any significant comments on LG290, Canadian Solar CS6P panels

jms_az
jms_az Registered Users Posts: 12
I'm wondering if anyone has any significant issues I should know about re: LG290 or Canadian Solar CS6P panels; I'm looking at two installers in my area, and the best option for one appears to be the LG, and the best option for the other appears to be the Canadian Solar. (SunEdison F265 is similar but slightly more expensive.)

Any thoughts?

LG290 has higher power per area and is monocrystalline; the CS6P is polycrystalline; F265 is monocrystalline.
All three have standard-ish warranties (10yr for product, 25yr linear 97% -> 80% power warranty).

Comments

  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: any significant comments on LG290, Canadian Solar CS6P panels

    Unless you are space restricted, ie can not put in larger panels or some other factor, It would come down to the lowest $ per Watt... efficiencies are usually very similar between Mono and Poly panels, same panel rating will vary in size...
    Warranties the same? then back to price per watt.
     
    KID #51B  4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
    CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM 
    Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
    2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
    Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
    West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
  • jms_az
    jms_az Registered Users Posts: 12
    Re: any significant comments on LG290, Canadian Solar CS6P panels

    ok, thanks. I am somewhat space restricted so the LG290 is attractive in that regard.

    But I was just wondering if there were some gotchas I should know about, either for mono/poly panels, or for these brands in particular.
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: any significant comments on LG290, Canadian Solar CS6P panels

    Mono vs Poly panels--Mostly is it just price and square footage per kW of panels installed (mono crystalline panels are slightly more efficient and will allow you to put a few more watts with a smaller footprint).

    It is hard to say with vendors coming and going, moving production, etc... When you design and build your own "utility"--In the end you are the one that will have to do the maintenance/replace broken parts no matter what--If they are in or out of warranty, if the vendor is in business or not, etc.

    So many good and bad panel mfg. have gone out of business--It pretty much appears to have been irrelevant if they may good panels or bad.

    About the best you can say is solar panels are 1/5 to 1/10 the price they where a decade+ or so ago--So if the vendor "goes away", they are not nearly as expensive as they used to be to replace.

    -Billl
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • solarix
    solarix Solar Expert Posts: 713 ✭✭
    Re: any significant comments on LG290, Canadian Solar CS6P panels

    Canadian Solar has been my favorite brand for many years (even though they moved the factory to China). However recently they changed the junction box on the back and shortened the leads so that we can no longer do the "skip-wiring" trick on them. grrrr. Still good quality though and my bet for the company being around for the length of the warranty.
  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: any significant comments on LG290, Canadian Solar CS6P panels

    Solarix, what is 'skip wiring' ?
     
    KID #51B  4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
    CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM 
    Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
    2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
    Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
    West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
  • stmar
    stmar Solar Expert Posts: 370 ✭✭✭
    Re: any significant comments on LG290, Canadian Solar CS6P panels

    There sure seems to be quite a price difference between the two, I just did a quick look at the 250W models and the CS was half of what the LG was. Am I missing something? I am toying with adding to my array.
  • solarix
    solarix Solar Expert Posts: 713 ✭✭
    Re: any significant comments on LG290, Canadian Solar CS6P panels

    "skip wiring" is where you skip every other panel as you wire a string together. Take a row of 8 panels. Normally, you would wire them together one to the next, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 and then run a home run wire to each end of the row. With skip wiring, you start at one end, skipping every other panel to the end and come back on the alternate panels, 1-3-5-7-8-6-4-2. You end up back at the same end and both home runs are at the same end. Saves wire, work, less excess panel leads flopping around, and if you are clever, all the strings on an array can end up very close to your j-box. We use way less PV wire now and that means less voltage drop too. Because leads are polarized with MC4 connectors, its easy to get the polarity right and not get confused by the skipping.
    A lot of panel manufacturers must be clueless about this as they often make the leads an inch or two too short to reach across a skipped panel.
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: any significant comments on LG290, Canadian Solar CS6P panels

    Neat idea... And an efficient use of wire+labor.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: any significant comments on LG290, Canadian Solar CS6P panels

    I'll have to check my panel wires and see if they will reach, makes a lot of sense... Thanks for the tip!
     
    KID #51B  4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
    CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM 
    Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
    2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
    Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
    West Chilcotin, BC, Canada