Price of portable solar panels

[Snagglefoot]

I’m thinking the price of portable solar panels may have bottomed out and we won’t see panels for $1/watt for much longer. I’m referring to panels you might set up at your campground or tailgate party. Here is an ad from Cabela’s for a 100 watt panel for $250 and something on Amazon for just under a dollar a watt but the brand name might be questionable. Anyone else seen much better deals? I’m thinking general inflation and rare earth element prices are causing prices to start going up.

 

[FADEC]

What can you use these for in a home setting?

 

[loneryder]

I just bought a Massimo folding 100 watt panel on sale from Costco. Think it was $125. Then I bought a Massimo 300 watt power station. I can charge anything and even run Internet and a led tv. I have a whole house propane generator but you don't want to run that all the time. The panel has controls in it so you can directly charge phones, laptops etc. The power station is a storage device.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I just bought a Massimo folding 100 watt panel on sale from Costco. Think it was $125. Then I bought a Massimo 300 watt power station. I can charge anything and even run Internet and a led tv. I have a whole house propane generator but you don't want to run that all the time. The panel has controls in it so you can directly charge phones, laptops etc. The power station is a storage device.

That system would be perfect at the campsite or hunting camp.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Let’s open this up and talk about these power stations. They do make stand alone panels more useful, more versatile than conventional lead acid battery and certainly are a lot lighter. Here is one available from Walmart. For charging the family’s phones and tablets, it looks pretty handy.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Well, this didn’t make it very far. Any others interested?

 

[WeyounDS9]

Thread watchlisted.

 

[thastinger]

12V panels are a waste of money. You can buy a pallet of 10 230-260W take-off panels on ebay for 60 bucks a piece to the freight terminal.

Used 240W 60 Cell Polycrystalline Solar Panels Vinyl Cracking Silver Frame | eBay

60 Cell Polycrystalline. These are used 240W panels. Mfg labels have been removed. Panels have been tested and have good output. Vinyl has air side cracking (backside). See pictures. Rated Power: 240W.

www.ebay.com

Then buy a charge controller that will run a couple of them and you could charge 12 or 24V battery banks, you could actually do something with a 500W of panel and a couple of 6V deep cycle batteries.

Sell the rest of the panels locally and fund the purchase of your batteries/wiring/charge controller. End up with a free system.