SunPower Accessories

These panels put out good power for sure but among several other thin film panels I have, these are by far the easiest to clean. These have a nice smooth finish to the exterior. They almost never get dirtier than the thinnest film of dust and a quick wipe or squeegee is all they need to be spotless again. The textured coating of other flexible panels may be great when they’re brand new, but they trap more dust as well and need to be sprayed down more heavily to remove the dirt. Great product.

I have two of these installed on the hardtop of my boat, and will be adding two more. Everything on the web says you can expect 1/4 of the rated output in real life from moncrystalline panels, and 1/3 of the rated power from Sunpower cells. I'm getting better than that so far. I have my two panels connected in series, to a Victron SmartSolar 100/30 MPPT controller, charging a single 12v house battery, (with a jumper to my thruster batteries if I need more capacity). The Victron controller has Bluetooth, and a free phone app that tracks and graphs output. On days at anchor the best day yield was 880 watts over 14 hours. P Max was 130 watts, and V Max was 42.52 volts. This was with a lot of smoke in the air from the forest fires up here in the Pacific Northwest. Each day on my graph is different because when the boat is running, or on shore power, other chargers are doing more than the solar, so at anchor all day is the best gauge of what they will do. When the sun comes up in the morning, you pretty quickly get up to a couple of amps charge at 12v (the mppt controller converts the panel voltage to battery voltage). The peak output is probably about 5-6 hours midday, but you're still getting amps all day long. Shade does affect them, I have the panels lined fore and aft in front of my radar dome, spaced above the hardtop by about 50 small rubber cushions to allow some airspace under the panels. I don't intend to ever walk on them. When a cell is shaded, the combined panel output drops in half. Overall I'm very happy with these panels. As the other reviewer said, smooth panels, easy to keep clean, and very tough in appearance. Update: the picture I added is a sunny day in May in Seattle. 331 watts max output. For four 100 amp panels, that’s pretty darn good.

This 100W flexible panel puts out pretty close to rated power under good conditions, which is 40% better than some other flexible panels of a different brand that I purchased recently. Unfortunately, this panel runs a bit hot. After just a few minutes in full sun, the back side of the panel becomes too hot to touch. I would not mount these on a flammable surface like a canvass boat cover. Of the flexible panels I have used so far, these put out the best power. Some hard panels I have used are a little better, but not much. The backing seems a bit soft & dents easily, but otherwise the panels seem physically robust. I have not had them long enough to comment on durability or weatherproof properties.

Why did you pick this product vs others?: Used on a sailboat, put through a lot in the Caribbean sun. Excellent quality

Love these panels. They are thin and light which makes them a lot easier to move around. They put out their full 100W rating which is unusual for flexible panels. I've bought six of them and would definitely buy more.

Was easy to install.15minutes 10 was cleaning roof. Its my 3rd 100w pannel.

I've had two panels on the top of my dodger on my sailboat for ever a year now. These are premium panels and well worth the cost, ESPECIALLY when compared to *llpowers and others available here. After two years the *llpowers solar panels are faded, cloudy, and the junction boxes are a joke. The Sunpower panels have IP67 rated junction boxes and the quality shows. Don't waste your money on crap, buy these.

Output dropped to 18watts full sun after less than a year.

I received this panel a few weeks ago. Box showed no signs of damage. There were a variety of scratches (not really worried about this as these panels scratch very easily). The issue is the prominent dent in the solar cell (it actually protrudes through the back). When provided this image to the seller, I was told this is normal and would not effect panel performance. I've had solar for 8 years and didn't find this an acceptable answer (this cell will definitely suffer from microfractures and will eventually fail). The sellers solution to this was to send back when it failed during the 2 year warranty window (this panel has a 5 year warranty). No discussion of what constituted "failed". Originally I was going to have to ship the return at my cost, but through some pushing through Amazon the seller agreed to pay for return shipping and would replace. I didn't want the hassle and chose to assume the risk on this and chock up to experience. I spoke with a different supplier in Canada and they had seen the same problem with a certain lot of these panels (seconds perhaps?). This seller said they would ensure not to ship damaged panels and would warranty for the full 5 years. I would advise against buying these panels unless you can see them first hand or have a hassle free return policy. I called Sunpower and they do not deal with customer concerns anymore and seem to push this off to the resellers. They seem to be getting out of small solar, which is unfortunate because they had a good product.