@jnicholson0619
I came back for a last check minutes before the Mehrathon was switching out; all the day’s products immediately said “It’s over” and showed no price.
How much were these, so I can feel bad (or not)?
@phendrick its just as well you didnt get it… i just opened mine, and both the metal hinges holding the 2 sides together were completely broken. Fedex must’ve really thrown them around. Who knows what all damage they sustained internally. Now we just wait for a response from meh.
@jnicholson0619 Funny that FedEx thinks that looks like a football. Sorry about that and hope Meh makes ammehnds.
If not, look at ItalianScallion’s reply to pmarin a little below.
@jnicholson0619@phendrick Damn. It’s like you took a photograph of the hinges on mine. Now I’m thinking that the hinges on mine were indeed broken in transit. I’m really not blaming Fedex for this because there is absolutely no padding on the inside or outside of the bottom of the carrying bag where the hinges are. There might have been a thin piece of white foam at the bottom of the box to provide (an insufficient amount of) cushioning, but I’m not sure.
The sides of the carrying bag do seem to have a small amount of some kind of padding, but I’m still going to be very careful with transporting them.
I’m not going to pursue this with Meh or Fedex because I don’t want to have to pay return shipping, I don’t want the same kind of replacement hinges, and I don’t expect a refund because I didn’t take photos immediately after taking the panels out of the box to prove I didn’t break the hinges myself. The panels work just fine, and with steel hinges from Home Depot for a few bucks, I won’t have to worry about breaking hinges again. Oh, and I’ll add some kind of padding on the bottom of the carrying bag.
Just to remind everyone these are quite large and heavy, even though “portable.” There’s no other way to get that much power at the moment. I have a few; one might be this brand.
@pmarin I concur. I bought the 200W panels a while ago. They’re heavy and they’re big, but they do a great job of charging the Kenwood power station I also bought here the same day and which is still available on Sidedeal for a pretty good price. The Kenwood power station is well-built and pretty rugged. It’s high quality like their amateur radio gear. The panels are good quality too. I’m happy with both.
I immediately broke the hinges connecting the two panels, or they may have been damaged in shipping. The hinges were on the bottom of the carrying bag and the whole thing must have hit pavement a little too hard. The hinges are made of the kind of metal that breaks insteads of bends, maybe cast aluminum? It looks easy enough to replace them with more damage-proof hinges from a hardware store. (I need to do that before amateur radio Field Day at the end of June.)
@generalvostok@ohhwell I have the 200W panel and use the Sidedeal-recommended adapter cable from Amazon that’s here. I just realized it has a 100W limit, but I’ve used it with my 200W panels and Kenwood power station(that I bought on Meh) without a problem… so far. It looks like this one might have been a better choice. Of course, I don’t know for sure that it will work with the Energizer power station. I’d suggest reading/looking up online to see what size connector the Energizer uses. The panels use a standard connector(s).
@generalvostok@ItalianScallion well, if you are over on amperage no biggie and at least you know you will always be getting the max 100 watts your power station can take.
@generalvostok@ohhwell According to the markings on the Kenwood power stations and the user manuals, the two models sold here, the BN-RK510 and BN-RK800, can take 12VDC to 28VDC at 240W as input, so I think I could indeed have a problem. I guess I’ll find out unless I decide to get a higher capacity adapter cable.
@generalvostok@ItalianScallion what is the max amperage for it? I would assume around 9 amps or so at the least so you really should be getting more like 150 watts from the panel.
@generalvostok@ohhwell The user manual (PDF) for the 200W panel is here. In the specs at the beginning of this thread and in the manual, you’ll see that the maximum power point voltage is 18.6V and the maximum power point current is 10.8A which equals 200W. Yeah, typical output is certainly less depending on sun exposure and probably other factors.
@generalvostok@ohhwell OK, I understand now. The only thing the user manual for the Kenwood BN-RK510, the smaller of the two and the one I got, says about input is this
@generalvostok@ItalianScallion 240 watts at 28 v is about 8.5 amps. So if this panel is putting out 18v, then you should be getting about 160 watts in perfect sun.
Specs
Product: Duracell Heavy Duty Briefcase Solar Panels (100W or 200W)
Model: DRSP100WBC, DRSP200WBC
Condition: New
Duracell 100W Heavy Duty Briefcase Solar Panel
Duracell 200W Heavy Duty Briefcase Solar Panel
What’s Included?
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Tuesday, May 27
Who has an electric briefcase?
@brubro people with power
/giphy frosty-naked-lime
@jnicholson0619 highly disturbing! Not unusual here.
@jnicholson0619
I came back for a last check minutes before the Mehrathon was switching out; all the day’s products immediately said “It’s over” and showed no price.
How much were these, so I can feel bad (or not)?
@jnicholson0619 @phendrick these are junk. Hi ges broke 2 nd use and cable connector broke about the same time
@phendrick $129.99 for the 200w. I think the 100w was $89.99? I really hope these work, cause now im having regrets…
@jnicholson0619 Thanks. i might have bitten for 1 of the 200 W. Oh well.
@phendrick its just as well you didnt get it… i just opened mine, and both the metal hinges holding the 2 sides together were completely broken. Fedex must’ve really thrown them around. Who knows what all damage they sustained internally. Now we just wait for a response from meh.
@jnicholson0619 Funny that FedEx thinks that looks like a football. Sorry about that and hope Meh makes ammehnds.
If not, look at ItalianScallion’s reply to pmarin a little below.
@jnicholson0619 @phendrick Damn. It’s like you took a photograph of the hinges on mine. Now I’m thinking that the hinges on mine were indeed broken in transit. I’m really not blaming Fedex for this because there is absolutely no padding on the inside or outside of the bottom of the carrying bag where the hinges are. There might have been a thin piece of white foam at the bottom of the box to provide (an insufficient amount of) cushioning, but I’m not sure.
The sides of the carrying bag do seem to have a small amount of some kind of padding, but I’m still going to be very careful with transporting them.
I’m not going to pursue this with Meh or Fedex because I don’t want to have to pay return shipping, I don’t want the same kind of replacement hinges, and I don’t expect a refund because I didn’t take photos immediately after taking the panels out of the box to prove I didn’t break the hinges myself. The panels work just fine, and with steel hinges from Home Depot for a few bucks, I won’t have to worry about breaking hinges again. Oh, and I’ll add some kind of padding on the bottom of the carrying bag.
Just to remind everyone these are quite large and heavy, even though “portable.” There’s no other way to get that much power at the moment. I have a few; one might be this brand.
@pmarin I concur. I bought the 200W panels a while ago. They’re heavy and they’re big, but they do a great job of charging the Kenwood power station I also bought here the same day and which is still available on Sidedeal for a pretty good price. The Kenwood power station is well-built and pretty rugged. It’s high quality like their amateur radio gear. The panels are good quality too. I’m happy with both.
I immediately broke the hinges connecting the two panels, or they may have been damaged in shipping. The hinges were on the bottom of the carrying bag and the whole thing must have hit pavement a little too hard. The hinges are made of the kind of metal that breaks insteads of bends, maybe cast aluminum? It looks easy enough to replace them with more damage-proof hinges from a hardware store. (I need to do that before amateur radio Field Day at the end of June.)
Written by @jouest, IMO
And I was wrong …
@Kyeh how do you know so quickly?
@pakopako The ganja gnome was the next one, and it said this:
@Kyeh … Still could be @jouest
@jouest @pakopako You think he’s lying to us?
Or do you think he is AI?
@Kyeh I did raise this stupid robot from an infant…
@jouest @Kyeh how many seconds did that take
What’s the weight
@jamiebjaxx The 200W one feels to be around 35-40 lbs
@jamiebjaxx I have the 100W ones still in the box, so I weighed them for you; they’re 11 lbs.
@jamiebjaxx Oops, I got that wrong - I have a different set. This one weighs more:
Mine is the Kenwood that came with a power station.
Are these compatible with the Energizer power station they sold a while back?
@generalvostok With the proper adapters, they should be compatible with almost any power station as long as you don’t exceed max voltage.
@generalvostok yes
@generalvostok @ohhwell I have the 200W panel and use the Sidedeal-recommended adapter cable from Amazon that’s here. I just realized it has a 100W limit, but I’ve used it with my 200W panels and Kenwood power station(that I bought on Meh) without a problem… so far. It looks like this one might have been a better choice. Of course, I don’t know for sure that it will work with the Energizer power station. I’d suggest reading/looking up online to see what size connector the Energizer uses. The panels use a standard connector(s).
@generalvostok @ItalianScallion well, if you are over on amperage no biggie and at least you know you will always be getting the max 100 watts your power station can take.
@generalvostok @ohhwell According to the markings on the Kenwood power stations and the user manuals, the two models sold here, the BN-RK510 and BN-RK800, can take 12VDC to 28VDC at 240W as input, so I think I could indeed have a problem. I guess I’ll find out unless I decide to get a higher capacity adapter cable.
@generalvostok @ItalianScallion what is the max amperage for it? I would assume around 9 amps or so at the least so you really should be getting more like 150 watts from the panel.
@generalvostok @ohhwell The user manual (PDF) for the 200W panel is here. In the specs at the beginning of this thread and in the manual, you’ll see that the maximum power point voltage is 18.6V and the maximum power point current is 10.8A which equals 200W. Yeah, typical output is certainly less depending on sun exposure and probably other factors.
@generalvostok @ItalianScallion I am talking about the receiving end, your power station. The max amperage it can accept will limit you.
@generalvostok @ohhwell OK, I understand now. The only thing the user manual for the Kenwood BN-RK510, the smaller of the two and the one I got, says about input is this
@generalvostok @ItalianScallion 240 watts at 28 v is about 8.5 amps. So if this panel is putting out 18v, then you should be getting about 160 watts in perfect sun.
I got nothing.