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Testimonials

Power to the Campers
Date: 06 May 2011

Although a campfire is part of the experience, when it become the only light source, things can get a little depressing.
Click Below for full artlcle.

----- Original Message -----

From: "Jan Booysen"
To: info@thinfilmsolar.co.za
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 2:37 PM
Subject: RE: Controller and bag

Hi Peta,

I bought the panel because one always hears stories of people with flat batteries. I went down to the MMC in Greytown last weekend. I used it to charge 105 a/h battery to power the 40-ltr Engel fridge at -3 degrees during the stay. We also used 5 off 11 watt florescent tubes at night. The panel charged the battery. Everybody will admit that it was overcast with little direct sunlight for parts of the day.

The battery is still charged. Fantastic. Thanks for a product that works.

Regards
Jan

----- Original Message -----

From: Leigh Webster
To: info@thinfilmsolar.co.za
Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 10:23 AM
Subject: Solar panel testimonial

Hi Peta

We spent a week at Mana Pools on the Zambezi River.

Our 60w panel was an absolute pleasure to both pack for the trip and unpack when we arrived. So much more convenient than rigid glass panels. Not so easy to put up as a rigid panel, but a combination of ropes and tree and away we went.

Our Snowmaster fridge is an 80 litre, drawing 80w input power. It ran for 4 days (at around -6) on 1 deep cycle battery and the solar panel. After 4 days the fridge flickered as the voltage was getting low. Without the panel, it would have run for 1.5 days.

We love it! And can highly recommend Fred (at Strand Auto Electrical) as your agent.

Regards
Rob and Leigh Webster

----- Original Message -----

From: E Lemke
To: 'Thin Film Solar'
Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 8:46 PM
Subject: RE: Feedback AT LONG LAST!!!!!

I purchased a 60 Watt thin film solar panel about a year ago and fitted to my Samil 20 (ex army vehicle) campers roof. I made brackets to fix Velco onto the unit and glued Velco to the roof to secure the solar panel. I use the vehicle at lest once a month to go into the bush or to various game reserves around Gauteng. The panel charges a 105 Ah deep cycle battery which runs my National Lunar 80 litre fridge/freezer.

Soon after fitting the panel last year, we went for our Christmas holidays to Khutse and the Central Kalahari game reserves in Botswana. As you can imagine it was very hot and the fridge took strain keeping the meat frozen and my beers cold! Temperatures were in the higher 30 Deg. C and the fridge did not see temperatures under 20 degrees C even at night.

We drove around on most days and we plugged the fridge into the truck batteries to give the solar panel a chance to charge the fridge battery. At night we switched off the fridge, so we didn't have to listen to it running during du-du time. On the odd day we did not move and the solar system had to run for the whole day without assistance. The 60 Watt thin film solar panel did the job and our meat stayed frozen for the whole holiday which lasted a month.

The instructions warned against getting the panel too wet, but I purposefully left it on the roof during a drenching cloud burst in the Caprivi. The rain persisted for the whole day and night, and the panel kept on working just fine. Our Samil is quite tall at almost 4 meters and we were travelling on tracks used by 4 x 4 bakkies with roof top tents, which may be about 2,5 meters tall. This meant that we were often ploughing through overhead branches. Some were unavoidable and a broken off branch stump measuring about 70mm in diameter gouged its way down the roof - I was convinced that this would be the end of my solar panel, but it miraculously survived...

The Velco held and the panel had a deep score across it, but it kept right on charging. The branches also tore out the wires from the plug attached to the regulator, but the wires on the panel remained secure. My suggestion to anyone who has the wire dangling down the side of a moving vehicle should make sure that the wire can pull out of the plug socket rather than tearing the wire out of the panel itself.

The solar panel folds up neatly into its bag and is the size of a small flat pillow. I pulled no punches with this solar panel and my attitude was "If it breaks I'll get another one". But it didn't, so I must say that this is a robust solar panel which you can use whilst driving come hail or shine! Trust me - its bullet proof!

If you plan to sit for more than one day in one spot and the weather is overcast, it may pay you to have more battery power or to have two solar panels. Before I go on another long trip, I may just invest in another one to help keep the beers cold.

E Lemke
Gauteng

----- Original Message -----

From: 'Walley Family'
To: 'Thin Film Solar'
Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 8:04 AM
Subject: pics

Hi Folks

Some pics of your panel in use this past couple of weeks in the Richtersveld. after 2 days of using the panel to charge 2 x 105AH batteries, running a 74l N/L fridge, and a water pump, the nett effect was a charge. great product - packs wherever you have a small space available.

click to enlarge click to enlarge

as you can see, its a perfect fit for on top of a trailer or rooftop tent

regards

Anthony Walley
Gauteng

----- Original Message -----

From:'Junior Bruwer'
To: 'Thin Film Solar'
Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2009 12:06 PM
Subject: RE: Feedback

Hi Peta-Ann

Hope you are well.

The facts;

I use two 40 litre Engels. One as a deep freeze and the other as a fridge. I find this an excellent combination and with 80 litres cool space and less outside diameters than a 60 litre dual duty fridge. I have never had a flat battery by the way.

One 95 ah deep cycle battery. I do not think I will run out of battery power. I have not tested it for more than 3 days.

Two panels run the two fridges easily and put some charge back into the battery. At night I switch the fridge off and it warms up to about +5 degrees during the night. During driving time I run it at 0 Degrees. The deepfreeze I turn down to what I guess is about 8 or 10 degrees at night. This way you use very little battery power at night and in daytime they run off the panels and the battery gets charge. With one fridge and two panels it will be even more effective.

Plus factors are that it is easy to pack and portable. You can even take a fridge and a panel to the beach and it will run and stay cold without a battery. I have tested it.

Kind regards
Junior Bruwer
Namibia

----- Original Message -----

From:'Roelf Louw'
To: 'Thin Film Solar'
Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 2:00 PM
Subject: RE: Feedback

Hi Peta-Ann,

I am very happy with my 60W thin film solar panel. It works very efficiently and recharges a run down battery quickly. During day time it keeps my battery fully charged.

My fridge/freezers are 40 litre & 80 litre National lunar units respectively.

I uses a 105 amp hour deep cycle battery.

I even use the panel to recharge my old 4x4's battery on the farm when it was not used for some time.

If there is enough sunshine (even intermitted) I can run my battery/ panel unit indefinitely.

I will send you a pic as soon as I go camping again.

Regards
Roelf Louw

---- Original Message -----

From: 'Kevin Rudd'
To: 'Thin Film Solar'
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 6:02 PM
Subject: RE: Questionaire - Thin Film Solar

Dear Peta,

I have not responded until now, as my colleague used the thin film solar panel (TFSP) between Xmas and New Year, and I wanted his feed back before I responded to you.

My experience with TFSP is currently restricted to long weekend use (3 days at a time) in the KZN Drakensberg, where I used the TFSP to only charge my dual battery. My dual battery system is a Portable National Lunar Type (ie not permanently fitted to my Land Rover), with a 105ah deep cycle battery. When using the TFSP I connected the TFSP to my battery pack while it was still running my Engel fridge/freezer from it. After 1 ½ days use running the fridge only off my dual battery, the battery was by no means running flat, I used the TFSP to recharge the battery. The TFSP was able to provide sufficient power to recharge the battery to a healthy state of charge, sufficient for the balance of my long weekend camping. The TFSP was connected for several hours, between the hours of 10h00 to about 15h00, with a combination of overcast and full sunlight on the TFSP. The TFSP was pegged to the ground facing North at an angle of approx 30degrees off the horizontal. This was achieved using short poles (made from 20mm PVC pipe) and guy ropes. The TFSP together with the controller, guy ropes and poles fit very snugly into an "ammo box", available from any of the many camping and outdoor shops at main centers in SA. My first experience with the TFSP was thus successful and very promising for a longer stay.

My colleague Peter, was a bit more adventurous. He borrowed the same TFSP setup from me and went camping for 5 days, also in the KZN Drakensberg. He had two WACOE fridge/freezers and two Portable National Lunar power packs, both with 105ah deep cycle batteries. He set up the TFSP permanently during his stay, and connected each portable battery pack to the TFSP for a period of 24hrs, commencing with the first battery pack at noon. Noon the next day he connected the second battery pack to the TFSP and charged it for 24 hours. Alternating the charging of the battery packs in this manner he was able to maintain sufficient power in the batteries to keep his WACOE fridge/freezers operating, as fridges. He did not run any lights or any other devices off the battery packs during this time. During his stay he experienced a combination of full sun, cloudy and light rain. Whilst the TFSP operates best in full sunlight, it still works very well in cloudy conditions.

In summary we are both very satisfied with the charging ability of the TFSP. This is the first solar panel I have used, and am suitably impressed with its ability to provide "Power in the Bush"

Thank you for your willingness to provide information on the TFSP, your knowledge of your product, and your ability to answer my technical questions when I was considering purchasing the TFSP. Once ordered and paid for, it was delivered promptly, even though I asked for it to be delivered urgently.

Kind Regards
Kevin Rudd | Professional Land Surveyor
Gauteng

----- Original Message -----

From:'Magnum Freight'
To: 'Thin Film Solar'
Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2008 11:57 AM
Subject: RE: Questionaire

Hi Peta

I bought 2x of your 60w folding panels which we have recently used on a trip to the Kalahari Transfrontier Park. I have a dual battery system in my car with the auxiliary deep cycle battery running our Engel 60lt Combo fridge. We camped for 4x days with the 2x panels flat on the ground connected to the auxiliary through a charge controller and only needed to boost charge the battery on the third night. This was in ambient temperatures of 15C at night to 42C during the day. Our food stayed fresh with cold beers and ice for sundowners every day.

In addition I also have a 10w and 5w portable panel. I used the 10w to charge my PDA and laptop. These panels have one drawback and that is that the plug only fits into one type of laptop. I have now made an adaptor which fits into more appliances and also has a voltage converter from the panel.

Kind regards
Mike Goldsworthy
Gaborone, Botswana