Customer Reviews

Sunforce 39810 80-Watt High-Efficiency Polycrystalline Solar Panel with Sharp Module

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

 

 

QUICK UPDATE: Sunforce is selling obsolete Sharp 12% efficient panels no longer in production at 123W/panel, 2 panels to a kit with a junky inverter and charge controller.. See my review at Sunforce 39126 246-Watt High-Efficiency Polycrystalline Solar Power Kit but choose cautiosly as that product is from 2008 and is now obsolete which makes expansion of your system difficult due to the efficiency change.

---back to the review as it stood originally---

In evaluating solar panels (and systems of many panels) the typical pricepoint is $5.10/watt in high volume production. If you are finding better pricing than that something is wrong.

An example may be inefficient panels that use larger panels, causing massive panel size such that it is 4-8 times larger than this panel with the same output.

Other inefficiencies to watch out for are caused by voltages that are not useful. You could, for example, have a panel that output 500V at 1/10 A for 50W sold for $250 - looks good financially but very few charge controllers go much over 250 volts (and many dont make 250 volts - some are 12 or 48 volt systems). So that panel is not much use

This panel is in the sweet spot - enough power to be useful (80W/3 is a simple approximation for what useful power you can get with a battery all day long - about 25W or so given inefficiences. So theoretically it could support a 25W load 24x7 with an 8 hour day of sun.

The last inefficiencies to watch out for are panels that need heavy sun before they produce any output. Some panels produce usable (1-2 amps) output with just ambient scattered light such as a foggy day, while others give near zero output unless the sunlight strikes them head on. This panel design gives output whenever there is light, which is good. More light is always better, but it could be worse.

So to sum it up - there are no pitfalls here. It passes all the checks for pricing and performance. We load tested a string of 12 of these for a customer to profile their output to help decide if a rotator would help and it showed that very little gain would come from the expense of an automatic rotation system due to the panel's efficiency at many angles. With 12 panels we produced 1KW for 8 hours with taper up and down on both sides.

Best of all this can be used in series strings for grid tie systems or with battery maintainers

Took the panel to Death Valley for a few days to charge my trailer battery and while I ran laptop and iPod stereo for hours during the night, it quickly recharged the battery the next morning. Built a solid stand/rack to keep it upright using pvc pipe that's easy to disassemble, secure and lock. At 80 watts, it's just one panel where some 65watt units have 3 panels.

As my first venture into solar energy this has been a nice panel. I've had it about a month. I paired it with a "Xantrex Technologies 802-1500 XPower Powerpack 1,500-Watt Portable Backup Power System" and a "Sunforce 60032 30 Amp Digital Charge Controller". The panel is 12 volt, 4.6 amps though at this point I'm seeing up to 13.6 volts and 5 amps. I suspect over time as the panel weakens it will be more toward the 12 volt, 4.6 amp. The panel was simple to hook up and came with what was needed. I did go purchase new wire as I needed more distance for where I mounted it. I'm able to charge the battery from dead to full in 2 days. If I were to rotate the panel through the day I feel I could fully charge in 1 day.

Nice for backup charging and learning. For any real application you would need a ton of these though.

There are quite a few errors in the listing for this solar panel - the dimensions listed are for the shipping size - the actual panel size is 21 X 48 x 2 inches. The listing also says it is suitable for RV and marine use - but the warranty that comes with it states that the warranty is void if used in a mobile or marine enviornment.

The panel itself is very efficient - putting out upwards of 6 amps under good conditions. But my impression is that it is meant only for roof mounting, and is far too fragile to be bouncing around on top of an RV or camper, or mounted on the deck of a boat. The back is protected only by a plastic sheet, and the bottom edge of the aluminum frame is less than 1/8 inch thick - fine for roof mounting only.

The mounting hardware that came with my unit bears no relation to that pictured in the instructions (however the picture in the listing is accurate); and there were no battery clamps or quick connects.

I purchased 4 of these solar panels. They were easy to setup, and have been working just fine for the last month. They have been operating at near the specified 80 watts each which is pretty good for December in Utah.

I am not an engineer - but I bought this inverter with a Sharp 80W solar panel and a Sunforce charge controller to provide lights in a barn. The power company wanted to charge me $200 to connect power, $25 a month connection fee, and usage It took about a 1/2 day to set things up. Of course the hardest part was installing the solar panel. Once that was done, it was very easy to connect the panel to the charge controller and to the battery. I bought a Sears Marine Battery that is charged by the panel and I run the Cobra inverter off of the battery. I run shop lights and CFC (11W) bulbs for light, radio, and low watt fan. Its great and should pay back in a year. If you have a very low power use application - then this will work.

I bought a few weeks ago (two) of these 80-watt panels and connected them up in parallel for 160 watts, to charge (4) deep cycle 12 volt batteries (connected in parallel) that run a 3000-watt pure sign wave inverter. The 2 solar panels keep the batteries fully charged. After draining the batteries down to 10.5 volts with the inverter running for the day to my appliances, it took only 2 days to fully recharge them back to 12.5 volts. I was also pleased to see the controller that comes with these panels was regulating the current very well. As the batteries were being topped off the current dropped as it should to prevent overcharging. These panels do not need rotating to face the sun all day long. No matter where the sun is (or whatever angle the rays hit the panel), the output voltage seems to be high. Very, very efficient! Some days I got as much as 11 Amps of current from the two panels together, more than what the manual claims. Not bad! GREAT!

I know these cost more than some other panels for about the same wattage but believe me, they are worth it! And I do not work or know anyone at this company. Just be careful and handle with care, they are big and made of a glass type material. I placed them on the ground facing south and tilted up about 45 deg against my backyard fence. I found no need to mount them. Just be sure they will not move or slide down and break. I placed a 6 foot 4x4 in front and stakes in the ground to hold the 4x4 in place. We had 50 mph winds and these panels never moved. Mounting them together with the supplied brackets makes them heaver and harder for the wind to move them. Remember, if you mount them on a house, you might need a city permit!
Glenn from San Francisco

80 Watts/4.67 Amps = 17 volts.

Be sure to size your system appropriately to minimize voltage drop to your inverter.

Sunforce isnt the cheapest, but still a good price and a nice, solid product with a 25-year warranty.

Note: GET A SOLAR SURVEY - you might not qualify for any tax rebates if you dont get one!

Also do the math yourself. If you live on the 43rd paralell and get 4.4 sun hours per day average, do NOT place these at 43 degrees! Tilt them closer to the SUMMER sun angle. You'll get more sun in summer and less in winter, but you arent getting much in winter anyways! You'll get more yearly output (or get a tracker and not do any math)

The technology is getting better; cheaper manufacturing processes and better spectrum band as well as improvements leading to higher efficiencies. If you want better stuff, I dont know how "long" you should wait. It can only get so good, the potput isnt going to duble or anything. Laws of physics

I installed ten of these panels to supplement my three wind turbines, charging a 5,000 amp-hour battery bank, and they perform as advertised. I've seen the array deliver up to 72 amps @ 14.5 volts with the sun shining directly on them. On a dark, overcast day each panel puts out about 14-20 watts. The price per watt-hour is considerably higher than wind power, but the fact that they make power every day makes them a nice supplement to an existing wind power system.

The 80 Watt solar panel is excellent, have used it for 2 summers at a off grid cottage, charging 2 6 volt batteries. The use has been for interior lighting (using the now 15W with 60 watt output bulbs). I am planning on getting another panel at 120 watt and add 2 more 6 volt batteries. I will use both panels connected but have different angle facing the sun since they will be fixed.
So far no problems and am happy with the performance.