Review on 🌞 Highly Efficient RICH SOLAR 60W 12V Portable Monocrystalline Solar Panel with Kickstand: Ideal for Portable Power Stations and Solar Generators by Gregory Castellanos

Bought a RICH SOLAR x300 power station and 100W 12V RICH SOLAR portable monocrystalline solar panel to take the family on a long camping trip. The main goal was to minimize the need for disposable batteries by charging rechargeable AA batteries as well as all of our lithium-ion powered electronics. Also use it for USB fan. I'll use the same text for both reviews, so don't tell me if some parts don't apply to the product you're trying to buy. We spent nights in the Badlands and the Black Hills of South Dakota. I always left the solar panel outside and pulled the cables into the tent through the tent's cable box and connected to the power station. Under the scorching Badlands sun, the 100W solar panel provided more power than I could use. The solar panel even kept up when charging small lithium-ion backup batteries from a power plant. The solar panel hasn't been exposed to too much weather, most days out of the sun and a few nights in a storm. One night in the Badlands we had no rain but a 30-45 mph wind was blowing. The solar panel stayed in place, still leaning towards the running board. Keep in mind that we were somewhat sheltered by the embankment, but the wind inside the tent was still strong and quite noisy. After raising a lot of dust, the solar panel still kept good efficiency the next day with light dust. It started raining in the Black Hills and the solar panel did a good job as expected. However, the shade of the pine trees on the black hills reduced our power consumption significantly and after a few days of use my battery was half charged as the panels didn't get enough direct sunlight during the day. This would be easily solved by moving it somewhere sunnier. The power station worked fine for me, no problem. The carrying case that comes with it is excellent. The videos and photos I took will give you an idea of what the display looks like and the size. Remember that you must "turn on" the outlets you want to use. For example, to use the USB ports, you must press the USB button. Otherwise they are off and not supplying power. This is a great feature as you don't have to turn off anything that uses power when you leave the location. Just press the switch! Useful for fans and power consumers, even if they are not under full load. The power station has cooling fans that turn off when it's cold and turn on when the inside needs cooling. At least that's what I got from using it. Fans ran a lot in the hot badlands. Black hills, they rarely appeared. The fans are not loud, almost imperceptible. Pros: In short, it does what it's supposed to and hasn't let me down. I liked the display and how the inputs that supply power and the outputs that supply it only light up when power is actually applied. - Good customer service - The carrying case for the power station is good and the cables that come with it fit perfectly. Cons: - No solar panel. 2 of 4 corner protectors. Rich Solar shipped them with no problem when contacted. The shipping box is quite simple. The corners are lightly padded, but the front and back (i.e. most of the surface) are not protected. The package arrived with an outer packing box and an inner retail box, both pierced with a gaping hole about 4" in diameter. Luckily the damage went into the empty cavity at the back of the panel and didn't seem to hit the panel itself. If it hit the front lines I would probably need a replacement and wouldn't have time to get it before the trip. The solar panel uses an Anderson connector. The power station does not come with an Anderson DC input adapter but comes with an MC4 12V vehicle and a standard AC input plug. Rich Solar will ship this to you free of charge upon request, but the extra step added a lot of extra stress. Not necessarily because of Rich Solar, but it took me a while to get the article sent to me. It was supposed to arrive the day before I left, but the post office lost it. I went to the sorting area the next day when a worker was there and I could find it myself at the bottom of the bag. Everything worked out, but I figured I would have to go with a solar panel and power plant that wouldn't work together. It would be a bummer! (Note: some of Rich Solar's other solar panels appear to come with the MC4, so you know which one you're getting).