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The Sunforce 50032 15 Watt Solar Battery Charger gives you another reason to love the sun -- it'll help keep your vehicle's battery charged. Just plug the this helpful 15-watt battery charger into your vehicle's 12-volt lighter socket and position the panel to pick up the most daylight possible. And with the built-in blocking diode technology, this charger is designed to protect against battery discharge at night. You can also use this device to maintain the charge on any 12-volt battery for clean, silent operation of various electronics, such as deer feeders and landscaping pumps. The 50032 features a built-in ultra-bright blue LED charging indicator, and is a great choice for automobiles, recreational vehicles (RV), tractors, all terrain vehicles (ATV), boats, electric fences, telemetry and more, and it is even effective on cloudy days. This battery charger is made of durable ABS plastic and amorphous solar cells, measures 15.5 x 2.5 x 41.5 inches (WxHxD), and has a maximum temperature range of -40 to 176-degrees Fahrenheit. The manufacturer recommends using the Sunforce 60012 7 Amp Charge Controller in tandem with this charger for optimal results.
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 Works great |
| Review Date: July 29, 2007 |
| Reviewer: M. Wagner, Bellevue, WA United States |
I put this on top of a metal storage container with 3 LED lights inside. I put in a controller and a 12 volt deep cyle battery, and I have lots of light.
Just for grins I put in a 400 watt inverter in case anyone wanted to run a battery charger for a DeWalt cordless drill. Great job site problem solver. |
Works as advertised
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| Review Date: August 26, 2007 |
| Reviewer: David Milunic, New Jersey |
| It arrived quickly and in perfect condition. It produced the rated open circuit voltage and short circuit current in full sunshine per the specifications. It was a good buy, very good for maintaining a battery, but you must use a charge controller. You need several along with a charge controller if you intend to produce enough power for useful work. I use 5 (similar) together with a 100 amp/hour marine battery to power my laptop. I'd like to add a few more! Great for the hobbyist who wants to play with solar without a large expense, also useful for low power off grid applications. It has been outside during several large rainstorms and had no problems. |
Solar power is expensive, so not sure it was worth it
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| Review Date: February 26, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Thomas H. Lawler, Everett, Wa |
I got a set of 5 panels for $65 each when I saw them on sale. I've had no problems (with arriving broken or such) & I'm pretty sure they put out the energy I expect when the sun's on them. (Update 7-08, see my review under the northern tool panels for my performance test results of the panels I have).
But after I got these I ran some math on the cost for them and their output versus the utility power rate. With power billed in kiloWatt/hours (or 1,000 watts at a time) these panels can suposedly produce 15 watts (~1/60 of a kiloWatt). Assuming they give me the full 15 watts output for ~8 hours per day constantly, it'll take 15+ years for them to pay for themselves. Since cloudy days & such reduce the output & benefit, it will likely make it take a lot longer. Whether of not the plastic construction will hold up that long I wonder about too, so I'm not sure it was really worth it now. How to fully utilize the power I get & not just be keeping a battery fully charged is another thing I'm not sure of (I don't want to leave something running that drains the battery overnight, but not running anything means I get nothing out of it).
So if you want to power something in a remote location that can run off of minimal power or has a high draw but for only a minimal time, this may be the way to go. Just remember that the panels only give you power during sunshine and you need enough of them to be able to recharge the battery they feed during your daylight hours. The set of 4 panels & more for ~$300 sounds like a better deal than ~$100 each (unless you see these on sale). Also being able to use them with existing things (like in a RV that runs off of 12V power anyway) can make it easier to utilize them as well.
But if you are thinking buying these will help you save on your energy bill at home, you might want to think again. To produce 1 kilowatt of solar power will cost you ~$5,000 up front (and that's almost regardless of who's name brand you choose). To collect up the DC power they produce and convert that into household power requires a car size battery & a power inverter as additional costs. I saw a TV show where a guy in California made himself independent of utilities with a farm of panels & other equipment needed, but it cost him over $500,000 to put it all together. If you can afford such and like the comfort of being energy independent, go for it! Otherwise a utility bill as little as $0.10 for each kilowatt hour seems more cost effective to me. |
Very Nice Solar Panel.
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| Review Date: September 1, 2007 |
| Reviewer: L. Leung, |
| Got this panel for under $70 bucks. The panel came in a very securly packed package. It generate more than it advertised. I measured over 20 watts while it's in direct sun light. One thing that's should improve is that the core could be longer. |
Great Item
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| Review Date: January 20, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Jeremy Akers, Austin, TX |
It comes with a nice long cord which was long enough to reach from the corner of the room of my RV down the refrigerator vent where I connected it to my 7 am charge controller and ran a wire underneath to the battery. This cord has a plug on the end to connect to one of several connectors included. (No wire splicing necessary). It comes with connectors for connecting to a cigarette lighter, alligator clips for connecting directly to battery posts, as well as a connector that just splits off two wires with the insulation already removed for you in case you need to wire them directly into something, or extend them with more wire. It also includes a LED test light that can plug directly into the solar panels cord to test whether the panel is working.
I have attached two of these solar panels to the roof of my RV camper. They keep the battery fully charged even with the propane detector still using electricity. I was able to screw the panel directly into my rubber roof with the screws provided with no problem. They are very secure and they were a great investment. |
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November 28th, 2009 | 
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