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xjimmyx 55K Views
Mar 23, 2023 10:31 PM

Lion Energy GO 20 Portable 20W Solar Panel

$8.50

$10

15% off
+ Free Shippingat Lion Energy
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Deal Details
Update: This deal is still available.

Lion Energy has Lion Energy GO 20 Portable 20W Solar Panel on sale for $8.50 when you apply discount code BN during checkout. Shipping is free.

Thanks to Community Member xjimmyx for sharing this deal.

About this Item:
  • 20W Solar Panel with Monocrystalline cells
  • Dual USB 11.8" connector wire from panel to Lion Cub GO with max current output of 8A
  • 2 USB 5.34V @ 4A outputs
  • Dimensions: 18.4" x 14.3" x 1" (L x W x H)
  • Weight: 3 lbs

Editor's Notes

Written by qwikwit | Staff
  • About this Deal:
    • This matches a recent Frontpage deal.
    • Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars from 32 reviews.

Original Post

Written by xjimmyx
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Update: This deal is still available.

Lion Energy has Lion Energy GO 20 Portable 20W Solar Panel on sale for $8.50 when you apply discount code BN during checkout. Shipping is free.

Thanks to Community Member xjimmyx for sharing this deal.

About this Item:
  • 20W Solar Panel with Monocrystalline cells
  • Dual USB 11.8" connector wire from panel to Lion Cub GO with max current output of 8A
  • 2 USB 5.34V @ 4A outputs
  • Dimensions: 18.4" x 14.3" x 1" (L x W x H)
  • Weight: 3 lbs

Editor's Notes

Written by qwikwit | Staff
  • About this Deal:
    • This matches a recent Frontpage deal.
    • Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars from 32 reviews.

Original Post

Written by xjimmyx

Community Voting

Deal Score
+73
Good Deal
Visit Lion Energy

Top Comments

sjguy01
985Comments
918Reputation
Received mine today. I can confirm the dual male micro USB is unregulated 8V open circuit from the panel, and the two plugs are in parallel. The female USB ports on the box are separate. 1 panel won't have high enough voltage for solar controllers so I tried splicing 2 panels up in series and got 15.6V open circuit in afternoon sun.

In afternoon sun I got about 24W (13.3V at 1.8A) from the 2 in series which is less than I expected for the conditions, but maybe it was a bad connection (I was using alligator clips to temporarily connect the wires). A 100W rigid panel in the same conditions was getting 75-80W.
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sjguy01
985Comments
918Reputation
Yeah the 2 female USB-A ports are regulated at 5V so I'd trust it as much as any other cheap phone charger. They don't have any fast charge protocols so you will be limited to 5W or 10W depending on if you device is willing to accept 1A or 2A without any fast charge protocol.

If you leave your phone or power bank you'd want them out of the sun. If you put it under the panel's shade make sure the panel is propped up to allow airflow underneath or your phone will bake.
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Rezer
1KComments
471Reputation
So I finally got these panels yesterday and today I did some basic testing to see what the output looks like.

First of all, taking the cover off the back of the panel is a destructive process. The plastic cover is screwed to the PCB from the side that's facing the panel on two opposing corners, and the PCB itself is glued to the panel making those screws inaccessible. You could probably drill out the screws by going through the back of the cover, but I wasn't in the mood for making a replacement cover. I did manage to get the end cap off which is just a snap-in fit over the USB A ports and I was able to see that each USB A output is fed by individual buck converters (2x inductor + 2x unidentified 8 pin chip). So they're not just linear regulators at least, which is nice, and the dedicated buck converter for each port means you can sustain higher current when both ports are in use.

I then tested it with a variable load in full southern california sun at solar noon with the panel pointed straight at the sun, and found that each USB A port voltage starts falling below 5V when it pulls anything north of ~1A. It holds 4.8V pretty well up through 1.8A, and once you get up to 2A it drops to about 4.5V. I was able to push it up to just north of 4A before the voltage fell off a cliff, but at 4A the voltage had dropped to very close to 4V. Long story short, any device plugged into the USB A port is unlikely to ever pull much more than 1.5A just due to the voltage drop, even at peak solar output.

That's not the whole story through, because I repeated the load test with a power bank charging from the other USB A port. The power bank was only pulling about 1.25A at 4.95V, but it kept pulling that amount even as the other port approached 4A. Even better, it maintained 4.95V until the load from the other port completely swamped the panel's output, at which point both ports dropped to < 2V of output. The peak output I saw is very close to if not slightly over the 20W peak output claimed for this panel. Unfortunately, due to the way USB charging works (e.g. devices tend to pull as much as they can until the voltage drops to around 4.8-4.9V), it's very unlikely that you'll hit 20W even with 2 devices charging in full midday sun. The buck inverters just aren't up to the task for 2A of output while maintaining 5V, but that's not the panel's fault...with a proper regulator connected to the unregulated micro USB ports I'd imagine 20W is pretty doable.
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256 Comments

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Apr 1, 2023 1:58 AM
985 Comments
Joined Mar 2008
sjguy01Apr 1, 2023 1:58 AM
985 Comments
Quote from budster View quoted comment :
Could you explain how you are able to wire 2 of these panels in series? Picture or illustration would be helpful if possible. Would it also be possible to wire 2 of them in parallel? I thought parallel was usually better because if one of the panels in series gets shaded, then the setup wouldn't provide any power?

Cut off the 2 microUSB plug. There is one red and one black wire.

Each panel is 8V or 6V when under load. If your controller can handle as low as 6V go ahead and do parallel if you want. Mine can't.
Apr 1, 2023 2:50 AM
4.3K Comments
Joined Jul 2006
budsterApr 1, 2023 2:50 AM
4.3K Comments
Quote from sjguy01 View quoted comment :
Cut off the 2 microUSB plug. There is one red and one black wire.

Each panel is 8V or 6V when under load. If your controller can handle as low as 6V go ahead and do parallel if you want. Mine can't.
Just to confirm, you connect the red wire from panel 1 to the black wire from panel 2 and then connect the black wire from panel 1 and the red wire from panel 2 to a solar charge controller?

I'm wondering if I can somehow use one or two of these panels to charge a Jackery or Ecoflow power station, which already has a solar charge controller. My Jackery has a 8mm DC input and Ecoflow has an Anderson input.
Apr 1, 2023 3:48 AM
180 Comments
Joined Apr 2020
eChemistryApr 1, 2023 3:48 AM
180 Comments
I received my panel today. I ordered late night on March/23 - so it took 7-8 days to receive it. It was very well packaged and no signs of damage during shipment.

When I removed the bubble wrap, there was some oily residue on both the front and back of the panel. This oily residue didn't smell like anything....so not sure if this is "normal" for new solar panels. I used some isopropyl alcohol (IPA) on a soft cloth and was able to remove this residue.

Did anyone else see some oily residue on your panels? Anyone know if this residue is "normal" part of the manufacturing process?
Pro
Apr 1, 2023 4:15 AM
2K Comments
Joined Jul 2019
WoodSlayR
Pro
Apr 1, 2023 4:15 AM
2K Comments
Quote from donldmn View quoted comment :
I got a couple. Might look into converting the double micro usb to usb c for power outages or something like that.
Would something like this work?

https://www.amazon.com/Female-Mic...155&sr=8-3
Apr 1, 2023 5:17 AM
985 Comments
Joined Mar 2008
sjguy01Apr 1, 2023 5:17 AM
985 Comments
Quote from budster View quoted comment :
Just to confirm, you connect the red wire from panel 1 to the black wire from panel 2 and then connect the black wire from panel 1 and the red wire from panel 2 to a solar charge controller?
Yes.

Quote :
I'm wondering if I can somehow use one or two of these panels to charge a Jackery or Ecoflow power station, which already has a solar charge controller. My Jackery has a 8mm DC input and Ecoflow has an Anderson input.
I highly doubt your power stations will charge with less than 12V so you'd need at least 2 in series.
Apr 1, 2023 5:54 AM
1K Comments
Joined May 2007
RezerApr 1, 2023 5:54 AM
1K Comments
Quote from donldmn View quoted comment :
I got a couple. Might look into converting the double micro usb to usb c for power outages or something like that.
Absolutely do NOT do that. The male micro USB outputs are not regulated and are absolutely not compliant with any kind of USB spec and will very likely fry anything they get plugged into that can't handle voltages above 5V.

Quote from WoodSlayR View quoted comment :
Would something like this work?

https://www.amazon.com/Female-Mic...155&sr=8-3
Wrong gender, and also see above. If you want to use USB C just use the USB A outputs with an appropriate cable, or cut off the micro USB plug and attach a proper voltage regulator with a USB C output.
Apr 1, 2023 7:33 AM
1.9K Comments
Joined Sep 2018
Gears_and_BeersApr 1, 2023 7:33 AM
1.9K Comments
Quote from eChemistry View quoted comment :
I received my panel today. I ordered late night on March/23 - so it took 7-8 days to receive it. It was very well packaged and no signs of damage during shipment.

When I removed the bubble wrap, there was some oily residue on both the front and back of the panel. This oily residue didn't smell like anything....so not sure if this is "normal" for new solar panels. I used some isopropyl alcohol (IPA) on a soft cloth and was able to remove this residue.

Did anyone else see some oily residue on your panels? Anyone know if this residue is "normal" part of the manufacturing process?
Yes mine was oily also. Not thick or viscous, but enough to annoy me. Didn't think of alcohol for some reason. I'll do that. Works pretty great so far just with the USB-A ports.

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Apr 1, 2023 12:15 PM
4.3K Comments
Joined Jul 2006
budsterApr 1, 2023 12:15 PM
4.3K Comments
You can get these for $5 each from Lion Energy on ebay, but only if you are willing to buy 500 of them. Free shipping too.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/364182527264
1
Apr 1, 2023 1:22 PM
211 Comments
Joined Aug 2011
adamsw216Apr 1, 2023 1:22 PM
211 Comments
Quote from budster View quoted comment :
You can get these for $5 each from Lion Energy on ebay, but only if you are willing to buy 500 of them. Free shipping too.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/364182527264
I think I'll just stick with the one...
Apr 1, 2023 2:16 PM
3.4K Comments
Joined Jul 2013
madmax718Apr 1, 2023 2:16 PM
3.4K Comments
Quote from Guy767 View quoted comment :
Got 2 for $17 shipped with 2.5% Cash Back (Can't mention site/method here) and paid via Paypal; thanks OP.



I'm basically hoping on doing something similar. I have some power banks that I never use and plan on trying to charge them via these solar panels.

I'm hoping to make a few Blink XT2 cameras that I got from Woot refurbished for $12 each solar powered.

The XT2s have a USB port on the back that I'm assuming is for powering the cameras. So the power chain will be solar panel to power bank then XT2. Let the half ars experiments begin...
If I recall correctly the xt2 will take us as it's primary power, and will switch to battery if there is no USB power.
Apr 1, 2023 2:22 PM
1.9K Comments
Joined Feb 2021
nyc10036Apr 1, 2023 2:22 PM
1.9K Comments
Quote from eChemistry View quoted comment :
I received my panel today. I ordered late night on March/23 - so it took 7-8 days to receive it. It was very well packaged and no signs of damage during shipment.

When I removed the bubble wrap, there was some oily residue on both the front and back of the panel. This oily residue didn't smell like anything....so not sure if this is "normal" for new solar panels. I used some isopropyl alcohol (IPA) on a soft cloth and was able to remove this residue.

Did anyone else see some oily residue on your panels? Anyone know if this residue is "normal" part of the manufacturing process?
Not on the one I unboxed.
ā€‹
Apr 1, 2023 2:24 PM
1.9K Comments
Joined Feb 2021
nyc10036Apr 1, 2023 2:24 PM
1.9K Comments
Quote from Guy767 View quoted comment :
Got 2 for $17 shipped with 2.5% Cash Back (Can't mention site/method here) and paid via Paypal; thanks OP.



I'm basically hoping on doing something similar. I have some power banks that I never use and plan on trying to charge them via these solar panels.

I'm hoping to make a few Blink XT2 cameras that I got from Woot refurbished for $12 each solar powered.

The XT2s have a USB port on the back that I'm assuming is for powering the cameras. So the power chain will be solar panel to power bank then XT2. Let the half ars experiments begin...
Doesn't the XT2 have a battery itself?
So, you don't need the power bank.
Just this solar panel via USB to the XT2.

Apr 1, 2023 2:43 PM
3.4K Comments
Joined Jul 2013
madmax718Apr 1, 2023 2:43 PM
3.4K Comments
Quote from graphixv View quoted comment :
Nope. Because there is no such thing. Batteries charge or discharge. They don't do both at the same time. A ups doesn't either.
Your statement is correct though you also can figure out that famewolf was asking about pass though charging. And there are pass through ups with no transfer time. They are constantly being fed DC power into the power bank and the transformer is constantly making ac power.
Apr 1, 2023 2:45 PM
3.4K Comments
Joined Jul 2013
madmax718Apr 1, 2023 2:45 PM
3.4K Comments
Quote from famewolf View quoted comment :
Can anyone list some of the KNOWN powerbanks that can be charged and discharge at the same time?
This is hard to do with all the off brands. However those with a USB c often times have pass through power capability. I've also had good luck with the make your own power bank 18650 style.

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Apr 1, 2023 2:48 PM
3.4K Comments
Joined Jul 2013
madmax718Apr 1, 2023 2:48 PM
3.4K Comments
Quote from sjguy01 View quoted comment :
Yes.



I highly doubt your power stations will charge with less than 12V so you'd need at least 2 in series.
Depends on the power station, those with mppt can go lower.... But 8v? I dunno.
If someone really wanted to, you can use a boost converter.

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