Don't know about the quality of these things but worth a crack at the price.
Unboxing and test of the 100W here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0rEoDjiCHw
CamelCamelCamel.
at this price I wouldn't expect an MPPT
Me neither, great price. Just FYI before the inevetable comment asking :)
A 100 watt 12v (21v VOC) panel cannot produce 10 amps output.
How long does it charge a car battery?
Depends on how empty the battery is. If it's flat, at least full sunny day to get it to the point of possibly starting the car.
If it gets flattened regularly, buy a new battery.
Any shade or cloud will drop the output considerably.
At first I thought it was the (way too low) cutoff voltage but watching again I see the A after it.. No idea what it's reporting there.
Going by the general rule of Watts divided by 13, multiplied by 0.7 should be 5.38A, label claims 5.5A (Had a hard time finding actual specs last time this was posted as they only have the 120W in the listing but eventually found them, have posted here. Whether reality matches the specs is another thing.
This came with no instructions, so I'm just guessing my way through.
I think the 2nd screen is the output current limiter. i.e. 10 amp limit from battery to load.
anyone with solar knowledge can comment if this panel is good or not please? :)
100W panel = 0.64m2
120W panel = 0.77m2
150W panel = 0.96m2
160W panel = 1.02m2
So going by that, the 100W is likely at best about 80W?
A cheap start to solar imo
Is it a turn key solution or does it require installation ,purchase of other parts to start using ?
It comes with a controller so you can hook it up direct to a battery and charge it without any dramas.
Great price!
Although 9.6kg is pretty darn heavy… IMO weight/size is pretty important, even if it's going to be in a vehicle as space can be at a premium!
Output is related to size… that's why 95% of the panels out there are pure garbage with misleading specs.
As for the controllers, they're about $3.50 - $4.00 on alibaba.
I am more insinuating the glass vs alternative / foldable style which is the same size panels but ALOT lighter.
They are also 5 x the price… ( for good brands not generic )
These were on sale a few weeks ago. I got the 180W unit for $99 so this deal is a better deal.
Except …
Like a couple of other people who've purchased this particular solar gear, my regulator was dead out of the box. Completely non-functional. The panels are great and look of high quality, but can't say the same about the regulator. And stupid me didn't check its operation before we went camping - so it was a useless addition to the load on my trailer.
I haven't returned the regulator yet, so I can't comment about the after-sales service.
If you want a good quality charge controller, I highly recommend the little victron units.
Yep buy cheap panels, throw away the cheap PWM controller, and spend as much (or even more) on a Victron 75|15.
This is OzBargain. Sell the old PWM controller and buy a Victron MPPT on eBay with coupon, gift-card and cashback.
Definitely more.. a Victron SmartSolar 75/15 goes for ~$140 (though if anyone has a cheaper link please share)
$140 seems like a good price.
In my first foray into solar controllers (PWM), I thought all three of my (cheapo) solar controllers were DOA.
I later learnt that the controller needs to be powered by a battery. ie. It can't just run directly from the solar panel.
Don't know if this is the same issue you're experiencing or not.
can you leave this out in the open for long term? i am thinking of attaching something like this to a weather station or a motion sensor/camera that is further away from the house.
You should expect to leave your solar panels out in the open, although you could bring them in during the heat of the day if you are concerned about sun damage :-)
It would probably depend on how protected it was. Although the panels themselves and aluminium are corrosion resistant, all the other small parts may not be.
You might also have concerns depending how windy the area was.
Yeah I am wondering the same thing, as they appear to be designed more for intermittent use (camping trips). Anyone got anything further to add on this?
I have a smaller panel made of a similar material that is out in the open (next to the garage).
It has been out for at least two years. No signs of visible corrosion as far as I can see. And it's still operational.
Haven't had the time to find a better place to mount it yet.
I'm looking at the 100W version, and it does look pretty robust. All parts are either aluminium or what looks like stainless, so it should survive living outside.
It's pretty big though, for your use-case of 'weather station' or 'sensor/camera' it would be complete overkill.
Looks good
Do they have an inbuilt stand?
Yes, it does. One stand on each side of the panel.
Cool floppy disk avatar.
Thats a "save" icon
I worked at a solar supply shop in 1999 where we sold solar panels for minimum $10 per watt, therefore an 80 watt solar panel was $800, 40 watt panel $450.
If we had this solar kit available in 1999 (which we wouldn't as we didn't have 180W panels) a foldable 180W panel, a solar controller, cable and Anderson plug in a bag would cost around $2,000. It is now $166.65 or 12X cheaper. The cheapest you could buy a solar panel in 1999 was from Rainbow Power Company (RPC) they would sometimes discount an 80W panel to $640 or $8 per watt but you had to pay for freight if you didn't live in or near Nimbin northern NSW.
and this deal is 50% so 24X…
Oh yeah i forgot about the 50% off or 24X cheaper. In 1999 the average Australian weekly wage was just $600, to buy this solar kit in 1999 was $2,000 so it would take 3.33 weeks to pay off. In 2020 the average weekly wage is $1,250 and this kit costs $88 so you could buy 14 kits in a week. So this works out to be 50X cheaper today in real world terms compared to 1999. So why am I going on about this? Well I live in Melbourne and I'm in lock down so I've got nothing better to do.
So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time…..
Not bad, could get this and the Jackery 250watt for $500
Was looking at these during the 40% off promo, then started thinking whether a solar blanket would be better. There is a couple of 250w ones going for $179 on eBay, but I'm seriously doubting whether they can actually output anything close to that.
Should also be noted that the guy in the Youtube review (if you can call it that) also sells these panels in case you didn't see the full description.
Anyway, looking at them last time I managed to find the rating labels somewhere for all 3 panels for electrical specs and dimensions (folded) which I've put up here.
There's a thread in Wikicamps - Technical Questions (Solar Power) and the TL;DR? They can't put out claimed power.
The Otfrids or 250W solar blankets? (trying to find on Wikicamps but navigating the forums on the app isn't a great experience)
Neighbour picked up the Kings 200W blanket recently, might see if I can give it test when we get a bit of sun again.
I have two of the King's 120W blankets and get the rated power in full sun (Victron MPPT)
@overcoat: Yeh thought the Kings should a least be close.
Pretty sus on these ones though. Looking at the size of them alone I'd be surprised if they even reached 150W
Just ordered one and hope the controller works.
$5.99 Delivery to Sydney CBD without Prime
Amazon defaults to expedited delivery for this one. Have you tried selecting Free standard delivery?
I have the following options:
* FREE Expedited Delivery with a free trial of Amazon Prime
* Expedited Delivery $5.99
Edit: There's an option for Free Standard Delivery if you buy more than 1
Weird.
I had 3 options
* FREE expedited with trial
* Expedited
* Free
If I wanted to use this to power a small water pump, what other hardware (besides a pump) will I need? I am happy for the pump to speed-up/slow-down/turn-off as the sun comes and goes.
Assuming that the pump is 12v you’ll need a battery. The panel will charge the battery. The battery will run the pump.
I’m sure that there is a device which will turn the pump on / off at sunrise / sunset, but it’s not something i have experience with.
Thanks!
I ordered on Wednesday at 2pm Perth time and received it today (Friday) at 11:52pm. What a great service and it was a heavy parcel too. I did not pay anything for expedite shipping. Now I have to figure out how to test the solar panels to see if it is working. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
If you attach it to a 12V battery, the charge controller will turn on.
Did you receive instructions for the charge controller? I didn't.
The icons seem to indicate it's charging my battery, but I'm not 100% sure.
Has anyone had any experience running a battery and engel setup with one of these? thanks
Anyone received and tested theirs yet? Mine seems to be DOA. I’ve bypassed the crappy charge controller and gone straight into my existing victron unit which I know works.
Yeah, mine seems to work. Can't figure out how to test the actual performance of the panel though.
Sent an email request for instructions, but received a manual for correct panel with a different charge controller, so I still don't really know how to configure this thing.
I got mine sorted after jiggling a few connectors.
Once you have it all connected to a flat battery the controller should tell you the charge rate I guess.
According to my victron controller logs from thismonrning the panel voltage (max) = ~20.5v, and the peak charge rate was ~60W, which seems reasonable considering the patchy sun at the moment.
Which size panel did you get, and still happy with it?
180's are gone now, but thinking of grabbing a 120. Have a 75/15 and was thinking be better to rewire the two panels to run in series rather than parallel.
@bamzero: 180W. I haven’t used enough to really recommend or not, but it seems good. Legs are sturdier than some others I’ve seen, bag is ok, genuine Anderson plugs.
I plan on wiring in series eventually, but haven’t bothered yet cos it was easy ‘plug and play’ into my existing system with the Anderson plug between panels and controller.
@watts: Got my 120W today, doesn't look too bad all in all, pretty rough inside the j-box though. If I ever bother to rewire will clean it up, but guessing going to end up same as you, works as is so probably won't ever end up doing it :)
Thick insulation, not so thick wires in the cables, and those Anderson's are def fakes but I'm sure will be ok for the task at hand.
Pity it's all clouds today so won't get to give it a test yet.
@watts: You really think so?
I checked on this page and considered them genuine:
https://jts12volt.com.au/counterfeit-anderson-plugs/
@damion: Clearly different when I put side by side with genuine so I assume fake, unless there’s different genuine variations.
@damion: They are better fakes than the ones on that page.The colour of these is much lighter grey than genuine ones, and the lettering isn't as clear.
Apart from the little rectangle on the back not having a ridge around it, they are a pretty spot on copy.
Do you have a link to the controller instructions? I'm trying to work out how the last two "hr" settings work. The first setting with a light bulb icon apparently specifies how long after sundown it should run (0 could be dusk to dawn, 24hr meaning always on). But the second "hr" setting goes from 0 to 12 and I don't understand what it's for. Any thoughts?
If you figure it out, let me know!
For anyone that cares, included charge controller is PWM.