SUNER POWER 12V Solar Panel Kit 20W, High Efficiency 20 Watt Solar Panel + Ultra-Smart 10A MPPT Charge Controller, Solar Battery Trickle Charger Maintainer for Boat Car RV Motorcycle Marine Automotive

This is a great starter set. I'm somewhat handy, but had never messed with solar power before. It was easy to put this together and get it running...probably 30 minutes tops. But, I had some issues because of two things, neither of which wer the fault of the manufacturer or the equipment: 1. I built a box to hold the battery and converter that wasn't fully waterproof, and water got into it and shorted out the lights. I didn't know what the problem was, so I ended up buying a second set of lights (I ordered a light strip) that I didn't really need to buy. Once I hooked up the new lights and had the same problem, I realized it wasn't the lights and discovered the moisture problem and fixed it with a little silicone. 2. I added an on/off switch, which I wired up wrong the first time, and it cause the battery to drain super fast, overloading the converter, which started to smoke and get really hot. So I had to order a new converter. Once I wired it right, no problems. It is still working six months later and with a LED light strip in Warn White at 16.4 ft., is bright enough to BBQ by at night. I'm happy how it turned out, and it kept me occupied for a few weeks.

This product came all in one package. It has just about everything you need to install this unit; he only thing missing is the screws to attach it to something. I put the panel on my shed's front wall, under a roof overhang so it's protected from falling tree limbs.Installation is easy. You can use screws through the face of the frame or the sides of the frame. Everything is plug and play after that.But be smart. Read the instructions before connecting anything. You must first attach the controller to a battery before connecting to the PV panel or you will hurt the controller.I connected it to a dead 190 cca lawnmower battery. Despite being a cloudy day here, the battery went from 10 volts to 12.6 volts in one hour. (In case you didn't know, 12.6 volts is what a properly charged measures.) LED lights clearly indicate when the battery is dead or fully charged. (See pictures). This is both a battery charger and battery tender, meaning the controller keeps the unit from overcharging your battery.There are several options for how to connect to the battery. For testing I simply used the clips, but a ring terminal option is included. There is also and end that let's you connect to wires as well.You can also connect more that one battery (2 six volt batteries can be charged if wired in series; more than one 12 volt can be charged if the batteries are the same type and age. Again, see the instructions.)There is an options to add lights. The controller has timer settings in one hour increments or dusk to dawn. I will be adding these. I was really surprised at how many settings were available. You could easily use this to power site/ landscape lighting.Two slightly negative comments:1) The mounting instructions aren't good. You are left on your own to figure things out. I wasn't sure if I had to angle the panel into the sun or if it would work fully vertical (actually installed it these way).2) The first unit shipped had a damaged wiring attachment point on the panel. The good news is one phone call and they sent a whole new unit right away, so it only delayed me a few days. So the negatives are small.I would definitely buy this again and recommend it to anyone, too. Nice unit that charges fast. And I am excited about using it to run lights, too. I originally only wanted it as a battery tender for my lawnmower and once I saw how powerful it is and it's ready built to handle lights, too, I am excited about adding lights. Once that is done, if I need to update thus review I will. But on my first day, I was thoroughly impressed.

"Installed easily and works as described. It's on my garden shed right now!"The above, was my original review, and I gave it five stars. Not so much now.The controller began showing some anomalies early on, although I couldn't identify whether it was inadequate storage giving me the problem or something else. Now it appears that it is indeed something else: it looks like the controller has failed.I have attempted to contact SUNER, but when I did send them an email describing the problem, the site immediately went back to the Home page and gave me no indication as to whether the email sent to the Technical Support group actually went through. So, since I had kept a copy of the email describing my problem, I immediately tried sending the same message to Customer Service. Only problem was that when I tried to connect to that link, I immediately got a 404 response. I logged off, shut down my browser, re-initiated another browser, went back to SUNER support and tried to contact Technical Support: 404. Same with every support link on their site. Not real happy with my purchase right now, but I'll give them a couple of days before buying another controller (from someone else).The above response to a controller that likely failed was filed yesterday as "I originally thought highly of this product, but..." with a three star rating. Less than 24 hours later, SUNER Customer Service responded and agreed that the controller had failed. They requested my order id# and said they would immediately send out a replacement controller. They are definitely back up to four stars in my book, and if I get the replacement controller in a reasonable period of time, they'll be back up to five! Good job SUNER Customer Service!