Location:

K55, Baja California, Mexico

Purpose:

Reduce dependence on buddy’s noisy & smelly gas generator during weekend trips to beach shack. Week of rest after every usage.

System [June 2008]:

-> 60W total [~3.5Amps]. Two 20W [18Vmp] panel & two 10W [18Vmp] panels of the same mono-crystalline construction. [16AWG]

-> Morningstar MPPT 15 Amp Charge Controller. [14AWG]

-> Two [2] new 12V ~100AH deep cycle batteries [parallel ~200AH, 1/0AWG]

-> 700W AC inverter [4AWG]

-> 3.5KW gas generator to 6Amp AC batt charger for extra charging capacity when needed

Current Load:

-> Three [3] 12V x 26W fluorescent fixtures

-> Two [2] 12V x 15W fluorescent fixtures

-> One [1] 12V x 11W fluorescent fixture

-> One [1] 12V x 13W fluorescent fixture

-> Yamaha 2.1 speakers, 25W

-> Dual-port 12V car cig lighter adapter for mobile phone/iPod chargers.

Notes:

Panels are fixed @ slight SW & angle of ~35° from horizontal due to wind concerns, more than output, but very close to local latitude of ~32°. I was at the Baja house when the winds started the raging fires in SoCAL [2007], it was bad.

Voltage reads 20-24+V @ 3.4-3.6 Amps pre-load between 10:00AM & 3:30PM in June. Current load is lighting- OFF & ON 3-4 hours per night. Usually only one or two is ON at any given time. Lights work very well, almost like normal house. iPod is self-powererd to Yamaha 25W 2.1 speakers on inverter for 2-6 hours during day. Currently, we must use generator for TV/movies/games.

Expansion:

Another 20W panel for 80W total went in Dec 2008- another 80W will conclude a 160W system. Goal is 3 to 4 times per month…lighting, music, & occasional 26″ 60W LCD using 15W DVD player & 25W 2.1 speakers for movies when surf is flat. [~700-800 Watt-Hours/day]
Rating: 5 / 5

The panel took about a week to arrive; the packing was “wierd” (bubble wrap wrapped

around the cardboard! ) but it was intact.

The frame is aluminium, however the backing is plastic and the front side is glass

(not Tefzel). The whole thing is sealed with copious amounts of silicone rubber.

The wierd part of this panel is that it’s _not_ exactly a 12-volt panel. In

full noonday sun, it puts out 20 volts open-circuit, at 1.03 amperes. This is

somewhat higher in voltage and lower in amperage than many would prefer; you will

need a charge controller at the very minimum as this _will_ cook a 12-volt

battery if used for a long time. Be sure your charge controller can handle

it- most charge controllers are rated for 16 to 18 volts input and this panel

puts out 20 volts or a bit more.

The panel comes with a pair of 6-foot wires (with something written on them

in Chinese), one red, one black, and permanently attached to a box centered in

the back of the panel. The other end of the wires go to a pair of alligator

clips, but as warned above, don’t just clip these onto a lead-acid battery

for long term use unless either the battery is really big or you have a

charge controller.

A downside: lead-acid batteries typically charge at 14 volts; any additional

voltage is wasted. So, this panel loses about 30% of the energy produced

if the charge controller is not an active (buck-boost) or maximum power point

tracking (MPPT) controller.

On the up side, the 20 volts open circuit stayed pretty solid even when

the sun went behind clouds; what dropped was the amperage (down to 0.2 amps

when the array was shadowed, down to 0.1 amp when the sun was _behind_ clouds.

But the voltage stayed up, which means that even on a cloudy day your panel

will get something into the battery, maybe only 10% of a good bright day but at

least something. I think (but am not sure) that this is because it’s a

monocrystalline panel.
Rating: 4 / 5

I purchased four of these solar panels. Three of the panels worked correctly right out of the box. The fourth one did not work, and upon some inspection, I found that one of the solder joints to a wire was not soldered. The solar panel had no power output. I repaired the solder joint myself, and now the fourth solar panel works correctly. Overall, I am very satisfied with the way these panels function. In the sun, they perform as expected. I will probably buy more of these solar panels in the future and would recommend them to anyone wanting a compact, powerful solar panel.
Rating: 4 / 5