2 Reviews for Topsolar SolarFairy

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Brandon – June 5, 2020

   I have a ton of rigid panels and few flexibles, even a couple folding panels in the lower wattage range. This was my first larger folding panel purchase and I was feeling discouraged while shopping reading so many reviews of dismal output from many top brands.I’ve had this panel for a whopping 4 hours and just got it set up outside for a test. The sun isn’t perfectly overhead so these numbers may increase slightly, but I don’t plan to angle it or anything – flat is better than anything I could rig up given the position of the sun right now.Immediately showed 74-75w being produced when connected to a Victron MPPT (see attached image). I expected this number to fall as the panel heated up – it’s 95* outside and it’s laying on hot plywood with no airflow beneath the panels, or from anywhere – perfectly still wind-free day.So, 30 minutes later it’s producing 72w. The 2x100w series’d rigid panels on my truck are producing 143w right now and actually have good air flow. So I’d say the output of this panel is a lot better than what I’ve read of Dokios and similar, producing 60w from a “200w” folding panel.It’s heavy but that’s okay, it rolls up tight and compact and feels more durable than my smaller folding panels. The smaller ones I have can be flexed but these feel like unfolding a book of floor tile, so that’s where the weight is coming from. No other comments on durability though, too soon to tell. Just feels like it’ll last. Unfolding it is straight forward, you just flip the 6 tiles open and then unfold the other 6 from on top of it. I liked that because I could unfold without having the panel producing any voltage until I flipped the last fold over – one side covers the other until this point. People who are familiar with throwing blankets over producing solar panels to halt current will understand and appreciate this.The flap that hangs off the side where the output box (or whatever you want to call it) is ok, I previously thought it was stupid when shopping. Part of the flap has the output box and the other part is what wraps over the panels and velcros them shut when folded up. I don’t think you could use this panel hanging horizontally (landscape mode!) without that flap catching the wind and being obnoxious, and causing stress on the wires inside that lead to the flap. But would be easy to hang vertically with the flap hanging down.If you review this item, try to observe the panel voltage and charge current going in to your battery. That’s useful info in a world of subpar folding panels that barely hit half their rated output.Oh yeah, wires. Let’s talk wires. They’re terribly thin on all the accessories. I’m using a 10 amp 2.1×5.5mm jack as my solar inlet to my charge controller so I was able to use the included 2.1×5.5 extension cable. The MC4 adapter and alligator clip adapter are both like 22 gauge. It’s very possible the 2.1×5.5mm extension cable is also high gauge. I ordered a 16 gauge heavy duty 10ft 2.1×5.5 extension (but I’m realizing now I should have gotten a male to male – it hasn’t arrived yet). In any event, using as large of wire as possible from the panel’s output box to your charge controller is always recommended to curb voltage drop.If you really want to give the panel the best shot at producing, get a 2.1×5.5mm male jack with screw terminals (they come in packs of 10) from Amazon and shove as large a wire as possible as you can in to them (12 gauge in my experience) and keep the wire as short as you can to reach where it needs to go. This will allow more voltage to flow through the wire at greater lengths and in high temps.Ending review, this took me a while to type and its been at least another 30 minutes since I said it was producing 72w. It’s giving me 70w right now – barring a handful of days here in Colorado this is as hot as it’s going to get.UPDATE after first trip: Took this to the mountains and laid it in the grass to charge up my LiFePO4 camper battery. Had to use their included 2.1×5.5mm extension cable again as the heavy duty one I ordered hadn’t arrived before I left town. This was going in to a Victron 75/15 MPPT charge controller. 72*F ambient temps and mostly clear skies. Didn’t bother angling it, and the grass wasn’t letting it lay perfectly flat either so it was a very slight bowl shape. Was watching the charge controller over bluetooth and about an hour in to charging I hit 80w for a while… covered in bugs (adding new pic). Would recommend.

2. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   Brandon – September 24, 2020

   I can make it easy on you:If you want to permanently mount a solar panel somewhere, don’t buy this – you can get something that will likely hold up to the weather a bit better long term at half the price.If you need portability – but you don’t really care how big the solar panel is when you fold it up – again don’t buy this, get one of those solar suitcases that fold up like a card table and have a sturdy stand made out of metal.This product fills a very specific niche. It is for people who really care a lot about how small the panel will get when you put it away – they want something that will perform like a full-size panel when needed but stores in a very small space most of the time. If you are in that group, keep reading because this thing has an awful lot going for it. Normally, even a “compact” folding solar panel with a 100w rating is going to resemble a thin version of a pizza box or an vinyl record box set. This gets much smaller and only a bit thicker, ending up in a far more travel-friendly size and shape.It is not particularly light, however. In order to make a folding panel like this durable enough to hold up, they make each little section out of a very tough, solid plastic, with pretty sturdy connections between each of the little tiles that makes up the overall panel as well. All that structure makes it a bit heavier than you expect it to be. It probably doesn’t weigh as much as a glass covered residential panel, but you certainly are not going backpacking with it either. Time will tell, but it really does feel pretty sturdy, and the panel appears likely to survive a lot of travel without excessive babying.On the little flap of fabric that holds the tiles together with velcro, there is a place to connect your power bank/solar generator, which also contains a couple of USB ports for just charging your phone directly. There is a rubber cover on the ports, and closing that cover would likely render the panel safe in the rain IF NOT CONNECTED TO ANYTHING. But once connected to anything, the ports are not at all protected from moisture. This is not a panel you are going to permanently mount anywhere and you don’t get much solar power on a rainy day anyway, so I don’t view that as a particularly serious deal for a product like this. I think the rubber gasket is really more to protect it while in storage/transit. If this ended up in say the back of your pickup truck, the rubber gasket would help to protect it from the rain.Laying it flat on the ground in full sun without fussing with it at all generated 65-70 watts according to my solar generator, so its performance is right about what you would expect to see from a 100 watt max panel. No solar panel makes anywhere near what it is capable of in ideal test conditions in the real world, and this one does just about what you would expect it to do.The only thing about this design that I didn’t fully grasp before I bought it is that angling the panel towards the sun really helps to improve the power it makes, but you have to supply all the structure if you want to get it up off the ground, there is no stand or any way to get it at an ideal angle to the sun with what comes in the box. You give that up in favor of getting a much more travel-friendly package than those solar suitcases. So if you want to eke out every last volt you possibly can, you’ll have to fuss with this a bit and jury rig some kind of stand when you get to where you are going.The build quality of the panel itself is much higher than the accessories it comes with. The storage bag quality is good not great (it should be fine if you don’t abuse it), the main cord you use to feed power into your power bank is also of adequate quality. But the alligator clips for a 12v, direct battery connection appear terrifyingly thin. Same for the MC4 connectors, I would not be very excited about using those either. Few people are likely to need or use either of those accessories given the intended use of this panel. But if your particular, expected use of this panel requires those accessories, just plan to buy better, upgraded versions.Overall, I think this does fit the bill for somebody looking for a very compact, travel friendly panel to charge a small “solar generator”. It is not perfect, but I really like how small it gets and how easy it is travel with.

3. 

   Brandon – January 18, 2023

   I have a ton of rigid panels and few flexibles, even a couple folding panels in the lower wattage range. This was my first larger folding panel purchase and I was feeling discouraged while shopping reading so many reviews of dismal output from many top brands.I’ve had this panel for a whopping 4 hours and just got it set up outside for a test. The sun isn’t perfectly overhead so these numbers may increase slightly, but I don’t plan to angle it or anything – flat is better than anything I could rig up given the position of the sun right now.Immediately showed 74-75w being produced when connected to a Victron MPPT (see attached image). I expected this number to fall as the panel heated up – it’s 95* outside and it’s laying on hot plywood with no airflow beneath the panels, or from anywhere – perfectly still wind-free day.So, 30 minutes later it’s producing 72w. The 2x100w series’d rigid panels on my truck are producing 143w right now and actually have good air flow. So I’d say the output of this panel is a lot better than what I’ve read of Dokios and similar, producing 60w from a “200w” folding panel.It’s heavy but that’s okay, it rolls up tight and compact and feels more durable than my smaller folding panels. The smaller ones I have can be flexed but these feel like unfolding a book of floor tile, so that’s where the weight is coming from. No other comments on durability though, too soon to tell. Just feels like it’ll last. Unfolding it is straight forward, you just flip the 6 tiles open and then unfold the other 6 from on top of it. I liked that because I could unfold without having the panel producing any voltage until I flipped the last fold over – one side covers the other until this point. People who are familiar with throwing blankets over producing solar panels to halt current will understand and appreciate this.The flap that hangs off the side where the output box (or whatever you want to call it) is ok, I previously thought it was stupid when shopping. Part of the flap has the output box and the other part is what wraps over the panels and velcros them shut when folded up. I don’t think you could use this panel hanging horizontally (landscape mode!) without that flap catching the wind and being obnoxious, and causing stress on the wires inside that lead to the flap. But would be easy to hang vertically with the flap hanging down.If you review this item, try to observe the panel voltage and charge current going in to your battery. That’s useful info in a world of subpar folding panels that barely hit half their rated output.Oh yeah, wires. Let’s talk wires. They’re terribly thin on all the accessories. I’m using a 10 amp 2.1×5.5mm jack as my solar inlet to my charge controller so I was able to use the included 2.1×5.5 extension cable. The MC4 adapter and alligator clip adapter are both like 22 gauge. It’s very possible the 2.1×5.5mm extension cable is also high gauge. I ordered a 16 gauge heavy duty 10ft 2.1×5.5 extension (but I’m realizing now I should have gotten a male to male – it hasn’t arrived yet). In any event, using as large of wire as possible from the panel’s output box to your charge controller is always recommended to curb voltage drop.If you really want to give the panel the best shot at producing, get a 2.1×5.5mm male jack with screw terminals (they come in packs of 10) from Amazon and shove as large a wire as possible as you can in to them (12 gauge in my experience) and keep the wire as short as you can to reach where it needs to go. This will allow more voltage to flow through the wire at greater lengths and in high temps.Ending review, this took me a while to type and its been at least another 30 minutes since I said it was producing 72w. It’s giving me 70w right now – barring a handful of days here in Colorado this is as hot as it’s going to get.UPDATE after first trip: Took this to the mountains and laid it in the grass to charge up my LiFePO4 camper battery. Had to use their included 2.1×5.5mm extension cable again as the heavy duty one I ordered hadn’t arrived before I left town. This was going in to a Victron 75/15 MPPT charge controller. 72*F ambient temps and mostly clear skies. Didn’t bother angling it, and the grass wasn’t letting it lay perfectly flat either so it was a very slight bowl shape. Was watching the charge controller over bluetooth and about an hour in to charging I hit 80w for a while… covered in bugs (adding new pic). Would recommend.

4. 

   Brandon – March 14, 2023

   I can make it easy on you:If you want to permanently mount a solar panel somewhere, don’t buy this – you can get something that will likely hold up to the weather a bit better long term at half the price.If you need portability – but you don’t really care how big the solar panel is when you fold it up – again don’t buy this, get one of those solar suitcases that fold up like a card table and have a sturdy stand made out of metal.This product fills a very specific niche. It is for people who really care a lot about how small the panel will get when you put it away – they want something that will perform like a full-size panel when needed but stores in a very small space most of the time. If you are in that group, keep reading because this thing has an awful lot going for it. Normally, even a “compact” folding solar panel with a 100w rating is going to resemble a thin version of a pizza box or an vinyl record box set. This gets much smaller and only a bit thicker, ending up in a far more travel-friendly size and shape.It is not particularly light, however. In order to make a folding panel like this durable enough to hold up, they make each little section out of a very tough, solid plastic, with pretty sturdy connections between each of the little tiles that makes up the overall panel as well. All that structure makes it a bit heavier than you expect it to be. It probably doesn’t weigh as much as a glass covered residential panel, but you certainly are not going backpacking with it either. Time will tell, but it really does feel pretty sturdy, and the panel appears likely to survive a lot of travel without excessive babying.On the little flap of fabric that holds the tiles together with velcro, there is a place to connect your power bank/solar generator, which also contains a couple of USB ports for just charging your phone directly. There is a rubber cover on the ports, and closing that cover would likely render the panel safe in the rain IF NOT CONNECTED TO ANYTHING. But once connected to anything, the ports are not at all protected from moisture. This is not a panel you are going to permanently mount anywhere and you don’t get much solar power on a rainy day anyway, so I don’t view that as a particularly serious deal for a product like this. I think the rubber gasket is really more to protect it while in storage/transit. If this ended up in say the back of your pickup truck, the rubber gasket would help to protect it from the rain.Laying it flat on the ground in full sun without fussing with it at all generated 65-70 watts according to my solar generator, so its performance is right about what you would expect to see from a 100 watt max panel. No solar panel makes anywhere near what it is capable of in ideal test conditions in the real world, and this one does just about what you would expect it to do.The only thing about this design that I didn’t fully grasp before I bought it is that angling the panel towards the sun really helps to improve the power it makes, but you have to supply all the structure if you want to get it up off the ground, there is no stand or any way to get it at an ideal angle to the sun with what comes in the box. You give that up in favor of getting a much more travel-friendly package than those solar suitcases. So if you want to eke out every last volt you possibly can, you’ll have to fuss with this a bit and jury rig some kind of stand when you get to where you are going.The build quality of the panel itself is much higher than the accessories it comes with. The storage bag quality is good not great (it should be fine if you don’t abuse it), the main cord you use to feed power into your power bank is also of adequate quality. But the alligator clips for a 12v, direct battery connection appear terrifyingly thin. Same for the MC4 connectors, I would not be very excited about using those either. Few people are likely to need or use either of those accessories given the intended use of this panel. But if your particular, expected use of this panel requires those accessories, just plan to buy better, upgraded versions.Overall, I think this does fit the bill for somebody looking for a very compact, travel friendly panel to charge a small “solar generator”. It is not perfect, but I really like how small it gets and how easy it is travel with.