- Set up here, I've got two of Hard Korr's
200-watt solar mats or solar panels.
The performance is about the same,
but there's a big difference in price
and some differences in quality.
I'm gonna run through that with you now.
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Hey folks, Ben from Snowys here today
where a question that's interested me for a little bit
and I'm sure it will you too,
so I'm gonna try and answer it.
And that's, what is the difference between
these two Hard Korr solar panel products here?
This is the 200 watt solar pill flex,
portable solar panel is kind of a flexible panel
with a Crocskin armour.
And this is one of the newer offerings,
which is a 200 watt solar blanket.
And now this one comes at a really appealing price.
So I guess the question is, do you need to upgrade
to the higher end one and what are the benefits of both,
and I'm here today to try and answer that for you.
So, point out some of the differences,
firstly, obviously a difference is size and weight.
This guy's about nine kilos,
this guy's about seven kilos.
Now this weighs a bit more
because there's a little bit more to the solar panel,
which we'll go on to shortly.
Those are the pack sizes differently,
the larger one here, which is the the more expensive one
is about 71 centimetres long,
53 in height and probably about
five to six centimetres in depth,
depending on where you measure it
if you add the wires and things at the front
it's a bit thicker.
This guy has about 35 centimetres by 37 centimetres
and probably about five or six centimetres
in thickness plus the wires at the front as well.
But it's obviously a much more compact unit to pack.
I've got one of these guys
and I find it slides easier next to my fridge,
but it is a much bigger unit to pack.
Next thing I'm gonna just pull everything out of the bag,
show you what comes with the bag
and we'll look at some of the materials.
Now one, first noticeable difference is that this,
the Crocskin solar panel comes in its own bag here.
So all of this fits within this bag.
Whereas the Lifestyle panel on the other side here,
the actual packaging is the actual material
on the outside here.
And just on the material,
this is a lightweight set of polycotton canvas
on the outside here
but back over to the Crocskin panel here,
this is a 1680D nylon,
so it's a much tougher exterior fabric
on this guy here.
So get a bit more durability out of this one.
Before we go into the details of the solar panels,
look at the, what actually comes with the kit.
Now, they both come with a cable.
The Lifestyle one comes with a six metre cable,
that's gonna go between your battery
and your solar controller.
Whereas the Crocskin solar panel is
only a five metre cable,
so you get one metre less of cable with
this guy here,
but they're both gonna do the same thing.
The battery clamps,
the Lifestyle one just comes with a short battery clamp
and Anderson connector.
Whereas the Crocskin one comes with a one
and a half metre, alligator clips
with an Anderson connector on there as well.
So the metre that you lose out of this cord,
you gain with these guys here.
And one of the big differences with the solar controllers
that come with the two, now the Lifestyle one
comes with a 15 amp,
just a digital, PWM controller.
This is going to cover AGM, calcium wet and gel batteries.
It's got two of the USB outlets there,
which are kind of handy,
but if you have a lithium battery
that guy's not gonna work.
you're gonna need to get yourself another solar controller.
Whereas the Crocskin solar panels come with
this latest 15 amp digital controller,
that Hard Korr have.
Now this is a five stage controller.
That's also gonna cover lithium batteries,
so it follows a really healthy charge patent
for your battery. So it's gonna get...
It's gonna charge your batteries more efficiently.
You also got a lot more information on the front
of the panel here,
including battery charge state indicators,
a digital display that we'll show you shortly.
So, an upgraded solar controller that you get
with your Hard Korr Crocskin solar panel,
now with either of these,
you can remove these and attach them directly
to a DC to DC charger or something else.
But for those who are new to solar,
you need to have one of these in your system.
You can't connect your solar panel directly to your battery.
You need this in there
'cause the solar panel puts out a lot of voltage.
This kind of settles that down and keeps a nice,
steady charge going into your battery.
Okay, next thing were gonna do is
lay the solar panels out and we'll talk about
the panels themselves and how it looks when it's rolled out.
Okay, so I've got them laid out here.
Now there's some obvious differences here.
The Lifestyle panel here on my right,
has got lots of different solar panels,
it rolls up more like a blanket,
so you can either lay it flat
or hang it, put it over a bonnet.
Whereas the Crocskin, portable panel here,
they're more like four larger panels.
Now on top of this,
in terms of mounting options,
this also has a little kickstand on the back here.
So when this is standing upright,
it sits at a 35 degree angle.
So you can get maximum efficiency to the sun.
You don't have that feature with this guy here.
What you do have though is that it'll hook points
on the top of this mat here, just,
nylon hooks that you can use to hang that
on the side of a car.
Whereas this guy actually has brass or metal islets
in the corners here,
either for pegging it down or for tying something it
to hang it, either vertically or horizontally on a side
of a car or whatever as well,
so you've got different mounting options.
Jumping into the actual solar panels themselves.
Now they're the same A-grade monocrystalline cell.
So they both have the same performance.
The output of both of these mats,
they're both 200 watt mats.
This puts out, I say about 10.68 amps,
this about 11.1 amps.
So in the scheme of things,
there's not a lot of difference in the two,
but it's mainly down to the durability
of the solar panels themselves.
This has got a copper cell backing with lots of
points of contact behind it.
There's a lot more that's gone into
how this solar panel is put together in here.
And it has this Crocskin armour over the top,
which you can feel, is quite durable,
makes some more impact resistance.
They say it's even good in hail
So It's quite a durable solar panel,
that's on this system here, so you're paying for durability.
Whereas these are just the solar panel,
they're still tough, they're not fragile by any means.
You need to treat them with care,
but I probably wouldn't leave
this out say in hail or anything.
They're not as impact proof as this guy here.
So far the differences between the two really are
you get the same output,
the performance is probably gonna be the same.
We're gonna check that shortly,
but you get more durability out of this mat here,
plus that better solar controller.
What I wanna do next to set both of these up.
I've got the same battery over there.
I'm gonna put them both in the sun.
They're side by side.
It's a clear day today.
There's no clouds going over.
So I wanna plug one in.
We check the output from one,
then I'll immediately unplug it, plug the other one in,
check the output from that
and see if they compare pretty much,
so, they should compare, comparably side by side.
Now, I've got the solar mat set up
in this little patch of sun here,
better be quick before the shade comes across.
I've got the cable coming from the solar panel to,
what I'm gonna use the same solar controller here for both
so that we get the same ratings or same comparable ratings.
I'm gonna start by plugging the Crocskin armour one in first
and we'll just plug that in.
Let it have a sync, I'm gonna...
It's at 12.3 volts and zero amp hours,
2.3 volts coming in at seven amps.
Now it's mid to late afternoon here
on about a 20 degree day.
So that's seven amps laying flat on the ground.
If we were to angle that out,
we get an even better, feedback from that
or even better output from that.
I'm gonna quickly unplug it
and plug the other solar panel in here now
so that we can get a rating on that one as well.
So we'll just give that a second, amperes, volts.
That's now up to 6.8 amps.
So, just under that seven amps
there's probably 30 seconds difference
between the first and the second,
so output's pretty much the same for both of them.
What I just want to do quickly now
is I've plugged the Crocskin one in again.
And I just wanna stand this up.
I wanna use the kickstand so it's sitting a little more
up towards the sun and we'll see how much difference
that makes to the output.
So these are the benefits of having this
little kickstand in behind here.
Now let's say this 35 degree angle is optimal for the sun.
So we should say,
I don't think there is any shade on that at the moment,
so that has now jumped up to nine amps
and the sun is about to disappear
behind a tree to my left here
that is getting to late afternoon here today.
It's about a 20 degree day and the shade is actually
fast creeping over this mat here now,
I can see that's dropping down to about four amps.
There are bypass diodes in both of these mats here,
so if there's shade on one end,
you still get output from the other.
If there's shade across part of it,
you still get part of the panel working.
And that features in both mats.
So, now look in terms of buying which one look,
if your budget stretched,
then you get really good output from the Lifestyle mat
that I've got down behind me here.
You just gonna have to treat it with a little bit of care,
but the benefit is it does pack up smaller.
So it's easier to fit in the vehicle.
But I remember, the Hard Korr rep telling me once,
he said, "Buy once, buy right."
So if you can't afford it and you've got the space,
grab yourself this 200 watt mat,
this is what I use and I can set it up
a little bit of time at the end of the day,
to get heaps of charge back in my battery
after a day exploring.
If solar is a little confusing to you,
you're new to the world of solar.
it's probably worth having a bit of a read,
there is a fair bit to sort of ingest around it.
You do have to have a battery in your system.
You have to have the solar controller in the system
and there's a lot of variables.
We've got a really good article.
Check the comments below.
We'll put a link to that article there
so you can have a read to try and understand
how you can calculate your solar requirements
in your campsite.
Now these are both great mats, both great quality.
I'd say a few dollars can afford it, get this guy,
but if not, you're getting a really good mat
with a Lifestyle panel here
and it's gonna charge your battery just as quick.
This guy also with a better quality make,
comes with a better warranty too.
So that might be consideration for you
but if you want more information,
check them out online at snowys.com.au
where you'll find them at our lowest prices every day.
For any questions, let us know down in the comments below,
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or check out some other videos like this one down here.
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