Flexible panel choice

[Pele'22]

I fully appreciate the disadvantages of flexible panels, yet that is my favored option for mounting to the top of my truck pop top camper for weight and clearance concerns.

The three options I've identified based on size available;

1. 2 x Renogy 100 Watt 12 Volt Black Division Lightweight Monocrystalline Solar Panel, $135
2. 2 x Renogy 100 Watt 12 Volt Flexible Monocrystalline Solar Panel $145
3. 2 x Overlander™ 130 Watt ETFE Semi-Flexible Solar Panel https://www.overlandsolar.com/colle...ander-130-watt-etfe-semi-flexible-solar-panel $377

Renogy has the advantage of a good warranty (Performance Warranty: 5 year 95% output warranty 10 year 90% output warranty 25 year 80% output warranty).

The Overlander panels tout their usage of Sunpower Maxeon Generation III cells, but are more than double the price, and although an extra 60W would be nice, they do not have any warranty.

Any thoughts

 

[bedpan]

I'm not familiar with Overlander.
I have used the Renogy panels and have no complaints. They are difficult company to deal with for warranty however. They have always come through but emails will go weeks with no answer and I find I have escalate things to get them resolved.

 

[fratermus]

If the controller is PWM I'd pick the 2nd renogy (lower Vmp). If MPPT the first renogy (higher Vmp).

I would never ever (ever) buy a panel from a company that does not publish complete specs. I've been googling for 5 mins and have only found this in their official info: "Pmax: 130W (duh), Voc: 26V". We might extrapolate a ~20.8Vmp (26v x 0.8) but I'd rather they told us.

I'm also not big on self-obsessed companies that slap ™ on things willy-nilly, but that's a personal preference.

 

[RCinFLA]

Don't expect flexible panels to last more than a couple of years due to UV sunlight degradation of plastic laminate.

First they will get milky colored reducing PV output. Then the plastic cracks allowing moisture in. Death follows quickly after cracking of plastic allowing moisture intrusion.

If you cover them when possible, you can reduce the UV degradation.

 

[Pele'22]

Thanks all for weighing in.

I'm not seeing much of advantage to the more expensive panels, sounds like the Renogy Black will be my choice, paired with Victron MPPT.

 

[wme]

Google CIGS solar panel. It's not a brand but a type of panel. VERY good also a bit $$$

 

[Pele'22]

Google CIGS solar panel. It's not a brand but a type of panel. VERY good also a bit $$$

I've read a little about them. I haven't found many that will work for my space.

I had looked at the Rich Solar 160W CIG panel. I think I could fit two, although it would be very tight. I wasn't confident the CIG advantage was worth the extra cost, and I don't think they offer much of a warranty. Open to being educated.

 

[wme]

Go with the best warranty. Bouge RV has an 18 month warranty on their CIGS

 

[soylentgreen]

Here are some related discussions:
https://diysolarforum.com/threads/cheap-flexible-100w-panel-doa.59877/

What do you think of my idea (flexible solar panels on my van)

Hi, I'd like to mount 3 flexible solar panels on my van. I don't want to use glue (I know it is very effective but I want to keep the whole thing removable). I also need to keep the total height as low as possible. Here is the solution I thought of, basically I will use 2mm stainless steel...

diysolarforum.com

Personally I'm very happy with the SunPower flexible - name brand, very high quality. More expensive, but...

 

[Tomthumb62]

If the controller is PWM I'd pick the 2nd renogy (lower Vmp). If MPPT the first renogy (higher Vmp).

I would never ever (ever) buy a panel from a company that does not publish complete specs. I've been googling for 5 mins and have only found this in their official info: "Pmax: 130W (duh), Voc: 26V". We might extrapolate a ~20.8Vmp (26v x 0.8) but I'd rather they told us.

I'm also not big on self-obsessed companies that slap ™ on things willy-nilly, but that's a personal preference.

If you don't mind a similar question:

We currently have 2x100W flexible Windy Nation panels, wired parallel. Looking to add a couple more 100W. I'm still unclear of the pros/cons of connecting slightly dissimilar panels. In this case, we're considering the first Renogy panels. The Windy Nation ones have a Vmp 18.15V and the Renogy are 19.4V. Is that 1.25V difference enough to matter? We also have a 2x100W Renogy suitcase that we will deploy at times (all panels wired in parallel), which has a Vmp of 18V.

The Windy Nation panels have performed well and are holding up fine, so we might just go that route again. But not sure if the newer Renogy 100W @ Vmp 19.4 might be higher quality or efficient?

 

[12VoltInstalls]

Is that 1.25V difference enough to matter?

In my opinion, in practical terms: no.

 

[Tomthumb62]

In my opinion, in practical terms: no.

Thank you. Would this mean that higher voltage panels would be reduced in voltage to the level of the lower voltage panels? If so, then yeah I can see that roughly 1 volt difference isn’t going to matter much in this case.

 

[soylentgreen]

I think the answer is "it depends" because MPPT controllers sweep the voltage range looking for the most wattage (V * I) and it's possible that depending on conditions (partial shading, temperature, etc.) it might find a voltage range that favors one panel vs. the other.

I couldn't find IV curves for either of your panels, but typical panels don't have a very sharp power peak, which means + or minus half a volt won't change things much.

 

[fratermus]

I'm still unclear of the pros/cons of connecting slightly dissimilar panels

I don't do it. When I had portables with different specs I put them on their own controller.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

I don't do it. When I had portables with different specs I put them on their own controller.

That’s probably best practice. But for the percentage difference of output in his situation … if one is that ‘tight’ on harvest potential than one needs more panels.

 

[Tomthumb62]

That’s probably best practice. But for the percentage difference of output in his situation … if one is that ‘tight’ on harvest potential than one needs more panels.

Yeah you've got my card. And by 'tight', this is in a small camp trailer. There isn't a lot of room (that my wife would be happy with) to put any more electrical gear. The single 30A MPPT takes up a considerable (IMO) amount of space in the storage/coat closet it's housed in. I try to keep the coats and other hanging things pushed away from the MPPT, so provide better airflow to it, since this model has no internal fan and it can get pretty hot in the insulated section of the trailer during summer. We do have an unused 20A PWM controller that's actually pretty small, but I'm guessing (without doing maths) that the slight voltage difference into a single MPPT is going to produce more power than 2x100 into MPPT and 2x100 into PWM, not to mention the already mentioned space/airflow/aesthetics issue.

I'm leaning towards simply two more of the 100W flexible panels from Windy Nation. They have served us well so far and are holding up fine. They are already 4 years old, but the trailer is under a roof for 8-9 months of the year anyways. No cracking or fogging I can see of.

EDIT: Now I'm leaning again towards the Renogy panels, mainly because they use ETFE film and the WindyNation ones use PET film. The PET is more prone to fogging/scratching and reflects more sunlight. ETFE seems to be the newer and better option and self-cleans better (it is a struggle to keep the PET ones clean in a not-easy-to-reach location).

 

[Tomthumb62]

1. 2 x Renogy 100 Watt 12 Volt Black Division Lightweight Monocrystalline Solar Panel, $135
2. 2 x Renogy 100 Watt 12 Volt Flexible Monocrystalline Solar Panel $145
3. 2 x Overlander™ 130 Watt ETFE Semi-Flexible Solar Panel https://www.overlandsolar.com/colle...ander-130-watt-etfe-semi-flexible-solar-panel $377

Maxeon makes the cells also for Sunpower, who also makes a very good 100W flexible panel, $179:

https://www.sunpoweredyachts.com/product-page/sunpower-e-flex-100watt-panel

(use code 'RVWITHTITO' for 10% off).

I'm debating myself between the Sunpower and the Renogy. I'm pretty sure the Sunpower are much higher quality (they have a copper-backed plate that supposedly helps with durability issues), but we've spent so much already on this whole system, lol!

 

[12VoltInstalls]

I’m not convinced that ‘flexible’ panels are a good longterm option- traditional panels have longevity in a 25-year range, and mounting them is more flexible ? than flexible panels…ymmv

 

[Tomthumb62]

I’m not convinced that ‘flexible’ panels are a good longterm option- traditional panels have longevity in a 25-year range, and mounting them is more flexible ? than flexible panels…ymmv

No they’re not as a long term solution as rigid. But they have their use case where rigid panels simply will not work.

 

[Pele'22]

I installed option 1, the renogy black division panels about a week ago. Had some trouble with initial panels arriving with scratches, maybe just cosmetic, but ultimately it all got sorted. Not enough time to give much of a user review, fingers crossed I get get some years out of them, hard panels wouldn't have really worked for my use case.