Solar Powered Generators

The Sunforce 50048 60 Watt Solar Charging Kit gives you another reason to love the sun -- it'll help keep your batteries charged. This kit is excellent for cabins, remote power, back-up power, and 12-volt battery charging. The kit includes a PVC mounting frame, 7 Amp charge controller, 200-watt inverter, and wiring/connection cables. And with the built-in blocking diode technology, this charger kit is designed to protect against battery discharge at night. You can also use this kit to maintain the charge on any 12-volt battery for clean, silent operation of various electronics, such as deer feeders and landscaping pumps. The 50048 features a built-in ultra-bright blue LED charging indicator, and is a great choice for automobiles, recreational vehicles (RV), tractors, all terrain vehicles (ATV), boats, electric fences, telemetry and more, and it is even effective on cloudy days. This battery charger kit is made of durable ABS plastic and amorphous solar cells and has a maximum temperature range of -40 to 176-degrees Fahrenheit.

Amazon Sales Rank: #1512 in Automotive Color: Black Brand: Sunforce Model: 50048 Released on: 2005-11-25 Dimensions: 42.25" h x 12.00" w x 54.00" l, 59.80 pounds Amorphous solar charging kit provides up to 60-Watts of clean, free, renewable power Designed for RVs, cabins, homes, boats, back-up and remote power use, and more Weatherproof, durable solar panels can withstand impacts from hailstones travelling 50 miles-per-hour Includes four 15-Watt solar panels with durable mounting frames, a 200-Watt power inverter, a 7-Amp solar charge controller, and a wiring kit with accessories for easy installation Built-in, ultra-bright blue LED charging indicator

The Sunforce 50048 60-Watt Solar Charging Kit gives you several more reasons to love the sun. It provides the power you need, while helping you save money and protect the environment. This kit is ideal for cabins, recreational vehicles, remote power, back-up power, and 12-volt battery charging. It comes with everything you need to start producing up to 60 Watts/4 Amps of clean, free power in all weather conditions. Sunforce kits are easy to set up and operate.

Most helpful customer reviews 795 of 811 people found the following review helpful. Innovative design from China, packaging needs help By HMMWV *Update* 6-2010, while my original panels are still running strong so long as I hose them down once a month, I've noticed that the PVC pipe provided to hold them in place has become brittle with sun exposure, hence I would now in 20/20 hindsight recommend a coat of Krylon Fusion Dover White Plastic Satin Spray Paint on the PVC parts to prevent UV cracking later in life. I do not think the Krylon Fusion product was available when I first setup my first panels but UV cracking of the support structure could cause panel damage in years 2 and 3. Meanwhile Amazon got their hands on some obsolete & discontinued Sharp panels (12.5% efficiency vs the new 13.1% efficiency) - if you are serious about needing lots of solar power in a small space, this is a big kit - you can view it here: Sunforce 39126 246-Watt High-Efficiency Polycrystalline Solar Power Kit My only concern about the kit is that due to the new panels being higher efficiency means it will be difficult to match panels if you find you still need more power later on. The other con on that system is it's price -- $1300+ but you get the wattage, along with a cheap charge controller and inverter, both of which could be upgraded for better system performance. It's just another solar system to consider in the $5/watt or less pricepoint for DIYers. Update 9-18-2008 - Still going strong. I am very pleased with the summer power output of these panels. I wash them with a hose 1x/mo to keep the output current up. Measured before washing and after washing the panel efficiency is clearly a factor of how much dirt is on them. No problems long term on a roof though! Update 2-20-2008 - goes with graph "photograph" #3 above - pink line is power and blue line is amps from the panel x 10 to share the graph. The X axis is panel voltage. Data was acquired using an Agilent dummy load with programmable voltage in 1V steps from 1V to 22V (open circuit voltage on the panel) on a partially cloudy day in winter sun. Expectations are for 2-3 times performace in summer sun provided the panels don't get too hot. These are on my house roof laying flat on a 3/12 pitch facing due south which is suboptimal but easy for me to do. Be sure to read the photo notes. Sorry about the colors excel defaulted to! This is a MPPT chart (maximum power point tracking) - you can see that the panels are optimized for charging a 12V wet cell right out of the box. Charge current turns on when battery voltage drops down to 13.0 VDC and turns off at 14.2 VDC with the supplied charge controller in the kit. The only other interesting fact in 2 months is to keep your panels clean. My maximum current was 5.0 A on a cold morning with bright sun until it rained hard and washed the panels clean. The current went up to 7.0 A maximum right after the rainstorm. Below is the original review - these panels have been running constant for 2 months now into 3 parallel deep cycle marine cells (315 AH) connected to the prosine inverter below to drain the energy made. When reading the power/current chart you should keep in mind the amps have been multiplied by 10 so they use the same Y axis (so 20A on the chart corresponds to 2.0 A panel current) Watts are actual volts*amps. This was taken in the winter with partial clouds - expectations are for a X3 improvement during summertime but its still february and I'm in the northern hemisphere so we'll have to wait and see. Basically an MPPT charger won't gain but a few watts with this panel so it's not a good investment unless you already have one laying around. (Begin original review after buying panels) I never seem to be overwhelmed by the latest shipment of product from China, but this one seems to show some promise and shows signs of good cost engineering and a complete design that can be set up quickly by one person with very little effort. I'd give it