Solar Now


News / Friday, August 18th, 2023

In the late 1970s Harold KOJBC had a solar station, just a panel or 2 with a battery for his Ten-Tec station. (The Ten-Tec Triton – now called the 540 because Motorola owned the Triton name – is a 5 band, hundred Watt HF rig.) Those old radios (including the Kenwood 520) weren’t synthesized, and as a result only drew a few hundred mA on receive. These new rigs are getting better, but still draw around an Amp on receive. You’re going to need either 1 large or two smaller panels minimum.
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This is the HARBOR FREIGHT hundred Watt panel placed vertically outside my shack window and aimed West. They have a 4 section hundred Watt panel for $189 that includes a controller, but I chose this one because it’s $125 (less if you print out their $25 coupon) and I can make my own controller (or regulator).
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Hundred Watts is somewhat misleading because it’s just below 20 Volts at just over 5 or 6 Amps (that’s the hundred) but into a battery at 14V and you’re going to be using it at 12.6 when the sun goes down. This panel and a good deep cycle battery will run your rig for awhile, and maybe even a light bulb. Forget about anything else in the house unless you have panels like shown above at top, an installation on McPherson near where Steve WBOVNF used to live in Council Bluffs. (Hwy 6 on the way out to the airport where Rick KFOIQL lives.)