This solar panel combo is a solar panel plus a charge controller plus clamps all preassembled and ready to go. Set it out in the sun, attach the clamps to a meter, and you should get what I got 20V at .3 amps. My panel came in good condition inside a solid cardboard box within another box. Your mileage may vary. I am pleased with the construction overall, but it does not look overly rugged. You won't want to casually toss it around too much, but it should mount nicely to a solid surface. The aluminum frame has mounting holes on the back, but the clearance is very limited.
I have a Brunton foldable solar panel that cost ten times as much and only puts out 3 times the amps (same voltage).
I will be buying a larger Instapark product in the future. Overall, I am very pleased with this purchase.
This is a pretty good little solar panel. I bout this to keep the battery on my camper topped off while not being used.
The Good: Panel performs as expected. In full bright sun I measured around 350mA at about 20V (7 Watts!) The size is nice and small (about the size of a sheet of paper) as compared to the amorphous panels which are much larger for the same wattage. The cable from the panel's junction box to the charge controller is nice and long.
Th Not So Good: The cover for the junction box on the back doesn't quite seal all the way around on mine. I put a small bead of caulk around it. Also the charge controller does NOT appear weatherproof. As a matter of fact it has a USB port on the side of it that is not sealed. My solution was to encase it in a weatherproof electrical box and run the wires out from there. Also, the clamps are small. Finally, the thickness of the frame is very small which makes mounting with the moutning holes challenging.
Overall though, I like this panel and would buy it again.
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Appears to be very well made and a good value for the price except for the clamps. The clamps are too small for the products intended use and tinny. I easily destroyed one of the clamps when trying to grip the 12v battery pole. I cut the original clamps off and replaced them with the appropriate clamps I purchased at Radio Shack.
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SOLAR PANEL: This panel is very well made, reliable, and seems quite weatherproof. It puts out the full 5 watts in bright sunlight. I put some silicone caulk where the wire exits the back of the panel, just to be safe.
CHARGE CONTROLLER: The housing is definitely not weatherproof, but it does work properly. Some reviewers reported rusted connectors. Mine arrived without any rust. I created a battery box for an electric fence. The solar panel is mounted on top of the box, and the solar charge controller is inside the box with the battery and the fence energizer (protected from weather).
Don't use it with a large panel (as one reviewer did), because it's only designed to take a small current. It is rated for only 3 amps. 3 amps x 12 volts = 36 watts. So ... don't hook up more than 36 watts of 12-volt solar panels to this charger.
Another reviewer said the charger allows the battery to discharge into the solar panel at night. That's not really true. I did many tests and figured out what is going on. There is a green "Power" LED light on the charge controller. That light is on whenever it is connected to the battery. That light draws about 5 milli-amps from the battery at night, which is negligible. During the day, the solar panel powers the green LED.
So ... when the solar panel gets no power from the sun, electricity flows from the battery to the green LED. But that is the only draw on the battery. I tested it, and there is no current flowing into the solar panel from the battery. The 5 milli-amp draw is minimal, and really has no effect on the battery at all. Consider that during bright sunlight, the panel pours about 400+ milli-amps into the battery. Even that amount is just considered a "trickle" charge.
I put a blocking diode (1N4001) between the battery and the charge controller, which even blocks the 5 milli-amp discharge at night. Now the green "Power" light only comes on when the panel gets light.
I also verified that the charge controller stops charging the batter when it reaches about 13 volts. That protects the battery from being over-charged.
Hope this helps.
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Solar panel looks great, except its the wrong one (2 oval solar tabs vs the rectangular tabs displayed in the picture). The back of the housing says 22V instead of 12V . I'll test out the amps as soon as I get a new fuse for my multimeter to see if its actually putting out 5 watts.
The charge controller on the other hand, obviously came overseas from China by boat. The small Ziploc bag it came in had a substantial amount of rust in it. The 6 terminals on the controller are completely rusted, and reduced the voltage from 11.3V to 2.1V after connecting it. I'll need to do some serious cleaning to get the rust off and see if its salvageable, but I would suggest ordering the panel without the charge controller, its not worth the $12 price difference.
Edit: I spent about 30 minutes cleaning the terminals (Put them over the tip of some pliers and scraped the rust off with a box cutter). Im now getting 21.5 volts straight from the panel, and 20.0 after connected to the charge controller. I talked to our electrical engineer at work and found out solar panels dont put out any amps on their own ("You need resistance to have amps"), but after connecting the panel to a battery, I was getting 20V at .19 amps, or 3.8 watts. He also said if the controller is doing its job, the 22V panel shouldnt fry the 12V battery during charging.
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This is a great value for the three typical ways to charge your BB Torch. If you bought these at your smartphone dealer or blackberry you would pay 5 to 10 times as much. And they do the job nicely!
