Portable Solar Panel - Page 3

**John in Santa Cruz** · 11-22-2023, 09:01 PM

note if your battery is in back, and your solar controller is on the solar panel, thats a lot of extra wire to the battery ifyou use the trailer hitch connector, you'll get some voltage drop in all that wire.... When I'm out in the open, I like to camp with my hitch pointing north, so the sun is on my curbside in the morning, and streetside in the afternoons, so I get more useful shade when I need it... obviously, if you're in a designated campsite, you have no choice here, but I'm often out in an open field at a star party.

WillyB · 11-23-2023, 04:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

note if your battery is in back, and your solar controller is on the solar panel, thats a lot of extra wire to the battery ifyou use the trailer hitch connector, you'll get some voltage drop in all that wire.... When I'm out in the open, I like to camp with my hitch pointing north, so the sun is on my curbside in the morning, and streetside in the afternoons, so I get more useful shade when I need it... obviously, if you're in a designated campsite, you have no choice here, but I'm often out in an open field at a star party.

Do you think I should go back to my original idea of going through the rear battery vent on our 21C?

Ron in BC · 11-23-2023, 06:44 AM

My solution was to add the same type of fitting used for the power cable. I cut the interior part off. This gives me complete flexibility to run anything that I want in and out as needed. The little flap does a good job of sealing it.

When needed I use the port for an SAE pigtail for my portable panel, my TV coax cable, my wi-fi booster cable and my weboost cable as well as an isolated 110V extension cord.

Handy to have a cable inlet that allows for flexibility of use.

Ron

Ooshkaboo · 11-23-2023, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillyB

Do you think I should go back to my original idea of going through the rear battery vent on our 21C?

If you’re using lithium batteries that would be a perfect solution, you have no need for the vents. I did as is suggested by Ron and converted one of the vents into a point of access.

I have the zamp port but right now I’m leaning toward a controller upgrade and an added flexible panel on the rooftop. Then see if I can function well enough without the portable panel, one less thing to carry.

UncleTim · 11-23-2023, 08:03 AM

I would only consider one solar panel right now, even though it is over twice the price you guys are throwing around.

The BougeRV 200 watt solar panel. The technology is different, and far superior. It will last far longer than any other panel. FAR LONGER!!! You can walk on it and HoboTech shot it up with a real gun. No problem. And it almost always delivers the full 200 watt to the outputs. I would not buy anything else even though I would like 350 watts or so. More is better!

This is an easy call, if you got the cash.

https://www.bougerv.com/collections/...e-solar-panels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjTsq9M-66A&t=893s

**John in Santa Cruz** · 11-23-2023, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ooshkaboo

If you’re using lithium batteries that would be a perfect solution, you have no need for the vents. I did as is suggested by Ron and converted one of the vents into a point of access..

Indeed, that's what I used for my trolling motor jack. I cut off the unneeded vent hose and put a plate of HDPE over the former vent with my outlet in it.

**John in Santa Cruz** · 11-23-2023, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UncleTim

I would only consider one solar panel right now, even though it is over twice the price you guys are throwing around.

The BougeRV 200 watt solar panel. The technology is different, and far superior. It will last far longer than any other panel. FAR LONGER!!! You can walk on it and HoboTech shot it up with a real gun. No problem. And it almost always delivers the full 200 watt to the outputs. I would not buy anything else even though I would like 350 watts or so. More is better!

Sounds like snake oil to me.

Perry Butler · 11-23-2023, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

Sounds like snake oil to me.

Yup!

TheougeRV 200 watt panel is 85.6" long x 26" wide. My 200 watt Rich Solar is 58.7" long x 26.8 " wide. So for the same wattage it is nearly 27" longer, too long to fit in many of my spaces. 200 watts taking up a much larger footprint is not efficient.

The TheougeRV 200 watt panel has only a 16% efficiency factor. That's a very low efficiency factor. Our Rich Solar is 19.9%.

Just because it says it can output 200 watts doesn't mean it will as soon as the sun hits. With only a 16% efficiency factor it will hit 200 watts less often than our Rich Solar panels with a 19.9% efficiency factor.

In the past 8 years, with well over 80,000 miles down the road, we have yet to break a panel, much less have a gun blast a hole.

They have great advertising hype though,

Perry

Ooshkaboo · 11-23-2023, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perry Butler

Yup!

TheougeRV 200 watt panel is 85.6" long x 26" wide. My 200 watt Rich Solar is 58.7" long x 26.8 " wide. So for the same wattage it is nearly 27" longer, too long to fit in many of my spaces. 200 watts taking up a much larger footprint is not efficient.

The TheougeRV 200 watt panel has only a 16% efficiency factor. That's a very low efficiency factor. Our Rich Solar is 19.9%.

Just because it says it can output 200 watts doesn't mean it will as soon as the sun hits. With only a 16% efficiency factor it will hit 200 watts less often than our Rich Solar panels with a 19.9% efficiency factor.

In the past 8 years, with well over 80,000 miles down the road, we have yet to break a panel, much less have a gun blast a hole.

They have great advertising hype though,

Perry

Both of these are the only ones I could find that could fit in between my two existing 190 go power panels on my 5.0. According to Go-Power that would put me close to my max with my current controller.
I will need to make sure the Rich are able to be mounted with adhesives or tape.

I will say the Tech support at Go-Power have been very helpful, but their pricing…

splicer · 11-24-2023, 11:43 AM

Looking for advice on 100 to 120 watt panel, which one would you go with? Bluetti or BoughRV.
https://www.bluettipower.com/product...0w-solar-panel

https://www.bougerv.com/products/100...le-solar-panel

WillyB · 11-24-2023, 02:19 PM

Received my 100w Renogy suitcase panel today. Having just opened it appears to be built very sturdy.

Once I start getting it hooked up I'll let you know more.

splicer · 11-24-2023, 06:28 PM

Thanks WillyB
Looking forward to it.

**SageRpod** · 11-25-2023, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ooshkaboo

I will say the Tech support at Go-Power have been very helpful, but their pricing…

I bought our GoPower used from a friend, so I got a fair deal, but you are right; great tech support and crazy high pricing. On the other hand, Renogy has great prices but their customer service and support is non-existent.
I bought an inverter and battery monitor from them for our previous camper. The inverter would alarm on the slightest of draw and the battery monitor lost its mind after a couple of months. The amount of documentation I had to send them to get replacement units was absurd, but in the end I eventually got stuff that worked

**John in Santa Cruz** · 11-25-2023, 08:53 PM

my solar panel is a 360W LG NeON-R, https://www.lg.com/global/business/d...NR_60cells.pdf

sadly LG got out of the panel business, too bad, they were very good. This 360W is 20.8% efficient.

the panels just installed on our roof at home are QCell Q Peak Duo ML G10+ 400W panels, these https://us.qcells.com/wp-content/upl...1_Rev03_NA.pdf also quite efficient at 20.4%

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