Roll up Solar Panels ?

[waynep]

I heard you can now get solar panels that can be "rolled up"

Anyone heard of these, tried them ?

Would be good for a big trip I'm doing next year.

[ssk]

Hey there.... I'm in the northern suburbs, Somerton and there is a 12 Volt shop on the Hume Hwy that has the panels you are after...
ARRID Australia - Home (http://www.arrid.net.au) This is a link to a website that has them as well... Hope you find the info useful...

[Bigbjorn]

Saw them in the USA long time ago. They were being promoted in the snow belt for cars parked at commuter stations or similar all day. These items plugged into the cigar lighter socket and put a charge into the battery whilst the vehicle was unattended. The sub-zero temperatures in these states are bad news for batteries. You take them out of the glove box, unroll them onto the dashboard and plug in. Going home you do the reverse.

[Blknight.aus]

seen em on boats, good things, not quite as effective as the same size normal solar panels but better than nothing and easier to sort out storage for.

Id go a firm fixed panel if it was for a permanant installation.

[lardy]

there was a pom chick an undergraduate(only 18) that was developing paint on technology so it brought the cost down to 50p a unit rather than say £100 that was in national geographic.
don't know if it got marketed but?
great idea though, the concept was for third world countries, just paint it on baking foil and hey presto

[waynep]

Thanks all, I'll go and check out some if I can find them locally

haven't seen thme on ebay

[streaky]

I know this thread is a bit old but I was searching for information on roll up solar panels and came across this company.
BushPower - Products (http://www.bushpower.co.za/products.asp?pid=266)

I bought one of the complete kits and am very happy with it.

Regards.

S.

[Blknight.aus]

Impressive specification sheet.

not sure about the blurb about comparing a 65w panel to an 80w panel but the 4.1 amps is a good output for a single unit.

thats about .6 amps more than an engle draws during the day.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Hey there.... I'm in the northern suburbs, Somerton and there is a 12 Volt shop on the Hume Hwy that has the panels you are after...
ARRID Australia - Home (http://www.arrid.net.au) This is a link to a website that has them as well... Hope you find the info useful...
Went to the website to look for thin flexible panels to fix to the top of my SIIb camper only to find the downloadable .pdf is in German! :mad:

http://arrid.com.au/pdf/Solar%20Panels/Solara_Panels/SOLARA_M_Series.pdf

But the solara panels look to be what I want! :)

[awabbit6]

Went to the website to look for thin flexible panels to fix to the top of my SIIb camper only to find the downloadable .pdf is in German! :mad:


The English translation is on the right hand side of the pdf.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

The English translation is on the right hand side of the pdf.I have a new workstation in my work office and haven't got used to it yet. Dual 19" flat screens, but the docs seem to be displaying as if they are 640X480 without scroll bars. The English translation and half the table were off the side of the screen. Now at home on my 14" notebook I can see the whole page - go figure?

[bee utey]

I have a new workstation in my work office and haven't got used to it yet. Dual 19" flat screens, but the docs seem to be displaying as if they are 640X480 without scroll bars. The English translation and half the table were off the side of the screen. Now at home on my 14" notebook I can see the whole page - go figure?
Zoom control?

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Zoom control?I've only had it today and with the current accreditation imminent and merging of the two children's hospitals in Sydney, I don't have time to play around. If it's on the screen and I can read it it will do!

[djambalawa]

According to Solar FAQ’s – REDARC Electronics (http://www.redarc.com.au/solar/about/solar-faqs/) the rollup ones use "Amorphous" technology instead of the hard crystalline... and it seems to be about half as efficient...

So yeah versatility vs efficiency I guess...

[Defender Mike]

Hi i own a Defer 90 so not much room. I went for a fold up solar panel puts out 108 watts. Currenly charging my dual battery at 3.4 amps on a cloudy autum day in Perth. I looked at redarc and they are just to expensive so i imported and built my own for less than half the price of a redarc and i have a much better system. see the pics The solar panel folds up to around A4 size at 50mm thick weighs a couple of kilos. The solar regulator with LED tells me the exact state of the battery, how many amps in and out and also a graph and percentile figures. I like a dual set up that can be removed and left in camp so my battery is in a box and hooked up to the car by anderson plugs . I can take it out leave it at the camp running the fridge and lights air pumps etc. The solar panel puts out enough power on a sunny day to run my trailblazer 60 litre fridge plus led camp lights at night. If I had a few cloudy days my anderson plug lead can hookup and run the defer fora few mins to charge it all up. I run a 180 amp hour battery in the box. :) Very efficient system easy to store unbreakable you can shoot holes in it and it would still work . Can be set up many meters from the battery and away from the vehicle.
Mike

[Defender Mike]

A few more pics of the set up inside the battery box. This system is transferable between all my vehicles all i have to do is plug into the anderson plugs when driving and bobs you uncle.
I will take it out of the Defer and put it in the 109 for the Canning Stock route trip next year. I have a fridge plug and to cigarette type plugs these run all my lights and air pumps GPS etc. See the pic of my holding the folded up solar panel.60153

[mools]

Mike,

that sounds and looks like a really good system.

Can you provide any details, like who makes it / where you got it / rough cost?

Cheers,

Ian.

[Defender Mike]

Hi Ian ,
I sent you a PM with details.

[mattyg]

Hi mike, that's a very thought out and flexible system. Would you mind sharing where you got everything with me as well?

Cheers
Matt.

[Defender Mike]

Hi Matt,

Well Ive gone out and subscribed as a vendor and put a bit of an add up on the Vendors Veranda . I can bring the panels and regs in from OS and either build or make up instructions for the box and stuff. Will PM you.:)

[Mudguard]

Hi Matt,

Well Ive gone out and subscribed as a vendor and put a bit of an add up on the Vendors Veranda . I can bring the panels and regs in from OS and either build or make up instructions for the box and stuff. Will PM you.:)

Def Mike, when you get a chance I would love some details too. Love the flexibility of being able to move everything around as we tent it and can't always keep the vehicle near the fridge. Appreciate a pm with details.

Craig

[Defender Mike]

Just took the Defer up to Exmouth for a week to test the system out. I am very pleased with the panel and set up. Running a trailblazer 60 litre fridge 24hrs a day at -10 deg and running our camp lights and phone chargers at night . The battery was still on 100% charge at end of day 5. The folding cell was putting out up to 6 amps and was still charging at 1.3 amps late in the day with half the cell in shade. By morning each day the battery was down to around 85 % charge and easily recovered by 4.00pm. We did a lot of fishing and snorkelling had a great trip. The wife cooked up some gourmet meals and froze before the trip them so we had plenty of good tucker easy to prepare. I will be getting a few more panels sent over in a few weeks time.
Mike

[Tank]

Redarc, an Australian co. does these roll up panels, Regards Frank.