I think that the reason why the KickAss panels output didn’t increase in proportion with the increase in solar rads was due to the fact that they couldn’t disperse some of their heat build up as effectively as the Thunder panels. Those white panels that you used to prop them up with from behind would have acted like insulation & prevented them from dispersing some of their heat. As you know, even minor rises in panel temperatures decreases their output. Easy to test the difference in panel temps if you’ve got an IR heat gun in your well stocked shed. Thoroughly enjoy watching your tests, keep up the good work!
Hi, just letting you know I gambled and bout the thunder panels for about 180 (Black Friday) based on your real results. I am blown away, have never achieved 50ah charge in a day from any other panels I’ve owned. I was able to sell the controller and cable that came with them to save even more. Thanks for your review! Yes they are heavy, but they are fine for me
Thanks for the update. You swayed me. I just put an order in for the Thunder. You can buy three Thunders and put them in parallel for less money and have 720W for less! It is a no brainer if you have the space.
Just bought some kickass 300 watt panels, looked at the thunder but cheapest I could find was $350 plus shipping (which is quite close to the kickass 200watt solar panel price) were as I could pick up the kickass 300 with no shipping for $630 so worked out to be $200 price difference which on balance I thought was reasonable. I agree with your point re stand, it lets an awesome product down. But my other solar panels have an adjustable stand but I rarely (never) adjust them with the height of the sun and they are a lot more bulky. I bought these after I saw your review, while you have some good points re, stand, your point re price I’m not as concerned, kickass aren’t the most premium solar panels- there are alot more expensive ones out there and the kickass ones perform really well- I was getting 265 watts out of them this morning when it was cool which made me look twice and recheck.
I bought the thunder after watching your comparisons and it is the best bang for buck on the market, yes it's big and heavy but i live of grid and it doesn't blow over at night in big winds, have some smaller shingled panels that don't put out anywhere near the claims and if you fart to close to them they take off into the distance!
Ive had my Kickass 300w for a bit over 2 years and now its only producing 120w in full sun at 22c (so not hot) using a Victron 100/30 MPPT , so dissapointed in them, I have contacted their support team to see what can be done as they have a 3 year warranty apparently..
craig on the secont test the amps went up to 16.1 and 17.8 MPPT. thats .6 amps more going into the battery than the first test. Watts wont always change, its the amps that charges the battery not watts.
As I understand it the Thunders 240w / 1.58m2 is an efficiency of around 15% which isn’t great. You should test the kings 250w folding panel, I have had 230w out of mine when paired to a Victron MPPT and at 1.35m2 and on sale for around $150 makes it even cheaper and around 18% efficiency. For $150 its ok, however it would be great to have something more efficient and slightly lighter that outputs this amount.
I aslso bought the thunder tripple solar panel I cant fault it I get about 11Amps in winter sun , the only isssue i had was the bag split on the first day i used it, But they sent me another bag god after sales .I only paid $179 dilivered. I only take glass panels with me now not too impressed with the blanket type, they dont work as they say and break down after time.
Hi Craig, thanks for your video. How would you rate Renogy 200w folding panels compared to Thunder panels you just reviewed? Thanks for your time, Mark
This is not really a good review. You are not comparing apples with apples. A solid folding panel are completely different in design and applications. You should be comparing blanket solar with blanket solar and solid folding with solid folding.
I’d love to see you test the iTechworld 300 against the Kickass now the sun is a bit higher in the sky. I know the iTechworld will lose substantially but it would be good to see by how much.
I returned the itech for a refund as it was faulty, but itech insisted it was working within factory specs…. Yeh right. But yeh, based on what the thunder is doing now I’d expect 15-20w more from the itech panel, but it would still be under 200w. Unfortunately it seems to be hit and miss buying the itech, why would anyone take the chance at $800.
@@peterj5751 they did ! I suggest creating a short video and covering each panel to test the output, most likely you will get the same result as I did. Send it to them and tell them it’s faulty and u want a refund.. hard from them to argue.
@@craigsolaradventures thanks. I tried your covering up individual panels trick and one panel covered caused between 19 and 35 watt difference. It seems that the quality of the cells is suspect to have such a variation.
@craigsolaradventures I've seen other reviews on the kickass blanket and they were getting 18-20amps from it. But for the same price I could get 2 thunders and get 25amps from them
also the thunder is rated at 240W and 13.3 Amps, you got 198Watts and 13.1Amps but 14.3 Amps MPPT. so although it diddnt touch the 240W it produced the 13 Amps.The vmp of 18v was probably reached thats why you got the rated 13Amps. Hope this makes sense.
I think that the reason why the KickAss panels output didn’t increase in proportion with the increase in solar rads was due to the fact that they couldn’t disperse some of their heat build up as effectively as the Thunder panels.
Those white panels that you used to prop them up with from behind would have acted like insulation & prevented them from dispersing some of their heat.
As you know, even minor rises in panel temperatures decreases their output.
Easy to test the difference in panel temps if you’ve got an IR heat gun in your well stocked shed.
Thoroughly enjoy watching your tests, keep up the good work!
Good point, I did think about that later as a possible cause. Yes I do have a heat gun and will consider this for future tests. Thanks
Hi, just letting you know I gambled and bout the thunder panels for about 180 (Black Friday) based on your real results. I am blown away, have never achieved 50ah charge in a day from any other panels I’ve owned. I was able to sell the controller and cable that came with them to save even more. Thanks for your review! Yes they are heavy, but they are fine for me
A good update Craig. The Thunder just seems to be the better panels, on balance, all things considered.
Thanks for the update. You swayed me. I just put an order in for the Thunder. You can buy three Thunders and put them in parallel for less money and have 720W for less! It is a no brainer if you have the space.
Just bought some kickass 300 watt panels, looked at the thunder but cheapest I could find was $350 plus shipping (which is quite close to the kickass 200watt solar panel price) were as I could pick up the kickass 300 with no shipping for $630 so worked out to be $200 price difference which on balance I thought was reasonable. I agree with your point re stand, it lets an awesome product down. But my other solar panels have an adjustable stand but I rarely (never) adjust them with the height of the sun and they are a lot more bulky.
I bought these after I saw your review, while you have some good points re, stand, your point re price I’m not as concerned, kickass aren’t the most premium solar panels- there are alot more expensive ones out there and the kickass ones perform really well- I was getting 265 watts out of them this morning when it was cool which made me look twice and recheck.
I bought the thunder after watching your comparisons and it is the best bang for buck on the market, yes it's big and heavy but i live of grid and it doesn't blow over at night in big winds, have some smaller shingled panels that don't put out anywhere near the claims and if you fart to close to them they take off into the distance!
Where do you get the thunder at?
Ive had my Kickass 300w for a bit over 2 years and now its only producing 120w in full sun at 22c (so not hot) using a Victron 100/30 MPPT , so dissapointed in them, I have contacted their support team to see what can be done as they have a 3 year warranty apparently..
UPDATE: They have tested them and are going to send a replacement set out to me, Im happy with the outcome
the stats for this panel is 15.5Amp and you are getting 15.1A with 17.3 Amps going into the battery using MPPT. So the panel is spot on.
craig on the secont test the amps went up to 16.1 and 17.8 MPPT. thats .6 amps more going into the battery than the first test. Watts wont always change, its the amps that charges the battery not watts.
i'm with you , id buy several $200. dollar panels instead of one got my ass kicked one
As I understand it the Thunders 240w / 1.58m2 is an efficiency of around 15% which isn’t great. You should test the kings 250w folding panel, I have had 230w out of mine when paired to a Victron MPPT and at 1.35m2 and on sale for around $150 makes it even cheaper and around 18% efficiency.
For $150 its ok, however it would be great to have something more efficient and slightly lighter that outputs this amount.
I aslso bought the thunder tripple solar panel I cant fault it I get about 11Amps in winter sun , the only isssue i had was the bag split on the first day i used it, But they sent me another bag god after sales .I only paid $179 dilivered. I only take glass panels with me now not too impressed with the blanket type, they dont work as they say and break down after time.
Have you tested a used house pannel which can get from around $40 on market place and see how it compares?
Hi Craig, thanks for your video. How would you rate Renogy 200w folding panels compared to Thunder panels you just reviewed? Thanks for your time, Mark
I may just buy the Thunder for my home setup. Its no good for car camping though.
This is not really a good review. You are not comparing apples with apples. A solid folding panel are completely different in design and applications.
You should be comparing blanket solar with blanket solar and solid folding with solid folding.
Kickass aren’t a blanket style they are the modern style folding solar panel. Alot thinner than the traditional folding portable panels though.
What about I can’t find that Thunder for sale anywhere 😢
I’d love to see you test the iTechworld 300 against the Kickass now the sun is a bit higher in the sky. I know the iTechworld will lose substantially but it would be good to see by how much.
I returned the itech for a refund as it was faulty, but itech insisted it was working within factory specs…. Yeh right. But yeh, based on what the thunder is doing now I’d expect 15-20w more from the itech panel, but it would still be under 200w. Unfortunately it seems to be hit and miss buying the itech, why would anyone take the chance at $800.
@@craigsolaradventures did they refund the money? In in a similar boat with one which at best delivers 156W.
@@peterj5751 they did ! I suggest creating a short video and covering each panel to test the output, most likely you will get the same result as I did. Send it to them and tell them it’s faulty and u want a refund.. hard from them to argue.
@@craigsolaradventures thanks. I tried your covering up individual panels trick and one panel covered caused between 19 and 35 watt difference. It seems that the quality of the cells is suspect to have such a variation.
Id like to know were you got the thunder for $200 as i can only see them for $350.
where did you get the thunder panels for $200?
Good vid. Thanks.... You got a link to the Thunder pls....
Can you do a review on the red arc 240w
ps love your light meter , jacar ?
Hey mate. Where do you buy Thaunder panel for $200. Best I can find is $300
Yeh, looks like they have increased the price by $100 on eBay. Was at $199 for months.
@craigsolaradventures I've seen other reviews on the kickass blanket and they were getting 18-20amps from it. But for the same price I could get 2 thunders and get 25amps from them
The fact they said we will give you a $50 credit, well guess kickass is not for me.
also the thunder is rated at 240W and 13.3 Amps, you got 198Watts and 13.1Amps but 14.3 Amps MPPT. so although it diddnt touch the 240W it produced the 13 Amps.The vmp of 18v was probably reached thats why you got the rated 13Amps. Hope this makes sense.
Need to remove Thunder as its not really obtainable anymore
Cool Ep