100 Watt 32 cell Panel test

[Basil]

I finely got my two 100 watt panels. After 8 days I had to call them and found that the order was still on his desk.( Not going to name James the online salesman ) I sent a nastey emai to his boss. They promptly sent my order and they came in today. One panel had loose solder rolling around in the Jbox and it had a broke lid. OR big chip out of it. I still seals good though. The panel works good.

The spec sheet Vdc 21.80 / Ics 5.88 amp / Vmp 17.80 / Imp 5.64 amp.

I had clear sun today at 1:30 so I did some testing. The temp out side is 45 deg's. Out of the box and in the sun. It put out 21.56 Volts. After 30 Min's it dropped to 20.65. The panel was good and worm now. I did 5.58 amps shorted.

I hooked it to a near full 17 amp hour battery and it went up to 3.02 amps. I also covered one cell and the voltage only dropped .15 Volt. ( No load/ Just the meter) Well I'm impressed. No more HF panels for me. I see they jump the Min order up to 4 now.

[Tritium]

Sorry to hear about your shipping difficulties. Mine were ordered Monday last week and arrived by truck on Friday. I have been well pleased by them for nearly a whole week now. After they warm up I see 20 plus volts consistently as well. I will definitely order more as soon as funds are available. I had been looking for Harbor freight alternatives for a while (I have 6 of them and the output is less than 1 of the Sun-100 panels and the Sun-100 panel was nearly $100 cheaper than the 6 harbor freight).

Thurmond

[richhagen]

I received a phone message that the 4 @ 50 Watt panels that I ordered were at a shipping company and they wanted to know how to deliver them.  I called them back and have arranged to pick them up on the dock.  I was going to pick them up before work in the morning today, but sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men go awry as you know.  I will try and get them tomorrow in the morning, as the terminal is about a half an hour each way from my house.  They could deliver them in the daytime, but of course, I am at work on weekdays so there would be no one to receive them.  I hope I receive as satisfactory of results.  Rich

[dnix71]

James is the original owners son, I believe. He kept the business running.

Cool weather is perfect for solar. My HF panels' output drops way off once they heat up.

Sun makes its money selling local to contractors. 4 panels is a very small order.

They were wrapping my panels (bought last year) like a Ming vase for shipment until I stopped them and told them it was only a short drive home. Shipping a small number of panels is very time consuming.

I'm a shipping clerk by trade. If you order anything fragile FedEx may cost more but their standard ground service is the safest way. They get piece commissions. UPS breaks things. We got a rolling metal cage back today with the handle torn off and a loaner blue presort cart smashed. The boss wondered out loud how they manage to get our product to the customer in one piece if they mash up their own equipment.

[kenputer]

I ordered 2 of them also and after a week I had to email 3 times to get a responce as to weather they shipped them yet. James said they were looking for a company to ship them to me but had not found one. When he did find a way to ship them  it was going to cost me over $300.00    ...Deal Or no Deal......refund please James.

 Now to see how long that takes :-(

Ken

 Nova Scotia,Canada

[richhagen]

Well, to update, I went down to the shipping company that they had contracted with to pick up the four panels.  One of the panels was smashed, in that the tempered glass on the front was broken, and a couple of the others had minor scratches into the tempered glass front, but appear otherwise fine.  I am a bit worried about how those two will hold up over the long haul through hail storms and such.  

The panels were piled on a palet with a bit of blue palet wrap over them when I encountered them on the dock of the shipping company.  There was no order to the stacking, it looked as though someone just haphazardly placed them there.  They had apparently noted upon their receipt of them that they were damaged and I walked out to have a look.  It seems hard believe that for want of a minute to stack them, a spot of tape and a couple of pieces of cardboard, all told, probably less than a dolar expense, a $129 panel was completely destroyed and two others were damaged.  

The damage aside, the panels themselves appeared to be relatively well made.  Sunpowers monocrystaline cells have a good reputation, and the construction appears to conform to name brand industry standards as near as I can tell.  I will measure their output tomorrow, or as soon as I can find full sun and compare it against some other loose panels that I have.  I will also check to see if the screws holding the aluminum frame together are stainless as well as a few other checks.  I will report back with photos as soon as possible.

If they make good on the destroyed panel, I will ignore the scratched glass, and if they can figure out a way to get them to me undamaged, I will order more of these.  IF they can arrive unbroken, they appear to me to be about the best deal out there on panels right now.  I will keep you guys posted.  Rich

[Airstream]

Scratched tempered glass is an accident waiting to happen - anything from temperature change to gentle flexing could allow the glass to pop into a million shards. DO NOT ACCEPT SCRATCHED TEMPERED GLASS.

[dnix71]

Shipping to Canada is a problem. It invloves Customs (taxes), lots of docs and insurance. If they were small enough to send Priority US Mail, then it's easier.

Even Puerto Rico by UPS is a hassle because of the US Gov't. Puerto Rico is part of the US, but only the US Mail is allowed to ship things there without Customs' docs.

I've sent computer parts by US Mail International Priority to New Zealand to a friend before and it was cheap. $30 was all they wanted for a firewire enclosure (no hard drive in it yet).

[Tritium]

Rich,

The packaging you describe is not how either of my orders have arrived.

They stack the panels with a spacer at each corner that looks like it

was designed just for solar panels. They stack and nest in a fashion that

locks everything into place. Mine had these corner spacers and were centered

on a solid pallet then covered with a protective cover with a do not stack warning

pyramid on top and banded to the pallet with plastic banding. The larger panels

(195 watt) had a piece of 1/2 inch particle board covering the panels and were strapped in two directions with 4 straps. It certainly sounds as if your carrier could have dropped and broke the pallet along the way and repacked your order.

Thurmond

[vtpeaknik]

While I've been thinking whether to order 4 100W panels (anybody in northern New England want to split that?) I've now been told by sunelec.com that they are out of the sun-100 panels but they have sun-90 panels for the same per-watt price.  I am still awaiting more detailed specs on the sun-90 panels but I suspect they are the same ones described here:

http://www.bonzabuy.com.au/store/product_info.php?products_id=28

• 17.7 Volt (max), 90 Watt, 5.1 Amp, 1038 x 527 x 46mm, 7.4Kg
  
• basically the same as the sun-100 but downrated to 90 watts.  Does anybody have more info?  Is it a good idea to buy the low-end panels from a production run - will they keep their power over time as well as the higher-rated ones?
  
  

[vtpeaknik]

From what sunelec tells me it does seem that those are the right specs for the "Sun-90" panels.  The dimensions and shipping fees are the same, which increases the total per-nominal-watt price a bit (to $3.02 shipped, but that does not include mounting and cables and controller).  I've ordered some anyway and will report...

[richhagen]

In general, I agree, but I did not ask for replacements and none were offered for those two.  I have ordered 12 more of these panels and they will ship me 13 more.  I will still have the two with the scratched glass however, and at this point am inclined to keep them and eat the loss should one occur.  Time will tell if I take the loss on those two.  

I ordered up a batch of Schottky diodes rated at 5.5 Amps, as the Sun 50 panels do not have bipass diodes.  I intend to add bipass diodes to these as I am running at 48V and will run 3 to a string. (although I am tempted to connect them with 3 to a string with the open circuit voltage I tested of nearly 25V each at this winter angle)  I will also have to build another combiner box and may use some of the remaining diodes as blocking diodes in that as well.  

The junction box for the Sun 50 panels is pictured below.  If I had the Sun 100 panels, I would check for a bipass diode there as well if I were going to run at higher than a 12V system.  Here is a photo of the open junction box of the Sun 50 Panels:





It looks like it is a general type of junction box for use with a variety of panel designs.  In the case of the Sun 50 panel, just the ends of the 36 cell string are pulled into the box.  There are 4 electrically connected sections of the etched board.  In the case of the Sun 50, there are small jumpers soldered across the outer two sections of the circuit board on each side, and at the center, there is a gap. Across this gap is where the bipass diode for this configuration would go.  I would not be surprised if the Sun 100 panels had the identical junction box.  There is a silk screen diagram on the board showing the orientation for such a diode.  (If you hooked one of them in your series string up backwards, I suspect you would get only about a half a volt out of that panel and the diode would get pretty warm as it disipates a Watt and a quarter or so)

The wire connectors mounted on the box are for loose single wires, but their should be room there to drill or punch an opening to accept a 1/2 inch conduit adapter if one had the inclination, or needed to for attaching liquid tight conduit, ect.  Strain relief for the box might be a consideration though.  There is sealant around the edges, and I do not know how strong the connection is to the panel itself.  Rich

[richhagen]

Darn typos: . . . as I am running at 48V and will run 3 to a string. (although I am tempted to connect them with 3 to a . . .

should be:  . . . as I am running at 48V and will run 4 to a string. (although I am tempted to connect them with 3 to a . . .

Rich

[vtpeaknik]

They've now updated their pages to show the Sun-90 and its specs - and raised the price.  But you can apparently buy fewer than 4 now.

http://sunelec.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=234