ECEEN 10W solar panel charger review.

Woods Walker

The Wood is cut, The Bacon is cooked, Now it’s tim
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
5,433
Location
New England woods.
I purchased this as was looking for something more UL than my larger panel chargers for the BOB and camping. I just can't pack this.


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Also wanted to see how well the Sunpower panels work. Here is information from the manufacture.


http://www.eceen.com/ProShow.asp?ProID=698


Features:
HIGH EFFICIENCY: Constructed of SUNPOWER® solar cells, 2 monocrystalline solar panels, which can absorb solar energy, high efficiency up to 22% efficiency, high conversion solar charging technology keeps your devices powered up with free solar power.
STABLE OUTPUT: Unique voltage regulator design to ensure stable voltage and current, protects your device while charging. Premium USB output design supports charging 5V devices simultaneously in 1.5A total (MAX)
FOLDABLE, PORTABLE & LIGHT WEIGHT: with 2 foldable Solar Panels, folding size only 11.5*6*0.5 inches, net weight only 0.8 pounds. It is portable and convenient to carry for hiking, camping, traveling and any other outdoor trips and activities, as well as gift.
ZIP PACK DESIGN: Easy to close with a zipper and open like a book. Well-placed 14 ribbon hooks enable easy attachment to backpacks (4pcs free carabiners included) while you going. Well-placed a stretchy fabric pocket( 5*8inch), placing your cell phone, cable ,key or many other small parts.
PACKAGE CONTENTS: 1PC* ECEEN 10W solar panel charger, 4PCS* Carabiners,1PCS* 40cm Micro USB cable,1pcs* instruction manual.
More Details:
ECEEN, Share the Sun!
Where there is sunlight, there is endless power Disappointed with your phone running out of juice when you are in emergency, enjoying surfing on line or great outdoor activities? Despair of you camera out of power when you go sightseeing? Do not worry! Solar charger is your best partner. Let ECEEN solar panel charger power up your life whenever and wherever


Why ECEEN 10W Solar Panel Charger is the Best Choice to you?
The ECEEN 10W Solar Panel Charger is the most advanced folding solar panel charger on the market. There are so many solar panels in market, such around 14watts, 20watts etc. But most phones input design are 1A input limited, consider weather conditions, ECEEN 10Watts output 1.5A is enough, it's more smaller and light weight on outside, why not save your money?


Charging Device:
1. Unfasten with a zipper, open the ECEEN 10W SOLAR CHARGER and spread them to direct sunshine.
2. Connect foldable solar charger with your mobile phone or your power bank etc 5V devices which you want to charge through the cable. The solar charger will be charging devices automatically. Keep your device out of the sunshine to protect it.


Notes:
1. Make sure the solar panel towards the sun directly, that ways will be great help for your charging!
2.Please use original cables in package or your original phone cable for charging, the cable quality is big impact the charging time.
3. It will be not charging your device if the sun not strong enough or there have heavy cloudy day, Please re-plug the cables or it will be detective and recharger every 180 seconds if your phones shows "the charger not compatible the phones"
4. Do not put the product on the area with high temperature and high wet.


The panels zipper up. The top pocket has a good seal on the zipper and feels almost cushioned material on the flap.


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Looking inside the top pocket reveals a single USB port which has the electronics. Notice the simple nature. No lights and only one port. Given the small panel this isn't really an issue. If yea want more USB ports get a bigger panel IMHO.


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There is a flap on the USB port to keep water and dust out.


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I rarely close it after use.


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Top.


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Compared to my iPhone SE which is small.


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Back which has more webbing.


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Opened up.


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So how is it?


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My goal for small solar panels is to get 1 amp at 5 volts. This can charge the things I want fast and much of my mobile gear and batteries don't charge much faster. Often I am charging my phone, powerbanks or batteries around 1 amp 5 volts anyways.


This little inexpensive Pocket Juice lithium polymer power bank doesn't really take much more.


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This cheap eBay one charges at about this. I do have powerbanks which can do more amps but rarely with the smaller panels. The ECEEN is rated to 1.5A.


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The same for this Nitecore 18650 battery and Xtar 1A charger.


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This iPhone is getting charged but not at it's full potential.


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It's just the time of day, percentage of battery remaining and other factors as well.


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But even running at a sub par 4.15 watts it will get the job done. Danger. Hack math that could be wrong. I think my phone is 6.07 watt hours or 3.7 nominal volts x 1.642 mA for 6.07 watt hours. So charging at 4.15 watts should get the job done though the rate of charge drops as the battery fills up but still it will get done. Often in good sun it seems like between one percent in 1 or 2 minutes but never did time the entire process to charge a phone or a single 18650. It seems about the same speed as charging from a USB 1A powered plug though this is an overly simple view given all the variables. I really like to solar charge 18650s then use the power for my gear but that's another matter.


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Amps times volts equals watts unless mistaken so clearly amps are more important as the hypothetical limit for this panel is 1.5A at 5 volts though it usually shows around 5.20 volts when not under a load. There is also a limit to what can be put out of a USB port. The sun in my area is a factor as well. Given the realities of charging with a small panel having one port is a smart move.


How does it work under low light?


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Not bad all things considered.


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Not massive power but over time it will get smaller jobs done.


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100% charged though maybe only did 10% or so of the battery during the time the clouds moved in. Still 10% during the clouds might come in useful.


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Turning down the sun a bit more for this test.


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ECEEN 10W.


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Allpowers 14W.


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This is hard to to compare as solar power is unstable in cloudy sky but the overall impression for me was the ECEEN is much better at low light than the Allpower but this isn't really the major advantage. The ECEEN has a trump card.


Not all USB powered devices are solar compatible. The wild swings in output can produce charging errors within certain devices. Often the best solution is to insulate your phone or battery charger from this by using a simple power bank. Charge the powerbank first then the device however moving power around isn't free. These charging errors can take the form of the device being locked into a lower amperage once a cloud passes over. As the sun comes back the reduction in amperage never resets as the power ramps back with the returning light. So if the device defaults to 0.5A from 1A you just doubled your charge time and often time is not on your side with solar. Another charge error is a total stoppage of the charge. The only real solution is to unplug then plug the device back in to clear the error. However this is a problem as a solar panel is like a figure 4 dead fall trap. It is working for you but if tripped without result it now becomes a liability.


I noticed something unusual about the ECEEN controller. It seemed to reset every 3 minutes. At first I thought the reset was a loose connection but timing verified an exact interval. Also it was very useful to auto correct charging errors. I contacted the company and they verified it was a feature used to auto correct a reduced amperage charge error which was being created by smart phones. However after an IOS update the charging error got much worse than a reduction.


During cloudy conditions or even some passing clouds an Apple device with updated IOS 10 will trigger this fatal charge error. This is not the fault of the panel rather the device.


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But the ECEEN controller is on a 3 minute timer which was 2 minutes into it's cycle when this occurred. Around a minute later it shut down.


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Then starts back up on it's own.


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The light is low but I will take the 1.81 watts over zero. If this was just passing clouds it could restart at 4 or 5 watts. Basically the ECEEN is impervious to every charging error I could toss at it using multiple devices as it automatically preforms the perfect fix. I purchased the ECEEN 7 watt panel which is also being review. It does the exact same thing.


Pros.


1. Inexpensive.
2. Great low light performance.
3. I like camo.
4. Charge error proof.
5. Well made.
6. Good customer service as they got back to me fast with answers.
7. Well thought out. Nothing fancy it just works.
8. I like the Sunpower panels.
9. Can achieve my desired power output.


Cons.


1. It has one port. I have plugged in two using the USB detector but really it is best to charge one thing hence one port. This makes prefect logic given the design but if your preps or camping includes wanting to solar charge two things at once this is not for you.


2. Understand that you will rarely get the hypothetical max of 7.5 watts (1.5A at 5 V). I have never seen that however this is just a fact of life. Just like a 4000 mAh power bank isn't charging a 2000 mAh phone twice. It just isn't happening.


Conclusions.


Without question the best panel I own.


Here is a video. It added 20% on an iPad 2 in one hour. Guessing around 1300 mAh was added between 2 and 3 pm.


 
Yes, awesome review. Thanks again for all your tips about this panel. They have helped me out a lot and I'm glad I picked one up.
 
I saw your review while randomly looking at other vids on youtube. That camo design caught my eye. Great review. This may possibly be my first purchase for a solar charger. Looking for a good balance of size/weight for hiking while still delivering a great charge. Thanks.
 
I bought the panel yesterday and played with it a bit outside. Given that it's about the worst sun you can get right now, I couldn't get my phone to get even a percentage point in the half hour that I fiddled with the panel. I think the lesson here is that there needs to be some sort of current/voltage readout so I've got the "usb detector" on order.
 
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