Red Arc Solar blankets practical solar option?

[Truck Norris]

I'm after a good solar set up and I saw a video from this guy with this channel talking about the Red Arc manager 30. So I went to look at this system then noticed they had solar panels as well. That's what I want to know, are these panels worth the $$?

Actually is there a limit to how much solar input you can feed into the Manager 30?

 

[smritte]

First off, Red Arc makes quality parts.
Lets start with the 30 amp controller.
Doing the math, 120 watt panel at 12 volts should make 10 amps (Watts Divided by Volts). Reality is, they peak about 7 amp. That means your over 450 watts before you need a 30 amp controller.
Their controllers are well built but in my opinion, over priced.

The panel...ugh. Why does everyone sell the thin film panels for over 1k. I bought a 200 watt folding (thin film) panel from amazon for $150 on sale and a Renogy wanderer controller for about $25.
The panel folds down and fits in its own case with some cables and I can stuff the controller in there too if I want. I bought this because of a trip last year in the forest. I needed to move my panel out of the shade. I added 50 foot of 10 gage wire so it can go where I need it.

I own two fixed panels, one flex panel, one folding panel, three diffrent Renogy controllers and an off brand controller. The off brand controller works great, is my back up and is close to 10 years old. Two of my Renogy controllers have bluetooth (which I never use) and one Renogy has a nice led display. They all work well and the loss from the controllers is about the same. My best one is the Renogy wanderer with the led display.

Different people have diffrent opinions. Between myself and my friends, we have several diffrent setups. Some better then others. Bottom line is they all work about the same regardless of cost.