I am indecisive

Deveak_Kaizen · June 2017

I am trying to make my mind up. A family member is buying up my old array. he has the exact same model and panels as I do and they where bought at the same time. They no longer sell or make them. I looked around the internet. I found some good deals on Sun electronics, a bulk dealer in florida but between the awful customer service (I've called 4 times this year and have yet to get a quote or specs on the panels), the web site being out of date and possibly compromised (got a cross scripted pop up that said i had the zeus virus, made it through my pop up blocker as well), I decided, NAWS it is, I bought my first array off them anyways. I see two options I consider a good deal. I have a two midnite classics on a 12 volt system. I want to max out both controllers and current limit them for two over sized arrays. Midnite said this was fine.
Current looking at a Kyocera KU340-8BCA panel. Likely the largest 24 volt panel I have ever seen. I like Kyocera its a good quality company and the price is nice at 63 cents a watt. However I also see rec290tp2 panels. I have never hear dof this company and don't know where they are made. Anyone have knowledge of the second and has an opinion on these panels? Not concerned about having the best, just want as much watts as possible but a solid panel that wont fall apart in 20 years. Thank you.

BB. · June 2017

What are the details of your system? Loads (WH or AH @ xx volts per day), roughly where system is located, planned battery bank AH @ xx volts capacity, etc...

I suggest that if your battery bank is >~800 AH, you should go up to the next voltage. For example, if you go to 24 volts, you would only need one charge controller. Go to 48 volts, only 1/2 of charge controller's Ampere capacity.

If you are looking at a 1,600 AH @ 12 volt battery bank, you are looking at some very heavy cabling to manage the charging and load currents.

-Bill

Deveak_Kaizen · June 2017

I have a 12 volt 1070 Ah battery bank. I can't upgrade to 12 volts. I have a single string 12 volt cell. 6 2 volt cells in series.
I have two charge controllers which are more than enough to do the job. I want to max out both of them and current limit them to about 55 amps. I already have the cables set up. My inverter has 4/0 cable. The charge controllers have a short run of #4.

Estragon · June 2017

I don't know anything about rec panels, but I think most panels are likely made in China these days. I doubt NAWS would sell real junk panels. You might want to ask them what they know about the company and panels.

solarvic · June 2017

I have a 24 volt system and needed to run as high a voltage as I could on my classic because the panels are over 300 feet from combiner box to classic. I was looking at the 340 Kyocera and could only run 2 in a string. and voltage would be too low. Also since I use pole top racks It would cost too much to rack them. I was looking at the rec panels and I could run 3 strings of 3 to classic without going into hyper-vac. The rec panels are made in Singapore. One thing I liked about them is they are setup in two parts and if one half gets shaded the other half would still work. I wanted to buy American so I bought solar edge 295 watt panels for $189.00 per panel which is the best price I could find for solar edge at ALTE. I havn,t mounted them but the quality looks good. solarvic If the distance from the aray is lots closer to your charge controlers it would be better for you to have lower voltage strings than what I had to use.

Deveak_Kaizen · June 2017

Thank you for pointing at alte. I will give naws a call next time there open. Alte has some canadian solar panels for 59 cents a watt, the same as the rec panels but monocrystaline. Not sure if its the chinese ones. I sent them an email. I will talk to naws about the rec panels and see what the best quote is on shipping. Thanks!

solarvic · June 2017

I had a quote from NWS a little over a month ago on the REC panels. Their freight was reasonable. They have a in the 17 + % efficiency range. You can save a few bucks if you go to the freight terminal to pick them up. Before I retired I had solar panels delivered to the company I worked for. bought some panels from nws after I retired and they sent them to the terminal and the freight was about half as much as a home delivery. I figured these panels I just bought will probably be the last ones I will be buying since I am already 72. I live in NW PA. where we have a lot of cloudy days. Actually TNT was manufactured for wwii nearby because of the cloudy weather. They called it Keystone ordinance works in case someone is interested in History about it. You should not just think of the cost for watt. You need to plan on wireing distance, size of panel and what kin d of racks you want to pay for And voltage you want to run to charge controlers

westbranch · June 2017

Canadian solar are assembled in Canada, cells from ???

Estragon · June 2017

> @westbranch said:
> Canadian solar are assembled in Canada, cells from ???

AFAIK, China. Not even sure about Canadian assembly, as I think that was tied to the Ontario FIT program.

westbranch · June 2017

Estragon, what I read about it a while back was there was no Prov tax applied if they were made in Ontario. I assume it is still in place....?

Estragon · June 2017

I don't know where it sits right now. There were some pretty good incentives for renewables for a time, but most are gone now AFAIK. It's a hot political issue in Ontario. The big money problems were with some generation (non-renewable) that got cancelled for political reasons, but the over-generous renewable deals took some of the heat. I'd be a bit surprised if the pst exemption survived, but I don't know for sure.

mcgivor · June 2017

westbranch said:

Estragon, what I read about it a while back was there was no Prov tax applied if they were made in Ontario. I assume it is still in place....?

Then there is the question if HST in Ontario and the 4 Atlantic provences, would mean they would pay the PST anyway.

Deveak_Kaizen · February 2018

I ended up getting some canadian solar panels and regret it. Kind of. Good price but they have mc4 fittings and sealed junction boxes. They are not designed to be serviced if the diode fails. When the diode fails am I screwed or can i put an inline diode on the wire?

Dave Angelini · February 2018

You are overthinking this! User access to JB's caused more problems than they ever solved!

I am indecisive

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