Best Budget Foldable Rigid Solar Panel? DOKIO 200W REVIEW & Real-World Test! — Transcript

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1. 0:00that is melted. This panel, uh does not
2. 0:02generate uh any electricity anymore. 177
3. 0:05W.
4. 0:05That is all coming from that uh Dokio
5. 0:07folding solar panel. Let's unbox this
6. 0:09Dokio panel.
7. 0:12And there she is. Came packaged
8. 0:13extremely well. Got 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
9. 0:1811 12 bus bars per solar cell. And of
10. 0:22course up here on the top we've got this
11. 0:23little handle. We've got these little
12. 0:24clasps right here that uh allow it to
13. 0:27open.
14. 0:31All right, inside here we've got a
15. 0:32couple of goodies. So we've got uh some
16. 0:34alligator clamps.
17. 0:37We've got a XT60 pigtail adapter here.
18. 0:40So we've got a couple of these corner
19. 0:42protecting pieces. Got a rack of a bunch
20. 0:44of different sizes of barrel plugs.
21. 0:45We've got a male XT60 to what appears to
22. 0:48be a 5521 barrel plug here. In addition
23. 0:51to that, we got a super sweet case for
24. 0:54it. That's deluxe. Nice big storage
25. 0:56compartment there. And then we've got uh
26. 0:58what appears to be a solar charge
27. 1:00controller. Yep, it is a solar charge
28. 1:02controller for 12-V batteries. Uh this
29. 1:04is a 200-W panel and its VOC is 22.50.
30. 1:07IMP is 11.11 amps. Short circuit current
31. 1:11is 11.36 amps. And here on the edge of
32. 1:15the panel, we've got the leg and it just
33. 1:18folds out and then yeah, you can secure
34. 1:20it with that little wing nut right up
35. 1:22there. There's not too much to see in
36. 1:23the charge controller information,
37. 1:24except I do want to point out that it is
38. 1:26able to charge lead acid as well as
39. 1:28lithium iron phosphate. B4 is a profile
40. 1:31for lithium iron phosphate. And note
41. 1:33that this uh charger is a PWM charge
42. 1:36controller. It is not an MPPT. It is a
43. 1:39bright, sunny, cloudless day. This is a
44. 1:41perfect solar testing day. We're going
45. 1:44to be doing a couple of tests with it.
46. 1:45First, I want to connect it up to a
47. 1:46power station and see how that performs
48. 1:49and then we'll check out its charge
49. 1:50controller charging a battery and see
50. 1:52how that works, too. But first you got
51. 1:53to set this up. Let's see how easy or
52. 1:55hard it is.
53. 2:08That wasn't too uh hard at all. Uh quite
54. 2:10easy, actually, especially for rigid
55. 2:12panels. I'm just going to cheat and use
56. 2:13this box uh to get an angle so you can
57. 2:16see that the the sun is still kind of
58. 2:18towards the east. There you can see the
59. 2:19shadow uh getting significantly shorter
60. 2:22and we also need to boost it up just a
61. 2:24little bit. Uh increase the angle cuz
62. 2:26we're still kind of in winter months.
63. 2:28So, let's uh let's see if we can
64. 2:29increase that angle at all.
65. 2:36All right, that is significantly better.
66. 2:37Now you can see that it could actually
67. 2:39go up a little higher. That is as tall
68. 2:41as these stands uh will go, but you
69. 2:43could put a little block or something
70. 2:44under there to really maximize the
71. 2:46angle. But for today, we're going to
72. 2:47call this good. Now something that I um
73. 2:49already digging about this panel that
74. 2:50the other portable panels / foldable
75. 2:52panels don't have is one, weight. This
76. 2:55would be a lot harder to blow over in uh
77. 2:58with a strong wind. It could still blow
78. 2:59over, but uh it will be a lot more
79. 3:01difficult. The other thing that's super
80. 3:03nice
81. 3:04are these stands. So many of the other
82. 3:07panels, the folding portable panels that
83. 3:09are out there, they have those Velcro-y
84. 3:11feet that stick out and they're super
85. 3:13hard cuz they're always wanting to fold
86. 3:14in on you. This is super nice because
87. 3:18it's screwed. You know, it's with this
88. 3:19little wing nut, super easy to loosen
89. 3:21and adjust, but once you've tightened
90. 3:23that down, these stay in place. And so
91. 3:25to be able to do this, you pick it up,
92. 3:27move it, set it back down and the legs
93. 3:30stay in place is a huge huge win. I love
94. 3:32that. All right, let's see what kind of
95. 3:34power we're getting from this. This
96. 3:35could be good or bad, but connected to
97. 3:37that solar panel is an XT60. Great for
98. 3:40if you have a power station like this
99. 3:41that uses XT60. Not so great if you want
100. 3:44MC4. Now it does have adapters for that,
101. 3:47but natively attached to the solar
102. 3:49panel, we do not have MC4. This power
103. 3:50station is the EcoFlow Delta 2 and it
104. 3:53likes the XT60I connector for
105. 3:56high-powered solar things. So this may
106. 3:59be throttled
107. 4:00by um that just being a normal XT60.
108. 4:03Check it out. 179 W from a 200-W solar
109. 4:06panel. That is not too shabby. Let's see
110. 4:08if the XT60I
111. 4:11adapter makes any difference. Guys,
112. 4:12change of plans. I do not have any kind
113. 4:14of XT60I adapter that will convert from
114. 4:16normal XT60. So I'm going to swap this
115. 4:19power station out for a different one
116. 4:20that does not have the limitation that
117. 4:21this Delta has. All right, got a new
118. 4:23power station here. This is uh Anker
119. 4:25brand and it accepts XT60 beautifully
120. 4:28without being fussy about XT60 versus
121. 4:30XT60I. So let's see if there's any
122. 4:32difference on this one. You can see the
123. 4:34solar panels in full sun still. Well,
124. 4:36maybe the EcoFlow is working. Um I've
125. 4:38still got it here, we can test it, but
126. 4:40notice right down there, 166 W coming
127. 4:42into this Anker power station. Let's
128. 4:44switch it back to the EcoFlow and see if
129. 4:45there's any difference. All right, well,
130. 4:47even even without the XT60I, the EcoFlow
131. 4:50wins the award. 177 W.
132. 4:52Now that is all coming from that uh
133. 4:54Dokio folding solar panel. Very very
134. 4:56nice. All right, let's try this uh solar
135. 4:58charge controller and uh see what we can
136. 5:00do with that. So it's very easy. The
137. 5:02solar panel connection here, battery
138. 5:04connection here, and a load connection
139. 5:06there. So we're going to use these two
140. 5:08connections right here. So here is the
141. 5:10solar panel connection. We'll connect
142. 5:12that up first. It's only 12-V battery
143. 5:14and uh we've got a 12-V.
144. 5:16Uh this is a smart battery, so we'll
145. 5:17actually be able to look up and see what
146. 5:18the BMS is actually seeing in terms of
147. 5:21uh voltage. And then with the solar
148. 5:22panel, we got to these nice battery
149. 5:23clamps and it's got XT60 on this other
150. 5:25end. So we'll go ahead and plug that
151. 5:27into this battery port.
152. 5:30Okay, it is now reading uh 13.6 V, which
153. 5:33is pretty standard. And let's see uh
154. 5:35what the battery is saying. All right,
155. 5:38here is the battery app. Things we want
156. 5:39to look at here is the current we're
157. 5:40pushing in 11.9 amps and then this uh
158. 5:44number right here, 164.82
159. 5:46W. I mean, for a super fast, quick
160. 5:50setup, you know, something this tiny
161. 5:51that the packs in the bag, uh to be able
162. 5:53to hook that up and uh push in, you
163. 5:54know, 160 whatever W, that is great. So
164. 5:57this site can already tell is going to
165. 5:58be one of my favorite folding portable
166. 5:59solar panels. Thankfully, I've got a lot
167. 6:01of power stations and stuff that use the
168. 6:03XT60, so that's less of an issue than
169. 6:05MC4. However, in an ideal world, I would
170. 6:07love to see Dokio use MC4 connectors on
171. 6:10this. And go ahead and provide a little
172. 6:11dongle that goes MC4 to XT60 so you can
173. 6:14still use their charge controller, but
174. 6:15MC4 would make this uh just a little
175. 6:17better in my opinion. I can see that
176. 6:19this won't have uh run the risk of
177. 6:21having a problem that I had with a
178. 6:23previous folding portable panel and I'll
179. 6:26insert a clip here so you can see that.
180. 6:27This panel is only about 3 years old.
181. 6:30Been used very lightly, occasional
182. 6:32camping trips. Maybe been used five
183. 6:34times camping. And anyway, it's toast
184. 6:36now. If you look at this right here,
185. 6:38that is melted right there.
186. 6:40And if I flip it over here, you can see
187. 6:42the melt mark on this side as well. This
188. 6:44panel does not generate any electricity
189. 6:47anymore and it is out of warranty and
190. 6:51it's incredibly expensive. As you saw,
191. 6:53you know, that completely burned up and
192. 6:54there's no way to fix it. This is a lot
193. 6:56more forgiving when it comes to that
194. 6:58because there's no cords actually
195. 7:00physically built into the solar panel
196. 7:02going between the two panels. It's
197. 7:03literally two 100-W panels put together.
198. 7:05And the thing that's connecting them is
199. 7:07a physical cord right here. And the
200. 7:09sweet thing about that is you could
201. 7:11easily repair that or even replace it if
202. 7:14it got damaged at all. A huge shadow, I
203. 7:16love it. That is the rundown on this
204. 7:18Dokio folding solar panel. Sound off
205. 7:20down in the comments on what you guys
206. 7:21think. What you like about it, what you
207. 7:22do not like about it. I'd say the only
208. 7:24con for me is it's definitely heavier
209. 7:26than the flimsier folding solar panels,
210. 7:29right? But I think you're going to get
211. 7:30many many more years of use out of it.
212. 7:32And I would love to see MC4 connectors
213. 7:34on it. But other than that, it is a
214. 7:35fantastic panel. It is definitely going
215. 7:37at the top of my camping stuff
216. 7:38collection. But like I said, let me know
217. 7:40what you guys think down in the
218. 7:41comments. All of you are so smart. I
219. 7:42always say the smartest people are in my
220. 7:44comment section. I do try to read and
221. 7:45respond to all of them. Also, if you
222. 7:47would please consider giving the video a
223. 7:48like and consider subscribing. 100% free
224. 7:50to you, but benefits the channel
225. 7:52tremendously. We've got a lot more
226. 7:53exciting and fun content coming up,
227. 7:55especially in the world of solar. Uh
228. 7:57you're going to see this panel again uh
229. 7:58cuz I'm working on expanding my
230. 8:01solar-powered air conditioning and it's
231. 8:02going to be pretty epic. You guys won't
232. 8:03want to miss that.