RENOGY Flexible Solar Panels

[BozSail]

shufti... As to mounting on my Bimini, the flex panel comes with grommets installed in each corner. I tied each corner to the Bimini frame with thin, strong line. Wind did not cause a problem, although I never encountered any severe winds in our travels. Maybe 30 knots at most.

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[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Patricia Tye.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by capt-couillon

Results of Renogy 100W solar panel immersion test...

While preparing to install my new 100W panel on the lazarette, I set it up on the bimini to avoid possible damage. Got cold, got late, got stupid and went below for supper and a nights sleep without stowing the panel. 20knt winds overnight stowed it for me, alongside the boat in about 20' of cold saltwater.

There it sat, on the bottom somewhere... Called my buddy the diver who charged me a full hour for a five minute recovery. (Too cold for me) but offered to swim around for a bit just to act like it was difficult.

Anyway, hauled it out of the drink, rinsed it off in fresh water, and installed it. Functioning just fine, so guess the encapsulation works. Not sure a regular glazed in frame panel would have survived 12 hrs at 20'.

This is not a recommended procedure for installation. Use at your own risk.

Cap'

You and I seem to have similar testing protocol... Maybe we could partner up.... I foresee our venture at least covering a partial bar tab, but doubtful of enabling us to abandon all other income generating sources at this point...

Happy...

[Mike Sibley]

I bought two of them and mounted them on the bimini. I am happy with them although I never seem get more than 5 amps from two 100W panels. I don't believe this relatively low output is due to a problem with the panels. The output of any panel will be due to 1) how it is mounted, 2) the how much sun there is, and 3) how discharged the batteries are. You will only get the advertised 100 watt output per panel if: 1) the panels are mounted perpendicular to the sun, 2) the sun is out with no clouds, and 3) your batteries are significantly discharged. Once the batteries get to approximately 70% fully charged, the charge controller starts cutting back on charging current. All of this means that the extra cost of a MPPT charge controller may not be worth the money. When using 12V panels, I believe you only get a small advantage from an MPPT controller during the initial bulk charging stage. After that, I don't believe there is any advantage.

[Opie91]

I have four Renogy 100 watt rigid panels and have seen a max output around 23 amps with a Morningstar PWM regulator. That was when the sun was directly overhead on a cloudless day. Not unusual to see 15 amps on a less than perfect day even when the sun is not directly overhead. Very satisfied so far.

[Paul L]

I bought 2 100watt flex panels direct from China via the Aliexpress website. They are in their second season now of the tropics. The film that covers them has started to haze up fairly significantly. Surprisingly it hasn't changed the output much. Not expecting to get more than 4 years out of these panels. But for the price, it is still a good deal.

[Ram]

How flexible, can I suitcase them

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Ram

How flexible, can I suitcase them

No, they are bendable to form to a surface, but that is about all.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Opie91

I have four Renogy 100 watt rigid panels and have seen a max output around 23 amps with a Morningstar PWM regulator. That was when the sun was directly overhead on a cloudless day. Not unusual to see 15 amps on a less than perfect day even when the sun is not directly overhead. Very satisfied so far.

Thanks Opie91. Your numbers are roughly in line with what I've come to expect from my semi-flex panels from Aurinco, and these were a lot more expensive.

Interesting about the rapid hazing Paul. That's not good.

[JK n Smitty]

Originally Posted by Mike Sibley

I bought two of them and mounted them on the bimini. I am happy with them although I never seem get more than 5 amps from two 100W panels. I don't believe this relatively low output is due to a problem with the panels. The output of any panel will be due to 1) how it is mounted, 2) the how much sun there is, and 3) how discharged the batteries are. You will only get the advertised 100 watt output per panel if: 1) the panels are mounted perpendicular to the sun, 2) the sun is out with no clouds, and 3) your batteries are significantly discharged. Once the batteries get to approximately 70% fully charged, the charge controller starts cutting back on charging current. All of this means that the extra cost of a MPPT charge controller may not be worth the money. When using 12V panels, I believe you only get a small advantage from an MPPT controller during the initial bulk charging stage. After that, I don't believe there is any advantage.

Here is a good article with some real world testing of MPPT vs. PWM controllers. I points pretty significantly to MPPT giving you better output. The question is if that output is worth the $. I am probably going to go with MPPT when I make the solar move next year.

[1ercru]

Renogy is having a Black Friday sale, it's too late for me, but maybe someone can use this.


http://renogy.com/wp-content/uploads...y-Flyer-v2.jpg

[zboss]

Man... solar is getting downright cheap! The fact that they can sell a flexible panel at almost the same cost as a fixed panel says a lot about how far manufacturing has come.

[autumnbreeze27]

I've got 4 of them that are backed with aluminum. I just bought 4 more of the plastic backed ones, thanks for the heads up on the black friday deal.

I'm in the process of mounting mine right now, I've got 3 out of the 4 wired in to a morningstar mppt 60.

I noticed on mine that they had a thin layer of plastic on them, similar to what you see on new computers or fancy electronics to protect the glossy finish during shipping. I peeled it off. To the guy that had discoloration, I wonder if you didn't peel that off?

[Mike OReilly]

Just noticed that Renogy is having a 10% off sale for the next few days ... might be time for an X-mas present to me.

[Canibul]

I've been looking at the flex 135 watt panels, planning a hard top for six of them. Just looked at the Renology site, and on sale, the same amount of wattage with their 100 watt panels comes out remarkably close to the 135 watt panels on eBay. i.e. right at two bucks a watt. so for my application, fewer wires to run and less holes to drill wins.