RenFactory Solaris POP - Plug & Play 160 Watt Solar Panel, Portable and Do It Yourself (Green)

I want to start out by setting the tone, I want these types of products to succeed and be great for individuals.I was excited for this all-in-one solar panel to come. Setup out of the box took all but a few minutes but the directions for the arms of the base were kind of confusing. Once plugged into an outlet the status light blinked red for a minute then blinked green. I have the green unit but i don't believe there is a difference other than border color.After hooking up a watt meter, it was only showing bursts of 45 watts or less even after 2 days in the sun. The status light was flashing green. I emailed through amazon to the vendor who contacted their support who said it was defective. What they don't explain is that to return it you need to ship it back. This is a 3ft by 3 ft panel. Not the easiest thing to return ship if you didn't keep the box. My advice is keep the box for the length of the warranty. They did send the replacement promptly, however.Word of caution, when you do unplug the panel, do not touch the power plug prongs by accident, the current does not shut off instantly and you will get shocked. (just take my advice and don't try it. it only tingles but still would advise against it.)Once i got the replacement i set it up again and this one was operating better. I did end up putting it on an 50 ft extension cord in the end and still working as if it was directly in the wall.The pitfalls:The base is something not to be desired. its flimsy (not from a material standpoint but from a put together standpoint). There's no way to attach the panel to the base, its simply sits there. Adjusting the angle is a process of taking the panel off, taking the one part of the legs out, lowering / getting it back in notches then putting the panel back on. On a windy day if the power cord is behind the leg it can easily pull out and the whole thing goes down to the ground. My improvement suggestions would be to add clips to the back to allow the panel to lock into the base. Create a base with bolts that allow adjustments easier and allow for better locking of pieces together. Add a space to allow pole mounting or additional legs to allow gutter / roof mounting. If you want to do a pole or roof type mount with this you will need to build your own stand / holder.The power cord is more like 6 ft not 10.With owning this for 2 weeks now in the upper Midwest i'm still disappointed with the consistency of the output. Playing around with the angle didn't seem to make a difference. I've blocked it against the base at the proper suggested angle for the time of year. The output still bounces around and isn't consistent with its output even on a clear day. I would have expected a bit more consistency on the output. The most the power meter has recorded is 145 watts. Generally its about 30-110 watts. Mostly cloudy days its been about 5 -20 watts, semi cloudy days its 20-60 watts. I've watched it in the sun directly with no change and watched it go from 120 watts down to 30 watts then right back up to 120 range. Not sure why the fluctuation.The user manual is non existent. Only more of an assembly guide and do not open the back black box on the back of the panel. Would be nice if there was some additional troubleshooting or things to look at. Some things i can tell you are:Green flashing = unit is working / online to grid powerRed flashing = disconnected or connection issueIf you are getting back and forth flashing (green, red, green, red, etc) and you have it on an extension cord, try a different cord or make sure the unit is plugged in snugly to the "outlet" part.I'll attempt to update again once i've had it longer.

It generally does what it claims to do. I got this at the end of summer for $300 and it was well worth it. Things to keep in mind:1. It may be rated at 160 Watts, but it won't deliver on that. That is common for solar panels. Expect to get no more than 100 watts at peak production (usually less), subject to issue #2....2. It is sensitive to temperature and will overheat. I ran it on an October day that was over 80 degrees F and got about 75 Watt-hours for the day; 2 days later it was 60 degrees F (with roughly similar amount of direct sunlight) and I got about 100 Watt-hours for the day. That is a 25% increase in efficiency with the change in temperature. I'm in New York state, so this is great for me. You may want to think twice about this product if you are in Texas or southern California.3. As others have mentioned, the plastic strip on the edge of the panel isn't well-attached and can come off. I don't see this as a big problem, especially since it really only has a chance to come off if you grab it and lift it by the plastic strip. So don't do that and I don't see how you'd have a problem. If it does come off, it goes back on easily and stays until you grab it and lift it by the plastic strip again.4. I found the stand easy to assemble. Perhaps they changed the instructions since the earlier reviews? I don't know, but it wasn't difficult, as other reviews indicated. You also don't necessarily need to use the stand. I leaned mine against a plastic lawn chair several times.5. It really is as easy as putting the thing in the sun and plugging it in.6. Invest in a device to monitor energy production. As others mentioned, you can use a Kill-a-watt (which is what I already owned and used for my solar panel) or one of the various "smart" outlets that will tell you how much energy is passing through the outlet.I think this panel is ideal for anyone considering getting into solar energy, but doesn't want to gamble on thousands of dollars of investment right off the bat. This panel has taught me that I don't get nearly enough direct sunlight on my property to warrant an expensive solar array, as much as I might want one. Meanwhile, it is still paying for itself (very slowly), so I count it as a double-win: I didn't waste money on an expensive array that wouldn't work for my property, but I did get to contribute to the green-energy revolution in a small, sensible way.I would definitely recommend this product to others, especially here in the Northeast. If panel temperature didn't seriously impact efficiency, I would have given the product 5 stars.

See my reply to another customer, where I wrote: My panel has also disgorged an amazing amount of [this] wax. VERY glad to hear that's what it is, and not something more toxic.I have another brand of plug & play panels, and though they do reduce their power output when it's hot, it's not by nearly so much as this unit. The heat performance of this unit is just unacceptable. It goes to ZERO output on a hot day for several hours, and even when the temperature cools a bit, it is still only producing a fraction of what it produces in the initial couple of hours of sunlight.The edge trim is glued on with some sort of adhesive that is also sensitive to heat. My panel has basically had the entire edge trim come unglued.The power output I've been seeing, using a KillAwatt meter, is about 100 watts until 10 AM, then the unit starts lessening its power output, and it will go to zero during the peak sunlight hours from about 11:30 AM until about 2 PM. I'm not giving the unit a 1-star rating as it still produces some power as the day cools, but this unit seems unsuited for ambient temperatures above 85 degrees F.