Solor Panel Placement

[LODFFB]

I was just wondering where you guys mount your solor panel? On the roof or on a side? I heard one guy say that you should mount it on the same side as the door and then you face the door side to the south. Because the sun is south Duh and if you get cold nasty weather the Canadians usually send it our way. Just curious what you guys do. Thanks

[Bryce]

I had the single panel on my first house. Maybe I had a bad one. Could not tell a bit of difference. I would mount it in the box it came in and return it. Use the money towards a generator.

[nytelyter]

welll i have posted on this a few times before. and again i will add my two cents. if you are going to be fishing every day and depending on one or two deep cycle batteries. you are going to be chargeing. you will need two 45 watt panels to suffiently keep these batteries fully charged. there is not enuff sunlite hours in the winter. and cosidering that two panels will set you back about a thousand dollars it is far more economical to invest in the small wind generators that are on the market today a complete set up will run you about $700 and think about it there are alot of windy days in the winter and a wind generator will more adiquatly charge your batteries. also the best betteries for this use is two 6 volt golf cart batteries in series. they will give you the best results. i have done the research on this and advise you to do so as well. i fish every nite and have many 12 volt accessories in my house. i also have made the MISTAKE in putting money into three 15 watt panels that are NOT adiquate. now if you are just weekend fishing you could probably get by with 1 45 watt plug and play panel. i hope it is ok to post that the wind powered generators are made by areo and they have a web site. i am starting to see more of these on fishhouses on millelacs and other lakes. hope this helps. and to answer your question yes mount on door side of fishhouse as you will usually keep it towards the south to keep it out of the wind. ... paul

[SomethingFishy*]

Use a Honda Eu1000i or Eu2000i Generator. You can get the 2000's for less than a $1000. The guy I rent houses from on red has one of these powering 4 8x18 fish houses. It is super quite and barely uses any gas.

I plan on buying one for my home just incase we get a big storm a nd are without power for a while. Then it can also be used for fishing/camping as there are light weight. (29-46lbs)

[ice_it_06]

Agreed on trashing the solar idea.

Double up on deep cycle batteries with a 12V charge system, or go with the (6) volt cart batteries for harcore 12v needs as mentioned prior.

Honda generator is nice but for the few times you need it the cost isn't real practical unless you can use it elsewhere through out the year. But they sure are a quick fix if you have the house wired correct and the $$$

[beer batter]

I have all 3 options in my house. I really like being able to plug in a generator or extension cord during summer and having power/light in the house without requiring battery. I also like having the ability of having light without any power source other than propane with the gas light. 12 volt are the most economical. Pluses to all 3.

Say you're on LOW for a weekend trip, you may want to extend it a day or 2 because of a good bite. If you have gas lights, no problem. As long as you've got propane you've got heat and light which are the 2 most important requirements.

I would definitely have at least 2 different sources of light with one of them being gas. The other will be either 12 volt or 120, but as long as you're wiring why not put in a couple of each? You won't regret it in the long run.

**edit**

boy, I must be losing it. I can't even get my comments into the right thread anymore This was supposed to have been added to this thread:

web page

[HarryG]

I think your are better off with more batteries. I put a deep cycle in my truck. I usualy drive onto the ice and hook it up to my house. I got the idea from a resort at LOW. I also have a gas lantern to use at night to save on power. If you got a lot of toys on board, a generator is the only way to go.

[rippinlipz]

Where is a cheap place to buy solarpanels?

[nytelyter]

cheap and solar panels are never used in the same sentence. a good 450w panel will run ya about 5 bills. check them out at northern. but please read some of my previous posts on this matter as i have done my homework on this subject. there is a place up by duluth that will also give you some great info but i cant remember the nameof it. they carry a few kinds of remote power supply devives includeing panels and wind power. ... paul

[lookin4fish]

my three cents are as follows. i just took a river trip in ol' mississippi. i put 2 solor panels on the front of the boat to keep the batteries charged. after 2 days theier was enough juice just to power the lights and depthfinder, not the trolling motor. i had dirent sunlight for 5 days and it wasnt enough to keep up the batteries. granted trolling motors suck the juice, but add up all the toys in the fishhouse and it will be close to the same. i dont know the exact spects on the solor panels but they costed $400 together. my thoughts is that you could by a few gel cell batteries for that price and not really worry about loosing power. i do like the wind gererator idea, but i struggle to make the payments on my pull behind fishhouse each month, now the gas to get it to the lake, $700 wind for some extra power is not in the budget.

bedst of luck