Rockpals 100Watt Solar Panel

JimH

Regular Member
I finally got some time to mess with the Rockpals 100 Watt solar panel. I remember a few years ago (o.k., maybe more than a few) when I got into Ham radio, a 100 Watt foldable solar panel would run you North of a Kilodollar. Now, you can pick them up for under $200. The well built panel itself weighs a little over 10 lbs. and makes an armload when folded, but it still way better then lugging around a metal framed panel. It does put out some usable juice, and the QC3.0 USB port does kick out the smart tech, up to 9v. I think the new technologies like the QC3.0 are the future of efficient and consistent uses of limited resources (efficent and consistant...hmm, where has that come up before?) in challenging environments, and it will behoove the purchaser to buy it when possible. The QC3.0 port even works with my old G7 phone, and initiated the Fast Charging protocols. Along with the QC3.0 port and 2 other USB 2.0 ports, the panel also has MC4 connectors, which leads to many additional possibilities. I am going to do some more extensive tests, including pairing it with the Rockpals 300Watt power station, which married with the panel(s) looks to be a great system. Some obligatory pics:
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JimH

Regular Member
Here is a pic of results from the 100Watt panel charging the 300 Watt generator, panel was just face up on picnic table..
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Blitzer613

Amateur
How long does it take to completely charge that 300 generator with the 100W solar panel? I’ve been wanting to get a setup like this for a few years but they’ve been so expensive that I just keep putting it off


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JimH

Regular Member
How long does it take to completely charge that 300 generator with the 100W solar panel? I’ve been wanting to get a setup like this for a few years but they’ve been so expensive that I just keep putting it off


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It takes between 4 to 5 hours to fully charge on a sunny day.
Solar is not cheap for sure, but there are some good products coming out. A foldable 100 Watt panel used to cost a lot a few years ago, now it's less than $200, and hopefully cheaper than that in the future..
The wife and I have great 28Watt solar panels (for our Go Bags) that we got from fleabay for $55.88 delivered. These small panels have 3 USB (1 of which is QC3.0) ports that offer a pretty good resource for charging personal electronics.
 
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