3 Sorts Of Photovoltaic Panels Monocrystalline Vs Powerfilm
Hi folks, Canadian prepper here so today we’re gonna be doing a comparison between three different types of solar panels. So for those of you with short attention spans, I wanted to demonstrate something right in the beginning of this video, because this is something you need to know about the difference between crystalline and foldable solar panels.
I go into greater depth later on in the video, but here is the quick twenty second clip after that I’m, going to do an in-depth breakdown of the differences between these three types of panels. Let’s, get to it down to 26 watts using half the panel back up 249 watts.
Now now we’re back at 80. Watts cover part of it down to 30 watts, zero watts, so huge difference in performance with the power film. In that the power film can be shot to hell and it’s. Still gonna give you a power.
Okay, let’s. Get serious from left to right: we have the power film, 120 silicon thin film amorphous panel. Next we have the energy links which is monocrystalline, then, on the far right we have the energy polycrystalline panel.
This is far and away the most expensive. This goes for. Between 1300 to 2000 dollars USD, this goes for about 200 to $ 400 USD that goes for about 140 to $ 200 USD. This is a silicon based solar panel.
This is monocrystalline that is polycrystalline. The efficiency of this panel is 6 to 12 percent. That means that 6 to 12 percent of the sunlight that falls on it gets converted into energy. This one is probably gonna be somewhere between 15 to 20 percent and that one is gonna be upwards of 20 percent efficiency.
Now, in terms of portability, this one far and away is the most portable, because you can compact it. This one has full flexibility. This one has about 30 degree of flex that one can’t be flexed at all.
It’s rigid. It’s, mostly for static installations, so this one is for putting in a backpack an expedition pack hiking trailer quad. This one is for semi-permanent installations like a truck or an RV, that one is gonna, be for a static installation like on a roof or in a backyard.
Makeshift solar array now durability is complicated because in most dimensions this one is the most durable. So you can throw this on the ground if I was to take a giant rock which was sharp dropped it on this.
Even if it punctured one of these micro cells, the panel itself would still function, albeit at a reduced output power. If I was to do something like that with one of these, because they’re, not wired, the way this one’s wired.
Not only would they probably shatter, but they might not be redeemable after that point, unless you have a lot of engineering know-how. That said, these are gonna last a lot longer if they’re left outside.
So if you were to leave something like this outside it’s, probably gonna degrade after a few years. Once again, this is for portable applications. So it’s, not going to be exposed to sunlight all the time it’s.
Also not waterproof mind you, you’re, likely not going to deploy something like this in conditions where there’s. A lot of humidity or it’s, raining these on the other hand, because it’s, semi-permanent or permanent.
They’re built to be covered with snow and get rained on and even hailed on to a certain degree. These are not so, their ability is tough, because this is more durable in some ways than these. But overall I’d, say it’s, probably a tie.
If you were to to talk about overall durability in terms of longevity, but once again this is a special purpose. This is for military applications. The reason why they use this is because it is lightweight, it can be filled with bullet holes and still function there’s, a video on YouTube of a guy shooting these micro cells, and you can see the power output meter a drop as he Fills it with with holes now, in terms of the power to weight ratio, lightest weight for the most amount of power.
These are all hundred well, this is 120 watts. This is a hundred watts. I couldn’t, find a fair comparison. Power film, doesn’t offer a hundred watt panel, but even if you did shave off 20 % of this, it’s still gonna be while it’s.
Actually gonna be a lot lighter because it’s. It’s lighter, but it’s, putting out more power so far and away in terms of the power-to-weight ratio. This is the best option you can get so the powerful wins in a lot of ways, but where this one wins is that it’s, super lightweight it’s, got a bit of flex to it.
It’s. Far more cost-effective, in my opinion, and I think for most people who aren’t, you know going on long hikes going on expeditions. I mean if you do, group hikes family hikes and you’re out in the wilderness for long periods of time.
This would be something for you, but for most people who have an RV or you want to put a solar panel on a vehicle in a cabin where say you don’t want to be lugging in these big panels. There’s. A lot more ways that you can mount something like this, as opposed to that which really does require a hard installation.
So I would say this is probably the best value overall, but this is the most innovative and cutting-edge technology. There is now there’s, one other area where the power film is superior and that’s in variable and low light conditions.
So you’re gonna get better performance in low light conditions, and that means you can use more of the day to harvest energy, and it also means that if you have a smaller power film panel, you can actually put it on a backpack And it would be practical to do so because you actually would be soaking on some of that light as you walked.
So if you’re hiking through a forest – and you know you’re under a canopy of trees, you’re, not getting any direct sunlight. If you tried that, with one of those a smaller foldable monocrystalline panels, like the seven 221 watt panels, really not gonna be getting much power at all.
Unless the Sun is right behind you and you’re hiking in that direction. With this any sunlight, it’s exposed to it’s collecting those those photons from everywhere. So you’re gonna get much better performance like this.
Also in terms of partial shading, as you can see right now, the leaves are falling fall is here. So if 25 percent of the surface area of this was covered with leaves 25 percent of this covered 25 percent of this covered, this one would have the best performance this.
The performance is going to be proportional to the percentage of the panel which is exposed to sunlight, whereas with this, if you were to cover a significant part of it, the output is going to drop dramatically just because of the way it’s wired.
It’s wired. I believe it’s wired in a series, as opposed to this being wired in parallel, meaning that if one of these cells is blocked, basically impedes the flow of current throughout the whole panel.
Now, in terms of temperature co-efficient see, that is how much is the performance of the panel gonna be impacted by high temperatures every degree over 25 degrees. The performance of this is going to degrade by about a tenth of a percent, whereas with the crystalline panels, the performance is going to degrade significantly more than that about four tenths of a percentage point for every degree over 25 degrees.
So let’s. Strap them up to the energy apex and let’s, see how they perform in this variable, sunlight, the original polycrystalline energy panels and right on the ground. It’s 45 watts. So we’re, getting somewhat better performance with this one.
When it’s laying flat, then we were with the Lynx. Let’s angle. It again. Now we’re, getting 72 watts when at an angle, towards the Sun. Okay, now we’re, pulling 84 watts, which is pretty good. I’d, say anything over 80 watts on a panel rated for 100 watts is acceptable.
So we got 84 watts right now without the obstruction, if I was to obstruct a bit of this panel, drops dramatically 234 watts and I’m only covering a small part of the panel. Now we’re back at 80. Watts cover part of it down to 30 watts, zero watts, so a huge difference in performance with the power film, in that the power film can be shot to hell and it’s.
Still gonna give you a power that’s. Why these are for rooftops and it’s very important if you do have solar panels, that you keep that snow off them and that you keep leaves off them, or else they’re, just not gonna function, so that’s, one benefit of a power film panel – is that you know in almost any condition it’s gonna work.
Well now I may have some diminished performance as a result of having all these adapters. I originally have my power film adapter, intended for the purpose of using with the original Kodiak, which uses a new trick adapter.
So I have a power film adapter, but it’s going to a new trick and that new trick is being transferred to this EC 8. So I’m sure that may have some negative effect on it. So we got to take that into account when assessing the efficiency of the power film here so with the energy apex, it actually tells you how much sunlight you’re, getting all right so right now, laying flat we have a 45 watt charge.
Do that same experiment, where we cover part of it up still getting a 45 watt charge, hasn’t changed still getting a 45 watt charge, let’s. Try something else that’s, be a bit more drastic down to 26 watts using half the panel back up to 49 watts.
Now now let’s, see if we angle this a bit. If we can collect more of that Sun lights. Now we got 61 watts, you really do get what you pay for with a product like this. This is made for the military, so it’s built to military specifications.
I know milspec is thrown around a lot and in some ways is a meaningless term nowadays, but this is actually built to military standard which for something like this, for an application like this is a meaningful classification.
I have a feeling that if you position this thing properly with grommets and angled it towards the Sun, in spite of the fact that you have this crazy array of cords here, you would get comparable performance to the crystalline panels now, even when partially shaded.
So next we’re, going to try the links panel. This one’s, going to have the advantage of being plugged directly in to the unit okay. So we’re, getting our 50 Watts right now, 42 watts. Okay, we got 76 watts that ain’t bad, so I think we’ve kind of capped out at 76 watts and we got the clouds coming in again.
So all right, so in terms of how these three panels performed, the polycrystalline was the most efficient. This one was, secondly, the most efficient the power film, because we had the cord issue. It’s hard to say if we were getting accurate readings there, it certainly performed much better when part of it was covered and performs a lot better in low light.
So, in a way they’re all kind of winners, because, in spite of the fact that this one didn’t do as good as this one, it is far more lightweight and it’s flexible. So you can’t have everything, unfortunately, now in terms of low-light performance or when part of it’s obscured these things.
No, no, and that’s, nothing that’s, unique to the energy brand. That’s, any monocrystalline panel that’s, just how they are they don’t work. If it’s, a part of the panel is covered if more than like, 10 % is covered.
You’re, not getting any power out of it. There may be some workarounds there based on this test. Anyways I’ve, confirmed that covering any part of these panels. It’s, not gonna be good. Hey they’re all good.
I mean they all serve a purpose. This one would be perfect for a vehicle installation. I’m gonna be keeping one of these. In my truck in case, I want to, you, know, put it on the roof of the truck or something like that.
It’s, just more power in a smaller surface area, as opposed to the power film. So this makes much more sense if you’re in a vehicle, because you don’t need as much space mind you. You still have to angle it towards the Sun if you want maximum input, so that’s, something to keep in mind that this is gonna require a bit more labour, whereas this is going to be pretty much effortless.
But if you do put a little bit effort into it, that will increase the charge a little bit, I would say a significant amount, but not a make-or-break amount. Baxter does not let go the best way to support this channel is to support yourself by gearing up through Canadian preparedness comm.
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