Camping & Boating Season Slowing Down

[Charlie C]

I was in Costco today and picked up a Coleman 3 x 18w solar panel kit with controller for $199.97 Canuck Bucks! These systems have been at $299.99 all summer. It is not unusual to see Costco to quietly do end of season markdowns, you just have to keep your eyes open for what you are looking for. Also picked up the rear view camera kit for the Tow Vehicle for about $79. instead of the normal $100 (over $125 at Canadian Tire)

If you have been thinking about solar this is a pretty reasonably priced unit. The panels deliver a total of 54w at about 15v. The kit includes a 4w charge controller and enough plug-n-play cabling to have it all hooked up and charging your batteries in about 15 minutes.

This kit is put together by ICP Solar and marketed under the Coleman name, panels made in England, kits assembled in China.

[Steve R]

I provided a reply to this thread but now it's gone. What happened?

[Donna D.]

I provided a reply to this thread but now it's gone. What happened?

Trying to keep this on topic, which really has to do with solar, I combined all the other conversation this: Probably Not a Fair Question but ...,
I doubt Charlie really cares about the trailer manufacturing stuff... and this is his topic.

[Roy in TO]

I was in Costco today and picked up a Coleman 3 x 18w solar panel kit with controller for $199.97 Canuck Bucks! These systems have been at $299.99 all summer. It is not unusual to see Costco to quietly do end of season markdowns, you just have to keep your eyes open for what you are looking for.

Charlie, you're the best!

You just saved me a trip across the border to pick up the Harbour Freight deal in Buffalo that Frederick L Simpson was so kind to post. I think the 2 deals are comparable by the time one factors in the exchange and a tank of gas. Not including 4 hours on the road and who knows how long waiting at the border in either direction. I was seriously considering driving to Buffalo two weekends from now and dropping in without a trailer at the Niagara meet to see that Escape 5th and some of the members here. (Though popping in @ Niagara is still a possibility ...)

We found someone with a Costco card yesterday and bought one for ourselves.
[b]For those in the GTA area ... only the Newmarket and Markham East stores had stock and the deal. (10 @ each location)

We picked up ours at the Markham East store - I would think Charlie went to Newmarket. That would mean there would only be 9 left for anyone else at each location.

I don't know if you've read the installation instructions for the Phocos charge controller yet, but I plan on posting a couple of questions that will surely keep Peter & Brian going for a while. Did you know the controller is capable of shutting down the load to prevent over draining the battery? It also has settings for both conventional and AGM batteries.

I'm not sure, but some of the prewiring I just finished to incorporate a solar charge controller in my electical system might have to be reconsidered and redone. Check out the charge contollers website - thier August 07 newsletter announces a new remote LCD display that will show panel current, load current and battery voltage. It is designed to work with the controller packaged in this deal!

[Palmer M]

Wow Charlie

I thought that must be a typo, 54W for $200. Here's the Costco site listing
the kit for $289, still a good deal for that wattage, including a small controller!

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...rodid=11157393

Oddly, I couldn't find the kit on Coleman's site.

What are the dimensions? It looks like each panel is about 1' x 3'
Let us know how you mount these and what kind of performance you get!

P

[peterh]

That looks like a super deal! I don't know if they perform better, but they certainly look nicer than the Harbor Freight panels!

According to ICP's website the panel dimensions are: 38.9” x 14.1” x 0.91” (98.9 cm x 35.7 cm x 2.3 cm). Each of the three panels weigh 10.6 lbs (4.8Kg). The kit includes a solar charge controller just hefty enough to manage the three panels (so you'd need to buy a better controller if you wanted to expand) but does not include the neat little aluminum stand in the picture.

--Peter

[Roy in TO]

Oddly, I couldn't find the kit on Coleman's site.

Although peterh gave you the correct link, the panels are listed on the "Coleman Solar" site it brings you to the ICP site for the product details.

[Roy in TO]

The kit includes a solar charge controller just hefty enough to manage the three panels (so you'd need to buy a better controller if you wanted to expand)

Peter,

The solar charge contoller is the phocos CML05-2 unit which has some very nice features including a new optional remote LCD display. They have beefier models in the product line. The biggest problem I see with it is that in the instructions included and the PDF instructions available on the phocos site (1.2MB download), is that the unit is a positive chassis ground and they say to disconnect the negative chassis ground from your systems or you will damage the controller.

I wanted to get a thread going on that to get yours and Brians input. I.e. should I do it or not and why or why not. My gut says that this contoller would be best suited for only charging a disconnected battery in the North American market

The one feature I really liked was that the controller will shut down the load on a circuit if the battery voltage drops too low keeping one from inadvertently killing a battery.

Roy

[armando rodriguez]

anyone know if this deal is available at costco in the usa??