XO Solar/GPSolar

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These a 10W panels for $50. Not yet in stock in the US, they had to special order them from Hong Kong in January, just arrived today to my home in Austin on March 20.

I will be reporting on how it goes.

17:40 update

one more hour, this time I had set the panel at an ideal angle. 82% charge after boot. That is, 30% increase in the last hour, that's more like what we had in May. OTOH, we're getting closer to sunset, so performance will likely go down now, I might not get 100% today even if I massage the panel position. But 100% charge seems possible in 3 peak hours.

16:40 update

I have had an XO charging for 3:30 h now, from flat - no response state. Not an ideal angle for the panel, but nevertheless I expected more than 52% battery. Same placement than the May 28 test, so, yes, the sun is lower in the horizon in March.

Just arrived

GPSolararrived.jpg they're 16" x 22" (40 cm x 55 cm)

GPSolarXOplug.jpg They have an XO-capable plug already. The photo shows the data sticker on the back

Notice the XO Charger is rated at 1.42 A (that's 1.420 mA)...

GPSolarBack.jpg The solar panels are embedded in a fiberglass-looking support, mounting holes in the corners, some sort of a regulator in a box on top