diy solar

diy solar

Can't get enough power from my newpowa panels

Abby Smith

New Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2020
Messages
46
Hello everyone,
Just a quick background about myself, I'm 20 years old, i go to UW and I live in a trailer with 1 other girl bc housing is expensive here lol. For the most part, I love it because I'm outdoors type of person, and I come from utah, so i'm not super into material things. Currently, im on my 2nd year as an engineering student.

I watched some videos of Wil from youtube and based on that, I purchased 4 newpowa panels, but they looked a bit different and I can't come close to generating more than 240 to 250 watts max on a sunny cold day facing the sun. I read a bit about solar panels, and i learned that typically they are 36 solar cells connected in series to generate the necessary voltage to be useful, however, the panels are igot are more like 72 cells. It looks like they connected 2 of them in series to get the voltages, but why are they so different than the ones wil tested? Why do they generate so much less energy? I'm really really disappointed tbh.
 
Last edited:
The back of the panels have a sticker on them with the model number and various specs. Could you provide a pic of the label?
 
BTW: Is that University of Washington in St Louis? Good School! I went to Rolla (down the road a bit)
 
Those look like reasonable panels. How are you measuring power output?
Could you show a diagram or something on how they are hooked up and what your charge controller is?
 
Jay,
Thanks, but how was Will getting 100 watts? Also, that response doesn't make sense to me, I bought these about 20 days ago, but I think im gonna buy two more from two other brands and see how they compare. Any suggestions which ones I should go for? Im thinking Renogy and LightCatcher, they both seem different and are both bigger than Newpowa.

Being an enginering student and good at math, I'm going to do some calculations to determine if what they are saying is making sense.
 
Here are my calculations on efficiency, let me know if I'm doing anything wrong:
NewPowa
910 mm x 675mm
total area = 0.910 * .675 = 0.61425
Efficiencey = 100/(0.61425*1000) =16.28%

Renoghy & LightCatcher brands are both the same
1030 mm x 675 mm
Total Area = 1.030*0.675 = 0.69525
Efficiency = 100 / (.69525*1000) = 14.38%



I'm really wondering if NewPowa is really exaggerating their power, it doesn't make any sense to me. They are the cheapest and they are much smaller than the rest. What do you guys think?
 
Here are my calculations on efficiency, let me know if I'm doing anything wrong:
NewPowa
910 mm x 675mm
total area = 0.910 * .675 = 0.61425
Efficiencey = 100/(0.61425*1000) =16.28%

Renoghy & LightCatcher brands are both the same
1030 mm x 675 mm
Total Area = 1.030*0.675 = 0.69525
Efficiency = 100 / (.69525*1000) = 14.38%



I'm really wondering if NewPowa is really exaggerating their power, it doesn't make any sense to me. They are the cheapest and they are much smaller than the rest. What do you guys think?
what's the model# of the panel? can you send us a link to that panel from Newpowa's website? and a link to your charge controller's tech document?
 
350w out of 4 100w panels in seattle in the winter actually sounds pretty good! You'll probably see an increase in the summer, but I don't think you have anything "wrong" with your setup.
Sorry, meant to say 240 to 250. And that's actually the max ive gotten on a full sunny day directly overhead, not on cloudy days. On cloudy days I get from 30 watts to 60 watts from all 4 total, sometimes even lower.

I don't think there is anything wrong with my setup, but i'm just wondering if I paid 10% less for a panel thats 25-35% less than it should be.

Can someone do a comparison test lol. I plan on doing it but I wanna make sure the return policy is good so I don't end up with too many panels.
 
Jay,
Thanks, but how was Will getting 100 watts? Also, that response doesn't make sense to me, I bought these about 20 days ago, but I think im gonna buy two more from two other brands and see how they compare. Any suggestions which ones I should go for? Im thinking Renogy and LightCatcher, they both seem different and are both bigger than Newpowa.

Being an enginering student and good at math, I'm going to do some calculations to determine if what they are saying is making sense.
I bet its due to your latitude. I did that test in San Diego. Think about the angle of the light going through the atmosphere.

Or they relabel and sell a different panel. You can count the cells and compare them to what I had in the video.
 
Jay,
Thanks, but how was Will getting 100 watts?
Nobody gets 100 watts out of a 100 watt rated panel.
"87" watts is really good in Winter in Seattle.
What video did you see this in?
EDIT. She wrote 350 watts instead of 250 watts so really 60 watts which sounds more realistic!
 
Last edited:
350w out of 4 100w panels in seattle in the winter actually sounds pretty good! You'll probably see an increase in the summer, but I don't think you have anything "wrong" with your setup.
Yeah, good point. Not bad considering the location too. Pretty decent output. My 4.5kwh grid tie system is pulling 3.5kw right now and I am in vegas. Pulling 350w out of 400w in winter is amazing.
 
Guys, I made a mistake on the first post lol. I wrote 350 but was actually 250 is what I meant to write.
250/400 62.5% of what is rated.

The panel is smaller than typical and there are a 72 cells connected together. Will, i really think you should retest and buy these newpowa ones. Something isn't right. Take a look at the amazon listing and tell me what you think.
 
Back
Top