Baird 100w solar panel £119 delivered

[Chris]

I know you all like a bargain and recently a few of you have been buying or at least thinking about getting a sun catcher. Looking at the ridiculous prices at last weekend's show, I bought one of these on line and it arrived today. Very nice indeed. I had a 100w flexy one but managed to break it. This new one slides nicely onto the top of my trailer. It should keep my batteries tip top without having to have them wired into the house all week long. I went with the black one because I thought it looked nicer. My CTEK already has solar input so I didn't need a regulator. I'll get a stand at some point so I can point it square on to the Sun.

But as things go, I reckon £119 is a pretty keen price. Some of the other bits on their site are way too expensive. Look in e - bay for cables etc. They do some nice LED strips with built in switches too for £10.99. I bought one to try. I looked at the ones from Nat Luna and some were touching on £50!

http://www.beamled.com/100w-solar-panel-black-frame.html

 

[GeekOKent]

That looks very interesting. Would be keen to see what sort of power you get from it. The specs seem to indicate 5.1A max at 19.3v but are you able to get close to that at all?

Also I guess this is rigid, so maybe only suitable for the roof, and not the front hood... hummm

Ps. Know what you mean about show prices.

 

[Chris]

Yes remember that I said it goes through the CTEK so we'll see what it converts the output of the panel to. % amps would be very pleasing and certainly keep pace with the fridge. The panel would be generating power continuously (when it's bright) and the fridge only draws when it runs. So there is a net gain in the daytime

 

[AndyCook]

Looks like a good price
I have a rigid 80w panel on my RTT
Also got a flexi 100w panel to use when RTT isn't fitted
I fitted 8 suckers to the flexy panel, to fix it to car when in camp
I am also going to make a small wiring harness to I can use both panels in parallel if needed

 

[Chris]

Hey, it's not even that sunny and I'm making over 4 amps at 13.25 volts

I like the idea with the suckers Andy. Shame I busted mine.

 

[Chris]

Update, I'm getting over 5.2 amps now at 13.37 volts and the battery is reading fully charged, 100%

Very happy with that. It's nice outside but not blazing sunshine and only 10.30 with Autumn skies

 

[Chris]

I love it. it's the panel I always wanted but never had. Great when coupled to the iphone app.

 

[clivehorridge]

With a mesh-floor roof rack, it looks to me that one of these could be permanently mounted under the mesh. Obviously some clearance would be needed to save it from strap or protrusion through the mesh damage.

It could also be on runners so that when parked up, it could be drawn out either side of the truck, or front/back, to catch light and for cleaning purposes, even when the rack is loaded.

Being permanently mounted, it would add extra protection and save it from stowing and erection mishaps, which are somewhat inevitable.

Just a novice's idea to plant a seed for you overlander sorts...

 

[Chris]

The key to its effectiveness is to have it perpendicular to the sun so in order to achieve that, the panel has to be positionable. However, if all you want when parked is for it to keep your battery topped up then even ambient light with give half an amp as I discovered this morning. So, mounting it up top in a fixed location would work. I plan to pit some legs to mine so that it can be demounted and pointed up at the big bright thing in the sky. The panel is quite thin but the frame seems very robust indeed. Simple hinged legs shouldn't be a problem. The side frame comes pre drilled for mounting points.

 

[Shayne]

erection mishaps

go on make us all scared of getting old

Thanks for posting up the panel Chris i'm keen to buy one but i've kinda resolved to quit buying stuff until all the boxes of bits and bobs i have stuffed into every corner have been put to use . No doubt a buying frenzy because of your plug will see it double in price before i'm ready

 

[StarCruiser]

Their 250w Biard panel was even better value £per watt at £180 or so. Maybe plus P&P though.

 

[Chris]

Yes but external dimensions didn't quite fit my plan Rich. Just a smidge too wide. Monitor hit 60watts at one point. Thing is I guess that once the battery is charged, you can't do anything else with the excess. So if a 100w will keep pace with a fridge when running and recharge to 100% when it's not, then any more is not really worth it. At night the battery will power the fridge so in the morning I'll be a few points down, but if positioned toward the dawn before I go to bed, by the time I've had a coffee, we'll be back up to speed.

Shayne, they are already on offer at this price, so yes they might go back up to the original. There are black ones and white too. So they should have plenty of stock.

P&P was free.

 

[AndyCook]

The Ctek - solar link, should also charge the starter battery once the auxillary one is fully charged

 

[Chris]

It would Andy if the trailer was connected to the vehicle. And then the split charge would fire and charge the other bonnet battery too. When it's sunny, I shall see how it all works together but really the trailer and vehicle are separate systems. I have CTEK in the truck as well though so it can share the panel.

 

[clivehorridge]

erection mishaps go on make us all scared of getting old

 

[clivehorridge]

The key to its effectiveness is to have it perpendicular to the sun so in order to achieve that, the panel has to be positionable. However, if all you want when parked is for it to keep your battery topped up then even ambient light with give half an amp as I discovered this morning. So, mounting it up top in a fixed location would work. I plan to pit some legs to mine so that it can be demounted and pointed up at the big bright thing in the sky. The panel is quite thin but the frame seems very robust indeed. Simple hinged legs shouldn't be a problem. The side frame comes pre drilled for mounting points.

Take your point Chris. While you've got it all wired up and monitored, it would be interesting to see the differences in the meter readings at say regular angular increments to the thing in the sky.

3 or 4 different angles between full-frontal erection to edge-on.

(go on Shayne, make something of that! )

 

[GeekOKent]

Chris,

How do you have this paired with the phone. Does the panel have a Bluetooth interface?

 

[StarCruiser]

I think I spotted a dongle in the trailer whilst at the AO…did I not?

 

[GeekOKent]

Their 250w Biard panel was even better value £per watt at £180 or so. Maybe plus P&P though.

The 250w panel is also rated at 30v which is more than what the ctek d250s is rated for.

 

[Chris]

The CTEK is stand alone, but I then have the Victron monitor and it's that which has the BT interface with the phone.