Postby Zhust » Tue Apr 16, 2013 9:28 am
I'm tempted to do a head-to-head comparison test, but it would require money and effort. I find Harbor Freight stuff to be, at best, hit-and-miss. I am sometimes tempted by the solar panels on sale, but shopping around, I find a better deal-per-watt if I buy fancy branded panels from a solar power online store.
I've been scaling my own system down to a minuscule level: I presently use four 5-watt panels to charge a single 12V 10AH sealed lead-acid (SLA) battery. I can keep a dozen AA batteries charged and run two strings of LED lights all night. Size, weight, and reliability are the factors most important to me. Oh, and price, which was really cheap (some guy sold me the panels for $20 for all of them, and I guess except for the charge controller which is a Morningstar SunSaver 10A.)
May your deeds return to you tenfold,
---Zhust, Curiosityist