As you may remember, I had a Goal Zero Nomad 20 portable solar panel. I loved it the few months I had it, and I used it all day every day.

Then one day, it died. Under warranty, with good customer service and friendly staff, the manufacturer sent me a  replacement.

Happily, I took the new panel out of the box and plugged in one of my two Guide 10 power packs.

Nothing. No charge light. I check the cable and when I touch it, the charge light comes on, let go, it goes off. Intermittent (bad) cable.

I emailed the manufacturers and they want me to check all this stuff. “Yeah, it all works, except the bad cable”. I know a bad cable when I see one.

So now, customer service doesn’t seem so good, but really, the problem is on my end, I don’t feel motivated to go through the motions of  getting another panel.

I’m very very disappointed (I should type “very” a bunch more times in this sentence). I woke up at 4 this morning, thinking about it.  I got up and decided to write about it here..

I figured those cables were the weak  point before I bought it. They are permanently attached and cannot be removed/replaced. Plus the storage pouch stays full of all these cables that never get used. I only used one, sometimes two. It would be a better design if there were jacks that you could plug the cable you need into, instead of an octopus of cables coming out of a box. The jacks could be very strong. The cables could be  easily replaced. It would be far superior. Although I must point out that it wasn’t the cable that failed the first time, it was something in the electronics.

I  bought a new connector, and am ready to cut the bad one off and solder the new one on. I guess I should do that today, but I think I’ve “fallen out of love” with my Nomad 20 solar panel I want to find a new model and manufacturer, something more durable and with a better design.

This is a rare Sunday post.  I didn’t post Thursday because of a massive dog mess that I woke up to and had to clean up. Then Thursday afternoon I dropped my motorcycle off to get a new tire and had to leave early Friday morning to catch the bus to work, hence no Friday post either. Now it’s Sunday and tomorrow we’re going to Costa Rica! I’m off work till April 9th!

Sure do wish I was taking my solar panel with me to Costa Rica, Costa Rica is a good place to have a solar panel.