Customer Reviews

5 watt Solar Panel

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was looking for a few-watt solar panel for my little home project. The idea was to run a couple of ventilation fans in my house's crawl space, using solar power. Both decent price and thorough technical specs of CDT panel have attracted me. And this product really satisfied my expectations! Panel produces current/voltage as specified. It is sturdy, easy to mount. Thanks to its sealed design, it has survived all kinds of weather during the winter - snow, ice, cold, etc. And right at this moment, it is running those fans! Highly recommended!

I have an automatic gate openner which runs on 12V battery which is charged by solar power. I was having trouble with the battery losing its charge because of trees in the area which were blocking the sun. I went to the people who installed my system and they wanted $120 just for another panel. So I began looking on the internet and found these panels. At first I was skeptical because the price seemed too low. Any way I decided to give the company a chance and my battery charging problems are solved without cutting down any trees. I just connected the new panel in parallel with the old. These are definitely high quality panels. Terry

This is simply the best 5W panel you will find - anywhere. Very rugged build quality w/ an aluminum frame and epoxy sealed tempered glass (this thing is *NEVER* coming apart!). The power output also tested better than rated. Compared to other plastic 5W products (which I've also owned while they worked), this is a far superior product. My next project will be much larger and I will definitely be ordering from CDT again. This was one of the better amazon.com purchases I've made.

(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.


EDIT:
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.


EDIT:
6/17/2010
Unit out in the sun all day and still alive.

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.

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.

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.

Best price I found from 6 suppliers. It has already more than trippled the life of my battery operated gate opener. I live in WA state where the sun does not shine every day. Also trees shade it for half the day. It is still keeping the battery topped off just above 12 volts. Before I installed it I had to disconnect the battery and bring it into the shop and charge it every month. I am now into my 4th month and it is working great with no external charging other than the CDT 5w solar panel. The 1.5w charger I started with did not work for my application. This one is great I am very pleased.

use it to maintain my boat battery never one problem all summer.did plenty of fishing boat off radio on and holds perfect charge.my bat doesnt have much else on it but a fishfinder.if your running more electrical componants you would need a bigger one.For the price this was anamazing deal.very happy.now i can say im green

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.