Renogy 100 Watt Eclipse Suitcase - Psa

J

JohnC

Ranger
Last edited:
Thanks for the link to Home Depot's offering. Based on your information, I ordered one from Home Depot to be delivered to my house. It arrived, shipped directly from Renogy, but when I opened the box, I was surprised to find a flat folding solar panel without the aluminum frame, just enclosed in a folding fabric case. It looks nice, folds into a really flat package, light weight, but no stand, just the flat panel. I could imagine leaning it against something, or laying it flat on the ground, but I would be afraid a good gust of wind would carry it across the campground. The part number on the box was the same as the one I ordered, but with STCSLW, I presume meaning Light Weight.

I called Home Depot, and they said they had no idea what happened, I should return it to a store (1-1/2 hour round trip drive for me) and reorder it. I asked if the same thing would happen, and got no assurance.

I sent an email to Renogy on their website contact page explaining the problem and the reply said it was not their problem but I could call their service line. I sent back an email with pictures of what I received. I then called Renogy, and after a full hour of waiting on hold talked to a representative. He said that what I received could not happen, it was not a product they make! He said that Home Depot must have taken the panel, removed the aluminum frame, and repackaged it - crazy talk. I reiterated that the box was shipped directly from Renogy, but he insisted that it couldn't happen.

So, after looking to see if the panel was available anywhere else for a similar price without any luck, I decided to reorder the panel from Home Depot, but this time to be delivered to the store. When it came in, I drove down and took the bogus panel for a refund, no problem. I fully expected to get the same thing again and have to reject it too, but the clerk came with a much bigger box, containing the correct panel, as advertised.

In spite of the hassle getting the right thing I am really happy with this addition to our setup. The panel is reasonably sized, nice black aluminum frame with a sturdy adjustable stand and a semi-rigid fabric case. I added a 25 foot extension cable and appropriate adapters to my internal charge controller (Camp Inn factory installed) and it works great. No more running out of juice on multi-day boondocking.

I hope the panel keeps working and I don't have to try to deal with Renogy again, their service rep is useless!

Thanks John.
 
Wow, that's pretty odd.

I share your experience with Renogy customer service. I waited almost an hour on the phone, then when speaking to the rep, he had to go back to the engineering department to try and answer my question. More wait time. I was asking about how the two 50 watt panels were wired, series or parallel. Photos on the back of the panel were conflicting between their website and their online manual. As is, the photos were irrelevant, they are wired like one large 100 watt panel regardless of being two 50 watt panels. And you can't change that.

I don't normally like to get the cart before the horse. (My trailer won't be ready until June.) But after a lot of time invested in how batteries, solar controllers, and solar panels work, I decided this panel was what I wanted. When I saw the price at HD I was afraid to wait until this summer to buy it. So, I took the plunge.

With my local store only 4 miles away, I ordered it and had it shipped to the store. Since it is made of glass, I preferred opening it at the store so if there was an issue there would be no doubt it wasn't me who broke it. When I can, I tend to do that with expensive things that can break in shipment. In my case it all checked out and I took it home. I did set it up in the yard, connected to nothing and just checked the voltage with a multi-meter to make sure it was generating power. It was.

Glad it all worked out for you Rotus. Sorry you had the hiccup. It really is a nice sized panel with a very useful case and carrying handle. I'm looking forward to putting it into service this summer.
 
I about a Renogy solar suitcase directly from Renogy’s website. I called their customer service line several times before and after my purchase. It did take 15 to 20 minutes of wait time to get through. But the support I received was great. I ordered the wrong extension cables and they were great about the exchange process.
 
JohnC said:
If anyone is interested in one of these, Home Depot has them for $219. They are $299 on the Renogy website. Not sure why HD has such a good price but this is definitely one of the best in it's size category. Smaller and lighter than most and comes with a very nice protective case. Yes, it's exactly the same model number. ;-)

Renogy 100-Watt Eclipse Suitcase Monocrystalline Solar Panel-RNG-KIT-STCS100MB-NC - The Home Depot

100 Watt Eclipse Solar Suitcase w/o Controller
Click to expand...


Renogy lists the folded dimensions of the Eclipse 100w suitcase at 21.1 x 21.5 in; The larger of the undermattress bins in the 550 is listed at 22 x 22. So, does the Eclipse suitcase solar panel fit?
 
Thanks to JohnC and Rotus8 for the tip to the 100w Renogy suitcase at HD.

Curiously, I went through the same rigamarole to get one. Ordered the STCS100MB-NC online at the $219 price to be delivered to my local HD. Sure enough, what was delivered was the STCSLW100MB-NC, which is actually a very appealing form factor - semi flexible, very light weight, but as you noted, too lightweight to set up at a campsite. The in-person customer service staff at HD was a little befuddled, but very helpful; sent the LW back and the correct one was reordered and came in within a week.

There’s obviously some serious mislabeling snafu in the Renogy supply chain. The LW unit I got initially had a label with the STCS100MB-NC part no. and specs indicating it weighed 20 lbs and had legs and the aluminum frame; the correct unit that I ultimately got was mislabeled with the opposite. But the boxes they each came in carried the correct part no. for what was inside. Weirdness.
 
rotus8 said:
The panel is reasonably sized, nice black aluminum frame with a sturdy adjustable stand and a semi-rigid fabric case. I added a 25 foot extension cable and appropriate adapters to my internal charge controller (Camp Inn factory installed) and it works great.
Click to expand...

Rotus8-
I also have the factory installed solar controller. What sources did you find for adapters and extension cord to connect the solar panel’s MC4 connectors to the trailer’s female cigarette lighter connector for the controller?
 
GhostOrchid said:
Rotus8-
I also have the factory installed solar controller. What sources did you find for adapters and extension cord to connect the solar panel’s MC4 connectors to the trailer’s female cigarette lighter connector for the controller?
Click to expand...

If you have the factory solar option installed, there should be a different plug to use other than the 12V receptacle. But I believe you are going to have to wire it yourself.

The Renogy panel wire is only about 2' long so you will want to buy an extension with MC4s on one end and bare wires at the other end. The bare end will have to be connected to "something" that will plug into the trailer. Cary can tell you what kind of "something" connector you will need.
 
GhostOrchid said:
Rotus8-
I also have the factory installed solar controller. What sources did you find for adapters and extension cord to connect the solar panel’s MC4 connectors to the trailer’s female cigarette lighter connector for the controller?
Click to expand...

I have this also and ordered Anderson Powerwerx parts.
1 - CigBuddy (Cigarette Lighter plug with Powerwerx capability).
1 - Electop 10AWG Solar Panel Cable Connector Kit that converts the MC4 solar connectors to Powerpwerx
1 - 20 foot 10 gauge cable with Powerpole connectors.

I have the Camp-Inn solar option so my panels do not have a controller installed.

If people are interested, I chose Powerwerx for compatibility with my other Powerwerx items. Everything is working fine with no issues.
 
So.... would a reasonable strategy be to just buy a renogy 100W solar suitcase w/o controler + the CInn solar option which includes a controller? Would I then be good to go?
 
Bob Fitzwilliam said:
So.... would a reasonable strategy be to just buy a renogy 100W solar suitcase w/o controler + the CInn solar option which includes a controller? Would I then be good to go?
Click to expand...

That would work fine.

I chose to supply an mppt controller and Zamp port to have installed in my build.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top