Solar panel(case style)

Looking for something quality to charge batterys and possibly run other applications.Tell me what you've had good luck with and what to stay away from.Quality,longevity,able to leap buildings in a single bound...that type of thing...Help in this effort would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe enough to power an inverter plus battery system...what setup do you have? P.s. Thanks admin for finding a home for this thread:twothumbs...keep up the great work,even though it isn't said enough,hope you know how much you guys/gals are appreciated.

really depends on your budget, and more importantly the load and duty cycle. for ease of portability, i would go 2x20w panels in a portrait hinge formation. as for the brand, in small area modules there is only one brand i would recommend, that is the kyocera KC series of modules and a plasmatronics regulator:thumbsup:.

theres a type of case style panel sold on ebay for $85 Shipped
A friend of mine bought one, its two mono crystalline panels linked together with a diode.

measured 12V ~1A in full sun

looks like this
sorry phone pic


he bought it from this guy
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-12V-Briefca...ryZ41981QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
and told me it came very well packaged with a sheet of styrofoam between the cells. I had a chance to handle it, it seemed fairly sturdy, about 10-15 pounds, with the clamshell held together by two strong NdFeB magnets that took some considerable force to open. Unfortunately the "case" lacks a o-ring seal against the weather but the cells itself looks pretty well sealed.

It comes with a adapter to male cig cord, adapter to female cig cord, adapter to clamps, A pretty good deal in my opinion. Except for the fact that 12V 1 amp won't be able to power many items on the fly, but it should do a good job charging a battery or two in full sunlight:nana:

Excellent input,thank you.But say cost was no object and it was a almost say survival setup...something that would handle some abuse as well as be able to charge,at the minimum aaa to aa nimh's.The Kyocera looks like a higher breed of the solar industry,thats a good place to start...now portable ,rugged and able to charge rcr123 @ 3.7 v would be ideal.Someone here I know has a setup as how I'm explaining,can't tell me everyone hasn't thought of totally guilt free lumens at one time or another.Keep the good ideas rolling. :candle:

my house has 13 solar panels, 7 of which are hooked up to the grid, supplying slightly less than half of the yearly household electricity , tell me thats not guilt free:wave:

sorry to burst your bubble, but that is an amorphous panel

Illum_the_nation said:

theres a type of case style panel sold on ebay for $85 Shipped
A friend of mine bought one, its two mono crystalline panels linked together with a diode.

measured 12V ~1A in full sun

looks like this
sorry phone pic


he bought it from this guy
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-12V-Briefca...ryZ41981QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
and told me it came very well packaged with a sheet of styrofoam between the cells. I had a chance to handle it, it seemed fairly sturdy, about 10-15 pounds, with the clamshell held together by two strong NdFeB magnets that took some considerable force to open. Unfortunately the "case" lacks a o-ring seal against the weather but the cells itself looks pretty well sealed.

It comes with a adapter to male cig cord, adapter to female cig cord, adapter to clamps, A pretty good deal in my opinion. Except for the fact that 12V 1 amp won't be able to power many items on the fly, but it should do a good job charging a battery or two in full sunlight:nana:

Click to expand...

Ninjaz7 said:

...now portable ,rugged and able to charge rcr123 @ 3.7 v would be ideal...

Click to expand...

10w BP SX or Kyocera KC module with a MPPT regulator
18Ah SLA as a 'ballast' should be plenty to charge those pesky li-ions


lol if money was no object, get spectralab cells. <USD$300 for a 1" cell

:candle:as you can see, i love solar!

I was mistaken, :thanks: the the clairification :thumbsup:
Is there any disadvantage with amorphous cells?

Solar cells are brittle in nature...and most are designed to be fixed to something permanent, I have yet to find something that won't break [or break the wallet] if I threw it in a duffel bag/ picket up bed/or concrete without chipping.


if price was no object....the highest rated power I can find in folding panels would be the Brunton Solaris...but its quite $$$
12V ~4.3A

Aussie Cheese said:

10w BP SX or Kyocera KC module with a MPPT regulator
18Ah SLA as a 'ballast' should be plenty to charge those pesky li-ions


lol if money was no object, get spectralab cells. <USD$300 for a 1" cell

:candle:as you can see, i love solar!

Click to expand...

That setup as you described is like gold to me...exactly the statement I was looking for...:green: that me green with envy Aussie cheeze(home of gulit free electro).But one day(in the very near future)I'm gong to build your quote unless someone trumps you.Thanks for all the great input,and keep em coming.

shouldn't everyone be thinking like this?:thinking:

solar still has the highest upfront cost compared to everything else thats green...biomass being the cheapest, but running a car on it would be next to impossible unless you have a silo sized biomass digester

You don't need a big silo, these crazy swedes converted an old car to run on wood. Need a trailer to bring the fuel with you for longer trips though...

http://www.vedbil.se/film2e.shtml

Illum_the_nation said:

... Is there any disadvantage with amorphous cells?...

Click to expand...

no worries mate :thumbsup: .

there are many issues with these types of cells, firstly they are poop (sorry), and cheap to manufacture, less than USD$2/watt. but since it is a 'solar panel' and most people have NFI they can sell them at market rates (.. USD$10/watt + 10% ..) the main technical issue with these (without getting to detail) is during their deposition. to solve this they mask the problem by pumping hydrogen into the chamber. when exposed to high intensity light (ie. sunlight ) it causes the hydrogen to detach and migrate around the panel. this reverses what they tried to fix and increases its shunt resistance. the end result is a panel with poor long term stability.

manufactures turn it around and state that the panel WILL produce up to 20% more than the stated rating for up to 2 months .. while true not many people ask why? :ironic:

amorphous panels are not for serious power generation, they are however suited to indoor and shaded areas(..due to a higher bandgap energy..)

the only companies i have seen which can use amorphous silicon properly is sanyo in their HIT cells and kaneka(i have no info on these). Canon Unisolar panels while considered premium(ish) panels are still plagued with degradation problems from first hand experience.

i don't really want to crap on but there are lots of promising thin film crystalline technologies emerging due to the lack of semiconductor grade silicon, so stay clear of amorphous panels no matter the cost!

Ninjaz7 said:

...I'm gong to build your quote unless someone trumps you.Thanks for all the great input,and keep em coming.

shouldn't everyone be thinking like this?:thinking:

Click to expand...

if you want me to refine the systemi am going to need more info .. feel free to pm me when you are going to dive in. :twothumbs

Well there are a few options for the rough & tumble life:

Solio Products

Reware Products

Voltaic solar bags

Nice links and great input...Yes Aussie,thank you for the offer of pm'ing you.I'll take you up on that when I get situated.We all should be thinking along these lines in my book.:candle: