Having read up on them, it's not just that they are less efficient, they have a significantly shorter lifespan as I understand it. It's a shame, as there's acres of space on the overcab hump. I could probably get 1000w up there!!
This is a very good panel for the size you describe.LED's were one of my first purchases! I was amazed that most of the bulbs were 10w. I can now turn on all my lights, and draw the same power that one did previously! I think the awning bulb was 20w!
I measured up on the roof rack and looks like I could get up to a 150x75cm panel up there, so at least 150w. My cross bars are the same as yours, with the slot currently underneath, but I'll flip them over. Thanks for the photos.
I opened the bathroom skylight, and it pops up higher than the roof rackso if I do end up with a roof box or kayak etc, I won't be able to open the vent! Not the end of the world though.
Hi Raul,
Wow. That's a pretty good price and a nice size too. Thanks!
What does the 19% efficiency mean please I don’t understand solar
I would steer clear of them loads of failures after one to two years, also leaves a right mess if you need to remove them.
Yes, totally gave up on them. Unfortunately, their benefit (flexing to stick closely to curved surfaces) is totally against their achilles heel (need to be mounted several inches above the surface below to avoid melting their soldered connections in the heat).
Mate had them, lasted 12 months and both broke.
I don’t understand this my flex panel has been on my van 2 years and works a treat, I am just considering adding to it with one of the panels listed above. Maybe I should consider replacing flex at same time to have matched pair of non flex panels ?
I can only go on what I have read and heard from friends. Not sure if you need a quality flexible panel to make it last whereas even cheap rigid panels will do the job?
Flexible panels do work and there are many of them out there. Performance is said to be affected by not allowing airflow underneath but you would have to research this for example at what temperature and by how much. Also all solar panels degrade over time. If you have ones and they do the job why worry
The flex panels suffer off micro cracking due to excessive flexing. If you had it delivered in rigid box, and made a good job of not to bend it to much, then it will live on for a bit longer. Also depends what cells, silica can bend 30 deg max, the thin film and organic cells can roll up, but, In the end, will get opalescent with the UV exposure. It’s not as resilient as low iron glass, like the rigid frame ones.
Just check Craig Solars own website ( not EBay) and the same panel is £20 cheaper. The6 d9 say buy direct for better prices. They have a mean 300w panel for £129 that may be my panel of choice soon.
In my case, you could see that all the internal connections had disconnected. The cells themselves looked intact in as much as you can tell by looking at them, but the "wiring" was no longer connected to the cells. I assumed that they'd overheated from lack of ventilation during a particularly hot summer's day and desoldered themselves. There didn't seem to be any obvious signs of physical stress. Before this, when they were working, they worked great.
Buss bar delamination due to excessive expansion and poor EVA encapsulation. The worse is hot spot that burns thru the back sheet.
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