cheap solar

ws9876
ws9876 Solar Expert Posts: 448 ✭✭✭
in General Solar Power Topics #1
I have watched panels go from 800 to 260$. Do you think in another few months that I might be able to get a good 225 watt for less than 200??? Then I would bite.
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  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: cheap solar

    Hindsight will be 20/20. :D
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #3
    Re: cheap solar

    if you diligently search you may come up with something like that now. our host currently has a pretty good deal on some 240w trinas for 95 cents per watt and a cost of $228/pv.
    http://www.solar-electric.com/trina-solar-multicrystalline-240-watt-tsm-240pa05.html
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  • ws9876
    ws9876 Solar Expert Posts: 448 ✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: cheap solar

    do you think Trina is quality??? are they Chinese??
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  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,006 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: cheap solar

    Cost and quality usually one goes up and the other goes down, I've never seen any Trina panels NAWS sells them or did, that would indicate to me they have a reasonable level of quality.

    I own French (Photowatt), American (Evergreen), Chinese (Evergreen, Ningbo, Shingahara(?) The best built panels I have or have seen are the Ningbo Chinese made panels.
    Home system 4000 watt (Evergreen) array standing, with 2 Midnite Classic Lites,  Midnite E-panel, Magnum MS4024, Prosine 1800(now backup) and Exeltech 1100(former backup...lol), 660 ah 24v Forklift battery(now 10 years old). Off grid for 20 years (if I include 8 months on a bicycle).
    - Assorted other systems, pieces and to many panels in the closet to not do more projects.
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  • solar_dave
    solar_dave Solar Expert Posts: 2,397 ✭✭✭✭
    #6
    Re: cheap solar
    Photowhit wrote: »
    Cost and quality usually one goes up and the other goes down, I've never seen any Trina panels NAWS sells them or did, that would indicate to me they have a reasonable level of quality.

    I own French (Photowatt), American (Evergreen), Chinese (Evergreen, Ningbo, Shingahara(?) The best built panels I have or have seen are the Ningbo Chinese made panels.

    Yep I have Ningbo and Canadian Solar Both Chinese made AFAIK. No issues so far and they survived a pretty good hail storm.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #7
    Re: cheap solar

    you will tend to pay more for american made pvs. most pvs are good, but some are better and with anything you get what you pay for. like i said before you might find what you're looking for with a search as there may be a special somewhere. who's to say it will continue to go down in price too? does that mean you won't buy them then over a few more $?
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  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    #8
    Re: cheap solar
    ws9876 wrote: »
    do you think Trina is quality??? are they Chinese??
    Yes and yes.


    15 characters.
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  • etcm
    etcm Registered Users Posts: 11 ✭
    #9
    Re: cheap solar

    Some different ideologies here - as cheap as possible, perceived quality, and other. I just installed 6.1kW of USA made panels (20x305Watt) that have 4.0 mm glass. And about 3 weeks after I installed them, we had a hailstorm with 1.5-2.0 inch hailstones! My panels had no detectable issues/problems. Would the 3.2 mm glassed panels (the more economical panels) have survived unscathed? I do not think so. I have these mono-crystalline panels and they are performing, IMHO very good-one cloudy days (that we have had so many of this last month) the 6.1 kW (2 arrays) have outputted at about a 2.-2.5 kW rate (total). Also, at some point almost every day, each 3.05 kW array has peaked at 3.2 to 3.5 kW. One day this last week I got a peak rate at 3.88 kW on one and 3.79 kW on the other. So, if you do not have hail, the 3.2mm glassed panels might be a good bargain. I am now biased for "mono" panels but I have no poly panels to compare my mono's to. It is really weird that I am so hooked on solar now! While the payback is a number of years away, it is reassuring that I am producing at a rate 10 to 25 amps of 240VAC hourly during the daytime...No matter what any current political party / governmental agency / foreign enemy does to the grid!
    If the Rene Sola's had been available when I was buying my system, I might have bought them, but I bought "almost" a pallet of my panels at a good price ... (with cheap, but well packaged, shipping) .
    Good Luck and start generating those kWh as soon as possible.
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  • NorthGuy
    NorthGuy Solar Expert Posts: 1,913 ✭✭
    #10
    Re: cheap solar
    etcm wrote: »
    Would the 3.2 mm glassed panels (the more economical panels) have survived unscathed? I do not think so.

    We had a hail about 3 inch in diameter. All our 3 mm glassed windows survived (we didn't have panels back then). These were new windows, installed in 2010. The neighbour lost all his west-sided windows which were 30 years old (don't know the thickness of the glass).
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  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,006 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #11
    Re: cheap solar
    etcm wrote: »
    ...6.1kW of USA made panels (20x305Watt) that have 4.0 mm glass.
    I wonder if they needed to be that thick to pass UL requirements? That's an very large panel!
    Home system 4000 watt (Evergreen) array standing, with 2 Midnite Classic Lites,  Midnite E-panel, Magnum MS4024, Prosine 1800(now backup) and Exeltech 1100(former backup...lol), 660 ah 24v Forklift battery(now 10 years old). Off grid for 20 years (if I include 8 months on a bicycle).
    - Assorted other systems, pieces and to many panels in the closet to not do more projects.
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  • etcm
    etcm Registered Users Posts: 11 ✭
    #12
    Re: cheap solar
    Photowhit wrote: »
    I wonder if they needed to be that thick to pass UL requirements? That's an very large panel!

    I was planning to install them myself! My wife saw me atop my 24ft extension ladder and was close to tears; said I had to hire an installation company! I did and my back still feels better:D They hefted the panels up, 1 at a time and my back was hurting just looking at the men doing it. 1meter x 2 meters @ 26kg. This is a view from the next street over, the view my neighbors have of my home.
    Attachment not found.
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  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    #13
    Re: cheap solar
    etcm wrote: »
    I was planning to install them myself! My wife saw me atop my 24ft extension ladder and was close to tears; said I had to hire an installation company! I did and my back still feels better:D They hefted the panels up, 1 at a time and my back was hurting just looking at the men doing it. 1meter x 2 meters @ 26kg. This is a view from the next street over, the view my neighbors have of my home.
    Attachment not found.
    What time of day was that photo taken? What direction does the roof face? Are you concerned about partial shading from the satellite dishes?
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  • etcm
    etcm Registered Users Posts: 11 ✭
    #14
    Re: cheap solar

    It was taken about 6PM in the first week of May .
    Roof faces south with about a 10 degree angle to the east. No shadow striking the panels in the winter (when I strategized the placement) or any now mid Jun.
    Having said that, I have an old Dish dish that will be removed (sometime ) and the dish closest to the panels (DirectTV) moved to the old Dish dish site.
    My ultimate goal is to place two of the solar water heater panels in the other two available “slots” on the roof. These are the areas that catch the dish shadows now. As a note- assuming the solar panels are 17% efficient, about 6 times the (305 watt solar) electric panels (~2kW) thermal output could be assumed to be the water heating capability. Currently, about 45% of my electricity goes to the hot water heater so that would probably be the key to energy independence for 10 of the 12 months.

    And so as to not hijack the original poster's thread:
    I started in this solar project as a result of an eBay auction bid...about 1500kW of panels - I bid an offer and was rejected (caused me to investigate panels further)... That plus the Obama administration emphasis on the EPA heavily oppressing coal, the threat of EMP destruction of the grid, and the re-election of the Obama administration, lead me to go solar. Plus the 30% federal tax credit..........
    The panels I selected were based on good value (plus US made), plus the threat of hail and strong weather where I am located (central Indiana), plus the size of my roof! The latter was probably the reason I chose the larger panels. The wattage I have is the best I can get for my southern facing roof and that was my key parameter (or factor).
    My two 3.05 kW (STC rating) arrays have produced 3.88 kW (73.2A CC output) and 3.79kW (72A CC output) respectively, as peak generations this month...making me think my Outback FlexMax80 CC selection and Outback Radian (8kW rating) are good selections for me.
    So, roof exposure and, available $$$ to spend, conviction to launch the project were all issues related to the project. The matching and selection of components are all elements that go into decision making. :D
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