EcoFriendlyShoppingOnline.com

Had to return

Customer Rating:
The panel came as promised, but it turned out that the five watts was not sufficient to run the pump on my solar water heater - it needs 10 watts.
Sorry - my fault.

Solid frame, good price, does the job

Customer Rating:
Bought this to power my Mighty Mule gate opener, which has a built-in charge controller. It does the job at a fraction of the price of the Mighty Mule 5 watt panel. You may not need a charge controller if you are using this for something that has one built-in. The instructions deal mostly with RV use. Many RV's have a built-in controller for a solar panel. It comes with mounting hardware for attaching it to a flat surface. You will have to build a mount to support it at the desired angle. I built one out of a small piece of plywood and a short 2X4 cut at an angle, but you could use metal as well. Connection is easy, just connect the two wires. When mine arrived (quickly) the mounting hardware bag had come open and the pieces were sliding around in the box. I thought it had broken in shipping, but fortunately opened it and found everything OK.

Great Product

Customer Rating:
This 5W panel performs great. It is everything the description says. Very easy to install. I had a charge regulator already, so it was easy for me to connect this heavy duty panel to power my weather station.

I had tried hooking up my own solar panel array by piecing together smaller flimsier solar panels with disappointing results. With 6 200mA panels, I still wasn't getting enough juice. A multimeter revealed that the total output was 200 mA for all 6! (3 sets of 2 9V panels in parallel).

With just this one CDT panel I'm getting more than enough power. The already installed heavy gauge pre-tinned wires are about a foot long, so I ended up having to connect some additional wire to them. I was just thankful the wires were already connected (very securely) to the panel already. My past experiences with connecting wires to solar panels has been very frustrating.

This solar panel has an internal diode to prevent back flow of current when it's dark or cloudy. It's hard to believe the excellent quality I got for the price.

lindengunny

Customer Rating:
Have used this panel for over a month. Shipping was super quick (3 days fm purchase to mailbox fm CA to VA). Works incredibly well. Pumps out 17 volts and .3 amps. I will need another one to get me over the .48 amps I need to run a fan on a solar wood kiln. But excellent value and great product.

5w panel sturdy; weather resistant (sealed)

Customer Rating:
(orig 7/27/2008)
I just received the 5 w panel. I find that it is very sturdy. It is under a glass panel and surrounded by aluminum sides. The two wires are about 12 inches. In full sunlight, on a clear day, I measured about .32A (that's 320mA). If you cover one cell in the panel, the current drops to less than a few mA. So avoid shadows.
The aluminum frame has predrilled holes and comes with strait brackets (two holes).
When I placed the panel on the dash board of my car, the current measured was 180mA.
So, I plan on mounting them on top of my car. I think it has a blocking diode inside the panel.
The panel is sealed with what looks like caulking.
I didn't understand the price until I received the product.

-------

10/27/2009
Its been a year and change (7/22/2008).
The solar panel sits out in the parking lot in the hot summer and in the freezing cold winter.
I paired the panel with a 12V 26AH (26000mAH) AGM SLA battery (Lead Acid). It powers small electronics like a clock, mp3 players, cell phone charger, GPS, etc... Its on a separate circuit from the rest of the car.
So far this experiment has been working out fine. I got my Garman GPS powered by the charged battery for about an hour a day and my mp3 player for at least two hours a day while I'm driving. I've been trying to drain that battery, but solar panel keeps it topped off.
Not bad for the 10 hours of low angle sunlight I get here in the north.
Excellent product if you know what to do with it.