Sunforce 50060 Complete Solar Kit with battery

Pros: none

Cons: overpriced

Pros: This is my second one, goes on the second boat, keeps the batteries charged. Saves money, works great.

Cons: Had to replace screws with stainless as they rust. Battery is small.

Other Thoughts: I want opinions from people who own the product.

Pros: Not much since I do not own this actual set but one similar for 45watts that is much better and costs less. That is why I give a neutral 3 rating, this is not the best value for the money even on the currant sale price.
I wanted to write review to counter the stupid things people said that don't have a clue but rate themselves as high.

Any solar panel is rated for the best output in perfect sun rather a cheap panel or very expensive one. Perfect sun does not happen that much so expect lower than rated output on any panels.
You never run anything direct from a panel or set of panels normally unless you do like I do and run DC fans for cooling on hot sunny days.
You always normally connect to a battery, that battery stores the power until you need it and will run as long as it has enough power to run. That has nothing to do with the panels! Panels are intended normally as nothing more than a battery charger and that is it! The panels convert sun into energy to charge the batterie

Cons: A great place like NewEgg should not be selling this cheap junk kit or the normal price should be under $200 with even lower sale prices! Things like this junk set and high price will harm NewEggs great reputation!
These are a cheap design type panel that works, but this set is way to expensive even at low sale price for what you get. The Normal $500 price is a joke really and only a sucker would pay anyway near that! When buying a panel set look at the panels mostly and forget the cheap junk that comes with them unless it is actually is something GOOD, this looks like cheap junk!
Try to get an idea of what you want to do with the panels and battery. A low Amp hour battery will not supply much power fast under a high load nor will it supply power very long under low loads.
My 12V fans are about 2amps each at full speed, so a battery of 8 amps will only run 1 of them about 4 hours at night and then the battery would be getting so low it would be getting harmed.

Other Thoughts: If charge controller is good 14.4 volts is correct charge volts, person does not have HIGH understanding! Amps X Volts charge battery. 14.4 correct volts on most wet cell batteries. Extra volts are converted to more amps.
40watts/20volt =2 amp charge, 40watts/14.4volt =2.77 amp. Same 40watts of charge power.

I have 4 better sets! cost less GOOD stuff included. Sets had metal frames, 2 5watt CFL lights/sockets/long wires plug into controller. Not brightest bulbs in house, 5 watt CFL = maybe 20 watt normal bulb. Great reading at night, by computers, motorhome, yard, etc.. when you want some light.
Great in Ice storm power failure for 2 weeks!
5watt=.5amp on UPS 20amp/hr batteries=40hrs use per charge. I rotated batteries to lights or panels as needed..
I run low amp fans direct on panels, dim sun=slow, bright sun=fast, night=off! Automatic!
Get large battery as needed, good inverter, figure loads to be ran, watts needed. Load=discharge of battery, Panels=charge rate.

Pros: It works. and the technology is proven. this will charge batteries, one or some in parallel. A starter kit per say.

Cons: hugely under powered for any real applications. as stated before the panels will not always generate 100% power this one being 45watts max. read up plenty of info on the internet if you look.

Other Thoughts: I have a solar system running for almost a year on my house in the north east. This is a complete home built system. I have max 100 watts ( cost about 300) and about 10 batteries wired together ( mix of auto and marine and even ups ones). All hooked up to a 400 watt inverter. can run a lot of things but you will have a tendency to over draw the system. I supplement some missing power with a battery charge. good luck it is a fun project to do.

Pros: Put out plenty of power, easy to set up, panels seem strong and easy to mount

Cons: the frame it comes with wasn't up to snuff for what we needed so made a custom frame to replace it that mounts to a pole. battery is prolly also a little small for most things.

Other Thoughts: We used this to set up on a small tower that provides a set point for gps farming. We didn't use the small battery used a marine battery instead. Overall I was happy with this product just lowered it by one star because of the frame.

Pros: Works. Everything to go solar and run up to 200w of AC power. Battery charged in 2 days. Amorphous panels work in shade and partial sunlight. Overcast skies still produced 18v.

Cons: Charge controller is super weak. I think it tops out at 14.4v which is a trickle charge. It is the main reason for the slow battery charging. 18v @ 3a should charge the 18a battery in 6 hours (1 sunlight day) . Not 12+ hours.

This model inverter does not connect directly to the panels. It alarms at 18v right from perfect sunlight. I do not know why. maybe it needs JUST 12v-13v and the solar puts out too much. i dunno.

Other Thoughts: It runs my whole out door back yard power now with a 100a car battery and a 700w inverter. For better charging results directly connect the panels to the battery during the day. Or if you are lazy and it will be ok to let it trickle all week, use the included charger.

Pros: In power failure, a little help if you live in such states
Charging low Vol. rechargeable battteries and equipments
Useful for shades and area where there is no elec. outlets, ( if full and hot sun )
Running LOW voltage LED bulbs at night,
A very little power/money savngs ( Though, battery costs offset that )

Cons: It's just a slow battery charger, nothing else.
Low sun in western nations, hence not so effective.
A good marine 12V DC battery costs 80-90 dollars and lasts 5 yrs, so (?) you do not save much.
Needs to take on and off wires of Inverter, and sometimes small sparks.
Though they say, diode does not drain reverse and you may keep regulator's clamps on battery forever, Wrong. It stilll drains. ( take off Regulator's wires-clamps on Battery, when sun is low )

Other Thoughts: It's is just a slow battery charger and nothing else. Idealliy speaking, you need a 12V marine, strong higher capacity battery ( from walmart ) to store more power
( E.g. if battery's cold cranks is 500, 500 x 12.5 battery voltage = ~6000W battery power (DC) is the storage capacity ) , So 200W or say 400W inverter will be fine, one is on sale on newegg for 18 bucks now ( rosewill )

You may need 6 panels and a strong regulator of nearly 90-100W solar panel's power handling capacity, which will generate more ewattage for battery , after stepping down in the regulator. Right now, it generates 23.5 open circuit voltage out of those 15x3=45W power from panels and have hard time to keep the battery at 12.5 full voltage. Needs 6+ panels and larger capacity regulator and strong marine ( 2 poles better) 12V DC battery, to store enough power.
Otherwise it is just good to run LED low Watt bulbs at night for few hours. Forget about running any elctronics or any higher load.

Pros: The Solar Panels are cheap (cost-wise, and build wise). However, that's ok. The entire system together is about $5/watt.

Cons: The battery is actually an 18 Amp-Hour battery. These are typically about $40 or so.

It will take your 45 watt panel (at full sun, ideal conditions) about 5 hours to charge the panels. Unfortunately, these panels and this system are all far from ideal. This means you can expect a few days to get a full charge on your battery (if it is completely depleted).

Other Thoughts: The battery (as in nearly all systems) is the weakest link. You should NEVER run your battery to less than 50% of its rated capacity, for you will severely kill the life span of the product. Chances are, your inverter/load will stop working when the battery gets to this level anyway, because the battery's voltage will be so low.


Hope this all helps a little.

Pros: -Panels draw energy from the sky, even on overcast days, albeit not at full rate with overcast. On a bright day with sun, charging speeds up appreaciatively.

-Kit sets up easily and quickly with just a screwdriver.

-Included: charge controller, 200w modified sine wave inverter, 12v 18 amp battery, connectors & plenty of cabling.

Cons: - You'll want to upgrade to a much larger/higher amp battery.

-I wouldn't put my electronics on the entry level ac/dc inverter; although no problem with lighting, pumps, etc.

-I almost bought two, when they were on special sale at Newegg for: $229, but didn't!?!?

Other Thoughts: -These panels are good for emergency outages (wish I'd had one last May '09, when a bad storm wiped out power regionly to some folks for weeks, and to me 4 1/2 days).

-This kit isn't meant to save the Earth (on it's own anyway), but to provide peace of mind, during power outages. "And if treated as such" you'll appreaciate it for it's many and varied uses.

-I would have given it five eggs, if not for it's small battery, but not complainig for the price I paid.

-Newegg shipped and had the kit on my door-step, in about three working days!

-Thanks Newegg!

Pros: In the Florida sun it keeps the batteries on my boat charged up to run bilge pumps. The controller is great, shows charged and shuts down at night so does not discharge the batteries. Have not tried the inverter. With this solar kit I do not have to keep the boat plugged into the house power.

Cons: None so far

Other Thoughts: We are taking our whole house solar. Being an electrical engineer, and a past electrician this was a no brainer for $200, free shipping. Will buy another one if it goes to that price for the other boat. Easy to put together and works great. The shipping is what gets you on solar panels.