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. 

Glass Solar Panels

​Pros:
  • Cheap (usually)
  • Extremely durable (can handle snow, rain, heat for years!)
  • Easy to mount. Use mounting tape or buy some mounts
  • Last 25+ years, no problem

Cons: 
  • Heavy. Typically around 16 pounds for a 100 watt solar panel
  • Can cause a huge amount of aerodynamic drag to your vehicle
  • 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 properly.
  • 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.

Recommended Amazon.com  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. Rich Solar 100 watt Poly Solar Panel
    This solar panel is my absolute favorite!! It is cheaper than most solar panels and produces more power than any of my 100w monocrystalline panels. 
     Click Here to buy now

  2. HQST 100 watt poly Solar Panel
    This is my second favorite panel because it has the same output as the rich solar panel above, but has slightly better rails and craftsmanship. It 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
    ​
  3. 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-quality monocrystalline solar panels that have reduced output compared to the 100 watt poly panels above (in every test I have conducted, these produce less power than the panels above in sunny/cloudy conditions):
  1. Renogy 100 Watt Mono Solar Panel Click Here
  2. HQST 100 Watt Mono Panel Click Here
    ​
Black Solar Panel that works well for stealth mounting on the roof of a van or RV roof: 

 Flexible Solar Panels

​Pros:
  • Lightweight. Typically 4 pounds for a 100 watt solar panel
  • Easy to mount
  • Aerodynamic efficiency (they are designed to be flush mounted on your roof, which means better gas mileage for your vehicle.
Cons:
  • Longevity issues. Typical life is 5-10 years. (Glass panels can last 25 years+)
  • They can bend.. but not too much. Anything more than a 30 degree radius will cause damage of the solar cells ( you will hear a distinct crunch, and you may see cracks in the cells)
  • They like to over heat. If you are in arizona, they will die in less than a year. If you use them in a cool environment, 5-10 years is average.

Recommended Amazon.com Flexible Panels

I recommend buying a warranty with flexible solar panels because they like to fail so often. 

Highest quality rebranded "sunpower cell" flexible panel available: Click Here

Other high-rated flexible solar panels:
All Powers 100 watt: Click Here

Suaoki 100 watt flex panel: Click Here

​

Ebay High-quality, Brand New Solar Panels:
Amazon.com panels are made overseas. The panels below are made in USA,
​extremely high quality, and you will love them!

Dirt Cheap, High-Quality 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 they do not sell 100w-200w solar panels (which are great for mounting on vehicle roofs). They only sell 245 watt or higher. So if you can cram these panels on your roof, you are good to go!

Click Here to Purchase 245 watt Santan Solar Panels

​Click Here to Purchase 345 watt, Sunpower Cell Santan Solar Panels

​Other Solar Panels by Santan Solar, Click Here

Amazon.com Solar Panel Combo Packages