A month ago we decided to get our feet wet with the whole solar thing, so we bought our first solar panel kit from Harbor Freight Tools.
Cost of solar panel kit: $180
Cost of 2 batteries: $140
Our beginner’s solar panel kit. Simple to set up and use.
It’s one of the starter kits, designed mostly for RVs and small cabin homes, to get you running your TV and other small appliances off of solar. The brand is called Thunderbolt Magnum.
We’re very happy with the kit so far. It was simple to set up. It comes with three solar panels, a frame to install them on so that they stand at an angle, and a 12 volt charge controller, which is the brains of the kit and connects to the batteries. It also came with 2 12-volt light bulbs that plug into the charge controller.
My husband has come up with a great way to fully integrate the kit into our everyday use:
- He moved the panels to an area of the yard which gets the most full sun.
- He placed the charge controller into our entertainment center.
- He hooked up an outdoor electrical line that goes from the panels, across the yard into the crawl space, and up through a hole in the floor behind the entertainment center and into the charge controller.
- The batteries are stored out of sight behind the entertainment center.
- He re-wired two of our lamps to accept the light bulbs that came with the kit.
So, basically, every night we are running our living room lights as well as our TV off of the batteries charged from the solar kit. We also charge our phones and other small gadgets with the batteries as well.
Our only complaint is that the light bulbs give off a blue-ish glow unlike most light bulbs, so it takes some getting used to. But we are very happy knowing that a small part of our household has gone ‘off the grid’.
If you’re worried about the cost of solar panels, as they are quite expensive, see if you can get them for free. Check out the article below for more information.
Related articles
- How to get free solar panels for your home (stateofglobe.com)
Our goal is to eventually get a few more of these kits along with a higher-capacity power inverter in order to run some of our larger appliances off of solar.
thegogreenspot 