Monday, June 16, 2014

Grape Solar GS-S-250-Fab5 250-Watt Monocrystalline Solar Panel

Grape Solar GS-S-250-Fab5 250-Watt Monocrystalline Solar PanelGreat product. Great output. Hooked up two in parallel. They charge the battery bank in my small off grid mtn cabin enough to run the refrigerator and fluorescent lights 24 hours a day. Plus I did an hours worth of vacuuming, and even used the table saw one day. I had plenty of charge to spare. They were comparable to the Kyocera models, however shipping is free for these.

I finally found a grid tie inverter on Amazon that works with this panel the 500W 24-52v Mass Power Inverter. The 300W inverters only go up to 30V, and when I tested this panel with my multimeter, I read 31.4V. Since this solar panel is out of range for the 10.8v-30v 300W inverter I only saw a red fault led. I bought the 500W 24-52V, then tried it with the 500W and it works. After I plugged everything in, the green lights start to run. I measured 1.5A and 178W input using Kill-a-Watt

I bought the MC4 plugs, 10AWG solar panel wire, inverter, and solar panel here on Amazon. So now that I know this works, I'll get the rest of the panels I need.

Update:

Make sure that the 10AWG wire from the panel to the inverter is no longer than 3 feet. I can get 200W instead of 178W. I suppose due to loss. Also the 600W 24-60v inverter will support two of these panels unlike the 500W versions. I used 3/8 ring terminals from Home Depot.

Buy Grape Solar GS-S-250-Fab5 250-Watt Monocrystalline Solar Panel Now

I've bought 8 of these panels for remote power for my Fifth Wheel.

Panels are very well manufactured. I dropped an 18V battery for my cordless drill 9 feet on to the front of a panel. The glass was only scuffed.

You may be assured of five star customer service from both Amazon, and Grape Solar for these panels. Since I ordered them one at a time, I'm convinced I'll only buy Grape Solar from Amazon. Both are awesome!

Panels come bubble wrapped and sandwiched between two wooden pallets.

Save yourself some money: buy eye electrical connectors and cut off those "standard solar" connectors, crimp on the eye connectors, and attach individually to 8 gauge wire from a local hardware store acting as a bus.

Truly a Grape product!

Read Best Reviews of Grape Solar GS-S-250-Fab5 250-Watt Monocrystalline Solar Panel Here

This is a well made panel and it exceeds the specs. While there is very little info on Amazon, you can look up all the Grape Solar stuff on Home Depot's web site. The frame is strong and mounted easily. With a 50 foot run of 10 gage wire to my controller, I can get 242 watts and 16.2 amps into my 12 volt battery setup and they are never low enough to see what the max oputput is. I will run one battery down and test this later and post the results (output is dependant on what the battery draws). This is a 24 volt panel, but it is a NOMINAL 24 volt pannel, so don't plan on charging 24 volt batteries with it, But through a controller into a 12 volt battery system it is great. I can equalize my batteries at 16.1 volts with no problems. I even had 2.2 amp output in the rain! Very efficient pannel as far as solar goes. Highly recommend it.

Want Grape Solar GS-S-250-Fab5 250-Watt Monocrystalline Solar Panel Discount?

These panels are relatively lightweight and rugged. I like that the cells are encapsulated to protect them. Combined with SUN-600G 600W Watt Micro Grid Tie Solar Power Inverter Solar Panel 120V AC NEW US SELLER, I have measured the output of the inverter to be 2.5 Amps (~300 Watts) for most of the day with 2.7 Amps max so far when plugged into a 120v 60Hz outlet. It is currently winter here so I would expect this combination to produce more power in spring and summer. As I expand my system I will consider buying more of these solar panels.

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