Anker Hates Me for Showing You This!

0:00 Both of these solar panels are currently charging the power station that they're plugged into. This first one here is plugandplay. It's as easy as it gets. And this second one here, it requires you to buy a basic adapter cable. It's very cheap, but it could potentially save you hundreds of dollars on solar

0:14 panels. If you want to go the expensive route, you can get the brand solar panel. And like I said, it is plug-andplay. So, it comes with the right cable, with the right adapter, and it just plugs right into the solar charging port on the power station. And then after about 30 seconds, it reaches

0:31 what's called the maximum power point and it starts charging at the max rate given how sunny it is at the moment. It is currently charging at 102 watts. And this is a 200 W solar panel. So yes, the brand solar panels are super easy. They're plug-andplay, but they're expensive. This one currently costs $500

0:49 and it's a 200 W solar panel. To put that into perspective, you could save up to $300 if you were to buy a 200 watt solar panel from a different brand. To save that kind of money, you just have to understand how to charge a power station with a different brand of solar panel. And this is key, how to pick a

1:06 solar panel that is compatible with your power station. So, yes, going with a different brand of solar panel will require you to buy one extra thing, which is this adapter cable right here. But you also have to make sure that your solar panel is compatible with your power station. And to do that, you have

1:21 to understand these numbers and letters right here. Understanding this is the key to saving money on your solar panels and picking a solar panel that will safely charge your power station. Let's break it down line by line because it's just that important. So this first line says 11 to 32V 10A. V refers to volts, A

1:43 refers to amps. So, what this first line is telling you is that if your solar panel voltage is between 11 and 32 volts, then its current limit is 10 amps. So, it can't exceed 10 amps of current. Knowing that, you should be able to read this second line. It says if your solar panel voltage is between

2:00 32 and 60 volts, then you have a little bit of a higher current limit, 12.5 amps. And this last line is telling us something a little different. It's just saying that you can hook up a max of 600 watts of solar panels to this power station. So, these numbers right here are our guidelines, and we can go out

2:14 and we can find a compatible solar panel based on them. And if you're wondering, how the heck do I use those numbers to find a compatible solar panel? Well, these numbers are listed on the back of all panels. And if you're looking online, then they'll be on the solar panels product page. Okay,

2:32 so this is how you read them. The first one is the wattage of the solar panel. This is a 100 watt solar panel that is obviously below the 600 watt limit. So that means this one is so far compatible. And then beneath that we have the opencircuit voltage or VOCC and that is 24.3 volts. So that is within

2:51 that 11 volt to 60 volt range and it's actually in the lower range where we're dealing with a 10 amp current limit. And if we look beneath that we have the short circuit current which is 5.21 amps. So that is below that 10 amp current limit as well. So this is a compatible solar panel. And like I said,

3:11 you can find these numbers on the product page. So this is just a random 200 watt solar panel, which is currently $200. So literally $300 cheaper than this 200 watt solar panel right here. And you can find these specific parameters on every single solar panel product page. They are right here,

3:34 specific parameters. And you can see the maximum power 200 watts which is stated. You can see the opencircuit voltage VOCC 22.5 volts. And you can see the shortcircuit current or ISC which is 12.21 amps. So what we are discovering is that this solar panel is actually this is not compatible. How do we know?

3:59 Well, we can see the voltage right here which is 22.5 volts. So that puts us within that lower voltage range of you know 11 to 32 volts with a 10 amp current limit and the short circuit current or ISC is 12.21 amps which exceeds that you know 10 amp current limit. So this is actually not

4:24 compatible and we'd need to look for a solar panel with different parameters because watts equals volts time amps. If we increase the voltage and look for a 24volt solar panel, that will keep the current low. So that's exactly what I did. I found a 200 watt 24volt solar panel. And once again, if we look at the

4:42 price, it is saving us roughly $300 compared with Ankor's branded solar panels. So let's find its specs, which are once again going to be on the product page. Here they are. And let's check if it's compatible. So it's 200 watts. That's within the 600 watt limit. The uh opencircuit voltage is 45.4

5:03 if you can see that. Let me try to zoom or focus in a little bit for you. There we go. 45.4 volts which is within the 60 volt limit. And then we have the short circuit current or ISC which is 5.83 amps which is well within that 12.5 amp current limit since this would put us in the higher voltage range of that 32 to

5:27 60 volt voltage range. So, this beautiful, lovely 200 watt affordable solar panel is indeed compatible with that power station right there. Your response to all this might be to say, okay, well, you can, you know, wire multiple of the brand solar panels together to increase power output, but

5:48 you can do the same with off-brand solar panels. So, these are two of the same 100 W solar panels wired in series. So, that sums the voltage but keeps the current the same. So, we're sitting at 48 volts and I think around 5 amps, which is with it's compatible with our power station. It's still within all of

6:03 the stated limits. But you might say, okay, this has to be $500 for a reason. Maybe it outputs more power than a regular 200 W solar panel. Well, now we have a 200 W solar array made up of, you know, off-brand just kind of budget solar panels. So, let's compare the power output between the two.

6:26 So for the Reny panels, power output currently 123 watts. [Music] And for the anchor panels, power output is currently 103 watts, 20 watts less. And if we go back to Amazon and we search 200 W portable solar panel, cuz

6:52 that's what the anchor panel is. It's a portable solar panel, we can find very similar looking solar panels or once again in that $200 price range. So maybe there's some peace of mind going with the brand solar panels, but for me, it's not worth hundreds of dollars. I don't know. Maybe

7:10 for you, you just want to get the plug-andplay option that the brand recommends because of course they recommend their own solar panels. But for me, I would save hundreds of dollars and go with just any different but compatible brand of solar panels. So, that's how you solar charge a power

7:27 station and save hundreds of dollars on current solar panels. That's it for this one and I'll see you in the next one.