Solarland panels query

larcal
larcal Registered Users Posts: 53 ✭✭
Hi all!

Anyone have an opinion about Solarland panels? can find no references thru google except ads. And supposedly blemished grade B carry the same 25 year warranty. Is that valid?

Though what a nightmare eh? sending a panel or more back to China.

Comments

  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Solarland panels query

    with the pace at which PV manufacturers drop out of the market I would not count on anything more than a few years... Look at Evergreen, one of the best in the world....gone.
     
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  • larcal
    larcal Registered Users Posts: 53 ✭✭
    Re: Solarland panels query
    westbranch wrote: »
    with the pace at which PV manufacturers drop out of the market I would not count on anything more than a few years... Look at Evergreen, one of the best in the world....gone.

    Yeh, good point. So especially if the warranty is worthless one wants to buy as much quality as affordably possible. Catching up here. Looks like it was a different world last time I purchased. Was squirming at paying $2/watt for Kyocera ks140sx 12 volt when discovered these "solarland" 130 watters. Seller says Grade B at $1 means only superficial blemishes but I have my doubts. You agree?

    Never heard of such a thing, these blemishes. Can get A grade no blems for still a nice chunk of savings over Kyocera. $1.25/watt

    I've heard of Kyocera from the old days I think maybe but not Solarland. Can't even tell how long they've been producing not that any of this or that means anything.

    So would you agree there's no way of knowing if one company currently is making a shoddier panel then the next so might as well just buy the cheapest and cross your fingers?

    Wondering why our two posts don't show up as new posts. Did I do something wrong or not put this thread in right place for max exposure, yah think?
  • Vic
    Vic Solar Expert Posts: 3,208 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Solarland panels query

    Your posts should not show up as new, at least if yours was the last one ...


    Had wondered just why you were enamored with Solarland.

    Had thought that Solarland specialized in small PVs, in the sub-hundred watt segment. Know nothing about them.

    If you MUST have 12 V PVs, then there will be a premium to be paid. Would buy the best quality you can afford. Kyocera has been in the PV business for a long time. They made a number of bad PV modules quite some time ago. They stood up and backed the warranty in a professional manner.

    It is always a dart toss. If a company had a very large quality problem over a period of a few years, it could simply not afford to back the warranty, as it would bankrupt them.

    Nothing really to add ... Good luck, Vic
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  • larcal
    larcal Registered Users Posts: 53 ✭✭
    Re: Solarland panels query

    Well that definately helps, thanks Vic, I didn't know that about Kyocera. So looked at them closer thinking I should bite the bullet and go with them and see they claim that they are the only manufacturer to pass tests done by Tuv Rheinland.

    But that appears to be false, from what little I could tell, though strangely there is not much mention of Tuv tests anywhere I've found so far. But did find a few mentions of other manufacturers doing well.

    Anyway, I'd like to ask everyone what's up with this certification subject. Why is it all so vaque and why do I even draw a blank when I do a search on this forum? Seems like it would be a big deal, of much interest. Maybe I should start a separate thread on this as few people will allow Solarland heading to catch their eye


    Vic wrote: »
    Your posts should not show up as new, at least if yours was the last one ...


    Had wondered just why you were enamored with Solarland.

    Had thought that Solarland specialized in small PVs, in the sub-hundred watt segment. Know nothing about them.

    If you MUST have 12 V PVs, then there will be a premium to be paid. Would buy the best quality you can afford. Kyocera has been in the PV business for a long time. They made a number of bad PV modules quite some time ago. They stood up and backed the warranty in a professional manner.

    It is always a dart toss. If a company had a very large quality problem over a period of a few years, it could simply not afford to back the warranty, as it would bankrupt them.

    Nothing really to add ... Good luck, Vic
  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    Re: Solarland panels query

    Please do not start another thread on the same subject.

    The lack of response on the Solarland panels is a response in a way: it means no one here has them.

    Regrettably panels are a bit of a crap shoot every time, even with 'known brands' like Kyocera for just the reasons Vic has mentioned.

    As for certification, the UL (or equivalent) compliance for safety is all that is required for safe installation. Beyond that there really are no standards for, say, quality and any that are referenced are not universally applicable. Even if a panel maker claimed such you are still back at what the warranty is and whether or not the maker will back it or even be around to back it.

    The up side is that there really are very few badly made panels these days, so long as you don't build them yourself. :D Many of us have found panels have lasted without significant degradation, in some cases beyond the expected lifespan.

    Which is another issue: the technology for building them keeps changing, hopefully improving. As such any warranty is a manufacturer's estimate of lifespan, not born out by real-time testing.
  • SolInvictus
    SolInvictus Solar Expert Posts: 138
    Re: Solarland panels query

    The last 3 PV panels I purchased are from Kyocera. As far as I know they are top quality for which you pay a premium. I certainly have not had any problems with mine noting that the oldest is 5 years old. It is not really fair to compare cheap Chinese B-grade PV to high quality Japanese PV manufactured in Mexico.
  • jcheil
    jcheil Solar Expert Posts: 722 ✭✭✭
    Re: Solarland panels query

    The way I look at it, panels are so cheap now, that it is cheaper to simply buy an extra panel or 2 as a spare then it is to SHIP a panel back for warranty replacement in the future (if the company is still in business).

    Anything over a typical 36-cell panel pretty much has to be truck shipped as freight. So you end up paying almost as much as the panel itself to ship a single panel back. When you are shipping more than one, then the cost per panel shipped ends up being a bit less, but freight shipping just a single panel is cost prohibitive IMO.
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