First timer solar kit, Renogy 400W any good?

[CoreyM]

Hi everyone, just buying my first system, do you think this is a good starter for $335 USD all in? https://www.amazon.ca/Renogy-400W-Monocrystalline-Solar-Bundle

Also, is it worth the extra $50 USD to get this version instead with MPPT instead of PWM controller? https://www.newegg.com/renology-solar-kit-starter400d-solar-panel-kits/p/120-000K-00049

Final question: Can these kits be connected directly to something like the Renogy 300 pack? Thanks. Any tips appreciated. Nice to meet you all, I apologize in advance for all the stupid questions I plan to ask in the coming weeks. ☺

 

[WYtreasure]

Nice, I await your questions. I bet they won't be as bad as some I have asked. Welcome to the show CoreyM.

If you have a bit of patience you may be convinced to purchase some other products and build your own system.
I know nothing of the systems except I looked at them before getting to this forum.

 

[Bud Martin]

The Amazon link does not work for me.
Did you figure out what kind of loads and how much power you will be using each day yet? You should do that first so you will have the system that will support your requirement.

 

[WYtreasure]

broken link

Bud is on to something Corey. If you are buying just to see what solar power is like, that's one thing.
If you have something you want to power, like a fridge or microwave, you need to know how much power the product requires.

One of the first recommendations is to figure out how much power you need.

 

[Zil]

I have Renogy 100W solar panels. Four of them in parallel for a 400W system. I have no complaints for the panels.
I use a Morningstar PWM CC so can't comment on the Renogy CC.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

can't comment on the Renogy CC.

There’s plenty of other brands not renogey that don’t have the high complaint factor.
Their panels like zil indicates seem to not garner the level of reported disappointment that their other components do.

For the money, though, at this point in time I’d be looking for 200-350W panels. A lot of the time you can find them for not much more per panel than the commodity retail 100W panels. So ~$400-$500 could get you 800-1000W+ and somewhere 600W to 1000W you have something really useful- the benefit factor goes way up
(unless you’re trying to power a camper out in the boonies on some unmaintained road built in the 1700s then maybe 400W would work <—-me last year LOL)

 

[CoreyM]

Thanks everyone, much appreciated. Just trying to gather some informed feedback on this kit. Cheers all. Special thanks Zil. ☺

 

[CoreyM]

There’s plenty of other brands not renogey that don’t have the high complaint factor.
Their panels like zil indicates seem to not garner the level of reported disappointment that their other components do.

For the money, though, at this point in time I’d be looking for 200-350W panels. A lot of the time you can find them for not much more per panel than the commodity retail 100W panels. So ~$400-$500 could get you 800-1000W+ and somewhere 600W to 1000W you have something really useful- the benefit factor goes way up
(unless you’re trying to power a camper out in the boonies on some unmaintained road built in the 1700s then maybe 400W would work <—-me last year LOL)

I live in Canada. I'm told no such deals exist here without prohibitive shipping costs. I haven't found anything so far to disprove that but if you have a source I would love that, thanks.

 

[Bud Martin]

May be some Canadian members will chime in and give suggestion as how they get their Solar stuff from at good price.

 

[westy39]

I live in the banana belt of Montana, several years ago I bought a renogy 200 watt system with a mppt charge controller. This set up has been subjected to harsh weather conditions for about 6 1/2 years and I have had no problems. I recently bought 2 100 watt hour agm batteries from Renogy to replace the used 100 watt hour agm batteries I first started with. I wish I would have bought a 400 watt system with 4 100 watt panels instead of the 2 100 watt panels. My own experience with renogy products has been very positive. I would suggest you spend the extra money and get the mppt controller if you can afford it. I would like to get the new lithium batteries but my pockets just aren't that deep. I was able to get about 7 1/2 years out of the old agm batteries I had soo I really think I might be able to get 10 years out of these new agm batteries. I am careful to avoid letting my batteries get below 12.3 volts and I use my modest system to charge all ,my cordless tools. I also bought a zantrax 600 watt pure sine wav invertor to go with the kit. I have thought about getting a larger invertor but again my needs and pocket book won't allow that yet. Just my thoughts from the banana belt of Montana.

 

[CoreyM]

May be some Canadian members will chime in and give suggestion as how they get their Solar stuff from at good price.

Thank you. The key is "shipped" up here. There's local pockets of used panels in densely-populated areas such as southern Ontario where you might get flat rate $75 shipping from the seller, but other than that probably not. I live in Calgary Alberta which is kind of like Texas but fancy Texas so nothing good is cheap here and any good deal sells out same day. There are more moneyed-up builders in Calgary than any city in Canada outside of Toronto and Vancouver.

 

[CoreyM]

I live in the banana belt of Montana, several years ago I bought a renogy 200 watt system with a mppt charge controller. This set up has been subjected to harsh weather conditions for about 6 1/2 years and I have had no problems. I recently bought 2 100 watt hour agm batteries from Renogy to replace the used 100 watt hour agm batteries I first started with. I wish I would have bought a 400 watt system with 4 100 watt panels instead of the 2 100 watt panels. My own experience with renogy products has been very positive. I would suggest you spend the extra money and get the mppt controller if you can afford it. I would like to get the new lithium batteries but my pockets just aren't that deep. I was able to get about 7 1/2 years out of the old agm batteries I had soo I really think I might be able to get 10 years out of these new agm batteries. I am careful to avoid letting my batteries get below 12.3 volts and I use my modest system to charge all ,my cordless tools. I also bought a zantrax 600 watt pure sine wav invertor to go with the kit. I have thought about getting a larger invertor but again my needs and pocket book won't allow that yet. Just my thoughts from the banana belt of Montana.

Thank you so much for the feedback, that's very helpful. The one advantage I have is Calgary is Canada's sunniest city. We get 2,400 hours per year over 333 days. Not sure how well that will work out in terms of tossing panels on the roof but I guess we'll find out. lol. I hear you on the banana belt, we got banana belted with 6 weeks of -35C this winter, it was a bit much frankly. ☺

 

[The Dish Doc]

I have a small 12V system (close to what you are looking at) that I built exclusively with Renogy equipment. Here is a link to the setup.

My small solar build

Hello all. I’m in the Panhandle of Florida and after Hurricane Michael we had no power for 16 days. After that experience I decide to put together a little solar system to charge cellphone/tablets, laptops, battery banks as well as a way to have some light other than flashlights. I started off...

diysolarforum.com

I have had no issues with Renogy equipment so far. That being said I'm putting together a larger 2.3kW system and will be using other manufactures equipment for that build. And I definitely recommend a MPPT over a PWM.

 

[CoreyM]

I have a small 12V system I built exclusively with Renogy equipment. Here is a link to the setup.

My small solar build

Hello all. I’m in the Panhandle of Florida and after Hurricane Michael we had no power for 16 days. After that experience I decide to put together a little solar system to charge cellphone/tablets, laptops, battery banks as well as a way to have some light other than flashlights. I started off...

diysolarforum.com

I have had no issues with Renogy equipment so far. That being said I'm putting together a larger 2.3kW system and will be using other manufactures equipment for that build.

Sweet little setup IMO. I love what you've done. I can relate to your method, I am also building-to-wallet-not-specs. That's totally where I'm at. I don't have a budget but if I can get a 400W kit all in for $330USD shipped I figured I should start looking at it. Just figuring out what else I will need, and what I can do with it, etc. In my case I'm just looking to reduce my power bill so even if I start by powering my laptop and coffee maker that would be good and then just grow it from there and gradually try to get as much consumption as I can off the grid.

Cheers Doc, thanks so much. ☺

 

[12VoltInstalls]

400W kit all in for $330USD

That’s cheap. Do it

In my case I'm just looking to reduce my power bill so even if I start by powering my laptop and coffee maker that would be good

have you calculated the dollars/watt and daily wattage you’ll use? Other than off-grid circumstances that enable savings in other areas or where there’s no grid available I haven’t seen where solar and batteries are less than grid per KWh until a break-even point way down the road.

so nothing good is cheap here

Call around to some big residential installers or ‘farm’ installers local to you and find someplace with ‘leftovers’ from pallet orders. If you drive and cash’n’carry I’d bet you could find some inexpensively. They’ll probably be bigger panels with high voltage but likely cost only a bit more than 100W panels each. That’s what I’ll do when I build a new system- though I’m in the USA the installers in Canada are buying the same containers and pallets with the same goals. I’m in Vermont with population only 660,000 and I can find that stuff here. I civilized metro area has got to have some.

 

[The Dish Doc]

Sweet little setup IMO. I love what you've done. I can relate to your method, I am also building-to-wallet-not-specs. That's totally where I'm at. I don't have a budget but if I can get a 400W kit all in for $330USD shipped I figured I should start looking at it. Just figuring out what else I will need, and what I can do with it, etc. In my case I'm just looking to reduce my power bill so even if I start by powering my laptop and coffee maker that would be good and then just grow it from there and gradually try to get as much consumption as I can off the grid.

Cheers Doc, thanks so much. ☺

Buy a bigger inverter than you think you need. Use larger wire than required. Design everything with upgradability in mind. No matter how big you start I can guarantee you will upgrade later. This is a very addictive hobby. Here's a pic of the panels on my home made mount.

 

[Rednecktek]

This is a very addictive hobby.

I've only got 3 systems.. OK 4.. I can quit any time I want...

 

[GLC]

Hi everyone, just buying my first system, do you think this is a good starter for $335 USD all in? https://www.amazon.ca/Renogy-400W-Monocrystalline-Solar-Bundle

Also, is it worth the extra $50 USD to get this version instead with MPPT instead of PWM controller? https://www.newegg.com/renology-solar-kit-starter400d-solar-panel-kits/p/120-000K-00049

Final question: Can these kits be connected directly to something like the Renogy 300 pack? Thanks. Any tips appreciated. Nice to meet you all, I apologize in advance for all the stupid questions I plan to ask in the coming weeks. ☺

That was the first set up I started with. Nothing wrong with it but you can do better with the same amount of expense. If you decide to purchase just remember that this is about as far as you can go with it. No real expansion possible. I still have it running on my deer lease trailer.

 

[Rednecktek]

I finally got that Newegg link to load, and bad news. The SCC with their kit is the PWM, NOT the MPPT version, so save the cash and put it towards a real MPPT controller.

Renogy 30A PWM Wanderer Charge Controller (Negative Grounded)
Rated Charge Current: 30A
Max. PV
Input Voltage: 25 VDC
High Voltage Disconnect: 16V
Low Voltage Disconnect: 11.1V
Equalization Voltage:
Sealed: 14.6V; Flooded: 14.8V; Gel: NO

Pro tip: If it has USB ports, it's NOT a real MPPT controller, they're just lying to you.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

Like I said: buy some big discounted panels and get any SCC that is mppt and doesn’t have a big complaints history.