I had been debating for quite sometime now whether to buy a Mono-crystalline or Poly-crystalline based solar panel for a solar hobby project. To give you a background, I am an electronics hobbyist & understand these technologies quite well and while I do not call myself a 'SOLAR' expert (yet) I do know what to expect out of an 'ECO'-budget friendly all-in-one kit like this from RENOGY.
After reading several reviews on Amazon & elsewhere on the web it was clear and evident that RENOGY does make good quality products. They seem to have a positive presence in USA and motivated to provide good products at reasonable price. While the panel & controller are made in CHINA (BTW, tell me which product is not?) the quality of the materials and workmanship seems pretty good.
After reading several reviews on Amazon & elsewhere on the web it was clear and evident that RENOGY does make good quality products. They seem to have a positive presence in USA and motivated to provide good products at reasonable price. While the panel & controller are made in CHINA (BTW, tell me which product is not?) the quality of the materials and workmanship seems pretty good.
Here is a little more detailed review of items included.
- Solar Panel (100W Poly-crystalline) - 4½ stars!
The 100W Poly-crystalline based solar panel included in this kit is very well built. It feels solid. It is enclosed in a sturdy Anodized aluminum alloy frame. The Junction box (IP65 rated) and MC4 cables and connectors attached to the Solar panel are strong and well built. The panel's speckled blue color may not be aesthetically pleasing to some people to look at when compared to other Mono-crystalline variants which has distinct uniformed look but the panel's output performance is not bad after-all. Renogy did manage to make this look nicer by adding some thin white separating lines in the tempered glass to have little bit more of the 'uniform' look.
If you ask most solar experts in the industry they will suggest to pick solar panels that are reasonably priced per watt, As long as the solar panels are manufactured in strict quality control with good quality Grade 'A' cells, the perceived efficiency which is still a major selling point for Mono-crystalline variants is not really a factor anymore. Agreed the manufacturing process of Mono-crystalline is costly thereby the cells are costly to fabricate and overall price is higher. But now Manufacturers have managed to make equally performing Poly-crystalline modules with similar overall size with lower cost of ownership. This panel proves that.
I tested both Optimum Operating Voltage (Vmp) & Optimum Operating Current (Imp) and they fall well within the category specifications for the panel by the book. Under normal mid-day sunlight in sunny San Jose the Short-Circuit Current (Isc) using an AMP meter showed little above 5 Amperes of current. While this Short-Circuit Current (Isc) is less than 5.92A specified for the product, I concluded that the conditions of sunlight shining on the panel was not really 100% STC Irradiance thereby having a little less AMP value. Overall the panel is seen to perform adequately.
- RENOGY 10A PWM Charge Controller - 3 stars!
The included charge controller in this 'basic budget' kit is well.. 'basic' indeed. This controller while it is far better compared to Sunforce 7 Amp Charge Controller which I own and reviewed earlier here on Amazon. I still find this 'not ideal' if you want to expand your panel capacity later. It will work just fine with this 100w panel included in this kit, But if you add more panels to your project you are better off getting a MPPT charge controller matching the capacity of your panel's output which are far superior in performance and makes best use of the available sunlight to charge your batteries and provide better efficiency.
The rule of thumb is never to max out. Ideally for safety reasons do not exceed 80% of charge controller current rating. This rating should be based on the total short-circuit (Isc) of the solar panel(s) attached to the charge controller.
The LED indicators are basic:
- Solar Panel Green LED 'ON' - Solar panel is receiving light (Duh!)
- Green Solar Panel LED 'blinking' (The controller has detected over-voltage)
- Battery LED - Green 'ON' means battery voltage level is right but the charger is charging the battery.
- Battery LED - Green 'Blinking' means the Battery is Full
- Battery LED - ORANGE means battery voltage is low
The same 'bi-color' LED will display in 'RED' color when there a load 'cutoff' event occurred like fuse blown or battery is disconnected for example.
The '2 digit' LED display is numeric in nature and is only for displaying work mode. 'Work mode' being for controlling the Lights on the load side indicated by the DC load bulb icon on the charge controller. You can use the 'SET' button and set different so called work modes. For example:
- 00- means keep the lights ON from 'dusk-to-dawn'
- 01- means turn the Lights ON after 1 hour after sun down etc;
- 16- This mode lets user to use the SET button to manually turn the load ON/OFF
- 17- This is for TEST mode.
The charge controller is run by both battery power & Solar Power. The 'idle' power draw at night when it is displaying status LED is >= 10mA, When the 2 Digit LED display is working it consumes >=22mA. It might be of a concern to low AMP batteries as it can drain the batteries when left unattended. But for a CAR battery or larger capacity 10mA of phantom current drain is not a big issue but better to be aware of.
The charge controllers screw type posts are not heavy duty and you may damage them if you force a 8AWG wire into them. I think it was meant for 14AWG wires. But if you solder your wire ends and carefully insert them and tighten them with screws the contraption will work just okay. The underside of the charge controller acts as a heat-sink. Plan on allowing some air flow to keep the charge controller cool in extreme loads and ambient temperatures.
- Included 10' extension solar PV cable - 3½ stars!
The Included 10 feet extension cable is actually '5 feet' of usable length as you need both the + & - leads to connect it to a charge controller. I do not understand why solar manufacturers tends to market them at the maximum length. Just creates confusions for the end users. Overall the cables are fairly thick 'Multi-stranded' and just OK. Meets the specifications. Not sure about the longevity as they have not been put to real world tests yet.
- Universal Z brackets - 5 stars!
These Z brackets are needed to mount the solar panels on the flat surface. The screws included are meant to be used on metal surfaces. If you are planning to mount this on wooden roof surface you need to use wood screws. The materials used in this Universal Z brackets are excellent quality. No sharp edges. It is nicely made to mount the panel safely and securely.
That pretty much sums up what this kit includes. I have yet to fully use this in my solar hobby project as it is currently an 'on-going' project which includes various other sub projects that I need to finish-up before I can fully utilize this kit. Overall nice kit which has a good value for money.
Overall Full Four Stars from me. I hope this review proves useful to you.
EDIT Jan 17, 2014 (Product has changed ??)
It seems the product has changed as the pictures of the charge controller also seems different than mine when I purchased for $179.99 on September 2013. Looks that Renogy listened to users like me and is now giving a better offering. If it is not mislabeled by Amazon by mistake then you are getting a even better deal with Renogy 30 Amp PWM Charge Controller and nice long QTY 2 20 feet Solar Extension Cables.
You can get one of these from Amazon by using the link below: