Solar

When Al Gray came to Lejeune for a training op, he gathered the NCO's from our entire MEU. When a few of the 0's tried in infiltrate, he said... " Get the fuck out of here on your own before I throw you out... I am here to speak to my Marines!" Instant hero worship among all the NCO's present. Best part of his tour as Commandant was the focus change from IG style inspections (when I got in 1985) to a focus on warfighting and combat readiness. I have a few other Gen. Gray stories that are better served around a campfire. A Marine's Marine.

:jacked Hahaha!
 
He came a few times to Quantico for different events when I was stationed there wearing his after retirement legendary 3-color Camo (now MARPAT) sports jacket. Always with an ear-to-ear grin on his face - he was happiest around Marines - and apparently MILFs too from the image below. He's still kicking around - I hope he's doing well.
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So back on topic... :rolleyes:

I placed my order for the 90 watt Overland solar set up this morning. I appreciate the advice and answered questions. I went with the 90 over the 60 since the mfg. recommended it, since I am running a smaller battery (55AH) and most importantly, when Ann finds out I did this, I will be living in our little T@B back behind the barn :rollingpin
 
jscusmcvet said:
So back on topic... :rolleyes:

I placed my order for the 90 watt Overland solar set up this morning. I appreciate the advice and answered questions. I went with the 90 over the 60 since the mfg. recommended it, since I am running a smaller battery (55AH) and most importantly, when Ann finds out I did this, I will be living in our little T@B back behind the barn :rollingpin
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Always good to get some solar charging going on. Can you elaborate why you chose to go with overland solar vs something like renogy or others?

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Scott said:
Always good to get some solar charging going on. Can you elaborate why you chose to go with overland solar vs something like renogy or others?

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk
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Sure. Personal decision. From everything I read and discussed with folks the hard panels are more efficient than any of the flexible, or semi flexible panels. More importantly to me was life expectancy where the hard panel also wins. Based on that and the need for me to be able to move this between a few different platforms, I decided on a suitcase model. That narrowed the field to Renogy, Overland Solar and Zamp. I eliminated Zamp because it did not bring anything to the table (in my understanding) that the Renogy and OS didn't. Renogy got a lot of recommendations due to price per watt and people's experience. They are releasing a new model that is smaller and lighter which I like. They do not have an official release date yet, so if you order from them, or off Amazon, you do not know when you will get the product. OS also has great revies and tales from personal experience. OS compares at 25% more expensive (don't bore me with saying more than that due to the 90 vs 100 watt comparison, either will get the job done for me.) For a purchase this size, I called each company. This was my deciding factor.
The Renogy rep that answered the phone seemed to be a general customer service rep, he may as well have been working the front desk at one of the centers I run. He could not tell me much about the new model, other than it was smaller and lighter (I already knew). I asked if the controller was going to be waterproof, he did not know. I asked if 100watts was the right size for my application. He either was not sure or was not interested. He could not tell me a ship date, other than, "They say January 2017". So this is where it gets personal... those of you who supervise understand that it drives me crazy when employees say "they" instead of "we". Points out a cultural issue at the company in my crusty old man jaded opinion :mike... (sorry @TangoBlue I know that is usually your gig o_O)
So immediately following that conversation called Overland Solar. Brian picked up the phone on the second ring. He asked ME the questions to make sure I was sizing it right, what connectors I wanted, when I needed it by and how I had heard of them. When he found out I was at Expo east he was interested and wanted to know what I thought, etc... and if I was going to other events in 2017. In short, I was dealing with an expert, which is what I need in regard to this project... That is worth it to spend the extra $ for me, perhaps a consulting fee concept.
Still... this is a lot of money, so I deferred ordering right away. Now that the order has been placed, I received receipt right away and a tracking number a few hours later when the west coast woke up. Further, Brian followed up by email thanking me for the order, recognized me from our conversation last week and noted that they are about to get slammed by a winter storm, so keep an eye on the tracking, as it might take a bit longer to arrive.
I am happy so far. We'll see how things work out. Hope that helps.

John
 
jscusmcvet said:
Sure. Personal decision. From everything I read and discussed with folks the hard panels are more efficient than any of the flexible, or semi flexible panels. More importantly to me was life expectancy where the hard panel also wins. Based on that and the need for me to be able to move this between a few different platforms, I decided on a suitcase model. That narrowed the field to Renogy, Overland Solar and Zamp. I eliminated Zamp because it did not bring anything to the table (in my understanding) that the Renogy and OS didn't. Renogy got a lot of recommendations due to price per watt and people's experience. They are releasing a new model that is smaller and lighter which I like. They do not have an official release date yet, so if you order from them, or off Amazon, you do not know when you will get the product. OS also has great revies and tales from personal experience. OS compares at 25% more expensive (don't bore me with saying more than that due to the 90 vs 100 watt comparison, either will get the job done for me.) For a purchase this size, I called each company. This was my deciding factor.
The Renogy rep that answered the phone seemed to be a general customer service rep, he may as well have been working the front desk at one of the centers I run. He could not tell me much about the new model, other than it was smaller and lighter (I already knew). I asked if the controller was going to be waterproof, he did not know. I asked if 100watts was the right size for my application. He either was not sure or was not interested. He could not tell me a ship date, other than, "They say January 2017". So this is where it gets personal... those of you who supervise understand that it drives me crazy when employees say "they" instead of "we". Points out a cultural issue at the company in my crusty old man jaded opinion :mike... (sorry @TangoBlue I know that is usually your gig o_O)
So immediately following that conversation called Overland Solar. Brian picked up the phone on the second ring. He asked ME the questions to make sure I was sizing it right, what connectors I wanted, when I needed it by and how I had heard of them. When he found out I was at Expo east he was interested and wanted to know what I thought, etc... and if I was going to other events in 2017. In short, I was dealing with an expert, which is what I need in regard to this project... That is worth it to spend the extra $ for me, perhaps a consulting fee concept.
Still... this is a lot of money, so I deferred ordering right away. Now that the order has been placed, I received receipt right away and a tracking number a few hours later when the west coast woke up. Further, Brian followed up by email thanking me for the order, recognized me from our conversation last week and noted that they are about to get slammed by a winter storm, so keep an eye on the tracking, as it might take a bit longer to arrive.
I am happy so far. We'll see how things work out. Hope that helps.

John
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Reasonable and detailed answer. What matters is that you're satisfied with your purchase, and it seems you will be. Be sure to let us know how they work when you get the setup in your hands.

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Scott said:
Reasonable and detailed answer. What matters is that you're satisfied with your purchase, and it seems you will be. Be sure to let us know how they work when you get the setup in your hands.

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Count on it.
 
Dagonne FedEx... if you don't live in a cookie cutter subdivision they have no idea how to deliver... ughhh.... hopefully tomorrow
 
... and another failure to deliver... I am now five calls deep into Fed Ex. Supposedly the driver is going to call me in the morning. Ahhh....I am in need of some stress management...
 
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I've been looking at suitcase solar for a while. Waiting for the right financial circumstances. This thread is very informative. I carried a 100W rigid remote panel in the trailer, it took up too much space, was heavy in its case that I made and I was always afraid the roads I drove would beat it apart. I'd like to have something small enough to store behind the roll over couch in the FWC Hawk. I have the Renogy Mono flex panels on the roof, but they're starting to show wear. It would be nice if I could make a rock and branch proof solar air deflector.....
 
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Finally took delivery of the panels. New driver on our route. I don't think he liked my "driveway" or my dog. She is nothing but a fluffy bunny, but you have to get slobbered on by her a time or two before you realize she is not the wild snow beast from your Scooby doo nightmares...
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More on the solar panel tomorrow. Looks to be a quality piece of gear.
 
OK here is a quick review and some pics.
Once the panels actually arrived :rolleyes: (this was no fault of Overland Solar, read my last post)... they were packaged nicely. The "suitcase" the panel came in is nice and sturdy, more so than I expected. The panels were, well... solar panels :). Wiring looked effective and well done and thought out.
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The panels fold nicely and use sturdy clips, like seen on a tool box, to keep it closed All in all well done.

My requested pigtail had arrived via USPS a couple days earlier, so I was all set, so I thought. I had requested a SAE pigtail with this set up as that is what my battery tender uses, so I have what I thought was a matching pigtail already on the battery. Once I hooked it up my meter went all wonky... Turns out that the negative/positive on the solar pigtail was opposite of the pigtail on the battery. So in effect I had connected the positive to the negative and visa versa. I unhooked that set up and used the supplied alligator clips to hook up the battery. I know it is not the best solution but it is what I had and more on that in a moment.

The battery started at 12.24v and in a few hours on a cloudy winter day it was gaining ground nicely:
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Now on to the pigtail. After looking over the wiring and my own set up I realized the error as stated above. The included soalr sidepigtail will work with the also included SAE battery side pigtail. When looking at it, I saw that the solar panel uses an Andersen plug to connect to the SAE pigtail. So in a rare moment of clarity, I cut the SAE pigtail free from the Andersen plug and fixed some waterproof ring connectors on the ends. This end attached to the battery permanently, the solar side of course resides with the solar panel, and... Viola! I am "hooked up" and ready to roll.

So far I am happy with the purchase. I would like a controller upgrade that showed a meter so I could understand what the panels were actually doing. Might hit up Brian and see if there is an upgrade. I have an trip coming up Jan 27-29 in the NC mountains (BRE Winter Safari) and will be putting the panels to use for the weekend. Not a huge test since the temp is unlikely to get over freezing, so the fridge is not going to have to work that hard, but it's what I got going this time of year haha. I will report more then.

John
 
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Used the Overland Solar set up this weekend in the NC Mountains. Not particularly hard duty since the fridge sat outside under the awning and it was cold all weekend... also ran LED lights inside and outside the camper, and also the fan from time to time. Panels got 1 day of sun, I would say 6 hours, due to the location of surrounding terrain. Took battery from 12.6 to 13.5 Not sure what else to report. It was super easy to set up. So far so good.
 
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