Electrical confusion...

[RC Pilot Jim]

Ether,
The Renogy portable is "Heavy". My buddy bought one for his rig and is looking for something lighter. I kept and continue to carry my 15 pound 60 watt aluminum hard deck that I use portably (just in case) when I go to the desert.

If my flexible dies I am going to a hard deck panel.

You might check Solar Blvd. (www.solarblvd.com) . They are less expensive than Renogy or Zamp

 

[billharr]

+1 on Solar Blvd. Watch for a sale, I have their 120 watt solar in a bag. But it is big and heavy. I had thought of getting a flex panel and mounting it like Harv has on a light backing. Going to wait until we find out why the flex panels are breaking.

 

[kmacafee]

I have 2 of the Grape Solar 100W panels mounted on my FWC. I used some angle aluminum to build brackets and mounted them to the existing Yakima tracks. Each one, including the mount, weighs 16 pounds so that is 32 pounds total. They sit low so gas mileage was unaffected.

I have not plugged the camper into 110 for almost 4 months and have been in temperatures ranging from 115 to 40. Based on my Trimetic, battery charge has never dropped below 96% despite running compressor fridge, lights, charging laptop, etc.

 

[Ethergore]

Ether,
The Renogy portable is "Heavy". My buddy bought one for his rig and is looking for something lighter. I kept and continue to carry my 15 pound 60 watt aluminum hard deck that I use portably (just in case) when I go to the desert.

If my flexible dies I am going to a hard deck panel.

You might check Solar Blvd. (www.solarblvd.com) . They are less expensive than Renogy or Zamp

Thanks Jim, DonC clued me in on the weight and that was a definite deal breaker. 27 lbs is just too much. For now I decided to just keep my flexible panel and come up with a way to ensure I can charge with my truck if needed.

 

[PaulT]

In my gallery, I posted several photos on easy use of my Renogy flexible panel supported by items I already carried with me.

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/gallery/album/885-portable-solar-panel-setup/

I carry the Renogy between the sleeping bag and the mattress when underway, stored in the truck cab at night, and set it up in the morning while fixing breakfast and getting ready for activities for the day.

The edge of the solar panel slips into the slot between the aluminum table top slats and is propped up at the appropriate angle by the small cooler. I align the legs of the table such that the shadow from the leading leg lands on the shadow of the trailing leg and eyeball the angle such that the early solar rays fall perpendicular on the panel as verified by the charging amps peaking when the angle is correct.

In full sun, the Renogy typically produces above 5 amps when set up like this while the flat Zamp panel is commonly producing less than 2 amps with the low angle early sun. Doing this gets a significant head start towards recovering the power used overnight.

Paul

 

[Renogy]

Dear all,

Renogy would like to apologize for any issues that have been experienced with our bendable units. We have been working diligently on figuring out a solution on how to fix them. They were put out of stock temporarily while we did more research.

From what we have gathered, it is likely that excessive bending is causing issues in the panels. The bend can crack the solar cell which builds local heat on the crack, especially when it gets too hot. This can potentially lead to a failure in the panel. Another reason for failure can be caused by lack of air circulation under the panel.

We are bringing our new design to the market that will prevent any of these issues. As for those that currently have a unit currently, things should be fine as long as you have air circulation and do not bend the module too much.

Thank you,

Renogy Team

 

[billharr]

Thank you to Renogy for for posting. Nice to see a supplier step up and let us know what is happening. Let us know when your new design is ready I may be ordering one.


Bill

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Wow, that speaks volumes for Renogy! I'm impressed!

 

[KMac]

You may want to check out what XP Camper is using for their panels. Here is a quote from them at their forum:

"Two 200W Flex Solar panels with aluminum wire deflector. These are more durable, virtually unbreakable and saves close to 80 lb over the older style panel."

http://forum.xpcamper.org/index.php/topic/218-v1-price-increase/#entry1717

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

<snip>

"Two 200W Flex Solar panels with aluminum wire deflector. These are more durable, virtually unbreakable and saves close to 80 lb over the older style panel."

<snip>

Aluminum wire deflector? is this something on top to make a wire slide over the panel, or is it an electrical component. I've not heard that term used with solar.

 

[billharr]

Aluminum wire deflector? is this something on top to make a wire slide over the panel, or is it an electrical component. I've not heard that term used with solar.

I call typo should be "wind" deflector. Google Flex Solar Panel and do not find that manufacture. This is a close I find Solar Flex.

 

[PaulT]

This company's controller looks like a Zamp PWM controller. The video image looks like a Grape Solar video from some months ago and Grape Solar sells a bendable 100 watt panel. . Zamp is in Bend, Oregon and Grape Solar is in Eugene, Oregon. Just saying.

Paul

 

[KMac]

I don't think he was mentioning a brand name. Only that he was using (2) 200 watt solar flex panels. The Solar Flex you mention is only (2) 100 watt panels in a kit. You could always ask him on the XP forum.

 

[craig333]

Good to see Renogy posting us an update. I still want to increase my capacity. I want to see what they come up with before I make up my mind.

 

[Squatch]

Yep glad to hear from the manufacturer. I've liked the light weight of the flex panels. I don't have panels yet and I'm not in a hurry so I'll sit back and see what they come up with.

 

[DonC]

Just got back from my trip. I still think there is some weird stuff going on in my system and I'll post some observations and hopefully some data over the weekend.

I wonder what Renogy means by don't bend the bendable panels? When we look at our roofs they look flat, but when you install one of these panels you see how much cupping there can be. I also wonder if during install, when I (some of us) load the panel with some blocks or paving stones for 24 hours to help the adhesive adhere, that that also exacerbates the flexing issue.

I was originally going to mount the flexible on an aluminum platform mounted between my Yakima Tracks, but discovered the weight of the aluminum platform would be the same as a rigid panel, so what was the point of getting a flexible. That's why I went the adhesive option.

If the new flexibles need an air gap, and the platform required to provide that weighs as much as a rigid, maybe they just don't work for our application??

I know someone posted that they are holding the edges of a flexible on some aluminum angle with nothing underneath, but the constant flexing and flapping (even if minor) would seem to not be good with the info from Renogy above.

 

[longhorn1]

Yesterday we sight see, get great solar in put, and hook up the 80W portable for 3 hours. I read 13.4. As soon as I unhook the portable it drops to 12.8 and and within an hour drops to 12.6. Today followed the same. 2 hours with portable took it to 13.0 but it dropped and 2 hours later I'm at 12.3 and this is with the 80L fridge. Woke up last 2 mornings after CPAP machine usage and had 12.1. Seems like a pretty fast drop today. I don't understand the drop after unplugging the portable. Jd

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Wander The West mobile app

 

[DrJ]

Longhorn,

This is one of the common issues with judging battery power based on voltage alone. With a battery monitor you would also know amps and percentage of battery charge which would be very helpful to you.

I am not surprised by your readings from your post and are probably due to the battery not having a full charge. Your panels should charge the batteries to 14.2-14.4 with the amps slowly decreasing to 0 at that voltage.

Battery charging is not a linear process. A good charge controller will maximize voltage and amps at first then as it is able increase voltage towards 14.4 ideally. Once it reaches 14.4, the battery power is topped off as the amps decrease to 0.

In your case a voltage of 13.4 means it was still in bulk charging mode and likely less than 80-85% charged.

So by morning after running the CPAP all night, it had drained off a good percentage of the battery because it didn't start the night full. Hence the low voltage in the AM.

Again this is hard to know for sure without a monitor to watch.

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

I put Renogy's apology and statement up on the "Ultimate Flex panel (pinned) post"

 

[longhorn1]

Dr. J Thanks. I have a Zamp charge controller, 100W Zamp on the roof, 80W Zamp portable and 2 AGM batteries. I've never seen it this low and we cped in rain for several days and never got that low
Weather has been full sun and a couple hours driving. Our cper is a 2014 Grandby we got in August of '14.

Jd

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Wander The West mobile app