This thread serves as a testimonial to the quality of the Bluetti portable folding solar panels. I own both the Bluetti PV200 and Bluetti PV350 portable folding panels (that offers tilting capability). Earlier today I just lost a cheap $99 solar panel that I purchased from Walmart due to high winds (my fault but read on). The MC4 connector was glued on and when the wind flipped the panel (it was laid flat) it landed awkwardly and snapped the connector. Let this be a lesson to all of you as well. Secure down your panels EVEN when its flat on the ground!
The buck does not stop here. Let’s assume I took better care of the panels. Here is my next lesson. STOP cheaping out on poorly made solar panels. You get what you pay for. Here’s why…
The panel that broke I initially purchased two of them with the intent of running them in series to charge one of my Bluetti AC180 solar generators (I have two of them for my expedition rig). With the Sun altitude at 53.08 degrees, using the SIN function to determine power outage of a panel laid flat, should net me around 79.9% power output. So for 400 watts worth of panels that’s around 320 watts. For a 350 watt panel that’s about 280 watts. When I plugged in the two cheap panels they netted only 165 watts! The Bluetti PV350 laid flat netted me 275 or so watts. Incredible. TLDR - The Bluetti PV350 has higher-quality cells with better conversion efficiency, meaning they can convert more sunlight into usable electricity.
Don’t be fooled by marketing gimmicks like “This panel is up to 23% efficient”. What this simply means is for every 1 square meter of panel, you should produce “up to” 230 watts of electrical power. Under standard test conditions, the Sun produces 1000W per meter squared, so 23% of that is simply 230 watts. The keyword is “up to”. The Bluetti PV350 has a solar surface area around 1.52 sq m, so 1.52 X 230 = 350 watts! I don’t have an exact number but this simply explains how it gets its 350 watt rating. Granted its likely a bit more then that, since I have gotten up to 395 watts from the panel tilted on a Sunny day! It exceeds expectations.
If anything, my only knock is that the Bluetti portable folding panels is the fact they are only IP65 rated. This means the panel is protected from water splashing and dust, but it’s not designed for submersion or prolonged exposure to rain. So you can’t just leave it out in a rainstorm and wait for weather to pass, then continue charging after the fact. You have to put the panel back inside, then redeploy it again. It’s designed for essentially just cleaning the panel with a light spritz of water to allow the cells to capture light better. I have a 360 watt solar blanket which is IP68 rated, but this means simply that I can only use the Bluetti panels when there’s no chance of rain, so it involves being extra careful when its going to be half sunny and half rainy on a day of the week.
! The newer one is IP67 (still one number off Bluetti but we’re making progress 
) and the thing I like about it most is the fact they ditched the fabric material for a more durable design and they removed the crappier velcro system. I am not a fan of the velcro. It does the job, but the legs have a tendency to come loose a lot on me. You own the PV200 so you know exactly what I’m talking about