Renogy 100 Watts 12 Volts Monocrystalline Solar Starter Kit

Renogy 100 Watts 12 Volts Monocrystalline Solar Starter Kit https://goo.gl/CMJCW0

I bought this kit for a teardrop trailer I built. I wanted something to charge a battery that would power LED reading lights, an LED dome light, LED porch lights (just occasionally; I don’t leave them on), and also a couple of 12 volt sockets (cigarette lighter type) that I could use to charge my phone, Ipad, Kindle, and also power my portable DVD player – either to charge it’s battery or run it when the player’s battery is depleted.

I knew very little about solar installation but had enthusiasm and a willingness to try.

I mounted the panel flat on the roof of my teardrop. Would it generate enough power without being angled toward the sun? Read on.

I mounted the included charge controller on the interior wall of the trailer, requiring about a 2 foot run of cable. I bought a deep charge battery at my local Batteries Plus. I built a battery box (with vents) and mounted it on the trailer tongue. It took maybe 6 feet of wire from the controller to the battery. Then I ran a plus and minus back from the battery – the positive went to a fuse block on the wall below the controller; the negative went to a homemade “ground panel” – a bus where I could wire the negative leads from all the stuff.

The controller has lights to monitor its functioning. There’s a flashing green light that means it is charging the battery. I was happy to find out that it starts flashing soon after the sun comes up and keeps flashing until the sun goes down. It kept flashing when it was overcast and the sun was about to go down. It seemed to provide plenty of power despite the fact that it wasn’t angled towards the sun.