Is this good to start out?

[JoJa15]

I saw this deal today and was thinking of getting it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...c8e0b9ee15ae9a4c50INT&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1

Renogy KIT-STARTER-100D Starter Kit with 1 Pcs 100W Monocrystalline Solar Panel and and 30A PWM Charge Controller for RV, Boats, Trailer, Camper, Marine,Off-Grid System​

My main use would be for emergencies at home to power laptops/cell phones/flash lights. My understanding is that to complete the system I would still need to purchase a battery and an inverter correct?

I figured this would be a good starter system to learn solar power and have a system for small emergencies.

Is this a good system for my use case? Thanks in advance for any advice/help provided.

 

[MisterSandals]

For an emergency, a battery is where you would store energy. Do you have a battery plan?
Know how many watt hours you would want in an emergency? And how often/quickly the battery would need to be recharged?

If you figure your power needs, you can start with a system that meets your needs. There is nothing magical about that kit: average panel but a fairly crappy PWM solar charge controller. Easy to buy better for less.

 

[Steve_S]

Renogy is often called by many "Run Oh Gee". They have abysmal support & service, just search for it.

 

[Dzl]

My main use would be for emergencies at home to power laptops/cell phones/flash lights. My understanding is that to complete the system I would still need to purchase a battery and an inverter correct?

Inverter is optional, you would need a way to charge laptop/phone/flash light, one option is an inverter, but you could also charge all those devices direct from DC (the battery), depending on specifics, you just need a car charger capable of charging all your devices, newish small DC devices can usually all be charged from the same charger these days (not always). Something like this for instance can charge USB power delivery compatible laptops, cell phones, or any other device that charges via usb.

 

[markansas]

I saw this deal today and was thinking of getting it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...c8e0b9ee15ae9a4c50INT&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1

Renogy KIT-STARTER-100D Starter Kit with 1 Pcs 100W Monocrystalline Solar Panel and and 30A PWM Charge Controller for RV, Boats, Trailer, Camper, Marine,Off-Grid System​

My main use would be for emergencies at home to power laptops/cell phones/flash lights. My understanding is that to complete the system I would still need to purchase a battery and an inverter correct?

I figured this would be a good starter system to learn solar power and have a system for small emergencies.

Is this a good system for my use case? Thanks in advance for any advice/help provided.

here a small step up. mppt charger is nice all tho if you had the room and money buy used and get a better deal.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

here a small step up. mppt charger is nice all tho if you had the room and money buy used and get a better deal.

Interesting.
The only things funky i noticed were that the panel VOC and mpp is a bit lower than I’d expect, the panels a tad bigger than I’d expect, and considering how mppt works and the low-ish volts the branch connectors for parallel don’t make much sense and the PV cables are only 10’ 12ga.

But that’s still less money by $50? than buying Rich Solar or WindyNation panels, cables, and a $50 Epever mppt separately.

 

[Rednecktek]

It's a perfectly usable starter system as long as you understand that as you learn you will probably end up throwing out parts of it as your needs and experience grow. Yes, it's cheap but it's a starter system.

If you keep looking around you might find a deal on a 200w version for about the same price. 100w panels are about $100 everywhere so if you can find a 100w system for $150, but a 200w for $200, that's about $50 off your second panel.

If you can charge from 12v or USB you can skip the inverter all together. If you do find that you need an inverter, spring for a Pure Sine right out the gate. The savings in NOT having to replace the equipment you fried by cheaping out on a modified sine inverter will pay for itself VERY quickly.

Go grab the Power Audit form from the Resources section and start playing around with it. It will tell you 3 key pieces of information and build skills that will be very useful as you grow.

1: It tells you how big your inverter needs to be.
2: It tells you how big your battery bank needs to be.
3: It tells you how much solar power you'll need to recharge those batteries in a reasonable amount of time.

Head over to PVWatts and punch in your address to get a rough idea of how much sunlight you can expect to get too, it's a handy number and there's a slot for it in the Power Audit form.

Grab a tape measure and figure out where you're going to stick all this stuff. Milk crate? Pelican? Tool box?

Don't worry about the cables, those panels only put out about 5a max and 12awg is good for 20a.

When it comes to batteries, if you have space I can't recommend the WallyWorld "Marine Deep Cycle Batteries" enough. Yes, like all acid types you only get half the rated amp hours out of it, but for a starter system it's a super cheap battery that is expendable. For about $100 you can get a 120Ah battery which is good for 60Ah or 720Wh and if you keep your water topped up it'll last a long time until you grow out of it or destroy it and are only out $100 which is a LOT cheaper than killing a LiFe battery or AGM.

Give yourself permission to grow and understand that you will be building and learning and that is going to cost money, but if you only have to spend a little at a time as opposed to $FATBUX up front it's a lot easier to swallow.