The main problem with the flexible panels is the heat!
If you glue the panel on a polyester surface (my boat) the panels were fried in one year!
To try solve this problem With experimenting with aluminium plates (3mm). The results where surprisingly good!! After more then 4 years the panels are still good! Those 2 panels (pet coating) looks old and weathered, but still ok! (The two black and white panels)
I glued the panel with sicaflex on the plate which can rotate 360 degrees. See picture 1.
In picture 1 you can see 4 50Watt panels. 2 old and 2 new (the black ones with etfe coating )
This year I made an upgrade of the heatexchanger by increasing the cooling surface are by gluing aluminium U-profiles (10x10 mm) on the backside of the aluminium plate. See picture 2.
For even better heat transfer the backside was painted black see picture 3
this resulted in a reduction of 20 degrees!! The panel with heat exchanger did not feel warm at all!!
picure 4. An 80 Watt panel with heat exchanger fixated on the deck. 10 mm space for airflow.
New panels from:
€ 52,98 27% Off | Flexibele Zonnepaneel 50W Etfe + Eva Film Fotovoltaïsche Zonnepaneel (Thermostable) 18V Voor 12V Beslag Wisselaar
To be continued...
more results will follow as the summer arrives.
location The Netherlands.