Best Solar panel you can buy, period! (1 Viewer)

[RFB]

best solar panels made period.

 

[ntsqd]

meh, claims like that are usually just marketing hype.

 

[FrazzledHunter]

Looks convenient in that it folds up. I use Merlin products though due to their durability.

 

[spressomon]

For $2k, for the 300w foldable, it better be the best. I've never used Sunpower semi-flexible cells but their mono-glass PV panels are among the best available. But to advertise "24.5% efficiency" leaves the solar blanket mfg linked above more than a little in the BS arena.

 

[e9999]

24.5% is at the very high end of what is available today in unitary large panels for the retail market. Rated efficiency is based on the surface area of the entire panel. With all the empty space between the little cell squares in that thing above, that would be a very dubious claim when it comes to the whole "panel".

 

[FrazzledHunter]

24.5% is at the very high end of what is available today in unitary large panels for the retail market. Rated efficiency is based on the surface area of the entire panel. With all the empty space between the little cell squares in that thing above, that would be a very dubious claim when it comes to the whole "panel".

Efficiency aside, I was pretty impressed with the 300W rating. That is, if it really puts that out and it's easily verified. The roll up nature means that it just has to have the space between cells to do so. My Merlin XP-170's (170W) are flat and durable but sometimes a bit unwieldy to transport even in a truck. You'd never dream of backpacking with them, for instance.

 

[e9999]

Sure a flexible panel would be great to carry around. The problem is that most of those so-called flexible panels are not. At least not if you want to keep them going for a while. I do have one that is actually flexible, not just bits of brittle silicon with flexing/folding "hinges" of backing between them. Remember there are very thin wires across all those folding bits of backing, and repeatedly flexing them is not going to end well. Even though mine is supposedly truly uniformly flexing (as in a real curve, not a polygon), I feel continuously hampered by the notion that I should not flex it *too much* because even with that one, the busbar wires are not going to like it. That bit of durability-concerns-induced paranoia (my own mental issues, obviously ) really puts a damper on how I use it. I even put a hard backing on it at some point when moving it around much. Might as well be a truly rigid one at that point, I'd feel much more at peace with the world... And the flexible one was much more expensive.

 

[spressomon]

And then, for many of us, there's the 'walk-off' issue with portables/fold-ables. Obviously, theft is an application driven concern but...this is the #1 issue I have with deploying my Merlin 170w panel; we're not always right there with it 24/7.

 

[FrazzledHunter]

And then, for many of us, there's the 'walk-off' issue with portables/fold-ables. Obviously, theft is an application driven concern but...this is the #1 issue I have with deploying my Merlin 170w panel; we're not always right there with it 24/7.

Indeed. I got a heavy aluminum bar and used security nuts & bolts to attach it along the entire length on one side of the panels. I use a heavy bicycle cable to attach it to my LC's tow hooks. You'd really have to wreck it or cut the cable, which is quite thick, to make off with it. Not sure I'd leave it attached to my roof rack and leave it in a parking lot. I don't really worry about it too much in campgrounds. But even then, I still give it a long look before leaving a campground for a walk or a hike.

 

[e9999]

yes, that is a concern. It seems to me that the difference between having a panel bolted to the roof and sitting on the ground is night and day as far as opportunity theft is concerned.