Flexible solar panel comparison

gettinthere · Sep 6, 2014

Following...

Rick D · Sep 6, 2014

My neighbor bought two and is very satisfied with the Renogy. Got me to thinking too....

Brian D · Sep 6, 2014

opps... sorry... didn't see the work flexible. LOL Old age.

NYSail · Sep 7, 2014

I also have been research flexible panels and found a company Grape Solar that has what appear to be great prices....

Scott T-Bird · Sep 7, 2014

Does great price correlate with high quality in these products? I'd pay more for a product that is guaranteed to meet my expectations (the advertised specifications). I'm with Rick ... it's got me thinking, too. Is Renogy considered to be reliable?

JK_Boston_Catalina310 · Sep 7, 2014

You are not making an apples to apples comparison. The Solbians are more efficient than the other ones.

That doesn't mean that I don't think you should ignore brands other than Solbians but you to take efficiency and quality into account. I am going through a similar comparison. Depending on what nonSolbian you are looking at you should be comparing a 100 watt panel to a 90 watt or smaller Solbians panel. You have to actually look at the statistics for the panels not just the reported watts.

And then you need to find some way to account for quality comparison. We don't always need the Cadillac option but what does it mean to go with lesser quality?

capta · Sep 7, 2014

Just read (BBC online) about a new solar panel coming out this year that is flexible, see through and cheap. It is being manufactured to go on skyscraper windows and apparently generates power on both sides. If you can wait, this might be the best way to go.

Chief RA · Sep 7, 2014

I have used solar panels for at least 20 years, taught it in college, engineer.......I'd buy the Renogy units. Chief

JK_Boston_Catalina310 · Sep 7, 2014

galynd said:
"You are not making an apples to apples comparison. The Solbians are more efficient than the other ones." Solbian claims to have 18+% efficiency Renogy claims 19.99 % efficiency, 30 degree flexibility. I still don't see the difference.

Yeah and the tools from Harbor Freight claim to be the same as Mikita or Portacable do you really believe they are?

But there are plenty of times when a Harbor Freight tool will do the job depending on the situation.

The Renogy panels are very interesting and I know one couple that recently purchased them for their Westsail that they are about to leave on a circumnavigation on. The appearance of these and the ones from Go Power Systems have me really thinking because they are a lot cheaper. But I have no disillusion that they are the same quality as the Solbians. I was going to buy the Solbians this winter but now I am going to wait a little longer now to see how these perform in the real world.

Delezynski · Sep 7, 2014

Hi Greg,

This is Greg...

..

We are doing a bit more re-fit of Guenevere, our Nor'Sea 27, for more long term cruising. I was about to pick up a couple of 50 W solar panels to add to our power system.

As it turns out, I saw this post about the Renogy semi-flexible 100 W units. I keep forgetting how fast technology speeds ahead! At the size they are, and the light weight I changed my mind. At 3 pounds each, they would be easy for me to fly when we are at anchor and double the power I expected to get. So, I just ordered 2 of them.

We have a mounted 85 Watt panel aft. And, I fly 2 each, 40 watt panels when we anchor.

Photo taken in Mazatlan Mexico.

With the addition of the 2 new ones, I should be very fat on power generation. Should be able to make water for at least a couple of hours each day! :dance:

Thanks for the heads up.

Greg

Kestle · Sep 7, 2014

I am interested in find a panel I can build onto a boom tent or a bow tent.

Jeff

Delezynski · Sep 7, 2014

Kestle said:
I am interested in find a panel I can build onto a boom tent or a bow tent.

Jeff

Jeff,

We use (and love) a Shadetree cover when at anchor in the tropics. The panels talked about in this thread weigh only 3 pounds, for the 100 Watt panel. Our older 32 Watt Unisolar roll up panels were to heavy, but these should be just fine.

Greg

mitiempo · Sep 8, 2014

I do not know about the Renogy panels but I sell the Go Power flex panels and they perform as advertised. 100 watt panel is 5.62 amps.

Kestle · Sep 8, 2014

Delezynski said:
Jeff, We use (and love) a Shadetree cover when at anchor in the tropics. The panels talked about in this thread weigh only 3 pounds, for the 100 Watt panel. Our older 32 Watt Unisolar roll up panels were to heavy, but these should be just fine. Greg

Thanks!

Do you have the panels on it? I didn't see them. The mounting of these is a question, and partially because I use my boom with flopper-stoppers when at anchor. We get 15-20 knots of wind near dusk where I anchor. That's why I was looking at mounting them on a tent, over the foredeck.

Jeff

Delezynski · Sep 8, 2014

Jeff,

I JUST ordered the Renogy 100 W panels. Do not even have them yet.

The photo in the above post was taken in the Sea of Cortez. We had recently come to anchor and I was setting up. We would normally be away from any marinas for 4 to 6 months and anchor for weeks at a time.

Our solar setup at the time was the 85 W panel mounted aft (photo way up in the thread) and 4 Uni-Solar 32 W flexible (roll up) panels. I first tried to put out the Uni-Solar panels up on the Shadetree cover. BUT, they are a bit over 5 pounds EACH, and just to heavy for the cover to support. The Renogy panels are only 3 pounds each and I think using only 2 of them should fit fine for our Shadetree when needed.

So, at the time I mounted the Uni-Solar panels on our pinrails. At anchor I would wing them up. In the above photo you can see them just at the bow of our dink in the stowed position. I had not yet raised them up into the generation position. A note here, we would lower them each night to protect them from possible big winds that did take place at times. BUT, in the down position they would pick up early AM and late PM sun better!

Here are 3 photos that show how they work. NOTE: these are “proof of concept” photos! We did NOT use the panels shown in the photos!! They were just to poor in generation ability to keep aboard!

Pin rail snap mount …..

This is a close up of the panel mounted to the hinge half, In the down position, or reefed for the night. A Bungee around the stay keeps it secure even in moderate winds. ….

Here is a closer view of the panel hinge with the panel in the up position …...

Here is a photo of two panels in the up position and ready to be connected to provide power. In this system, I used small lines with small shackels from a ring on the upper stay (that also holds our boat hook). …....

With the new Renogy panels I expect to have the standard 85 W Kyocera panel mounted aft. I can then fly 2 each 40 W Kyocera panels on the pin rails and the 2, 100 W Renogy panels on the Shadetree (or maybe just on the boom) for a total of 365 Watt. For us, that should more than power us, including some water maker use, 100 % of the time (in sunny weather)!

All of the above is on our web pages along with more info on our cruising. HOPE this helps!

Greg

Kestle · Sep 8, 2014

From what I've read, be really careful with shadows.

I have mine mounted at about 30 degrees facing forward (long side up) and have found the wind tends to favor that more than flat (i.e. Wind comes just far enough off the bow for no shadows)

Here is something I'd like to emulate.

Jeff

Delezynski · Sep 8, 2014

Kestle said:
From what I've read, be really careful with shadows.

I have mine mounted at about 30 degrees facing forward (long side up) and have found the wind tends to favor that more than flat (i.e. Wind comes just far enough off the bow for no shadows)

Here is something I'd like to emulate.

Jeff

Jeff,

NICE idea! THANKS!!

Jill made us a shade to cover our fordeck something like the one in your photo. I lower the whisker pole and clip it to the forstay just above the jib bag and cover it with the shade cloth. You can see it in our Youtube video ( http://youtu.be/3GzGgX-_5aw ) at about 4 min 45 sec.

I think I will rig the panels on it instead of the Shadetree?? Will try both.

Greg

Kestle · Sep 13, 2014

Delezynski said:
Jeff, NICE idea! THANKS!! Jill made us a shade to cover our fordeck something like the one in your photo. I lower the whisker pole and clip it to the forstay just above the jib bag and cover it with the shade cloth. You can see it in our Youtube video ( http://youtu.be/3GzGgX-_5aw ) at about 4 min 45 sec. I think I will rig the panels on it instead of the Shadetree?? Will try both. Greg

I have a flopper-stopper made out of a Home Depot bucket with holes drilled in e bottom. It works pretty well. A mushroom anchor holds it down, when not used for the dingy. I hang it off my boom, with the boom tied to a stay and supported by by lines to the bow and stern. My whisker pole holds up our boom tent.

Jeff

Flexible solar panel comparison

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