On the back of Qlder1 thread about his proposed lithium system upgrade, I thought I’d open up a new thread on semi flexible solar panels.
The reason I am considering these is purely weight, and because I only have a Bimini over my fly bridge. I’d love a hard top up there, but that means more cost, and more weight, and then that weight is increased if I have a hard top with hard solar panels. The top of my Bimini is about 4.5m above the waterline, so any weight up there needs to be kept to a minimum.
A while back I bought a so called 500w semi flex panel fro eBay. I thought it was too good to be true, but at only $160 thought it worth a go. I was right, too good to be true. There do appear to be some decent quality semi flex panels out there. Renogy have a 175 w at $319; Baintech 110w for $415; Solbian 144w at $1499; Sunman 175w at $379.
So, a huge range in prices of
flexible solar panels. Does anyone have any experience with semi flex panels, and if so can you recommend brands and tell me about the performance.