Engel - Power Film Solar Foldable 90 Watt

Awfully expensive for the power delivered - these things are made to satisfy applications where flexibility is a must - where rigid panels will do, you can get ten times that output for that money. In most applications a regulator will be required and it seems there isn't even one included ! As for those particular performance claims - in my view, that's just promo-babble - the product's technical specs are the real story. There is an extensive solar article on this site (Articles tab) by the solar guru Collyn Rivers (in particular, see his Standard Operating Conditions section). As Collyn points out, manufacturers can legally rate their panels with nominal wattages, knowing that most users will virtually never get within cooee of those output figures (basic physics rears it's ugly head yet again :-o).

Hi Greg

They may be dear,but they have many more features over standard solar panels.

First is weight, 1 kg compared to around 10 kg for a standard 80w foldable solar panel.

Peak performance is up to 44 degrees C, compared to peak performance of around 26 degrees C for the standard solar panel.

Will still continue to produce power even in shade.

They come supplied with a regulator to connect straight to a car battery, or you are able to connect the power film direct to your engel fridge, without using the regulator.

While on the move, you can store it in a very small area, eg under a seat compared to a large flat area with the standard panel.

If the unit is damaged, eg you stick a hole through the panel, it will still work with very little difference of power output, and silicone can be used to make the repair.Damage your standard standard panel with a fall etc and in most cases it will be a throw away job.

If you use an awning, place the power film on top of that, out of the way around your camp.


These are just some features Greg and when you see them in use, you will be sold.

One of our customers used the smaller 60 w panel over Christmas down the Yorke Peninsula. His mates camper batter died, so his 60w panel ran his 40 litre Engel and his mates 60 litre Engel for 6 1/2 days before his back up battery went flat, and he was over the moon with its performance.


Cheers



Stephen

G'Day Greg,
This is a difficult question to answer as there are many variables.

What is the capacity of the battery to be charged?
How flat will it be when you start to recharge (State of Charge)?
Where are you when recharging?
What time of year will is be?
How many days do you want to wait to get the battery recharged to 100% SOC?

Assume the proposed panel operates at its ideal conditions of 5.4 A for a typical day with 5.5 Sunlight Hours (Sydney in June). It will only generate 29.7 Ah for the day (5.5 x 5.4). If you have a 100Ah battery in your car and it is half flat (50% SOC) you need to push around 50Ah back in to it to get it back to 100% SOC. Its going to take you 2 days to get the battery back under ideal conditions, which may or may not happen for you.

I have launched a web site to help people with these sorts of questions. Its not a business, just my passion! Have a look at https://sites.google.com/site/campingtechnologiesaustralia/ or enter Camping Technologies Australia into Google.

Hope this helps!
Jason

HI
IF 15V is the panel output voltage@ 5.4A it will hardly be suitable for battery charging

Is it supplied with a regulator ??
Unfortunately I cannot read the posted specs sheet [not clear]

PeterQ

There is an alternative which may or may not be suitable. search for flexible solar panel on ebay, and Mandrake - solarsteve has them.

They are also very light, about 1mm thick and about the soze of a normal solar panel. they won't roll up though. They are about 1/3 of the price of the roll up ones.