Brunton foldable solar panels 62w

[congobongo]

Greetings!

I am interested in buying a foldable solar panel 62w from brunton (cigs panels)but I also see Powerfilm foldable panels but these are amorphous silicon..not cigs.

I'm trying to confirm the differences between amorphous and cigs panels and what would suit my needs. I expect to be in the middleast or down south in the USA. I am attaching an article on amorphous vs cigs. Are these comments accurate?

Solar

The listed power of a solar cell is the power measured under ideal laboratory conditions, which prescribe a temperature of 25

[Mike90250]

The comments were written by an amorphous seller.

amorphous needs more surface area for same wattage.

amorphous slowly degrades over time, most happens in the first year, and their wattage is spec'ed for year 2. Year 1, you will be generating 20% over spec.

[congobongo]

yes very bias for amorphous

How long do you think these foldable panels last since you mentioned degradation.
Are the brunton cigs panels better than amorphous? Do they last longer?

If I leave a 62 w foldable panel in my survival bag and 3 years later take it out to use it, would it still be 62 watts? What about 10 years from purchase?
Do these foldable panels seriously degrade?
You mentioned the amorphous panels degrade. Do the cigs panels degrade too?
Which type would you recommend for California sunshine/heat?

I like these foldable 62 w panels since they are quick to charge simple electronics such as an iPad, smartphone, laptop, jump start a car battery..etc
The price on amazon for these just dropped 200 bucks so my interest in these panels is peaking.

[Mike90250]

I don't know what the lifetimes for the CIGS panels are, but packed up, they will generate 0.

Your article talked about heat and dark storage, which will "stun" CIGS, but they recover in a couple days.

[congobongo]

Ah this is important for me. Since I would have these foldable panels in storage (usually) until I went camping or an emergency, I really don't want to take them out of storage and not have them work effectively in an emergency situation. For this reason maybe these powerfilm amorphous panels are a better choice for me--if they are true to their claim of operating immediately after being in dark storage.

When you say "stun" what does that mean? Would it take time for a cigs panel to work if in storage? Are we talking a couple days of 50% wattage reduction? Or would the panel not work at all?

I would need these panels for emergency power so I would hate for it not to work on a sunny day after taking it out from storage in an emergency.

If I used the cigs panels twice a week would this reduce the "stun" effect?

[Mike90250]

Other than what your first message said about the CIGS panels being stored in heat and dark, I know nothing else about their recovery after being "stunned" .

You may be able to find some less biased info in wikipedia, under the different types of PV panels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pv_cell#Thin_films

[russ]

Any batteries involved would be dead after long term storage.

[coogle]

CIGS is not matured as amorphous technology.