So just before our Mayford (or was that Maytown) trip in Jan I nipped down to 4WD Supacentre in Lilydale and bought a Kings Solar blanket, the smaller one rated at 120W for just under $200 bux.  Plus an Anderson extension plug lead just in case.

I regulalry use a 180W e-bay triple folding glass panel when we drag the Jayco around so my comparison is really only against that, all products at the lower end of the $$ scale as I need the money for petrol. 

The Kings blanket performed faultlessly while we were away, even with the crappy PWM solar controller I saw more amps- high 6's- than I've ever seen with the 180W panel going into the car battery.  (I have an inline digital power meter that tells me average plus peak V / A / AH going into the battery) Next month I've got a 40A BCDC RedArc charger going in so can throw the PWM unit away and use the inbuilt MPPT contoller in the RedArc so things can only get better.

Long term, who knows, but for keeping your fridge charged up and the sun off your steering wheel (the 120W solar blanket covers an 80 Series windscreen in the sun perfectly) I reckon Kings is a goer.   The price point is also tough to beat.

Cheers.

Nice one Alex, its good to hear about the budget products that work well.

On another forum there are a few people who have them and are happy but have noticed that the plastic has gone hazey simular to old plastic headlights which will reduce its output.

The general thought is that it has happened while folded so to prevent or reduce it they have put some cloth between the panels to prevent rubbing

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Some panels fold up with panel to panel (mainly the triple ones though) and a layer of thin foam should stop rubbing in transit when they're folded up.

I guess if they're left in the sun a lot, UV will damage plastic cover on solar cells, not much you can do about that except maybe long term rub down and 2K clear coat to restore.

I have Ridge Ryder 100w and 150w from SCA, bith excellect and true watt ratings, putting out in full sun 6amps and 9amps respectively.
When on sale they are good value, but still more than the Kings ones from 4WDSC.

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