Roll up solar panels

[doris]

One of the targets at LIBS will be to check out the roll up solar panels.
Does anyone have any idea if they are worth having?
Stored out of the way and hung in the sunshine when the need arrives. Plan was to have one about 6' x 2'.

 

[ribrage]

Personally - I wouldn't ive had semi flexibles and they unreliable and not lasted long , even the expensive sun ware panels have been fairly short lived , I had pockets sewn into my canvas bimini to house the solar panels so flexibles were the sensible choice - never again !

 

[ghostlymoron]

I've had semi flex on all three boats I've owned and have been very satisfied with them. You can walk on them and they are always working whenever the sun's shining. I can't get my head round the 'hang them out when needed' philosophy. Think you might be struggling to get them 6' long.

 

[macd]

I've had semi flex on all three boats I've owned and have been very satisfied with them.

Just goes to show that few things are predictable. I've had three different brands of semi-flexible, and all were consummately reliable, inasmuch as they died within months of their warranties expiring. The failures seemed principally to be due to UV damage, and for the most part they were used in the Med. I would always, always go for rigids if fitting them were practicable.

 

[vyv_cox]

The first panel I fitted was a 38 watt semi-flexible, screwed to the coach roof just aft of the mast. That was in 1996, it is still there and still works fine. It has delaminated a little, causing a few parts of the top layer to appear cloudy, but that doesn't seem to affect it.

I also have a 'flexible' panel, 32 watts I think. Its dimensions are about 1 metre x 30 cm. It rolls into a tube of about 40 cm diameter, so not all that flexible. It works OK but it becomes a pain tying it down in at least four places, sometimes six, to stop it from blowing around. I replaced it years ago with rigid panels on an arch and put it in the shed, where it remains.

 

[gregcope]

The first panel I fitted was a 38 watt semi-flexible, screwed to the coach roof just aft of the mast. That was in 1996, it is still there and still works fine. It has delaminated a little, causing a few parts of the top layer to appear cloudy, but that doesn't seem to affect it.

I also have a 'flexible' panel, 32 watts I think. Its dimensions are about 1 metre x 30 cm. It rolls into a tube of about 40 cm diameter, so not all that flexible. It works OK but it becomes a pain tying it down in at least four places, sometimes six, to stop it from blowing around. I replaced it years ago with rigid panels on an arch and put it in the shed, where it remains.

Is it in the shed due to mounting issues or performance (as in amps)?

 

[sailorbaz]

I recently crewed on the delivery of a Hanse 505 - only 6 months old. It had a Bimini with flexible panels on top and a bird had pooped on them in three places. It had completely eaten through losing several cells!
Bird poop on my glass ones just wipes off.
Sailorbaz

 

[vyv_cox]

Is it in the shed due to mounting issues or performance (as in amps)?

No, it seemed to be performing as expected. It is awaiting its next role charging batteries.

 

[charles_reed]

I am presuming that most appear to be answering a question that the OP didn't ask.

He was enquiring, I understand, about fully flexible, roll-up PV panels.
Such panels are actually in limited production in Texas, by thin-film deposition on pvc sheeting.
I very much doubt the OP will find such panels on offer from anyone in any BoatShow right now.

Regarding semi-flexible panels - if bought from reputable makers - appear to deteriorate rather faster than glass ones - but appear to be less affected by shadowing, being walked on or moulded to a substrate - but such shape-changing is so small as to be non-existent. Or so my experience with two Marlec ones over 3 years, which are <90%, compared to 100% of original output, compared to glass panels.
I have come across one offer of a roll-up panel - several small cells on a textile/plastic substrate, in 3m x 150mm it produced 9 watts, worthless even for deployment along a boom. It was handled by a trading company in Hong Kong and being sold for powering novelty garments (a fan-assisted cap being one).
More recent research into putting three reactive deposits on one plastic panel (each tuned to a different wavelength) are producing results almost double the best performing commercial panels. There was/is to be an article in "Scientific American" on the pioneering work being done here in Southampton Uni.

 

[whiteshythe]

I have three 32 watt fully flexible solar panels wired in parallel attached by velcro on the top side of my bimini.Dimensions 1435x450x40mm. They are now 12 years old and still produce about 2 amps each in full sunlight. However, they perform particularly well when shaded or in poor light. They are still available under the name 'Spectraflex' from a number of UK suppliers.
However, the price is now pretty horrendous, I paid about half the current price. I also bought three semi flexible Solara panels from a well known UK supplier which are fitted on my coachroof. Two of the three failed after five years and I have not bothered to replace them. If I were starting again, I would probably go for Solbian semi flexible panels.