts better. Having it move will take advantage of every hour of light. Currently I dont get much light until 10am due to the placement of the panels.

Here is a good forum that I joined, focusing the solar panel kit.
http://solarpanelkitatharborfreight.ning.com/