Renogy Lightweight ETFE Rigid Panels/ anyone familiar?

[Delmitch2]

Starting to outfit a small fibreglass trailer and went with the Renogy 300w Premium Kit. Already pulled the trigger, went for the lightweight ETFE Rigid panels. Have not been able to find any info, reviews on them. I am guessing they are the same ETFE flexible panels they sell only in a rigid frame. Makes sense to this noob, I get the lightweight benefit without the heat issues of the flexibles on the fibreglass roof. Curious if anyone has any experience with them. If they are crap, don’t let me know ;-), but odd ( maybe??) that I can’t find any info on them other than the Renogy website. Thanks.

 

[meetyg]

I've seen those online, pretty interesting.
I would think that the benefits (compare to regular flexibles) are better cooling (less delamination), and less prone to cracks die to rigid frame.

Downsides: Same material as flexible, which isn't as rugged as glass panels. While ETFE is better then PET, it can still get foggy/cloudy (the material, not the weather) after years of use.
In general I find that ETFE doesn't "self clean" as well as glass does under rain.

In short, these are better than flexible, but still worse than glass rigid.

They are half the weight of rigid panels, so very tempting.

 

[Delmitch2]

Thanks. It does say they have a “low iron tempered glass” later on top of the ETFE. To me that should address the issues I understand ETFE/flexible panels suffer from. Will see…

 

[meetyg]

Can you send a link ?
Maybe it's different than what I've seen.
Anyways, it sounds strange that they would put glass above ETFE coating.
Seems redundant...

 

[Delmitch2]

Item is listed a 100w Lightweight ETFE.

 

[meetyg]

Item is listed a 100w Lightweight ETFE.

Seems like a copy-paste error from their glass panels:
Rigid glass panel:

No mention of glass here on the lightweight version:


While in the Rigid it is mentioned:

 

[Delmitch2]

Yah, I noticed that before and was hoping Renogy had better oversight. They are supposed to arrive on Monday so we’ll see. They carry the same warranty as all the other panels so I’m sure they will suit my purpose. Half the weight of the others, and while not a huge weight savings I’d like to not unnecessarily load up the trailer. I’ll clarify once I receive them.

 

[Delmitch2]

Received the panels today, basically an ETFE flexible panel mounted in an aluminum frame, no glass. I still feel the promo pics are a bit misleading since the one pic shows clear glass over bumpy-textured ETFE cells. I understand that may be redundant (glass over ETFE, plus more weight) but they should correct the product info. Regardless, happy with my choice, keeping the weight to a minimum on the roof was my goal. Now just have to wait for spring to install!

 

[MrMatt]

Received the panels today, basically an ETFE flexible panel mounted in an aluminum frame, no glass. I still feel the promo pics are a bit misleading since the one pic shows clear glass over bumpy-textured ETFE cells. I understand that may be redundant (glass over ETFE, plus more weight) but they should correct the product info. Regardless, happy with my choice, keeping the weight to a minimum on the roof was my goal. Now just have to wait for spring to install!

Any updates on longevity?

 

[Tomthumb62]

Downsides: Same material as flexible, which isn't as rugged as glass panels. While ETFE is better then PET, it can still get foggy/cloudy (the material, not the weather) after years of use.
In general I find that ETFE doesn't "self clean" as well as glass does under rain.

Do you find that ETFE cleans better than PET? Glass isn't an option in our use case.

 

[meetyg]

Do you find that ETFE cleans better than PET? Glass isn't an option in our use case.

Well, that's tricky: PET is usually smooth, so debree should clean off easily with rain. Most ETFE is somewhat bumpy/coarse (to try to get sun from more angles). So dirt might catch between those bumps.
But PET scratches and deforms easier, so I'm not sure...