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20 Watt Black Frame Mono-crystalline Solar Panel and Battery Charger

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Brand: Solar Tech
Category: Home Improvement

Buy New: $139.00 (On sale from $199.00)
You Save: $60.00 (30%)

New (3) from $139.00

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

5 reviews
Sales Rank: 19620

Media: Misc.
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.9
Dimensions (in): 17 x 1 x 16

UPC: 073141150040
EAN: 0073141150040
ASIN: B000VM9H8I

Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Features:

•	Assembled professionally with Suntech Mono-crystalline solar cells (in a worldwide shortage
•	TUV certified junction box with cable with MC connector
•	By-pass diode to minimize power drop caused by shade
•	Anti-reflective high transparency tempered glass
•	Class II black color coated aluminum alloy frame

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
This is a 20 Watt Mono-crystalline Portable Waterproof Solar Panel in black color (very rare) aluminum frame to charge your 12V battery or to run your science projects. The rare black color frame looks very nice. It is in a factory new package and is 100% brand new. The solar panel is assembled by Suntech, one of the highest quality solar cell makers. It is also waterproof. The working voltage for charging is 18V. If you need to use it to charge a car battery, you may need a charge controller to prevent the battery from overcharging. Connections included: alligator battery clamps. There are three types of Solar Cells on the market. All our Solar chargers use the best - Mono-Crystalline Solar Cells. Amorphous or Dual Junction Solar Glass are the cheapest but are only 7% energy efficient and have 5 years service life. They are big and heavy. Poly-Crystalline have 25 plus years of service life under direct sunlight and are 13% efficient. Mono-Crystalline have 25 plus years service life and are up to 20% efficient. This is the same type used in solar car racing. This type of solar cell is now in a worldwide shortage because only a few companies can manufacture this solar cell.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars

Power point is a little wierd... August 18, 2008
William Yerazunis
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

The panel took about a week to arrive; the packing was "wierd" (bubble wrap wrapped
around the cardboard! ) but it was intact.

The frame is aluminium, however the backing is plastic and the front side is glass
(not Tefzel). The whole thing is sealed with copious amounts of silicone rubber.

The wierd part of this panel is that it's _not_ exactly a 12-volt panel. In
full noonday sun, it puts out 20 volts open-circuit, at 1.03 amperes. This is
somewhat higher in voltage and lower in amperage than many would prefer; you will
need a charge controller at the very minimum as this _will_ cook a 12-volt
battery if used for a long time. Be sure your charge controller can handle
it- most charge controllers are rated for 16 to 18 volts input and this panel
puts out 20 volts or a bit more.

The panel comes with a pair of 6-foot wires (with something written on them
in Chinese), one red, one black, and permanently attached to a box centered in
the back of the panel. The other end of the wires go to a pair of alligator
clips, but as warned above, don't just clip these onto a lead-acid battery
for long term use unless either the battery is really big or you have a
charge controller.

A downside: lead-acid batteries typically charge at 14 volts; any additional
voltage is wasted. So, this panel loses about 30% of the energy produced
if the charge controller is not an active (buck-boost) or maximum power point
tracking (MPPT) controller.

On the up side, the 20 volts open circuit stayed pretty solid even when
the sun went behind clouds; what dropped was the amperage (down to 0.2 amps
when the array was shadowed, down to 0.1 amp when the sun was _behind_ clouds.
But the voltage stayed up, which means that even on a cloudy day your panel
will get something into the battery, maybe only 10% of a good bright day but at
least something. I think (but am not sure) that this is because it's a
monocrystalline panel.

4 out of 5 stars

Best Buy on Mono-crystal Panel June 28, 2008
David M. Gammon (western Indiana)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful

Monocrytal panels are the best and last longest. This is an excellent price and is the cheapest 20w panel I've found. Get 'em while you can.

5 out of 5 stars

Solar PV System Casa de Baja May 27, 2008
L. Anderson (Baja, Mexico)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

Location:
K55, Baja California, Mexico

Purpose:
Reduce dependence on buddy's noisy & smelly gas generator during weekend trips to beach shack. Week of rest after every usage.

System [June 2008]:
-> 60W total [~3.5Amps]. Two 20W [18Vmp] panel & two 10W [18Vmp] panels of the same mono-crystalline construction. [16AWG]
-> Morningstar MPPT 15 Amp Charge Controller. [14AWG]
-> Two [2] new 12V ~100AH deep cycle batteries [parallel ~200AH, 1/0AWG]
-> 700W AC inverter [4AWG]
-> 3.5KW gas generator to 6Amp AC batt charger for extra charging capacity when needed

Current Load:
-> Three [3] 12V x 26W fluorescent fixtures
-> Two [2] 12V x 15W fluorescent fixtures
-> One [1] 12V x 11W fluorescent fixture
-> One [1] 12V x 13W fluorescent fixture
-> Yamaha 2.1 speakers, 25W
-> Dual-port 12V car cig lighter adapter for mobile phone/iPod chargers.

Notes:
Panels are fixed @ slight SW & angle of ~35 from horizontal due to wind concerns, more than output, but very close to local latitude of ~32 . I was at the Baja house when the winds started the raging fires in SoCAL [2007], it was bad.

Voltage reads 20-24+V @ 3.4-3.6 Amps pre-load between 10:00AM & 3:30PM in June. Current load is lighting- OFF & ON 3-4 hours per night. Usually only one or two is ON at any given time. Lights work very well, almost like normal house. iPod is self-powererd to Yamaha 25W 2.1 speakers on inverter for 2-6 hours during day. Currently, we must use generator for TV/movies/games.

Expansion:
This setup has another 40W panel on tap for 100W by end of 2008, with another 40W panel before next Summer to conclude a 140W system. With 80% efficiency, that's about 670 Watt-hours per day...at 7.8 to 10.1 Amps [3.9 to 5.1% charge rate]. Goal is lighting, music, & occasional 26" 60W LCD using 15W DVD player & 25W 2.1 speakers for movies when surf is flat. [~700-800 Watt-Hours consumed per day]

4 out of 5 stars

Well pleased May 2, 2008
K. Osborne (Oregon coast USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Item arrived in record time and in good condition as of this time it is functioning as advertised. I would recommend this company to others and would order again myself.

5 out of 5 stars

This solar panel works January 3, 2008
Alan Abbott (Kewanee, IL)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

I like this product. It is simple. Out of the box in early January in northern Illinois I got 15-16 volts and 0.2 amps from this panel. That's what I expected for this latitude and time of year. I'm relieved to have exactly what was advertised on the Amazon website. I just wanted a panel to charge up a 12V battery and see what I could run on it. By all descriptions this panel should work, we will see. For the money, I have not seen any other panel with a 20 watt peak output.

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