Sunsei 18 Watt Solar Panel and Controller

I want one, i really do, but I have absolutely no idea what i would do with it.

So this doesn’t come with a battery?

Looks like a great item to cook PANCAAAKES On! LOL

I guess I don’t understand what connections this has. Could I mount it on the roof of my van to keep a laptop going a tiny bit longer during the day?

It comes with stimulus money !

How many of these do I need to power my house?

This kit is 2/3 of a solar system (solar panel & charge controller); what it lacks is a battery. So you could, for example, connect this setup to your van’s battery (through the controller) & keep it topped off as you run your laptop. One of these panels does NOT supply enough juice to run the laptop by itself, however (18w v. ~90w).

Here’s a link to the manual:

Click here

Edited by mod to be link. It’s actually a link to the page of manuals for the manufacturer.

Please explain what these are for.

You could run your computer, until it got dark. Then you could run it on your charged battery. 18 watts is more than enough to charge your battery.

here is a website that might provide some genuine insight into a charging panel.

http://www.12voltsolarpanels.net/review-sunsei-solar-18watt-12volt-charger-se1200

edit: not full of info really.

Thanks! That’s even better than the halfassed job I had in mind.

10 will give you enough to run 3 60 watt lamps.
So if all you need is light in your home. You’re set :slight_smile:

With one of these you could run a computer like the fitPC, which runs on 5 watts of power (I own one, verified). Of course, if you actually want to see what it shows you’ll need about 10 more of these.

A lot, unless you’re talking about your outhouse. These are relatively inefficient panels. If you want solar power for your home, you would want to go to a more efficient type of panel, like a monocrystalline type. They are more costly, but you’ll get 70 or more watts out of a similarly sized panel, as opposed to the 18 watts this one is rated at.

Anyway, you might regret spending thousands of dollars on solar panels today… there is a lot of research going on at improving the efficiency of solar cells. I read somewhere that researchers have recently achieved 35% conversion efficiency in the lab. Most commercially available cells today top out around 16%, and I think this type is less than 10% efficient.

Still, it’s a good deal for campouts and such, or to set up on your shed to charge a gel cell to run LED walkway lights. I got one for that purpose.

I have two of these; combined w/a 12-volt lead-acid battery, they make a nice solar power system for Burning Man! The rest of the year I stick the panels on my back (south-facing) porch & use 'em for recharging cell phone, mp3 players, rechargable batteries, etc.

I like 'em. I might buy another 1 or 2 if the price was a bit lower.

Link to when they were a Woot offering (same price)
Woot Deal

Note: appears to have been a different charge controller.

I’m in for 3 for the controller alone it is worth it.

These will charge batteries during the day and keep my music playing at night (noises help keep bears away). Should be able to charge one of those little Asus 'puters too.

Mind you who still runs incandescent lights? and you have sunlight for about 11 hours a day? you generally don’t use 11 hours of lights a day. most CFL’s are about the same wattage or less than 1 of these puts out. and then figure its only dark while your awake for half the charge time and you should be able to run 2 lights off 1 of these panels. not counting any efficiency losses of course. for the price it might be fun to get 2-3 of these and help with the bills some.