Side by Side Comparison of: Esky vs Renogy

I purchased this controller to replace the dead controller on a Harbor Freight 45watt system. The panels were good, but the controller was never great. Since I was given the set I just used it until something failed. Given how well the panels were holding up, I figured it was worth the few bucks to buy one of these controllers. It's been great so far and installed easily. A nice feature is the voltage indicators for both sides of the charger so you can see what's coming in off your panels as well.

Worked great! After 3 orders of this apparently same unit LMS2430, three different names, MOHOO, Eddistor 20A and this Esky, I FINALLY got the better version/rev. difference: Backlight, Amps in and out, V in and battery. The other versions, no light and only battery Volts, weak. FYI they all had the same part number LMS2430. Thanks to all the others here that did verify this was what I wanted.

These little charge controllers are a great buy for the price, for a small solar system set-up. We live remote, and love the phone charger feature.Good quality, and gives you all the info. you need, and even equalizes your batteries.

Bought this for my RV. I hooked up 400 watts of solar panel to this and it has been working great. A very cheap and simple solution for a PWM solar charger. It displays the things that i need to know. Lightweight, small and it works. There is a timed backlight for convenience in poor lighting. The manual told me what i needed to know. It had the two usb charging ports that a lot of the others did not have. What more could you ask for for the price? Arrived quickly and packaged well.

I received this product in and had trouble making it work, returned it (twice) and wrote a negative review.I was wrong. These "new" type of solar charges need to be hooked to a battery to get them running. I was just checking the battery outputs with a volt meter. I thought I knew what I was doing because I had an older controller.I apologize to the manufacture. The manual could use a little clarity in that area.I hooked it up right and have it running. I like the USB ports on it. I have not been trying it for long, but felt the need to give it a different review.

For the money , this controller is the best deal. It will regulate your deep charge batteries. I have 6 , 215 amp hour batteries linked in a series - parallel configuration. They are supplied with amps from panels from harbor freight 9 panels. that only develop about 90-120 watt. It will keep the batteries up to 13+volts by directing all of the supplied amps to the batteries.This controller can handle a lot more amps that my panels supply. This charger is maintaining my batteries well above 90%. A word of caution if you have to charge during a cloudy period of time with a grid powered charger make sure that the unit is protected by a fuse(s) .If you are a hobbyist just starting out just learning about solar power. I think this is an excellent charger without getting into the big bucks ($) .

I at first ordered 2 100W panels from a competitor, HQST, that seemingly has the exact same panels as these, but then I found out that these are the real thing! I hooked these guys up and immediately starting getting the wattages I should. I was getting at least 185w (not noon sun either) upon hookup. I couldn't be happier. I should have just gotten these from the get go, even though they are just a few dollars more. Definitely worth the money.

Works as advertised, and appears to be well constructed. No surprises.

I put 15 of these on the roof of my RV. I wired 5S(series) 3P(parallel) meaning 3 sets of 5 connected in series or "in a string" which gives me somewhere around 15 amps at 100 volts going into my charge controller. I bolted them to racks that I built out of unistrut or powerstrut which I used 3/8" lag bolts to bolt down to the roof and covered liberally with lap sealant.I utilized Victron equipment for the rest of the install and absolutely love the results.My system consists of the following main components:2 - Victron Multiplus 12/3000/120-50Victron Blue Solar charge controller MPPT 150/8515 - 100 watt Renogy solar panelsVictron Color control gxVictron BMV-702 battery monitor4 - 1000Ah LifePO4 Winston battery cells

Keeps my boats AUX battery charged. I installed on my boats aluminum roof. After a long day of using the stereo while bumpered with other boats, the battery has never died on me since installing this. Nothing worse then having your music die out on you miles from home. That is no longer an issue.I also got the wiring and mounting kit from amazon which I highly recommend.

I get about a 150 watts of output from the two panels on my scrap wood stands sitting on my apartment balcony facing South/ SouthWest form about 10:00 am to 3:00 pm on a sunny day

I own six of these and am planning on getting another two (the 2pcs deal). Make sure you get the Renogy Z brackets to mount these.PERFORMANCE:- I started with two, then four, and bought the 2 pcs set last spring/summer. Now, going to add another two.- Running as a 36v system (series-series-parallel) and works awesome. When I get the next two...will wire them 48v- During max sun last summer (with six panels) hit 30 amps, 430 watts (according to my Midnite Solar Kid SCC)- Pretty much the best "bang for your buck" on the market for building your arrayOTHER:- Mc4 connections are a great idea, but had to "shave" off the locks to pull apart. A watertight screw-in connection would be better- Delivery is fast and packaging excellent- Modified the Z brackets and expanded mounting holes on panels to accept Grade 5 1/2" bolts...much stronger- Included hardware for mounting Z brackets is adequate, but not up to my standards- Shooting for a 1KW in panels (10 panels) for my system. If I had to do it over again, I would have started with the Renogy 250 watt panelsBOTTOM LINE:- Great product, speedy delivery, great packaging, superior power output, Mc4 connections could be better designedUPDATE: 29 Jan 2015- Bought two more (eight panels total). Wired them up as a 48v system. Working GREAT! Even though my solar charge controller will only convert 30 amps, having more panels reduces losses during cloudy days and sunrise/sunset angles. With 8 panels, it should be able to produce over 40+ amps. Still going to get two more to have bragging rights of having "One KILOWATT of power". Yeh, got the solar bug. But it is so cool upgrading and seeing immediate improvement!UPDATE: 16 Mar 2015- Up to 10 panels (1 KW). Redid my whole solar power station setup. I converted my battery bank to 24v and purchased a pure sine wave inverter (Outback Power VFX 3524). I also had to buy a new Midnite Solar Classic 150 solar charge controller. Spent some money on this but, it is soon going to power circuits in my house! I am now able to increase my solar panel totals to 25 panels with the new equipment. The 10 panels I have now are wired for 60v (two strings of five). Higher voltage with the MPPT technology is awesome! Saw 750 watts the other day.UPDATE: 26 Mar 2015- Now have 12 Renogy 100-D panels wired for 72v. I also managed to score three Sunpower E20 435-watt panels. Total solar panel array wattage is now 2,500 watts. Inverter is wired into the house using a transfer panel. Got my first electric bill after all this new stuff. It was 50% less than last month!

Really a necessity when building a Solar Array. I accidentally connected the wrong panels together while up on my roof. These tools made disconnecting very easy. I also had to make a couple of extender cables with MC4 connectors. These tools really made the job easy. Be sure to buy the crimp pliers too. You don't want to skimp here. Any connector problem will degrade system performance or might actually burn up.

I thought these would probabaly be a waste of money but they are not. Another tool you will probably hardley ever use but make things simple when you do use them

Cool product to make cable with MC4 connectors. I like this better than using wrench

You will appreciate this inexpensive tool if you want to disconnect cables connected with MC4 connectors.

I love this product for myself . Makes assembly and disassembly easy.It makes disconnecting the wire connectors much quicker. its the perfect tool to use. This tool is important for disconnecting MC4 solar panels without damaging the connectors. I plan to eventually upgrade my Solar Rig and run a dozen panels in Parallel and this tool is needed to disconnect them cables without risking breakage.

Very slick. One down, one up and pull. Pop. It took me a few to get it but super easy after I figured them out.

I say again these are the best made out there. Use a good crimping tool,not the one that only flatten the material but has a jump in the middle of crimp. Add a little solder and you are ready to go.

These connectors are excellent. I recommend you look at one of the youtube videos explaining how these MC4 connectors go together before you try to assemble them.I used mine to connect three pairs of 50watt Renogy panels together to run a farm building. These are as close to perfect as anything I've bought - and they work great with 10 gage wire. You can just feel and see the quality of the seals and the manufacturing - I'm confident they'll keep a good seal and they sure won't pop apart accidentally.

Good quality connectors and matched what was on my solar panel! Appear to seal perfectly with no issues.

It's just a connector so it isn't very sexy, but it DOES work perfectly as advertised in its designated role. I used these with a 100W solar panel outdoor in a New England winter -- and they worked great!

Works plenty well for connections just make sure you buy the tool to assemble and take apart these connectors. Also you do not need a special crimper for these any wire crimper work as long as you know how to use it.

I needed to alter the lengths of my cable for the solar panels I installed on my RV and these fit the Mc4 10 awg cable perfectly. No instructions came with them but I figured it out. If you are running solar and using Mc4 cable these fit the bill. They are all plastic with O ring seals and you have to crimp the wires (I soldered mine in in place because I didn't buy the pricy crimping tool). All said and done I am happy with them. We will see how they hold up after a year in the sun on the roof of my RV.

I gotta tell you, this little unit exceeds my expectations. Using it to control power to a screen house lighting system (7 LED lights) and LED landscape lighting (5 more LED fixtures) near screen house and another 150 ft into a ravine/woods. Using a simple 45 watt solar panel fed into barn. Screen house 100 ft from barn. Using 12 gauge wire for feeds I have some voltage loss at the farthest point 250 ft from my battery bank, but WAY less than the voltage drop calculators say. The voltage loss calculators all said I couldn't do this 250 foot run with 325 feet of total wire, but NO PROBLEM with LED lighting. LED lights are really efficient in handling voltage from 10-12 volts and my voltage loss even at the farthest point (350 ft from source) is only down to 10.5v. Plenty to run that last LED fixture. I wanted a solar controller that would handle more amps than my old one. Old one rated at 10 amp, but it's output limited to 4 amps!!. My total draw is about 7+ amps or around 80-85 watts. I also wanted the controller to handle more load right from the controller so I could 1) read the total AMP draw from all connected loads 2) have the battery bank cut out should my batteries drop to 11.5 volts 3) take a cumulative read of the power used (in KWh). Oh, I also have 2 more powerful LED lights in my barn near the controller. They illuminate the interior of my barn just fine. I'm not using much power, but it keeps my new batteries topped off well.Now this has just been installed this week, so time will tell if it holds up. Given my low current draw well below spec's of unit, I think it should. If it doesn't I will come back and edit this review. I would give it 5 stars for its amazing value, but the documentation is horrible. The greatest feature of this unit is the user ability to adjusts it's functions. Particularly the light control and timing features. It's REALLY difficult to figure out, but it's there. The "step by step" instructions in the manual must be translated from Chinese, and something lost in the translation so to speak. I have the light control and timing sorta figured out. If anyone wants to know how, lemmeknow.

Don't depend on the instructions if you need to change any of the default parameters (I left my settings at default). Seems to work as advertised. I don't use the "load" out terminals. I go directly off the batteries. The display is nice for checking the battery voltage, Charge current, and Solar Panel voltage. I would recommend it.

It is working, seems to work well, and has solved our problem. But the instructions! Seriously? I can't believe someone proof read the instructions and said "that should be good".REVISION TO REVIEW:The seller reached out to me to try to compensate me for any frustration incurred due to the pitiful instruction manual. I told the seller that there was no need because the new product does work well. I am impressed by the customer service of this seller and have bumped up the rating to 4 stars due to good customer service.

As usual for items from China the instructions that come with it are less then clear and need more detailed step by step instructions for set up. Other than that mechanically and electrically it's a good regulator/controller.

This system works perfectly as intended. My only issue with it, is the area where you put in your wires doesn't support any wire larger then 6AWG and I wanted to run 2AWG due to the distance. I didn't research that as a possibility when I looked at buying this so I can't even say if there are other that have larger areas for wire.All of that being said, it works great and is easy to hook up. It only took me a few minutes to get it all installed.

Just remember it has to be set to only charge 12 hrs if you want to not drain battery back down does not have auto off for night time

Solar is a little out of my comfort zone, but I dove in anyway. I bought 2 of these panels and everything I needed and am delighted. The ONLY negative I have is that I'm only getting 89w out of one and 92w out of the other. That is close enough for what I need, but now at least what to expect going forward. I metered both in full sun, in Phx, AZ at about 1pm. I can run dozens (and do) of led lights and the stereo all night long. My computer is high end, and will suck the battery from full charge to virtually nothing (a 100ah Duracell deep cycle) in about 4-5 hours with nothing else on at night, but will run almost all day with the panels trying to help keep up. The same is true with a 40" TV. Don't even think about trying to run a saw or vacuum cleaner, there aren't enough amps (unless you understand series and parallel wiring, and have more panels hooked up!).

Bought 4, so far have 2 hooked up , the first morning after the sun at the unviewable horizon with my mppt and the ski just turning blue my batteries were receiving a charge

This is my second renogy solar panel and I have to say renogy produce some great products. Attached this to a 8mm goal zero adapter then connect it to a yetti 400 I can camp for weeks.

I've had the panel for 6 months. I find it very durable and efficient. I'm using it on my Goal Zero Yeti 1250. Works like a charm.

These are well built but they have change the dimensions. The new, I just bought, is narrower and longer then my old one.

I have two of these so far. I use them with my solar installation in my vehicle to set up in camp and power the coolers and ham radio equipment. They provide ample amperage and are built solid. I created a couple of simple stand up legs for them, and prop them up on the ground by my vehicle. They just plain work, and the build behind them seems good. So far, after over a year, I have no complaints.

next month this item will get a work out

Well built

Matches rest of solar equipment.

Working as expected.

Great tool to have around. Especially for the price

This tool is quite reasonably priced and easy to use to seperate MC4 connections without damaging them. Do not take the chance of damaging the connect with pliers, etc. Tool is light, tough and easy to use.

Great connectors, I wish there was a tool to remove the inner connector from the plastic, as one was inserted before I installed the wiring. So I had one scrap unit.

Difficult to connect but solid.

Great price and quality looks good.Time will tell about quality and I plan to come back and update if things change

Put them on a solar cell instalation so that I could have a quick disconect on my boat. They did not fit well with the factory installed MC4 fitting so I relaced them all with Renogy and everything fits fine.

These are easy to install once you figure it out. I had to go to YouTube. Instructions should be included!

Very high quality! I tried all of the cheaper connectors available here on Amazon, and at times was severely disappointed in their quality. I had connectors melt together, and some not make contact at all. These make very good contact and are easy to work with. Don't mate up perfectly with amphenol connectors on my solar panels. The male connectors don't make the best contact. Other than that, far better than any of the cheaper mc4 connectors on Amazon.

This controller was purchased as a backup / spare for an existing 30 amp 12 volt solar controller. Sad to say, this unit will not accept an 8 gauge wire. My present controller accepts an 8 ga wire very easily. The Esky is not design for 8 ga. The smaller 10 gauge sized wire would work. I read the product sales copy here on Amazon and it does not state that this is limited to a 10 gauge wire. If you look at the attached photo then you can see the Esky controller on top of my existing controller. The openings for the wires are bigger on the lower controller and very small on the Esky. This is not a problem for small solar systems unless you want to get maximum charge in as little time as possible. Small wires cannot handle larger current flows.

Owners manual is atrocious. It was written by someone with no comprehension of the english language. A us third grader could do better. The product works.

So far so good but still trying to figure it all out with the solar panel and solar battery the charge controller does work but im trying to find out why my panel isn't charging my battery

I purchased this Solar Power controller to charge two12 volt batteries that control two LED lights in my shed. The previous solar power controller I had cost $15 worked great except it would literally go up in smoke if you short circuited the system in any way. This solar power charge controller has short circuit protection which has been great if a connection gets bumped or accidentally broken somehow. But the user interface is obnoxious and it seems to drain power if you leave the charger in 24hr power supply mode even though the both of the lights are switched off. To prevent the batteries from draining you have to switch them off and turn the controller power supply off which isn't simple. Wish it just supplied constant power and didn't drain the batteries.

The first one I bought did not work. The replacement is OK but the output for lighting is modulated, and the lights flicker if used while it is charging.Seems to charge the batteries fine. The flicker on the output is a minor issue for me.

Good price on the units wish they included mounting brackets at that price point. Nothing worse than receiving solar panels without mounting brackets.... now I have to order brackets and wait even longer.

Wonderful product produces power even on low light cloudy days.

good

So far, I've only gotten one panel put up and for some reason, it won't keep 4 batteries charged and all I'm basically using is 1 12v bulb in my trailer....May be the charge controller...not sure....

Quality is reasonable but they just do not seem to put out the rated output even on the clearest and sunniest days...

I've been running these for almost a year and while the output is still good i worry about what looks to be stress fractures in the panels. I'd be interested to see how another years goes.

Ok, but a not up to the quality of most Renogy products.

Good for their connectors but don't fit some other brands.

Its good

In my opinion this tool isn't strong enough to be used for any serious work. I'll probably find one made of metal which should work better.

So far only fit Renogy parts. The kit needs to be more universal.

These are useful, but they are not really necessary to attach MC4 connectors to PV cable. You could easily use two adjustable wrenches for the same task. The only other use for them is to release the retaining clips that hold a male to a female connector. Again, I found I was able to do that task with my fingers, so the tools were not needed.

Fits too tightly over my standard 12 awg original mc4 solar panel connector. Will not lock into place!

Just ok. Some of them click together well, others can get pulled apart with very little effort.

works for cheapos

good for making extensions from panels to controller.

I had one set that the wire wouldn't seat far enough to make positive contact.It made conection sometimes and sometimes not. Like to have drove me crazy till I figured it outand used the last set. Otherwise they were great.

eh. they dont really crimp well. very thin metel. had to solder them all.

Worked great for 3 weeks then burnt up at the start of week 4. Had two 115 watt panels hooked up to it, very little amps so I'm not sure why it burnt up...maybe my panels put out too many volts for this thing?? Couldn't find a parameter for that anywhere in the very poorly produced manual. Was a great little controller while it worked.

Purchased this item on April 25, 2017, received it on the 29th. It was intended to be used in a power supply circuit for radios that operate on a battery bank 24/7. Upon careful examination of the electrical properties of the device, I discovered that it is a "Positive Common" controller. This means that it performs all control switching by manipulating the negative connections. Since most electronic equipment (especially radios) needs to be protected from ESD; Lightning, etc. by grounding, it means sharing a common ground. Since almost all such equipment uses ground for its negative power source, (common) the negative side cannot be removed from ground without rendering the device unsafe.In order to use this controller, everything would have to be isolated from ground. This is not only impractical, in the case of my system it's useless. All the negatives would be attached to ground, all the positives would be constantly connected to both the battery bank and the charger panels, hence nothing would ever be switched.Since the internal electronics of the controller are powered by the battery, it cannot be isolated from the load, and therefore is in danger of damage by an unwanted ground loop. I suspect that is the reason for the mysterious failures sighted in other reviews.Although the controller probably works fine in an isolated system, I cannot recommend it because almost all recharge systems CANNOT BE SAFELY ISOLATED FROM GROUND.NOTE: THIS IS A POSITIVE COMMON DEVICE!

Save your money and don't buy China crap!! Never gave an accurate reading on voltage and amperage input or output. I threw two in the trash before I purchased one from my local electrical supply house that actually works. Midnite Solar, decent price for a real product.

I returned this unit. I really could not understand the Owner's Manuel and the Function of this piece.

This has the positive (+) tied together (common) between solar input, battery output, and load output.And regulated though the negative (-) side.This could have complications in some applications where a typical common negative is used.This important detail is NOT disclosed in the listing.There are no wiring diagrams in the manual.It has an equalization mode, but per the manual it decides when to operate it, and doesn't appear to have a way to prevent it. That could be a problem with AGM and gel batteries.

thery was no lead wire or mounting brckets to n stail it how do miountit try it in 2 the chages controyer

The panel I received was not as well built or packaged as the one I purchased a year ago. Also, because of the packaging deficiency, one of the corners was slightly damaged. Just the frame not the cells. Figured it wasn't worth the hassle to make a claim.

This is my second of these panels, first one I ordered a year and a half ago or so. They are identical, same listing on Amazon... but the new one arrived with a Renogy sticker embedded under the glass.Oh yea, and the glass of the second panel? Shattered in a trillion pieces. The shipping box was fine, immaculate even. A minute or two after the package was signed for I gently loaded it in my SUV 15 feet away and opened up the box to find it shattered. Wish I had done so before the delivery guy left.I love my existing panel, which you can see in the background of my picture. It has survived being strapped to roof racks and taken on expeditions, hung up on my shed, repositioned around my yard 100 times, etc... and the new one couldn't even take the heat or vibration of the delivery truck? Hoping this is a fluke, I will update my review if the company handles this matter appropriately. It certainly puts a damper on my plans this upcoming weekend though, so I've had to order another 100w by another manufacturer while this gets sorted out. Not impressed. I can't even find an area of impact on this panel, and again - the box was perfect.

I have four of these connected directly to a grid tie inverter and plugged into a wall socket. I can rarely get 200 watts out of the four 100 watt panels. It is usually in the 170 and 180 watt range. I put the inverter next to the panels to minimize the length of DC cable. I've adjusted the panels around to get the best aim at the sun in mid day and nothing improves the performance. My assessment of these panels is they are 50 watt panels. Before buying one of these panels you should understand that you will not get anything close to 100 watts of power out of it. Their performance as 50 watt panels has been good for a few months now tied to the grid. I expect they have produced 60 kw hours or so since I set the up. They are sturdy and the surface is easy to keep clean. I added a photo of the power output of the four solar panels and a photo of how the panels are arranged. I'm open to any suggestions as to why I'm getting such poor output from these panels.UPDATE:I found that one of the Renogy solar panels had a broken solder joint in the box at the top of the panel. I soldered it and it's working now but I don't think my solder joint is very good. I'm using it to charge a Goal Zero now. What this means is that I have been getting about 200 watts from three panels.instead of 4. Much better than I originally thought but low quality solar panels from Renogy.UPDATE:I received a comment from someone that these panels have performed very well for him. Let me clear it up that 1) I'm connected to a grid tie inverter so every watt the panels generate go straight to the grid. 2) I found a bad solder connection on one of the panels and repaired it. I checked a my grid tie inverter output last weekend on a sunny day and was getting 300 watts from 4 panels. Not too bad, I'm satisfied. I changed the title of the review to hopefully not confuse people on the current status.

Bought this panel as a test platform to become familiar with solar generation. Hooked it up about 25 feet through 10 gauge solar cable to a watt meter. Watt meter tells the watts, amps and voltage from the panel. Then pass it through a 10 amp MPPT Charge controller into a bank of 6 volt golf cart batteries wired for 12 volts for a total of 430 Ah.Live in Southern California and at noon the panel delivers 19 volts at .5 amps for about 10 watts.Have a message into the manufacturer to find out why that is the best this panel will deliver. Seems far short of the spec sheets stated optimum of 5 amps. If it delivered anywhere near the 5 amps shown it would in fact give you close to 100 watts ( V x A = W ) but as stated, the best my panel has delivered is 1/2 amp at high noon. If they can solve the problem or tell me what I'm doing wrong so that the poor output is my doing I'll revise this review.REVISION...Seems that these panels are temperature sensitive. Early mornings when the sun is still low but the temp. is around 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit, the panel will but out 18 volts at 1.5 amps. But towards the afternoon when the temps start to reach the 80's-90 degree mark, the panel continues to give 18-20 volts but at the previous stated .5 amps.NEW REVISION>>>>>After leaving multiple emails with the company that distributes these panels and not receiving a single response I'm downgrading it to two stars. The panels do put out power when in a cool state but lose amps as the heat up, thus decreasing the wattage output, but the poor customer service is a deal breaker.

I got this last summer to charge batteries at my fishing camp. It is supposed to produce 100 watts, but it falls far short of that even when the sun is shinning directly on it. I have another cheaper solar panel that is rated at 50 watts and it produces more wattage than this thing. It works, but not as advertised.

These only work with the one brand of MC4 connectors. When I discovered they didn't work, I also discovered I didn't need them to work with the connectors; using my fingers, pliers, and a wrench were more than adequate. Another brand of MC4 connectors might not be so easy to work with, though.

this tool does not fit the gland of all the MC4 connectosr even i bought the connectors from amazon. should be a notation that only fit the gland of RENOGY MC4 connectors.

Work great on Renogy connectors. I don't own any Renogy connectors. They do however remove the clips on anyone else's connectors, which was my main reason for getting them. So as long as you know that, then yes, they sorta work. Better than pinching with your fingers as I don't do solar for a living, otherwise I'd get a real tool.

Only fits Renogy products. Also, if you have basic tools (and you're assembling a solar system so I assume you do) you don't need these at all. Waste of money really.

Only part of it was the right size it's to large to kit od of mc4 connectors was discovered a pointed with it tried it on 3 different brands of connectors so it wasn't them

I don't think you really need these to assemble a mc4 connector...at least I didn't use them.

Inner package was damaged, received only part of the pin needed. Ordered five have parts for three.

I'm sure there are fine but no instruction's on how to crimp or apply to the solar wire

I had previously ordered a Renogy 100W kit which comes with connection wire. So I ordered some of these in case I needed them, which I did. They don't really fit the Renogy wire all that well. Specifically there is a round rubber-like collar and round plastic strain relief that fits over the rubber collar, all of which goes into the connector body and under the screw-on cap. When the rubber collar is pushed over the wire's insulation, it expands to the point where the plastic strain relief won't fit over it, and then the whole assembly won't fit into the connector body without using great force. I felt like I was doing something wrong -- perhaps I was, but I'll never know b/c (a) absolutely no instructions whatsoever come with these connectors -- just a bunch of loose parts in a bag and (b) no help at all from the Renogy YouTube on this topic -- the video doesn't show the steps involving the rubber collar and strain relief items. Including some instructions on a slip of paper enclosed in the bag would have cost you practically nothing and would have made my experience a lot better.

Low quality

Some sort of instructions would have been nice.

These seamed good quality, but didn't work because they came without the metal inserts for the wires.

It is not fully working. The usb outlets do not charge...I wish I knew this earlier and I would have returned it. So I am unhappy with it!

Failed 10 minutes after being connected to a 100 watt flexible panel. I am using a Mohoo 20 amp controller on another panel on my boat and decided to try the Esky because it displays charge current but it didn't work out. The Mohoo is regulating the other panel fine, btw.

As many of the previous reviews indicate, the documentation for this product is lousy! It tells you about the different settings, but fails to describe which of the settings if appropriate for a specific application. So, if you are not already and expert, which I am not, it is difficult if not impossible to determine the proper setting choice. I have a solar panel on my RV that I wanted to help charge my batteries when parked. Couldn't figure out which of the settings was the best for that application. And to say the customer/technical service was lousy is an understatement. It is almost non-existent! Do not buy this product unless you are already familiar with your particular situation and already know how a charge controller is to be set up. Otherwise you will be scratching your head and wondering if you have configured the controller properly.

I could not read the panel, too dim. I tied to contact customer support and I could not get help. I am dissatisfied and would not have purchases it had I know this..

This product stopped working a month after I used it

Stop working after 2 weeks.

Bought 6 panels but received 2.

Panel came with chips in pv material around conductive strips on several cells. Logically this reduces the amount of power it can produce.

Good panel but price is too high if one plans to build a large solar array. I purchased 10 panels and plan to buy more of something else the next time.

I ordered this solar panel in January but because of weather and a family emergency, installed it on 5/3/2016. The output voltage has stayed between 10 and 11 volts and weather has been from rain to full sun.. The battery voltage is 12V. I am using a MPPT Tracer 1210RN controller and the charge indicator light has never come on. The voltages indicated were taken at the charge controller terminals and polarity was correct. I now understand that I can not return this item and would appreciate any assistance in fixing this problem. I have installed solar panels on my two previous RV's and had zero problems. After seeing such good reviews on the Renogy solar panels I am surprised to have this problem.UPDATE: Removed the panel and found one of the diodes was installed backwards. Reversed the diode, which was held in by two screws, and now the panel is working at full power. I will add that Renogy Tec. Support was easy to contact and I was told the panel would be replaced if I couldn't repair it.Lesson learned: Test it before you install it. I did use quick disconnect mounts so it wasn't a huge problem.

Worst panels ever says its 100 watts only getting 50 watts out of them

I'm not even going to comment on the quality of these panels I received my panels today and as of the time of this posting anyway they're sending out frameless panels! I basically received what you would get if you didn't have an aluminum framing around the panel it's flimsy and seems like it would be easy to break. I've been mounting my panels with mounting hardware that won't work with us this is not what I ordered!

This ‘tool’ comes with connector packs, so this ended up being a waste of money. This tool really provides nothing to someone who is crimping their own connectors. It’s a single conductor cable, anyone can do it.

Still dont know what these are useful for, looks like a toy wrench you give to a third grader

The jaws of these things are rounded off plastic.I threw them in the garbage.You do not need these if you have strong hands, and if you do not have strong hands then use 2 pairs of vise grips.

Didn't use them. I couldn't buy them normally as they were some kind of tricky "add on" item, so by the time I got them the work was done. If you buy MC4s and $600 worth of panels Renogy needs to throw them in free.

Useless! The prongs would not engage the release catch on the conectors. The spanner does not grip the gland nut enough to make a tight fit. spanner

Didn't work with my MC connectors. An installer's tool (red in color) looked nearly identical in shape, however the 2 pins at the end and the 2 pins perpendicular to the main body of this are pointier than those on the red tool, and don't engage the release tabs on the connector.

Impossible to slide plastic holder over the blue gasket far enough to thread on the cap. Had to cut out the blue gasket and use silicone to seal the caps. Installed on Renogy 200 watt kit exactly as the exiting connectors. Much aggravation and wasted time trying to make them fit..

Not a good quality MC4. The male pin moves around inside the connector body. They do not fit the standard MC4 tool. Had to buy another brand. I've installed several PV systems. I know the difference between quality and junk MC4 connectors.

I'm not happy at all with my order. I got the 5 female connectors, 4 male connectors, 1 female silver contact and 1 male silver contact. I can only make one set out of 5 pair I ordered!

Very poorQuality Control. My second package again was missing the internal terminal pin which makes these another bag of JUNK. I was assured SOMEONE would check since my first bag was missing the terminal pin. JUNK .DO NOT BUY THIS>>

Not truly compatible with all the other Renogy MC4 connectors. They are different than the picture and fit loosely with the original Renogy connectors.. not watertight and you can pull them apart without pressing the clips.I ordered a second time thinking I got a bad batch, but still the same thing.

these are not compatible with the Renogy suitcase MC4 connectors. They look like the real ones but don't plug in or out good at all and don't provide an electrical connection to the Renogy suitcase connectors. If you are making an extension cable for your suitcase - don't buy these. you will waste your money and time. I wish I could get my money back