I Bought Amazon's CHEAPEST 200w Solar Panel

0:01 Hey everybody, I bought the cheapest 200 W solar panel on Amazon, so let's test it out and see if it's worth the price. Now this is Dokio's 200 W 12 V monocrystalline solar panel. It uses quarter cut cells with 12 bus bars, and I purchased this solar panel right under $100. I flipped the panel around and you

0:20 can see that it is not a bifacial solar panel, but the junction boxes are here in the middle. Usually what that means is that the top portion operates independently from the bottom portion, so you have a 100 W panel up here and a 100 W panel here that are combined together in the middle for 200 W.

0:36 Now one of my favorite things to do on the channel is to take two products and compare them side by side to see which one has the best performance. But it's not always about the most wattage output. For example, the Dokio 200 W panel comes in at $99 and the Colsun 200 W bifacial panel comes in at $150.

0:54 So is that $50 increase worth it or is it better to go with the more affordable solar panel? I have a super interesting way to test this out. So I just finished setting up both of these solar panels and got the kickstands installed. You can see they are mounted the exact same angle. Let me quickly walk through the

1:10 testing setup that I'm going to be putting these through for the next week. So if we swing around to the back of each of the solar panels, I'm going from MC4 to Anderson PowerPole and using this 12 gauge wire. Each of the wires are the same length and then they go over into the shed. So here in the shed we have

1:27 both of the solar wires coming in and then they are connected to individual charge controllers. These are the Victron 75 15s and then those charge controllers are connected up to these bus bars, which then go to this battery here. Now the reason I chose these Victron smart controllers is because you

1:42 can access the live data in the app anytime you want. For example, the Colsun solar panel connected up to this one here is producing 202 W and the Dokio 200 W panel connected up to this one here is producing about 162 W. Now my favorite feature of these charge controllers is the ability to log the

2:00 data so we can actually do this test side by side for each of the solar panels and check back a week later and compare the data to see how each one did. Now I mentioned both the charge controllers are connected up to this battery here. This is the Epoch 460 amp hour lithium iron phosphate battery. It

2:16 does have heaters and I am expecting quite the mixed conditions for weather moving forward. So as the temperature drops below freezing, the battery will enable the heaters and continue to charge. We are sitting at 83% state of charge with about 26 amps going into the battery. Now in order to make sure these

2:33 solar panels produce the most power possible, I will be keeping this battery from hitting 100% state of charge. Each night I'm going to come in here and connect up an inverter and heater and I'll discharge the battery back down so it can be charged the next day. Now I'm actually pretty excited about this test

2:48 because we'll get to put these solar panels through different weather conditions. I was looking at the forecast and we have some snow, some rain, some clouds, and of course sunny days. So it'll be interesting to see the power difference between these two solar panels in different weather conditions.

3:03 And of course at the end of the test, we'll be able to see how each one compared side by side. So let's go ahead and start the testing. We'll see you guys in a week. Now on our first day of testing, we actually had a bit of clouds and overcast weather. And then that actually transitioned into

3:18 a small snow storm which covered up the panels completely. Now I cleaned off the solar panels and the next day we were able to get some decent sun. We had a few wispy clouds in the sky and then that actually transitioned to a few really solid days of solar production because we didn't have many clouds. Now

3:34 let's go ahead and break down the data for each of the solar panels. I basically screenshotted the Victron app and that's what you see on the screen here, the Dokio on the left and the Colsun on the right. Now if you look at the bottom, we have a total production for the 7 days. For example, the Dokio

3:48 produced 3.78 kilowatt hours and the Colsun produced 4.796 kilowatt hours, and I have the average watt hours per day there. So, the Dokio is 540, and the Colsun was 685. Looking at these numbers, you can see the Colsun did produce quite a bit more power, especially if you look at the P max

4:09 wattage on each of the graphs here. You can see the Colsun averaged over 200 watts peak on each of those days, except for the winter day. And then, the Dokio solar panel kind of averaged around 170 to 180 watts per day. Now, when comparing these solar panels side by side, I think there are two different

4:27 ways that we can compare them. Let's say we had a budget of $300. You could actually purchase three Dokio 200-watt panels versus two Colsun 200-watt panels for that price, which means you can get more energy for the price. For example, the Dokio would give you about 1.62 kilowatt hours per day using

4:46 the averages we got through my testing, and then the Colsun 200-watt panels would only give you 1.37 kilowatt hours per day. So, on a limited budget, you can actually get more energy going to the Dokio solar panels. Now, moving on to the next scenario, what if budget wasn't the limiting factor, but you had

5:03 a very small space and you wanted to get peak production? So, let's say we had an RV roof where we could only fit four 200-watt panels. If we chose the Dokio 200-watt panels, four of them would give us a total energy of 2.16 kilowatt hours per day. Choosing four of the Colsun 200-watt

5:22 panels, we get a boost in total energy at 2.74 kilowatt hours per day. So, going with the Colsun solar panels gives you more energy for that limited space. So, what's the bottom line? Which panel should you choose? If your goal is the best bang for your buck energy, the Dokio 200-watt panel at

5:41 $99 wins with about 20% better watt hour value per dollar. It's 50% less expensive, allowing you to buy more panels for the same price. Now, if you're looking for the most output and your space is limited, the Colsen 200 W panel gives you 27% more daily energy over the cheaper panel.

6:01 Now, in this video, we only compared the performance and the price of the solar panel. Obviously, the Dokio solar panel is less money, and the Colsen 200 W panel puts out more power, but there's probably a bunch of different ways to compare these. For example, if we look at the voltage output, the Dokio solar

6:18 panel doesn't have nearly as high voltage as the Colsen solar panel, but the voltage is a little too high to put three of them in together in series for a 60-V charge controller. So, if you happen to have a 60-V charge controller, I think the Colsen solar panels are going to be better for you. Now, you

6:34 guys want to let me know what you think about comparing these two solar panels. Obviously, there are some advantages to buying the cheapest 200 W solar panel on Amazon because you can get a lot more energy for a less price, but if you have limited space, it's probably not the best idea. Let me know what you guys

6:50 think. Make sure you post a comment down below. I will include the links to both of these solar panels, and I'll recommend a couple of videos that you guys can check out. Thanks for watching the video. Hope to see you guys in the next one.