Roll up solar panel 144 Watt

[999zip999]

Battery hookup Inc has a two pack of roll up solar panels 200 bucks can these be used or manipulated to be use with a buck charger or something else how many what I need 72v ?

Battery Hookup
2-Pack Uni-solar PVL-144 144w Amorphous Flexible Solar Panel
Regular price$195.00

 

[SafeDiscDancing]

Compared to Sunpower cells the efficiency of these are really bad.

Sunpower individual cells perform at around 22%.

Unless there was an error in the description at Battery Hookup they LIST a horrible 6% efficiency.

I'd rather buy the Sunpower cells and do a DIY project to connect them myself which actually makes more economic sense.

A few years ago the Sunpower cells were selling dirt cheap but I have no idea their price now.

 

[ynot]

Where you are, you get pretty good insolation (sunshinue) do you want to be able to take the panels with you on your bike?
You can find good quality hard panels for a dollar per rated watt or less, have been using solar panels since 1981 and imo you would do better to think in terms of hard panels, you might be able to carry 4 100 watt panels 2 to a side on a rear carrier panier style.
4 panels @ 24 volts gives you 96V using a variable charge controller and the battery BMS, lay out the panels & you should be good to go, and able to charge your bike in a reasonable time.
You could do it with one panel and an inverter, but horribly inefficient.

 

[dogman dan]

The panels are flexible, but not intended to be rolled up and carried a lot. Bending them a lot will kill the cells.

Price for that type is ok, but you might find cheaper, depending on time of year. Like a lot of stuff, buy it in December for better price.

While not as good as hard panels, less efficient and less lifespan, they have advantages in some uses. They are very light, so good for carrying around on a bike trailer. And they bend to fit a curved surface. I have three of these 100w panels on my camp trailer, that has a curved roof like a boat. They don't stick up and create drag while I'm towing, like some rigs I've seen on school buses. I'm sure its costing me more per watt hour in the long haul, but saving me mpg in the short haul.

The panels I have put out 18v (12v panels) but you could get close to 72v with four of them in series. Ideally, a charge controller for 60v would go with that. 5 panels and 72v charge controller for 72v. Your panels won't put out full voltage when its dim, so you need headroom on the voltage, then a charge controller or at least a converter to get to your packs charging voltage.

Another approach would of course, to convert 18v up to a higher voltage, but its most efficient to keep that voltage conversion to a low number. two panels in series (36v) can convert to 57v fairly easy, to slightly under charge a 52v system.

Looking for 24v panels would help of course. They put out up to 30v.