Description
- [ Package Content ] 5Voltage 200mA 10Pcs Polycrystalline Solar Panels
- [ Dimension] 110mmx60mm/4.33″x 2.36″ (L*W); Thickness: 2.5mm/0.1″
- [ DIY Your Own Model ] To charge cell , for home lighting and different kinds of low-power DC appliances, for science projects, for solar powered water pump, small solar power system, etc.
- [ High Quality ] High quality epoxy resin, unique technology to make the components beautiful and strong, anti-wind and snow, increase the service life of solar panels.
Alec Engl –
In full sun, I saw up to ~5.75v (11.5~11.6v for 2 cells in series), not bad at all. Works for my project
Ed from Maine –
Everything arrived safe. No cracked panels. I’m happy with my purchase.
What i have pictured, in direct sunlight , the load tester reads 4.5v 142mA (panelload testercharge controller) as it charged the battery.
Marvin –
I bought this for an experiment about harvesting energy under very low light and I needed small solar cells to work the minor details on a breadbard. I like the size and construction. in low light you get the expected low voltage and very low micro amps. that is exactly what I needed to work with. so far I got what I needed. I already have a working design and one of the tests involved on monitoring how the parts will work under normal light conditions. This way the design can be tested from complete darkness all the way to full daylight and I needed to measure the efficiency of energy harvesting under the full range of light. That is when I found out I the solar cell I have been experimenting with does not deliver the amount of energy advertised. Under full Sun Light it delivered only 1/3 of what is advertised. Not a problem for me but I just wanted to let you all know. I did not get the 1 watt I expected. I got 300 milliwatt instead. I haven’t tested the other cells that came in the package but even if they are all good, i got a bad one with the package and that takes one star away.
Alec Engl –
Decent solar panels other than the misleading “theoretical maximum” amperage. Posting a loading curve in case anyone was like me when shopping, note that this was taken directly under 380 lumens and that a maximum power of 16mW is achieved with a load of around 1kOhm. Nominal current is 4mA.
PaddyMoore –
First, the good: Well packaged. Epoxy encasement of cells was crystal clear. Nice and sturdy. I’ve used three, and they all worked. They did put out 5V. Current is another story, see below.
The missing: The cells DID NOT come with leads. Perhaps I should have known better, but I kinda assumed they did. Maybe my bad? Not a huge deal, the solder points are big and they tinned easily. I could see how not having leads would be an advantage for some applications. I do wish they had made that clearer on the product page. Half a star off for this.
The not so good: 200 mA? No way. I knew that the cells wouldn’t put out 200 mA, but I had hoped for better. Short circuit current, outside, mid-day, no clouds, direct sun at 45 degrees north latitude early November was 5-10 mA. I am aware that 200 mA is a theoretical maximum (rather than observed results) based on a calculation where the light source is a thermonuclear explosion and the cell is a meter away from it. Nevertheless, my measurements were disappointing. Real world output specifications would be so much better. This lack of transparency is not limited to this product, and I’ve read similar reviews of small maker/DIY solar cells from other vendors. Caveat emptor for all these DIY solar cells. 1.5 stars off for this.
Dev Gualtieri –
These are claimed to output 200 mA at 5 volts. In practice, you can expect at most half the current. My first-principles calculation of the current based on maximum solar energy at Earth’s surface and the presumed 10% efficiency of such polycrystalline silicon photovoltaic cells gives 100 mA maximum. These cells were still adequate for my project, so they got four stars.
PeteK –
The specified amps aren’t even close. I understand the 200ma is in perfect conditions but on a sunny day with 12pm sun directed head-on to the solar panel it barley breaks 40ma.
PeteK –
I received these solar panels in the mail. Not a single one worked! Disappointing!