What are the reviews for the Go Power Solar panels, controller, and inverter factory installed on the new Lance travel trailers?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Factory-installed GoPower products work just fine as designed. As long as you have quality batteries (preferably AGM or Lithium) to store the energy, and your needs include charging laptops and cell phones, and occasional use of your microwave or low-wattage coffee pot you'll be good to go.
What you may find, however, is that the performance is marginal for many applications. For example, the GoPower inverter has a continuous output of 1500 watts with a 3-second surge to 1800 watts. All that means is that the inverter will operate at maximum capacity with some appliances, or not at all. There's no capacity for high-wattage appliances.
Likewise, the PWM solar controller works as designed, but is typically less efficient than an MPPT solar controller and with fewer features than the more expensive Victron solar controller used by many LOA members. All said, there's nothing wrong with the base-level GoPower solutions provided by Lance. Just be aware of the limitations. Regarding GoPower solar panels, I would say they are comparable to other aftermarket panels. I personally have used them with excellent performance.
In summary, if you're looking for a basic solar/inverter system for a new Lance, the GoPower solution will meet your needs. If however, you want a performance-based system with plenty of capacity, expandable and comprehensive monitoring, then skip the Lance factory solution and opt for a custom aftermarket solution. See the possibilities at Where the sun does shine. | Lance Owners of America
Mike
I wish I had known that on the 1500w inverter. Currently trying to figure out how to have the Norcold 4150 fridge work on solar.
GoPower makes several different size pure sine wave inverters, including 1500w, 2000w, and 3000w.
The 1500 watt GoPower should easily run the ac element in your Norcold 4150 refrigerator. Perhaps the bigger question is your battery bank.
If your solar is not adequately keeping your current battery setup charged, (while running your fridge ac element by a 1500 watt inverter) you can: 1) Increase battery capacity , 2). Increase solar, or 3) use a dc to dc charger to charge your batteries while driving.
If your controller is above the fridge, the distance between the controller and batteries exceed the distance for getting acceptable efficiency. Voltage drop occurs because of the length of the run.
I suggest mounting within 3 feet of your battery for best results.
Thank you.
Links to Go Power On Amazon
@PapoJim posted:What are the reviews for the Go Power Solar panels, controller, and inverter factory installed on the new Lance travel trailers?
As others mention the Lance GoPower suite (panel(s), charge controller, and inverter) are adequate for casual users. My first experience with the 1500 watt version of inverter was that it would not run the HighPointe microwave. I think the 2000 watt is a better choice, again, casual users.
If one expects to be able to do days boondocking and use solar and battery only, then the basic offerings from the factory fall short.
When planning solar in 2018 I wondered why Lance did such a poor engineering job running the solar the way they do (cheaper I suppose). Our panels go to a combiner box and a single #8 AWG cable drops from a Link solar penetrator through the wardrobe cabinet down to the passthru installed Victron controller. Trojan T105's used to live on the tongue, now LFP's reside under the bed. great performance and trouble free so far throughout the evolution.
