18 watt solar panel

[rustednail]

Hi Guys,

I saw this this morning over at http://www.woot.com

It's an 18 watt solar panel for basically 104.99 shipped. If you don't Know what Woot is: they are a an online seller that sells one item a day, until sold out or till the next item is posted at 1am central time. Oh, they also limit purchases to a max of 3 per person. I think they only charge $5 shipping, even if your order 3.

I don't know anything about these solar panels, and I do not mean to sound like an advertisement. Just thought it might be a good deal for someone looking to add solar power to there boat.

 

[Texas Steve]

I've been studying this for quite awhile and took advantage of the Woot deal. I use 2 portable 12 volt batteries to run all my auxillary stuff onboard including fans, computer, recharging handheld devices, etc. I think this unit will be perfect for alternately recharging these batteries during the day so that one can be in use and the other in reserve. The price seemed great, but they did charge me sales tax, so total was $113 something.

The panel is small enough to stow inside the pilothouse when not in use, so weatherproofing and such shouldn't be much of an issue. I'll be interested to see if it works out as well as I'm hoping.

Texas Steve

 

[Stella Maris]

On Solitude we use two of the Sunsei SE-500 panels to maintain the battery's while on the hook. I have mounted the Sunsei solar grips on the sports rack. The power supply is lead down through the hatch above the helm and plugged into the cigarette lighter at the helm.

These panels have an output of:
SE-500 Solar Panel for Medium Boats & RVs, 500mA, 2.5Ah, 7.55 Watts, 14.8" x 14.2" x 1"
The West Marine Number is:
9368671
The solar grips are:
7831522

While on the hook, we run the stereo all day along with the refrigerator. These two panels maintain the battery's.

With the mounts, the panels can be angled to capture the most sunlight possible.

 

[Texas Steve]

Solitude:

Thanks for the great information. I'm assuming the mounting brackets are sold separately. Now I've got to look into the sports rack idea... don't know if there's room on top of the R21-EC pilothouse or not. I'm guessing the 18 watt should perform at least as well as two 7.55 watt panels, so operating the fridge and radio all day shouldn't be a problem.

Texas Steve

 

[rustednail]

EEEK Sales tax!!!

dang!! You're in Texas, and they are too... guess thats why you got the sales tax 🙁

#EDIT#
By they way, those that don't know Woot, they do a one day only deal, so this one has passed.

 

[Stella Maris]

Texas Steve,
You are correct that the mounting brackets are sold separately. These could also be mounted on the stainless steel grab rails.
David