New 520 Watt Solar Panel from Lonepeak.

[vintageracer]

Since I know very little about what the "Specs" mean on the panel how bout you solar tech guys giving us your opinion of the performance, quality and pricing of this large 520 watt solar panel!

520W Overkill Solar Panel

Solar Power is essential to having the ultimate overlanding and bugout rig. If you're stationary for multiple days it'll keep your battery topped off so you can keep running accessories like a fridges and lights. The problem is that solar is a relatively unreliable power source. Time of day...

www.lonepeakoverland.com

 

[plh]

that is big. basically a 4' x 8' space. Rigid panels have dropped in price a lot.

 

[Antwon412]

That’s a lot of money for that. I paid less than $200 for a 220 watt panel. The stick on type panels used to have problems with overheating. If thats still an issue, I would stick to the normal style panel.

I like Lone Peak. I have one of their campers. But like everyone, the accessories are often overpriced compared to what you can purchase independently.

But it is handy to order it all and pick it up ready to go. I had them do some things, but most of the items I wanted I ordered and installed myself.

 

[Verkstad]

I am amused by what appears to be the standoff isolation they use to separate the roof from the solar module.

 

[fourfa]

In practice, you’ll find that 50V nominal voltage to be too much for many MPPT converters. If you building a fully discrete system, I’m sure there’s a Victron etc that will handle it, but all-in-one and Renogy grade things will likely choke on it. (Recall that nominal solar specs are quoted at ordinary room temps, and even normal cold mornings will likely boost that voltage a lot)

 

[dstefan]

I’m no expert, but from researching panels over the years a few things jump out to me that you might want to research in addition to the other issues raised by others here:
— They don’t say the brand of cells, or the manufacturer of the panels — Sunpower are often very well regarded, but there may be others
— Monocrystalline cells are good, but I’ve seen better Silicon panels/cells that are at 25% effeciency vs the 19% here
— Semi-fleixble panels don’t last as long as either rigid, or the newer super flexible CIGS panels (different composition from silicon and not as prone to sun damage, etc), and there’s no mention of warranty or life, just those cryptic durablity numbers
— Panels can really shut down in partial shade if they aren’t engineered with bypass diodes to cut out the shaded cells so they don’t shut down the whole panel. No mention of the bypass function or not in these panels.