RV Solar Panel Review | Flexible vs Rigid Solar Panels

Just a quick video about flexible vs rigid solar panels and a Renogy flexible solar panel review. I hope this answers questions about our RV solar install and why we went with flexible solar panels.

RV Travel vlog // Jayco Pinnacle 37MDQS // Filmed April 2021

Timestamps if you want to jump to a certain section you're most interested in, or just watch the whole thing:
00:00 Questions We've Gotten About Our Solar Panels
01:27 Why Did We Use Flexible Panels?
02:22 The Solar Panels We Installed
03:08 How Our Flexible Panels Are Doing
03:33 Monitoring Our Solar Panels
03:52 What If Our Flexible Solar Panels Fail?

Follow Us for more content:

Music
This video uses music and/or sound effects from Movavi Video Suite and the YouTube Audio Library

Our Filming & Editing Gear as well as other products and resources we like and would recommend can be found here:

About Us
We are the Skeltons. We full-time travel in our Jayco Pinnacle 37MDQS fifth wheel RV with our two children and our dog. We are exploring our amazing country while continuing to work, grow our businesses, and raise our children.

Come along with us via our vlogs, find the adventure in the everyday wherever you are, or dream big and start your own big out of the box adventure. We hope to inspire you, make you smile at our stories, help you learn something new, or just spark a bit of curiosity about something.

#rvsolar #solarpanels #rvsolarpanels #rvsolarupgrade #rvdiy #rvmods #solar #solarpower #rvsolarinstall #rvsolarinstallation #rvupgrades #lithiumbatteries #lithiumbattery #renogyempowered #renogy #renogysolar

Never Stop Adventuring, All Rights Reserved
Our videos and other content are for entertainment purposes only. This information reflects our own personal opinions and shows how we do things, and should not be taken for professional advice. You should always do your own research.

[explor]

Your exactly right, cracks me up when these people say don’t use flexible panels just throw 1000 pounds on your roof they have no idea. you can put padding under the panels it’ll help with heat.

[francisdebriey]

I have installed 1000w on the roof of my van with 4x300w sunpower rigid panels in second hand for 100usd piece and effective power of 235w each. Unfortunately the weight is a problem: about 132 Lb or 60kg in total, it's a lot. I am considering investing in 6x175w renogy flexible panels to replace them.

[kurtburkhardt]

We just mounted 4-100 watt flexible Renogy panels on the roof of our Sol Horizon. With the curved roof and the low weight we wanted something we could mount without drilling holes in the roof. We also have 2 rigid Renogy 200watt suitcase panels. So far they are doing well. We will see once we do our first trip off grid. With 800 watts of solar and a 300 AH lithium battery we should be good.

[WhiteCrow]

I like the rigid panels. Since I have already removed 2 A/C units from the roof the panels will only be a little more weight than what was up there. I am going with rigid mainly to provide an air layer between them and the roof to help keep the RV cooler in the summer.
I may even make hinged awnings over the windows using solar panel as my original awnings are just about toast.

[micheleh]

Makes sense to me! Glad you haven’t had any issues so far - thanks for the update

[noahmendelson]

Thanks! Great video. I have a question, is there a way to mount these flexible panels, where they can be taken off if they have a problem, or just aren't desired anymore. The glue method looks somewhat permanent. Thanks..

[vagari]

The 175 watt Renogy flexible panels sold on Amazon (RNG-175DB) have the 25 year performance warranty. I think these are the ones you bought. Interesting that the 100 watt Renogy flexible panels sold on Amazon (RNG-100DB) have no performance warranty at all according to the warranty pdf linked on Amazon. That's why I excluded flexible panels from my upcoming build. I may have to look at the 175 watt panels again as weight is an issue.

[robd]

I'll be using Merlin Solar flexible panels. They are military grade and certified. They are installed on Air Streams now. If a cell is damaged by hail or tree branch, it doesn't render your whole panel useless.

[antigroundhogday]

Any update on the flexible panel performance after all this time?

[jaymeese]

i went with 4 of the old school panels and they have been going 5 or 6 years now, i added 3 more in the past year. i was considering adding 1 flexible but like you i saw will prowse video and rv with tito( he said one failed). i decided to hold off as its a hassle to have one fail and then deal with the warranty stuff. I would have loved to have lightweight panels. i have one low profile panel thats has a very small frame so its lighter. i might get one more of those. i like all your solar, that would be nice.

[btb]

Nice video ! I also went with Sunpower flex panels and love them ! Keep us all updated, thanks. Peacefrom510

[RangerParis]

I also went with 3 X 175 Renogy panels as opposed to the heavier panels. Pluses and minuses for either.

[joannapahlow]

How warm do the panels get? Does it raise the temperature inside your rv because of it?

[WyomingIceHole]

Can I ask how you ran your cables? I am thinking of putting 300w on roof of my travel trailer, but I have been wrestling with where to run cables to the controller. Help?

[duded]

How many watts do you on top of your RV will it run your AC

[rob-whns]

Any suggestions on polishing sun damage out of flexible solar panels mine are looking foggy like a faded headlight

[MonicaSilva-ytfg]

Great information. Our rigid panels are super light but that may not be the norm.

[JohnSmith-tzon]

I know this is right at the one-year mark according to all the comments and the listing on the video but I'm just sooo curious as to how your flexible panels are still performing because you came to the same conclusion that I realized that with a warranty those flexible panels might be the better deal even though they don't last as long. Any exclusions in the warranty about use on a vehicle? I mean they've gotta know that RV people are sticking these on their roof right?