Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Harbor Freight panel

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Philip Lewis

Jan 1, 1970
0
So with the 20% extra discount, I managed to pick one of these kits up
from the local HF store for $171.20US.

From the directions, it would seem that the kit should work to power
items without the battery connected. Can someone confirm that that is
how theirs operates?

With no battery and full sun, no lights operate on the supplied box.
With battery, things work hunky dory.
It's not clear if the thing was topping off the batteries or not... I
heard the pizzo alarm on upon first connecting the system (don't
remember if there was a battery on it at that point or not)
beeped for about 5-10 seconds then stopped.

After two weeks of sporaticly using the supplied 5w bulbs... an
occasional 120W fan (via the vector 800W model... wish the thermal fan
only came on when it was actually hot...) and charging the cell phone,
the battery still read 12.1V under 129W +vector's phantom worth of load.

The panels put out between 21 and 23 Volts each without a load... I
did not load test them. we apparently were only putting 40ma into the
charging circuit when we checked it.

I may try for a new controler box from them if it should work without battery.

Eventually i'll get/build a "real" charge controler, but if this one
works for now, I'll use it.
 
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Philip Lewis

Jan 1, 1970
0
Just wanted to thank folks for their input on this matter.
I'll look into some direct solar adapters (or into getting
a smaller 12V pack-- perhaps two 6V lanturn rechargables that would be
used/charged quickly, for more "direct" use.)
 
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danny burstein

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm coming into this thread a bit late. Are you talking
about the 45 watt set of three 15 watt panels, normally
sellling for about $200 ?

If so, how did you get the 20 percent discount?

Thanks
 
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danny burstein

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yup... sometime before august, someone posted a link (probably here)
with a "take an extra 20% off" coupon on it. (even items on sale)
might have to dig a little.

Went through a lot of old posts, both here
and in the other groups (alt.studebaker?!?!)
that googlegroups led to.

As far as I could tell none of the links pointing
to copies of the coupon were still valid.

Oh, and the cheaper option via the catalog direct
link is expired, sigh.

Hmm, anyone have a new copy of hte paper catalog and
willing to take a looksee if there's an up-to-date entry?

thanks to all for the help.
 
W

wmbjk

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hmm, anyone have a new copy of hte paper catalog and
willing to take a looksee if there's an up-to-date entry?

Here's a 15% off store coupon link posted recently at
rec.crafts.metalworking.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/emails/37/RetailG/images/coup_top.jpg.
Copy the page to your hard drive and/or print it out in case the URL
expires. Take the web site printout with the $199 price along as well
in case the store price is higher.

Wayne
 
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danny burstein

Jan 1, 1970
0
In said:
On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 16:34:48 +0000 (UTC), danny burstein
Here's a 15% off store coupon link posted recently at
rec.crafts.metalworking.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/emails/37/RetailG/images/coup_top.jpg.
Copy the page to your hard drive and/or print it out in case the URL
expires. Take the web site printout with the $199 price along as well
in case the store price is higher.

Thanks. Now have to think whether it's worth making
the 300 mile roundtrip to go to the toy stor^h^h to
head over there.
 
W

wmbjk

Jan 1, 1970
0
Thanks. Now have to think whether it's worth making
the 300 mile roundtrip to go to the toy stor^h^h to
head over there.

Friday I made a 250 mile roundtrip to HF in Vegas. Thinking back, if
it had been another 50 miles I still would have gone. :)

Wayne
 
Rick F. said:
We were at a Costco in Colorado and they were selling panel setups
similar to the HF deal, but the price was obviously higher as (IMHO)
the equipment was of better quality. I don't recall the price, but
it might have been $100 higher..

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11157393
That used to include a 175w AC inverter.

www.amazon.com "coleman solar" points to a $375 unit that includes an
inverter.
 
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