Solar Panels for Vehicle Mounted Systems

100 watt solar panels are a great size for vehicle mounted systems because they are extremely strong, easy to mount (try lifting a 300 watt panel onto a roof, its not fun) and they are easy to source locally or on amazon.com.

​You can use larger panels designed to work with houses, but they will be harder to source and not as strong as a 100 watt solar panel. If you use a large house panel on your vehicle mounted system, make sure the aluminum frame of the panel is double walled aluminum. Also, use a strong roof rack. If not, the panel will fly off the top of your vehicle.

Click Here for Large 300W+ Solar panels

Traditional 100W Glass Solar Panels

​Pros:
  • Cheap
  • Extremely durable (can handle snow, rain, heat for years!)
  • Easy to mount
  • Last 25+ years, no problem

Cons: 
  • Heavy. Typically around 16 pounds for a 100 watt solar panel
  • Mounting glass panels to the roof of a moving vehicle is typically a bad idea. If one of these falls off your roof, someone can die. Make sure you mount all panels securely.
  • Requires air flow under the panel. Just an inch or so, not much, but it is necessary. 
  • Do not mount large glass panels to your roof unless you have a strong roof rack. 100 watt panels are inherently strong due to their size and are the best size to mount to the roof of a vehicle.

Flexible Solar Panels? Don't Buy them!
​You have been warned:

Every single flex panel on the market is garbage. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong on this. I have destroyed stacks of these things. The cells crack easily and take out a whole string of cells when the bus bars break. Or they have extreme degradation after a few months of summer. Even the latest "CIGS" panels that I was so excited about, are having delamination problems. 

Do yourself a favor, and avoid the flex panels. None of them are good. 

High Value 100W glass panels:

In recent times I have done extensive testing on nearly every "best selling" solar panel on the market and these are my favorite:
  1. HQST 100 watt poly Solar Panel
    This panel is practically identical to the renogy poly panel (renogy and hqst are owned by the same person), but 20 dollars cheaper. Great deal!
    Click Here to buy now
  2. Other basic solar panels that work well (most of these are rebranded anyways, so they are usually identical to each other. Buy whatever is cheapest or has the best warranty):

High Value 200W Glass Panels:

200W is a fantastic size for vehicles, but you need a strong roof to mount to. A metal roof rack is ideal.
  1. Rich Solar 200W 12V: Click Here to Purchase
  2. Rich Solar 200W 24V. Higher voltage, great for 48V mobile systems: Click Here to Purchase
  3. Renogy 200W 12V: Click Here to Purchase

Small folding solar panel for
​portable solar generators

Easy to use fold up panel for jackerys, bluettis etc. Compact 100W panel with corner bumpers.

I love mine. If this is all you need, you will love it.

Click here to buy direct from rich solar

Click here to buy from amazon

Dirt Cheap Solar Panels

Santan Solar sells used but inspected solar panels from Arizona. Every panel they sell is a high-quality name brand solar panel, and after selling 1000's of solar panels they have only had a handful of returns.

​These are a fraction of the cost of the solar panels I recommend above, and will work for a long time.

What people don't realize about solar panels, is that they last for decades, if not centuries. Most panels are rated for 25 years to 80% output, which is an extremely conservative goal. Most panels can produce well over 90% of their rated output after 30 years. They can also handle years of non-stop rain/hail/snow/wind without issue.

​For me personally, I go for the cheapest panels possible, because cost is not really a determinant factor of performance (such as the cheap solar panels I recommend above). After my real world testing of stacks of solar panels, many cheap panels can produce the same or more power than the more expensive ones, and they have the same safety ratings, and warranties.

​The problem with santan solar is that the shipping cost is pretty steep. So be sure to use this option if you plan to build a large array only.

Click Here to check them out!

Click Here to buy my favorite panel they make.
​250W Panel for $69!