Hi all,
It has been a while since I looked at solar so I had to do a lot of digging and I have come to the following conclusions:
- mono crystalline panels seem to be the most efficient in terms of space vs power produced
- amorphous work WAY better in partial shade
- most stuff comes from china these days
- most (all?) stuff from china is mono or poly
I ordered myself 3 5 watt panels of each technology and I have confirmed that shade on a mono or poly panel is killing for performance but the amorphous seems to degrade in power output in direct relation to the amount of shade. If people want/need proof I guess I can make a short story about this at some point.
In any case, I started digging and digging deep/hard for amorphous panels but it seems that "competition" has done it's job and the chinese have won this battle. Since the market is mostly domestic and people want the most bang for their buck mono panels are all the rage and the very few amorphous producers that still exist reside in japan for example and they have stepped out delivering to europe all together. Also, their panels are huge and not suitable for a car I should think
The only amorphous panel I could find was the redarc blanket but imho a blanket or portable solar panel is best in mono/poly form since it is a tad bit smaller and shade is most likely not an issue since you can put it down wherever you can catch the most sunlight. On a vehicle however I want my car and rtt in the shade and the panels would still need to work properly so amorphous is the go here.
First of, are my findings / assumptions above in agreement with the brain trust here?
Second, I did do a search on this forum of course and the unisolar panels seem to be a good choice. I found a lot NOS and would consider buying those, although they are old, since they seem to be one of the few decently sized panels that will actually fit my car and are of the type that I need. Since they are unboxed I guess UV degradation and all that would not be a big deal...
If this is no longer the way to go, what is?
Thanks!
-P
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