Sunforce 50060 45 watt kit @ newegg.com

[zap]

newegg.com has the Sunforce 50060 45 watt kit right now for $299.99 with free shipping which is $200 off newegg's normal price.

They will have the kit on a "shell shocker" deal on Sunday 1/17/10.  I don't know what the price will be but sometimes their shell shockers can be a very good deal.

Since these are amorphous panels, I wouldn't be too interested unless the price was somewhere around $100... which is doubtful but... you never know...

You can usually access the shell shocker deal on newegg's front page at http://www.newegg.com

I'm not connected with Sunforce or newegg in any way except I've been purchasing things from newegg for about a decade and have always found their (sale)price and service to be top notch.


If you look up reviews online about newegg you'll usually find most people are very pleased with them.

I know solar prices are coming down and there have been a few posts on the Kaneka panels at http://sunelec.com at $.98/watt but if this shell shocker price is low enough it could be a good deal for a complete kit.

Here's the kit on the Sunforce site.

[Bruce S]

ZAP;

   While looking through their site and wondering where the sunforce panels can be bought locally. I can upon this " http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=409628 "

Now if you look at the bottom at the specs you'll notice that the foldable unit says 12V 800 AMPS!!

I'd like to pay that!! I'm sure it means 800millAMPS but it would be nice to hold them to it .

Cheers;

Bruce S

[zap]

Heh... yup.

67amps... It would make a good panel to jump start your car

[dnix71]

Looks like a major rip off. The battery is 1/2 U1 SLA and you get a $20 cheap inverter, too. Those batteries are literally useless for that purpose. They come in portable car jump starters. If you discharge them too much they sulfate quickly. And if you read the fine print on the portable jump starters, they say never jump a dead battery. The max safe discharge is about 50 amps for 5 seconds.

Northern tools sells that kit, too, if you want to compare prices.

Felony theft is what this kit http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200350820_200350820?cm_sp=Xsells-
-Manual--Product%20Page

should be called. It's only $4800.

[zap]

It's almost always more expensive with a smaller system compared to a larger one so I would argue your "major rip off" statement.

How many here would say the Harbor Freight system is a "major rip off"?

Quite a few people on this site have cut their teeth on solar using the HF kit and I see this kit as a close relative.

This system only provides one light but it's an LED light compared to the 2 CPF in the HF system.  An apples to oranges comparison but chances are the LED is tougher will last longer.

This system comes with what appears to be a true charge controller whereas the HF kit's controller, at least the older version, was just a "charge reminder" and not something I would trust to watch over my batteries... although I do use the different voltage taps.

Also this system does come with a battery and inverter... whatever the quality, the HF kit doesn't come with these items.

I'd also argue your "Those batteries are literally useless for that purpose." statement.

What is the "purpose"?

I don't see them claiming the system will take you off grid although running a cabin or RV as shown on the box is certainly misleading as is anything but basic lighting and possible a radio or TV when talking about a power failure.

I've had a few old SLA that have been regularly abused and they lasted for years.  Much depends on the brand but I'm sure a query of many on this board would give you more success stories using small SLA.

I was unable to locate the 45 watt kit on the northerntool site to compare the price.

I have to apologize for providing the wrong link in my original post for the Sunforce kit.

This is the correct link at the Sunforce site:http://www.sunforceproducts.com/product_details.php?PRODUCT_ID=149

I'll say it again... it depends on what tomorrow's sale price is as to whether I'd consider this kit to be "worth it".

[Tritium]

I have 6 harbor freight panels, an old style controller, a 300 watt cheapo inverter, and an old ups sla battery (34Ah) that i would sure sell for $300 plus shipping.

Thurmond

[Bruce S]

Zap;

 After reading the corrected link, I'd say I sure wish they had this one when I was cutting my teeth on the HF ones.

The drop light looks good, sure a 200 watt inverter will not run your house, but I have smaller ones that run a ton of stuff when we're traveling down the road in the Suburban.

The battery actually upon closer look resembles exactly like the 12V18Ahr batteries I have as one of my dump loads. with a 400 watt inverter hooked to it.

Presently I have grown enough of my stuff to now go to the Sunelec type panels, but again, I sure wish this was around couple years ago.

Cheers;

Bruce S

[zap]

Bruce I don't think I've ever read too many bad reviews about Sunforce and if the price had been good I would have considered it.

The price ended up at $229.99 w/free shipping.  I don't know how many they sold but it's on back order now.

When I first looked at the pictures of the system on newegg I thought they included a B&B 18ah but upon closer inspection it was a Universal... I really would like to try some of the B&B's in the ebikes but they're pretty proud of them!$!$

[Bruce S]

Zap;

  I have some Weker's I'll be trying out. The e-scooter is 48V with an 550watt motor on it. They're kinda heavy, 4 of them comes in at 80lbs total.

They're good to wind stability and are currently on the bottom end of the Ghurd dump controller pile.

I got them for free, came out of UPS units. Next round of swap outs I'll hold a few of them for you. I'll put them on the tester to make sure they're still in good shape and let you know.

No time line on when they'll swap the next round of batteries for the APCs though.

The rack mount APCs 2000 & 3000 series have a very bad habit of cooking the batteries.

I have a small pile that proves this :-(.

Cheers;

Bruce S

[zap]

Bruce;

I found your post ironic.

I just got back from the P.O., having sent you a package and I included a letter about some of the batteries I've been messing around with.

The only Werker's I've run across have always been toast.  I've always wondered how good they were because if you have a Batteries Plus nearby they'd be easy to get.

The few reviews I've seen on them usually seem to be 50/50 good/bad.

And yes... they're certainly heavy.  A friend has a Crystalyte hub motor running on 72v.  I think he has 12ah SLA... 6 of those and that bike is heavy.  As heavy as it is, that sucker still goes over 40mph.

Ironic also, I found a B&B in a Black&Decker string trimmer someone was tossing.  I don't know how old it is but it still holds a pretty good charge.  I'm waiting for a reply from B&B on how to read the date code.

On Sunday a friend brought over a APC Back-Ups Pro 650 that a client wanted out of her attic.  It was left there by the previous owner, has an inspection sticker on the bottom from 2003, but I have no idea how long it was in the attic, not plugged in.

It wouldn't turn on and upon opening the battery door, I found the negative lead of the battery (1-CSB GP 12120/12ah) disconnected.  The battery was around 3vdc and once I hooked the negative back up the USP started but was flashing a red light for a bad battery.

I yanked it out and stuck it on a charger and although I haven't done a load test, it appears to be pretty healthy.

Both of the Schwinn scooters I've bought have had Enduring brand batteries.  The first had the set that was basically zero volts.  Those are the ones I finally brought around by short reverse charges.

I sold that set of batteries along with a rebuilt scooter to the neighbors and it looks like the batteries are still going strong.

The other scooter came with 2 sets of batteries, both Enduring, and those seem like pretty strong ones also.

And last but not least, the Currie mountain bike had a set of Enduring in it also.  I don't know for sure but I think that bike was abused pretty well then left to sit for quite awhile in a basement and those seem to be good batteries too.