Positive:
After searching the web with shopping bots, I ordered from Amazon for price and even more important to me, since this was my first solar panel, for their return policy.
I have been well pleased with the Mars100 solar panel set. I considered fixed-mounted panels but in my case, these would only have had exposure to the morning or the afternoon sun not both. With the Instapark kit, it is very easy too turn it a couple of times during the day to orient it towards the sun for increased output throughout the entire day. I have charged batteries even when the sky is overcast.
Set up is very easy just open it up and plug it in. Take down and storage is also easy just unplug the cord and fold it together. This is ideal for me since I only occasionally use it not 100% of the time.
It comes with an Anderson to alligator clips adapter and an Anderson to cigarette lighter male plug adapter. If you want to make additional adapters, the Anderson SB50 output connectors are not expensive and readily available from many sources on the web.
Negative:
This is minor but I have been unable to see the led battery charge and battery status indicators in any sunlight even if I try to cover them from the direct sunlight. When I want to check the status, I use an external volt meter or ammeter.
After two days testing in maybe a 2/3 sunny day, both days I am very impressed! I got this panel thinking it probably won't work, but can be returned. The purpose is to be able to solar charge my Stanley Power Stations and Automotive Jump Starters, which I use for light (13 watt CF bulb throws off = 60 watts light, can last up to two nights in a power out) USB ports, powering a wireless modem, using a DVD player and charging phones, ipods, laptops and such in a power outage. We were out 10 days during Sandy in NJ, and luckily I had a place to bring the Stanleys that had power and could rotate them. Problem was, I ate up lots of gas running back and forth and there was a big problem getting gas. Would be better to charge them up right at home.
Day one, I took a small 300 Amp Stanley and drained it halfway down. It charged to full capacity in about 1 1/2 hours. I was stunned. Can't be right. So I drained to about 50% one of the larger 450 Stanley Power Stations, and put it out today on a mostly sunny but sometimes cloudy day. In two hours that one was DONE! I can't believe how quickly these charge them, they are really great panels.
The construction... if there were a way to take a half star off the rating I would have. The casing is plastic. I'd have gladly paid a bit more for metal. I am very worried it may crack so I baby it. You have to move these around to track the sun, easy enough, but be careful. Other than that the design is brilliant, it is truly plug n' play. It folds up and stores easily. You could take this anywhere, on a camping trip it would be wonderful for example, but save the box for transport...again, I worry about the plastic housing. Sturdy enough, if you don't smack it or drop it though.
The so called manual... well, tells you next to nothing, but do not worry, if you have questions, tech support answers immediately and they are very knowledgeable and polite.
I learned that this is specifically intended to charge batteries today while speaking to tech support. In other words, you can't connect a light or appliance to it directly. You need to charge a battery (12v deep cycle lead acid) and then get an inverter for the battery and run off that. That's fine as long as you realize this, but I wondered why when I put a 12V inverter onto it nothing happened. The manual said nothing about that.
Tech support also said you can charge a whole battery bank if you want with this, but nothing in the manual. If you did that you could have more power for larger things by maybe connecting them to an electrical panel (like one for a generator). Perhaps run the well pump or a small fridge etc. Seems there is a lot you can do with these that is never mentioned in the booklet at all.
Overall, it's amazing. No complaints except the worry about the housing. It is not flimsy, but plastic is plastic! Be careful. Worth the money though. Very happy with it.
Buy Instapark PowerBox Mars100 Fold-n-Go Portable 100-Watt Solar-powered 12V Battery Charger with Built Now
I've only owned this product for one week, but I can say that it is nicely designed, it includes essential connectors, and it's easy to use. I like the way it folds flat and stores neatly out of the way on a wall hook in my garage. I was thinking of putting together a charging system out of component parts, but this unit looked so convenient, portable, and easy to store, that I went for it.
So far I've only charged up one battery. It was a deeply discharged 35 Amp-Hour AGM battery, and it took about one full day of bright sun (Phoenix, AZ) to bring it all the way back to full charge. The indicator lights on the panel clearly showed the charging progress from empty to full. Very nice. Unlike some other reviewers, I had no trouble seeing the indicator lights in bright sun. I just had to look at them "head-on" -they are recessed a bit into the case, so they don't show up at an angle -no big deal.
Out of curiosity, with external meters, I observed battery voltage and charging current during the charge-up. Voltage started at about 11.5 volts and ended at 12.5 volts. Initial charging current started at about 2 amps and climbed in a matter of a minute or two to over 3.5 amps. Charge current gradually declined to a low of about 1 amp at the end of the cycle. That's about 40 watts peak power going into the battery. The unit is rated at "100 watts" but I presume that's the maximum "raw power" the bare panels could produce on their own -the embedded charging electronics are there to protect the battery and the charging unit, and they seemed to be doing their job. The unit does have overheat protection circuitry, which did not "trip" during the charge cycle.
The instructions are adequate, and the unit is so simple to use that not much instruction is needed. If you buy one, be careful that the rack supports in the back don't slip when you set it up or move it around. If the unit crashes on the ground, the silicon panels could break. The unit includes some straps which can keep the supports from slipping out toward the back of the unit, but they could still slip inward if you move the panel to get better sun exposure and don't watch what you're doing. I used a couple bricks to make sure the support was stable.
All in all, this looks like a very good product. I'm happy(!).
Read Best Reviews of Instapark PowerBox Mars100 Fold-n-Go Portable 100-Watt Solar-powered 12V Battery Charger with Built Here
First of all, I am generally easy to please and in fact have written several reviews for Amazon on different products always awarding either four or five stars. With that said, this product is without a doubt the single most disappointing product I have every purchased.
To start the user manual is written in very poor broken English. There are at least 50 spelling/grammar mistakes in the small 10 page manual. This may seem petty and if this was the only problem I would have gladly accepted the product, however, it is telling of a company's quality control to manufacture in China and sell in The States without having reviewed translated material. What else was not reviewed? In this case, clearly the product itself. An intern could have reviewed this document in less than 15 minutes and corrected all of these mistakes.
Next, I have to say that the physical packaging is quite good and the design is clever, however, the solar panels were lightly scratched over the entire array. It was difficult to find a one-inch square that was unscratched. During my call with Instapark customer service, I asked if these were 2nd hand panels, but the CS person confirmed that they were Grade-A panels.
Most importantly, using a multimeter, the output was only 1.7V vs. the spec of 12v and the current was only 3.2A vs the spec of about 9A. I was so surprised at this result that I connected my multimeter to my car battery just to make sure that my multimeter wasn't faulty. During my call with customer service they explained that this was normal and that I should measure the voltage after I connect it to the battery. I told him this was nonsense because as that point it would be a measurement of the battery voltage and not that of the solar panel. He continued to push this line, until I told him that I was an Electrical Engineer and that his comments were simply false. Afterwards, he confided that the manual was wrong and that other customers had made similar complaints. I was shocked at this admission, thank him for his eventual honesty, hung up the phone and returned the product that day.
Given what I know about this product, I am shocked at the positive reviews. Either I got a lemon or the reviewers don't know how to measure the performance.
I hope this review helps you to avoid the mistake that I made. All the best,
Want Instapark PowerBox Mars100 Fold-n-Go Portable 100-Watt Solar-powered 12V Battery Charger with Built Discount?
After losing power during Hurricane Sandy, I found out the hard way just how limited my 7Ah hobby batteries and trickle charging solar panels were. I took a leap of faith with the PowerBox Mars 100 and was impressed. All the cables and straps store inside the compartments on the side although some careful placement is needed to ensure the door closes flush. At 45 degree angle from the rising sun, the multimeter still read 14.1 to 14.3 V. It dropped to 11-12 V during periods of light cloud cover. On an overcast day, the voltage was less than 1V. In full sunlight, the Instapark charged up my 12V 7Ah hobby battery in about 3 hours. The LED readout is five dots that shows charge level is barely visible in bright sunlight. I had to get on my knees and cup over the LED panel with my hands in order to see how many dots were blinking. The unfolded panels stand up using a wire frame that fold out and whose angle is adjusted by two nylon straps that hook onto the bottom edge of the panel. Not as fancy as a tripod but adequate considering the straps store with the panel as mentioned before. The kit comes with an extension cable, a male 12V "cigarette lighter" plug and a jumper cable attachment. My plan if the power goes out again is to use the Instapark to recharge my Powerdome and backup batteries. It took about 12 hours to fully charge my larger 12V 26Ah battery (6 hours of good sunlight for two days, as I am limited by the angle of my house relative to the sunrise.)
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This thing is garbage! I couldnt even use it without worrying my car would catch fire! I had it plugged in for about 5 minutes to charge my phone, and it got so hot I had to use a clothe to remove it. needless to say, after one use, it went where it belonged. The trash.
