Category
Portable Solar Panels
US-market standalone portable solar panels indexed from official manufacturer sources only. Rated power is always recorded and rendered as an STC laboratory figure, cell efficiency is published only where a manufacturer states a number, and compatibility with any particular power station is recorded only from official statements, never inferred from a connector type.
Category overview
This category covers solar panels sold on their own: foldable briefcases and blankets, rigid panels, and flexible laminates, one entity per officially named model. The distinction from RV solar kits is what ships in the box, and it changes what can honestly be said about the product. A kit includes a charge controller and wiring, so it is a system and can be described in terms of what it charges. A bare panel includes neither, so it has no storage, no inverter and no AC output, and its real behaviour depends entirely on the controller and battery it is eventually paired with. That is why records here publish rated power at Standard Test Conditions, cell type, form factor, connector and, where officially published, the electrical characteristics (Voc, Vmp, Imp, Isc), but never a daily watt-hour estimate: a figure like that would be inventing a system that the product does not contain. Two anti-hype rules are enforced by the schema. Cell efficiency is numeric-only, so 'high efficiency' marketing without a published percentage is a null rather than a value. And compatibility is recorded only from official statements, because a matching connector does not prove a voltage window is safe, and guessing there could damage a reader's equipment. Portable solar panels sit beside RV solar kits, battery power stations and portable generators as the component layer of the same decision: the part that puts energy back in, for people who already own, or intend to choose separately, the thing that stores it.
Products in this category
Goal Zero Boulder 100 Briefcase
100 W rigid briefcase panel: two 50 W tempered-glass monocrystalline sub-panels hinged together in an aluminium frame with corner protection and a canvas carry bag, blue 8 mm output (14–21.5 V, up to 7 A), 11.7 kg. Officially recommended for Goal Zero Yeti power stations; no charge controller included.
Goal Zero Nomad 100
100 W foldable four-segment monocrystalline panel with a Goal Zero blue 8 mm output (14–22 V, up to 5.56 A), 4.6 kg, published Voc 21.5 V and Vmpp 18.0 V. Officially recommended for Goal Zero Yeti power stations; no charge controller included.
Goal Zero Nomad 200
200 W foldable four-segment monocrystalline panel with a Goal Zero High Power Port (14–23 V, up to 14 A) plus a 12 W USB-A port, 10.0 kg, published Voc 23.0 V and Vmpp 19.1 V. Officially recommended for the larger Goal Zero Yeti stations; no charge controller included.
Goal Zero Nomad 400
400 W foldable four-segment monocrystalline panel with a Goal Zero High Power Port (14–150 V, up to 40 A) plus a 12 W USB-A port, 16.6 kg, IP65-rated, published Voc 23.84 V and Vmp 20.66 V. Officially recommended for the Yeti 1500X and larger Yeti stations; no charge controller included.
Goal Zero Nomad 50
50 W foldable four-segment monocrystalline panel with a Goal Zero blue 8 mm output (14–21.5 V, up to 3.3 A) plus a 12 W USB-A port, 3.1 kg, published Voc 21.5 V and Vmpp 18.0 V. Officially recommended for Goal Zero Yeti and Sherpa power banks; no charge controller included.
Jackery SolarSaga 200W
200 W four-segment Topcon monocrystalline foldable panel with an Anderson output, 6.5 kg, published Voc 22 V, Vmp 18 V, Imp 11.5 A, Isc 12.5 A. IP68-rated and designed to pair with Jackery Explorer power stations.
Jackery SolarSaga 100W
100 W two-segment monocrystalline foldable panel with an Anderson output plus a USB port, 3.6 kg, published Voc 24.8 V, Vmp 20.0 V, Imp 5.0 A, Isc 5.4 A. IP68-rated and designed to pair with Jackery Explorer power stations.
Renogy 100W Black Division Lightweight Monocrystalline Solar Panel
100 W all-black flexible PERC monocrystalline panel, 2.4 kg, published 15.7% module efficiency, Voc 23.5 V, Vmp 19.4 V, Isc 5.51 A, Imp 5.20 A. MC4 output, IP67 junction box, Class A fire rating. The efficiency-optimised sibling of the 100W Flexible: 15.7% vs 14.9% via PERC cells.
Renogy 100W 12V Flexible Monocrystalline Solar Panel
100 W flexible ETFE-laminated monocrystalline panel, 1.9 kg, with a published 14.9% module efficiency, Voc 22.5 V, Vmp 18.9 V, Isc 5.75 A and Imp 5.29 A. MC4 output, IP68 junction box, 25-year performance warranty at 80% output. For curved surfaces where a rigid panel does not fit.
Renogy 200W 12V Flexible Monocrystalline Solar Panel
200 W flexible ETFE-laminated monocrystalline panel, 4.9 kg, with a published 16.7% module efficiency, Voc 23.9 V, Vmp 20.1 V, Isc 10.74 A, Imp 10.02 A. Half-cut 72-cell layout, MC4 output, IP68 junction box. The larger, higher-efficiency sibling of the 100W Flexible for curved van, camper and boat rooftops.
Renogy 200W ShadowFlux Anti-Shading N-Type Monocrystalline Solar Panel
200 W rigid N-type monocrystalline panel with ShadowFlux anti-shading cell architecture, 19.2% module efficiency, Voc 23 V, Vmp 19.2 V, Isc 11.05 A, Imp 10.42 A. 68 cells, 16 busbars, anodized aluminium frame, 12 kg. A high-efficiency framed panel built to keep producing under partial shade.
Renogy 50W 12V Flexible Monocrystalline Solar Panel
50 W flexible ETFE-laminated monocrystalline panel, 1.3 kg, published 14.4% module efficiency, Voc 24.3 V, Vmp 20.3 V, Isc 2.75 A, Imp 2.47 A. MC4 output. The small sibling of the 100W Flexible for tighter roof spaces or lower daily loads.
Renogy 50W 12V Monocrystalline Solar Panel
50 W rigid aluminium-framed monocrystalline panel, 3.5 kg, with Voc 22.3 V, Vmp 18.6 V, Isc 2.94 A and Imp 2.69 A. IP65 junction box, IP67 connectors, 5-year material warranty. A compact glass-and-frame panel for small 12 V charging where durability matters more than weight. No numeric module efficiency is published.
Comparisons in this category
100W-Class Solar Panels: Goal Zero Boulder 100 Briefcase vs Nomad 100 vs Jackery SolarSaga 100W vs Renogy 100W Black Division vs Renogy 100W Flexible
Five 100 W panels compared with the headline rating held constant. Because every one is rated 100 W at STC, that number cannot separate them: what differs is form factor, mass (1.9 kg to 11.7 kg), the connector each is built around, and how much each manufacturer actually publishes.
200W-Class Solar Panels: Goal Zero Nomad 200 vs Jackery SolarSaga 200W vs Renogy 200W Flexible vs Renogy 200W ShadowFlux
Four 200 W panels compared with the headline rating held constant, one in each of the four form factors this index tracks: foldable blanket, foldable briefcase, flexible laminate and rigid framed. Mass runs 4.9 kg to 12 kg at the same rating, and only the two Renogy panels publish a numeric efficiency.
Structured attributes in this category
Every product in Portable Solar Panels is indexed against these normalized attributes. Comparison matrices use the same keys, so values are directly comparable across brands.
| Key | Attribute | Unit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
rated_power_w | Rated power (STC) | W | Nameplate output at Standard Test Conditions (1,000 W/m², 25 °C cell temperature). A laboratory benchmark, always lower in the field. No real-world output figure is published anywhere in this index. |
cell_type | Cell type | — | monocrystalline, polycrystalline, thin_film, or unknown. |
form_factor | Form factor | — | foldable_briefcase, foldable_blanket, rigid, or flexible. |
efficiency_percent | Cell efficiency | % | Recorded only when the manufacturer publishes a number. Marketing adjectives are an honest null. |
electrical_characteristics | Electrical characteristics | — | Voc, Vmp, Imp and Isc, each null unless officially published. These are what determine whether a panel is safe for a given controller's input window. |
output_connector | Output connector | — | As the manufacturer names it (MC4, XT60, Anderson, DC5521, proprietary). A connector match is not a compatibility claim. |
charge_controller_included | Charge controller included | — | Normally false by definition of the category. Where a panel ships with one, the record must explain why it is indexed here rather than as a solar kit. |
official_compatibility_notes | Official compatibility statement | — | Verbatim manufacturer statements about what the panel officially works with. Never inferred. |
weight_kg | Weight | kg | — |
dimensions_folded_unfolded | Dimensions | — | Folded and unfolded footprints where published; the folded figure is what determines whether it actually travels. |
ingress_protection | Ingress protection | — | IP rating as published. Panels are frequently rated for the panel body only, not the connectors or controller. |
warranty_years | Warranty | years | — |
Quick facts
- Entity type: category
- Indexed products: 13
- Indexed comparisons: 2
- Normalized attributes: 12
- Last updated: Aug 2, 2026
- Canonical URL:
/categories/portable-solar-panels/ - JSON export: /categories/portable-solar-panels.json