ALLPOWERS SOLAX SE200 200W Portable Folding Solar Panel,High-Efficiency 23%-25% Monocrystalline Solar Charger for Generator,Camping&RV,41.6V Voltage,IP68 Waterproof

I have the Allpowers 140 watt solar panel that is similar in design to this 200 watt panel. the major differences other than output power, is the build quality. The 200 watt panel is more rigid when setup the panel does not sag or droop nearly as much as the 140 watt when using the kick stand legs. Those legs are also different, on this panel the legs are slimmer and they snap off completely if you don't want to use them. I don't think I've used them correctly yet but I did use them while this panel charged my power station and they held fine on my lawn. 2 things to note: first, this is purely a solar panel, it has to be attached to something to be useful, it has no built in charging ports for any USB outputs, it must be connected to a compatible power station, charge controller, or other similar device to be useful. The Second thing to note is that the cables are short, and are unlikely to be long enough to position the panel to catch the best sun and to connect to a device that is not very portable. I use 2 of these along with one 140 watt panel all connected in parallel in a mini "solar farm" I had no issues with this setup. I did use a multi meter to check the output and found that the panel was producing almost exactly the power it was rated to produce, of course, like all solar panels, when there is a load the output power drops so it is unlikely that they will produce 200 watts of power while doing actual work. This rated vs actual usable power is extremely common with solar panels and is not an indication of any mis-leading or false advertising. Solar panels are rated under very specific conditions that are unlikely to happen in real world use, but this rating method makes it easier to compare and shop among different brands and sizes. I don't use panels like these in series because there is more potential to damage the panels when used in series. Also, Allpowers recommends using no more than 3 of these when connecting in parallel. Overall, I like this portable solar panel, it's just a simple portable folding solar panel and it works, I'll likely buy one more in the future to complete my mini solar farm.

Just opened it and inspected it. Very nicely made. The carrying case is so nice. I already have a 200 watt flexible Allpowers panel on the roof of my trailer and it's doing good. I'll be doubling up the two for cold and hot weather camping. Currently using an electric blanket for cold and a 5000 btu AC for hot weather. So nice to be propane free. UPDATE: Getting 212 watts from this 200 watt panel! Even happier with my purchase!

Panels, especially folding ones, never meet my expectations as far as output, until I realized REAL WORLD output and RATED POWER are two different things. This applies to ALL PV (Solar) PANELS not just All Power. More below but first the overall impression. ALL POWER comes with a good variety of useful accessories and the design is good, quality is very good for price. I got it for $239. That is a good price compared to other brands that may cost $400-$800. Are the other brands better? IDK? You would expect more for the price, but not necessarily. The fold out kickstands works well. I like how they have a pocked for the panel output cables and accessories YES the power cables leads are short which is fine with me, so the cables can store in pocket.... They use high quality cable and connectors. I have extension power cables so my devices are in the sade... panel in sun. RATED POWER - The big variable besides sunlight hitting the panel, no shade even just a corner kills output, aiming the panel at sun, how hot the panel, is what is the panel connected to. What are you trying to power (Load/Drain). Typically it is a battery you are charging to provide power to the devices you want to power. More accurately it is a BATTERY CHARGER or battery controller you connect the panel to. Sometimes those are a discreate device, other times integrated in a POWER STATION with the battery. Not all controllers love DC power direct from a PV (Photovoltaic) Solar Panel. Some battery charging controllers are optimized for one solar panels but may not be optimal for another brand of solar panel. Does not mean the panel is bad, just mis-matched. Spoiler Alert, ALL POWER does meet it's rating 200W, but for my actual usage I could only extract about 125W for my application. This is normal. I compared All Power to two 100W high end ridged panels (big and heavy) in parallel, they do the same thing in my application. Although the ridged panels consistently had about 10% to 12% more Real World output. Not a big deal. The point being both panels did not make 200W in my application... but both tested to their rated 200W. RATED POWER... How to measure. In strong full sunlight mid day w/ panels angled right at sun, using a volt meter check open voltage. This is with no device connected. You will see 20V give or take. Then check shorted amps, with an Amp meter able to measure at least 12 Amps DC (you can do this in series with meter leads or clamp on DC Amp Meter). I measured 20V open and 10.18Amps Short. (NOTE WHEN YOU SHORT THE + and - YOU WILL GET A SPARK. IT IS OK). ALL POWER, 203.4 Watts under the conditions it was tested under... However when connected to REAL WORLD load the actual power it is normal to get less Wattage due to mismatch with controller and that solar panel design. I DO NOT KNOW if $800 panel similarly rated will do much better. I would hope so, but who knows. My application is a 500W POWER STATION to run a 12V Frig/Freeze when camping. The Frig in moderate outside temps can run 24 hours on the Power station, about 24Watts an hour. The charge controller in my power station LIKES 24V, and limits charging to 125 watts (to protect the internal batteries). Voltage can be from 12v to 30v but anything under 20 volts the charging drops off. I tried to charge the power station off car's 12v jack (13-14v) and it was pathetic. So it is not all the Solar panels fault. Most panels open circuit make 20 volts, but under load the volts drop to 14-17 volts... this is normal and some charging controllers don't like lower voltages. *That is why I use a boost converter to charge my Power Station from Solar panels.* TIP I USE A BOOST (bucking type) Converter to get voltage to 24V regardless of input voltage (output from panels). The panels are going to be well below their OPEN voltage, often in 15v-17v range. Better more advanced (expensive) power stations may be more flexible. So my charger sees 24 volts and at what ever the current (Amps) are and charges most efficiently. If there are clouds and panel drops too low the booster drops out and you are no longer charging. It really is great in that with low morning or late afternoon light it continues to charge without dropping off as it does when panels are directly connected to Pwr Station. My Renogy 2x 100W panels behave in a similar way with this power station as the All Power panel. Some combination of power station and panels do better than others. SIDE BY SIDE COMPARISON WITH ALL POWER (portable folding) and TWO Ridged 100W Renogy panels in parallel. The Renogy panels were better, typically 12% give or take, about 9 to 12 watts more. This is to be expected being ridged panels. But ALL POWER surprised me and did better than I thought. I had other 200W folding panels and they could only muster 80W... All power was doing 117W. NOTE One advantage of having two 100W panels (Renogy) is you can put them in series and double voltage and cut Amps in half saving "IR" loss. The HIGHER VOLTS the LOWER AMPS for same POWER (watts). This means less loss over extension cable. I have long extensions (V x Amps = Watts). This is why the power grid bring power to your home is very high volts like 100,000 volts, but AC. I have another converter or BUCK converter to take the 38volts from the Renogy panels in series and drop down to 24 Watts (ideal volts for my Pwr Station controller). My power station is limited to 30V max. I can not run the two panels in series directly. So I have a BOOST converter and a BUCK (or drop down) converter. Note you can run to ALL POWERS in parallel and get more power (double). SIZE MATTERS... Clearly stored the ALL POWER is a winner. It is about 25" x 20" folded and fairly thin. However unfolded it is 25" x 80" = 2000 sq-in or 13.8 sq-ft it is large.... The ridged Renogy 100W panels size are 41"x 20" = 820 sq-in each, 1640 sq-in for two, or 11.4 sq-ft. However when the two Renogy panels are stored in their cardboard shipping box, it is awkward and heavy to move. The Renogy panels are about 1.5 inch thick, so two in packing box is about 5" deep. The thickness of the All Power panels are thin. However not too thin they are too floppy. The All Power I think is about 10 lbs less than th ridged Renogy. Add a handle, less weight, thin compact the All Power is easy to move around.. However folded out the ALL POWER IS BIG... The KICK Stand is nice. In wind take care it does not blow down or away. People expect to ALWAYS to get rated power no matter what. That is of course not possible. In fact it is unlikely you will ever get more than 50%-70% unless everything is optimal. Besides the mismatch between battery charger I explored above, obviously sunlight can be filtered (cloudy), panels not ideally aimed at sun, hot temperatures, all produce less power than rated. However if testing the panels under standard testing criteria, they produce rated power, current, volts. However real world is not test conditions. ALL PANELS DO THE SAME THING. I need to generate about 500 watts per day to keep my good sized portable 12V DC refrigerator/freezer running by charging the battery station fully before sunset. I can expect to make that over a 8-10 hr sunny day easy and then some. Overnight, say 12 hours my Frig uses about 250 watts. I need to keep the Rrig running and charging battery (250W + 250W = 500W) throughout the day before nightfall. 200Watt panels that make 120W to 140W real world with no clouds is plenty. However if cloudy more panel may make the difference. I tried to lay them flat on roof luggage rack. It was marginal. Angling them makes a huge difference. Also on marginal day bigger or more capacity panels helps a lot. I found a sweet spot for my camping Frig, but you never can have too much power. I would do well to get more panels and1000W power stations but price and weight goes up significantly. Right now I am good enough and still have room to spare for charging phones. HOT DAYS AND 12V FRIG. Last time I was camping a full week it was mid 90's, I was using much more power (Frig running much longer due to not getting to set temp during peak temp of day). I had to run the Regurgitator at 38F verses 32F so it ran a little less. Drinks are still cold at 38F, especially when it is in the high 90's. Also even though set at 38F it is colder at bottom of Frig is close to 32F. Guess where the beer went?

Where to begin? Well, first, they put out nowhere near their rated 200 watts of power, eved in direct sunlight. I tested them in noon sun using multiple battery banks, and the most I could get out of them was about 107 watts. This is compared to a pair of Renogy 100 watt panels I tested, which put out a combined 197 watts in the same sunlight. I bought a second panel thinking the first might be defective, but it didn't put out any more power. Then I noticed that the wires are only secured to the panel using a small strap of nylon and some hot-melt glue. Sitting in the noonday sun, the panel got pretty hot, which of course made the hot-melt glue run and exposed the solder joints. Had I kept using it, I'd bet that the wires would've pulled completely out of the panel. The replacement panel didn't fare much better: It shipped from the factory with one metal grommet dangling on the wire instead of secured to the panel. Finally, the panels are also really flimsy. The backing isn't stiff enough; it tends to sag and deform under the heat of the sun, which isn't healthy for brittle silicon solar cells. These things are not built to last at all.

A friend of mine brought a couple of solar generators to my shop that he'd gotten here on Amazon. They didn't come with the panels, though, and he had no idea what to get. There is what looks like a proprietary DC input connector that works with that company's own panels. They also allow for charging in the car using a cigarette to barrel connector power converter, though. Since these panels come with a wide assortment of different connectors, we were able to use these panels through the car DC input on the generators and it worked great. We did have to power the solar generators on, though, for the panel's input voltage to be detected but other than that... my friend was absolutely giddy with excitement. He was like a kid in a candy store and could not wait to take these out to his hunting cabin and try them out. The panels fold up nicely and are easily portable. They're not too heavy (or bulky), but that does make the panels slightly thinner than I would feel comfortable with. But... don't go by me on that. I like things over-engineered and built to withstand a hurricane. For the average Solar Joe (or Jane), these are going to be perfect. Just be sure that the panels you need are 36vdc ad you will be happy with this.

Spectacular design, to be able, more than enough and you can hide it anywhere, I have others that are regular designs and are a problem to save

I have had seven years of DIY solar panels (hard, flexible, foldable [60-300watts each]) and seen many claims of watts but typically cautious when listing doesn't specify amp and volts for the PV panel output. I saw actual 18.7 volts so that part was correct as 18 was listed but the amps produced were disappointing and 1/3 less than expected given the brightness of the day. I'll explain: Taking my year old 4 x120 (total 480) watts foldable panels with kickstands I got 246 watts (51%). Very typical for my latitude. Then plugged in just 4x200 (800) watt panels using same wiring, same location +/- 2 feet same 1000 watt 10-32amp MPPT inverter just these panels were different at same angle and got 268 watts (34%). I then tried another exact spare MPPT inverter switching back and forth and got same results plus/minus 1%. Tried a few tests on the individual panel and again at my location and degree of brightness and these 200 watts produced no better than my older 120w (half fold). These four fold PV panels take up a longer run and with the short attached MC4 cables and acclimated kickstands make it difficult to connect in series without buying extension cables. Foolishly I purchased 6 of these from Amazon Warehouse thinking I was getting a good deal on cost per generated watt. Yet not one of the 6 performed any differently when tested individually. or together. Had I paid full price these would have been boxed up and on their way back to Amazon. In fairness this unit is very typical of some of the panels I've seen and purchased in past years promising high wattage but failing to clearly list specifications of PV output amps, volts and conversion efficiencies. I'll hopefully never purchase any panel again not doing the math of max (amps * volts = watts) then looking up the suggested conversion efficiency rating and surface layers coating and reading reviews. While more rigid then the 300w I purchased and broke cells and wires at the folds after a year. I'd be cautious/careful unfolding these for camping or everyday deployment vs the rigid 120's I own feel more solid. These being reviewed cost me more money, weigh more, take up more space, no USB connections or regulator just a straight MC4 connector, feel flimsy, ...... then I've purchased before that turned out to be my most disappointing with poor performance: a lesson learned.

Buen producto funciona bien con mi ecoflow

Finally, two sunny days to check out the 200w ALLPOWERS solar panel. I got 172w and 180w (Jan 14 around noon in southern Ontario). Panel is hanging on the fence on the three build-in nylon loops. They are stable enough to hold the weight. Panel didn’t come with the MC4 to XT60 cable to charge my Ecoflow River 2 max, but it has other useful cables to charge a car battery etc. I was a bit concerned because the panel isn't ETFE laminated but I hope it will be durable anyway. Overall, a very good panel in my opinion. Edit after a month: Panel is still working fine, no issues. I get good power out of it even on cloudy days.

Amazing, lightweight and portable. Works awesome, no complaints. We use it when traveling with our campervan and it's perfect to charge our secondary battery and all accessories.

I have used these panels and gotten 147 watts and I imagine in perfect conditions that would go up a bit. The only thing that I dislike is that the kickstands are a little awkward to use. When you pick up the panels to move them at all the kickstands collapse and the Velcro sticks them to the back of the panels. A way to lock them open would be great Update : if the wires coming out of the units were a foot or so longer they would be easier to hook together in series. Right now they hook together but when placed one in front of the other they are susceptible to shadows as the sun goes down.

Poor quickly degrading quality. Bought it last summer hoping to use for a winter trip to mexico. If i would have started using it right away, it wouldnt have made it through warranty period. Put it out for the first time and it had a great output at about 170w full sun. By the second week having it out in dry full sunny days the output had gone down to roughly 100w full sun. Output stayed at this rate for about a month but is now down to about 80w, again full sun. Poop product as far as im concerned. Seems to be a common issue with this panel too.

This solar panel charges my 12V battery from 12.27V to 13.37V in 3 hours. Quite fast I am very happy with it. The support for the panel need a little bit work to try to make the panel stay to my desired angle. Once the panels are all set, it stay there solid, even big wind can't blow them away. Good purchase easy to carry as well.