# Harbor Freight solar kit



## RUN1251 (Mar 15, 2012)

I just purchased a 45 watt Harbor Freight solar kit and plan to set it up this weekend. I also bought one of their 12 volt batteries and an inverter. I know I have seen lots of posts relating to these kits but came up black on a search. Is there anything earth shattering that I need to be aware of? Hope it's worth the money.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

Depends on what you're going to power. Small stuff, okay. I'm surprised you didn't come up with a ton of info in the Search because you pretty much can get a solar education from the many that have various sized solar systems. If you scroll down to the Homesteading section and click on the title Energy & Electricity.


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## Dakine (Sep 4, 2012)

I set my HF kit up just to check it out, and it seems to work fine, it made florescent light out of the power of sunlight... I haven't tried running any of my appliances off of the batteries I have yet, I was wanting to buy a Fluke clamp on meter to see what kind of draw I'm getting on various things but that really isnt needed I suppose. 

I think depending on what you're running you'd want to be sure the power is filtered, I don't think the inverter I bought does that, I need to double check. Although my crockpot probably wouldnt care at all, sensitive electronics might not be very happy with line noise and voltage fluctuations.

Also, right now I've only got a couple car batteries not deep cell marine batteries.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

Dakine said:


> I set my HF kit up just to check it out, and it seems to work fine, it made florescent light out of the power of sunlight... I haven't tried running any of my appliances off of the batteries I have yet, I was wanting to buy a Fluke clamp on meter to see what kind of draw I'm getting on various things but that really isnt needed I suppose.
> 
> I think depending on what you're running you'd want to be sure the power is filtered, I don't think the inverter I bought does that, I need to double check. Although my crockpot probably wouldnt care at all, sensitive electronics might not be very happy with line noise and voltage fluctuations.
> 
> Also, right now I've only got a couple car batteries not deep cell marine batteries.


I bought a clamp on ammeter from Harbor Freight for checking various appliances that I'm considering running solar standby power to, haven't used it yet but I'll get around to it in due time. A crockpot is probably a lot like slow cookers of which ours is 200 watts. They really don't care wither it's square, modified square or pure sine wave coming form an inverter because they produce heat by resistance. Electronics and electric motors like a more smooth sine wave to operate on, at least from the research I've done. I really couldn't tell you for sure because our system uses a pure sine wave inverter and we've never used anything else.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

Our daughter and SIL brought one with them camping this year. It's great to power a couple of LED or low-watt fluorescent lights at night and to keep the laptop, phones, etc. charged. Won't do much more than that. 

Deep cycle batteries are nice but you won't have enough power to recharge one if you totally discharge it so regular car batteries will work okay. 

You aren't going to power a refrigerator or large television on it. At 100% efficiency and with 6 hours of direct sunlight you'll make 270 watts of power. (Note: you'll never hit 100% efficiency.) They kick out between 3 to 4 amps. That's only slightly more than a trickle charger.

They aren't a bad deal for the price and they're easily portable.

By the way, crock pots and toaster ovens are huge energy abusers for those on solar power.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

If you want to know the watt usage look on the back panels of the appliance. It will give either a voltage/watt rating or a voltage/amp rating. If it's volt/amp then multiply the volts times the amps to get the watt rating. Refrigerators will give the rating but since a fridge runs only about 30% of the time under normal conditions you can cut the watt rating into thirds. (Example: If your fridge is rated at 100 watts per hour it's actual power consumption is about 33 watt's per hour.)

A _Kill A Watt _meter is good for checking _actual_ power consumption of electrical appliances. They run from about $25.00 and up depending on where you get it.

Remember, with solar power you need to produce enough to power what you use during the day and produce enough to recharge the battery for power used after the sun goes down.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

You can get a 50 watt panel for $73 with free shipping off ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Polycrystal...926?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ecf8b71a6


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

hiwall said:


> You can get a 50 watt panel for $73 with free shipping off ebay.
> 
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Polycrystal...926?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ecf8b71a6


The kit appeals to people because it's simple and ready to use. You must, however purchase a 110 volt power inverter to use AC appliances with it.

If a person knows how it's cheaper to buy the panels and other parts yourself and put together your own solar power system. We have one, 65 watt panel on our converted U-Haul camper. On our motorhome we use in Nevada we have 270 watts in solar and a 400 watt wind generator. That keeps us in plenty of power.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

mosquitomountainman said:


> Our daughter and SIL brought one with them camping this year. It's great to power a couple of LED or low-watt fluorescent lights at night and to keep the laptop, phones, etc. charged. Won't do much more than that.
> 
> Deep cycle batteries are nice but you won't have enough power to recharge one if you totally discharge it so regular car batteries will work okay.
> 
> ...


Toaster ovens are right up there with microwave ovens for wattage, generally in the 800 to 1,500 range. When we were out on the desert we ran a 200 watt slow cooker for 8 hours while the four 6 volt golf cart batteries were also receiving a solar charge from the four 100 panels and it didn't put a dent in the overall daily charge the batteries got. Thing is, mosquitomountainman is right on, don't expect too much out of such a small system.


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## RUN1251 (Mar 15, 2012)

Thanks for the info. This is my first plunge into solar. I have a lot to learn. I'm going to set it up. I can add additional panels and batteries. We will see how it goes. I figure anything is better than nothing. I had a 20% off coupon and another add on 10% off coupon so it was a good deal.


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## smaj100 (Oct 17, 2012)

Greatest thing I bought recently trying to figure out how much juice I would need to survive with a few nice things, was one of those killawatt meters. Our crockpot uses a meager 200W, even the 250W IR heat lamp for the chicken coop only uses 230W. Even the toaster wasn't that bad, of a draw for the 1-2 mins it would need to toast something.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

Viking said:


> Toaster ovens are right up there with microwave ovens for wattage, generally in the 800 to 1,500 range. When we were out on the desert we ran a 200 watt slow cooker for 8 hours while the four 6 volt golf cart batteries were also receiving a solar charge from the four 100 panels and it didn't put a dent in the overall daily charge the batteries got. Thing is, mosquitomountainman is right on, don't expect too much out of such a small system.


Even though a toaster oven and microwave use about the same number of watts, the microwave will only be used a few minutes while the toaster oven will often be used for 30 to 60 minutes. That's a huge difference between the total amount of electricity used. Micro-waves can sometimes be fussy about the inverter too.

Instead of using an electric slow cooker we use a solar cooker. The end result is the same but the solar cooker uses no electricity at all. Also, the desert environment is almost perfect for solar power. My wife and I were just commenting tonight that we seem to have more available power out here in the desert with our 270 watts of solar panels than we do at home in NW Montana with 1000 watts (plus) in solar power. Of course the 400 watt wind generator helps a bit too.


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## Texas (May 14, 2013)

I have two of the HF solar kits. I get a bigger discount from my company. I can run our small freezer and small apt. refrigerator for 8 hours on 6-7 hours charge. I have 4 deep cycle batteries. They only go down to 70% and are back to 100% after 6-7 hours good sun. I like the portability and I can move the panels to follow the sun. 

We are negotiating on moving from town out 18 miles in the country. I am going to see how they do to power the water well when we move. I more than likley will get bigger panels and upgrade, but for now the HF stuff is doing fine.


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## sillybilly (Sep 18, 2014)

Of all the learning about solar the last 5 years, I would never get any solar from HF (IMHO). I have read the reviews and not good after a ut or so but Goalzero and Renogy are the top 2 and I have both but after lots of reading, research and talking to guys that live off grid with both systems. But it's up to each person what they want.


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## tooltime (Dec 5, 2013)

Would something like this work for a shed that will have a wood furnace in it. I'm thinking about a light in and outside so i can see in the dark? If works how long do you think it would work as in hrs a night? thanks


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

> how long do you think it would work as in hrs a night?


That is totally dependent on your batteries.


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