400w Flexible vs 200w Rigid?

[Reef95]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I was reading a few horror stories about flexible solar panels about both their durability and ability to perform well. Also[/font], from what I've heard, rigid solar panels hold up much better on cloudy winter days than flexible solar panels.

I love the sleek, rogue look of flexible solar panels and I'm curious as to if 400W of flexible solar panels could match, or even outperform, 200W of rigid solar panels on cloudy winter days?

If anyone has experience with flexible panels let me know!

 

[B and C]

I have 400 watts worth of flexible panes, 200 fixed to the roof and 200 as portables. Treat them gently and they work well. I have to put a slight bend in my portables everytime I take them in and out of the storage area.

 

[bullfrog]

How they function and how they should be deployed should be your main concern. Being your own power supplier is hard enough without making it pretty.

 

[ckelly78z]

Why would you need flexible panels if you orientate them to the sun. If you think about a flexible panel following the curvature of a van roof, only one third (1/3) of the panel is directly aimed at the sun on any given time of the day, which would make 1/3 of the panel on each side aimed away from the sun at an angle.

The ideal situation for maximum solar gain is a flat panel on a ground stand that is moved every few hours (at least twice a day). Unfortunately, this makes it vulnerable to being knocked over, or stolen if you aren't present.

 

[B and C]

All permanent panels will be aimed away from the sun unless tilting and rotating. That is why I like permanent and portable as a mix. Even If I park in the shade, I can get the portables in the sun. I may have to move them during the day to keep them where the sun is shining. With my permanent mounted ones, I can get a little charging even in rain, how much depends on how hard it is raining and the thickness of the clouds.

 

[Gypsy Freedom]

Why would you need flexible panels if you orientate them to the sun. If you think about a flexible panel following the curvature of a van roof, only one third (1/3) of the panel is directly aimed at the sun on any given time of the day, which would make 1/3 of the panel on each side aimed away from the sun at an angle.

The ideal situation for maximum solar gain is a flat panel on a ground stand that is moved every few hours (at least twice a day). Unfortunately, this makes it vulnerable to being knocked over, or stolen if you aren't present.

flex panels are tremendously lighter and low profile.

a flex panel wont shatter if you drop it while moving it around

i would say, my "ideal" panel is one where it just does it's thing and i dont have to mess with it. if i had to choose between 400 flex and 200 rigid i would got with the 400 flex. used in the same fashion i would get way more usable power from them. sure they have some draw backs but 400 watts is still 400 watts and i dont see any way that rigid panels are going to put out double the power in the same situation. might last twice as long. but if you dont have enough power to do what you want. not having enough for twice as long is still not having enough...

on cloudy winter day syou will see more improvement by running a quality MPPT controller with the panels in serries to get the voltage up (match this with the controller) than you will see between the rigid vs flex