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BougeRV 100W Fibreglass Solar Panel: Hands-on Review
- Chris Wallace-Tarry
- 5 days ago
- 6 min read
The market for portable solar panels is booming as the technology matures and portable power stations become ubiquitous. BougeRV have thrown their hat into the ring with their 100W fibreglass solar panel. This panel's selling point is its ruggedness; the tough, flexible construction is supposedly fully waterproof and ultra-tough. We like the idea of a portable panel we can be rough with whilst using it outdoors. Let's see how it fares.
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Shane, the founder of The Van Conversion, is a campervan professional and NCC-certified electrical installer. Since 2020, he’s lived on the road full-time, completing several van builds along the way. He’s the author of Roaming Home and the creator of The Van Conversion Course, which have helped thousands build their own vans. Shane also writes The Van Conversion Newsletter, where he shares hands-on tips and practical insights. He’s passionate about empowering others to make their vanlife dreams reality.
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BougeRV 100W Fibreglass Solar Panel Review: Construction and Ruggedness
Out of the box, the BougeRV 100W fibreglass solar panel is light and very portable. When folded up, it measures 38cm x 23cm x 6cm and weighs just under 1.5kg. It's about the size of a coffee table book, and would fit just fine in a standard bookshelf.
In this format, the package is clearly very durable. The exterior surface is coated in a kind of fabric which is fully waterproof and scuff-resistant. The only exterior electrical component is the small black junction box, which contains the DC, USB-A, and USB-C outputs. The long rubber handle is a nice touch, making the panel easy to carry around.
When unfolded, the panel as a whole is only a couple of millimetres thick, and the whole thing is quite flexible. The PV cells themselves are coated in a transparent, textured layer which seems to shrug off scuffing very well. As a test, I laid the panel on a gravelly lakeside surface and walked around on it in my hiking boots. I dropped it from head height a few times and even dropped a couple of fist-sized pebbles on it. None of this abuse left any marks on the panel. The dust and grit from the lakeside wiped off easily, and water beads harmlessly on both the PV surface and the grey outer fabric. As a final test, I even drove over the unfolded panel with my car. The whole thing just flexed under the tyres and bounced back to its original shape.
The construction of BougerRV's fibreglass solar panel is impressive, and it's nice to have a solar panel that can be manhandled in the back of a van along with other rugged bits of outdoor gear.
Ease of Use
The BougeRV 100W flexible panel unfolds from its stowed configuration in two steps, first opening like a concertina and then unfolding like a book. When unfolded, the panel is quite large, at 106cm x 78cm. There's no structure to the unfolded panel, making the whole thing floppy and difficult to prop up at an angle. We suppose that the panel is designed for use lying flat, which would make it no different in principle to a rooftop panel. However, what generally sets portable panels apart is that they can be easily moved around and reconfigured depending on the angle of the sun, a feature we missed in this case.
BougeRV have instead opted for a panel that can be hung up like a piece of laundry. The panel comes with carabiners that clip into reinforced eyelets at all four corners. Using these, you can hang the panel up from a laundry line or tent guyline, or clip it to the top edge of your sliding door. It's a neat idea, and does give you some versatility to move the panel around over the course of the day. However, you're essentially limited to either a fully vertical or fully flat configuration. Designing a portable panel that can't be stood at 30 or 45 degrees feels like a misstep to us, considering that it's these angles that give the most efficient solar power generation.
Solar Performance
The little junction box on the BougeRV 100W flexible solar panel contains a DC out, a USB-A out, and a USB-C out. The panel automatically feeds power through these as soon as it's getting enough sunlight, which is indicated by a little LED indicator. I tested the panel's output with a voltmeter on both a fully sunny day, and on an overcast day. In full sun around noon, I was able to get a consistent reading of 62W with the panel lying flat on the ground. I hit 76W by angling the panel at around 30 degrees, but as I mentioned previously, there's no way to prop the panel up so that it stays at this angle.
Tested with a 220Wh portable power station, I got similar power readings. The power station fully charged in about 4 hours, which isn't bad at all, though the figure falls rather short of BougeRV's stated charge time of 2.8 hours. These advertised figures are based on both the panel and power station operating at optimal efficiency, which by nature doesn't happen in the real world.
On the cloudy day, I got peak power ratings in the region of 35W, which isn't nothing. You could comfortably keep your phone charged via USB-C at this wattage.
Overall Verdict
The BougeRV 100W flexible solar panel is a tough, packable solar panel that can adequately keep devices and small power stations charged whilst on the road. The rugged construction is impressive, and we appreciate the overall simplicity and ease of use of the whole thing. The panel manages good power generation, putting out almost 80W in full sun. The only aspect of the design we found genuinely odd was the inability to orient the panel propped up at an angle. This would give you better solar efficiency, but perhaps at a trade-off with portability and packability.
Overall, however, the panel is a good buy. It retails for about €150, making it cheaper than both Bluetti and EcoFlow's 100W portable offerings. At this price, the BougeRV flexible solar panel is easy to recommend. For car campers and weekend vanlifers, it would make a simple, packable addition to your gear list.
Don't forget to subscribe to The Van Conversion Newsletter for everything you need to get started with your own van conversion (we'll send you a free wiring diagram when you join).
If you're looking for some guidance with your van conversion, you might be interested in our book Roaming Home, or in our online course The Van Conversion Mastery Course. You'll learn directly from our founder Shane how to convert a van into your dream home - no prior experience needed. Shane also offers one-to-one consultations, where he'll help you with any aspect of your build in a face-to-face video call. All consultations come with a free copy of Roaming Home and our Diagram Pack.
Finally, our Van Conversion Ultimate Guide lays out the whole van conversion process in easy-to-follow sections with tools, materials, and step-by-step instructions. It's the perfect companion for your van build.
Until next time.
