My New Solar Panel

[coldspot]

My newest panel,

Solarex SX10M

Pmax= 10.0 W

Voc=  21.0 V

Isc=  .650 A

Vpmax=16.8 V

Ipmax=.590 A

At (800 )W.m-2-AM 1.5 Cell,

T =    49` C

Will Produce:

Pmax = 7.10 W

Ipmax= .480 A

All the back tag Info.

This panel costed about $8.00 USD a Watt.

I hope this was an OK deal,

I, being a newby to this stuff.

My other panel,

Solarex,

SA-5

Also from E-bay

costed me about

$10.00 USD a Watt.

I plan on using these to keep my battery banks

up to charge while I wait for a real place to use them.

I lack a place for a tower and still am without blades for the many mills I've done, (PM motors, Induction conversions ect, ect...)

But, seeing's that I've come up with a couple of banks, one 250Ah each 6 VDC with six batteries,

 The Edison Cells, (24 Each),

And the 3 marine 12 VDC deep cycle ones, I had bought/gotten for my boat but haven't used them yet, (One is NEW 27 group, while two are about new 27 group also).

I'm keeping all these at a friends, (girlfriends brothers place), Untill I have a place for them myself.

Next thing I plan on getting is another charge controller, as of now I only have the Flex-charge

NC25A-12. This unit is still un-tested by me, was new when bought last fall, has a five year warrenty. I have been worried about it being only 25 AMP And thinking that my 2HP 3phase, conversions might be more than it could handle?

Ah,. life, and it's many troubles.......

[AbyssUnderground]

Slightly more expensive than mine, mine was $7.50/w but they seem to go down in price the more you buy in one panel.

I wouldnt think it would keep a 250Ah bank charged on its own. It might not even compensate for self discharge. Bear in mine my 24w array keeps a 17.2Ah bank charged and produces some useable power (about 5Ah a day).

[powerbuoy]

$7,50 a Watt, $8.00 a watt, 10.00$ a Watt ...... these figures make me cringe ... is there really no source out there that can provide a less expensive panel? By the way .... $10.00 a Watt ...does that mean that I have to pay $1500.00 for a 150Watt Kyocera panel? Somebody has his numbers wrong, is getting shafted as we speak ... or it's me who missed the train and is left at the station ...puzzled.

Powerbuoy

[Phssthpok]

Nope. You're right on target... well.. in the ballpark anyway.

It seems that the trend is to charge more per watt as the size of the panel gets smaller. Many suppliers will sell larger panels in the $5-6/watt range all day long.... so no, your 150 Kyocera panel won't be $1500.

As for deals out there, they exist.....but you have to hunt for them...and then do some extra work to get them. For example I've purchased ALL of my panels (except the HF 45w kits) off of Craigslist over the last six months or so. The last deal I made was for (7) OLD OLD OLD Solarex panels. So old they didn't even have a spec plate on the back. Just a little metal tab that said "Solarex, Serial # XXXXXXX". With a little math and my trusty multi-meter I dubbed them 20-25w panels (their outputs were all over the place...one was pushing close to 22volts!) which may actually be a little underated as they were HOT when I measured. I paid $150 for all seven, or roughly a buck a watt. >>>BUT<<<....I had to drive 2 hours one way to get them! Typically it's a half hour drive to go pick up a panel deal on Craigslist.

All told, between cragslist, and the HF kits I've spent $2070 on panels and have racked up approx 750watts of 12v array. Doing the math, that puts me at roughly $2.75/watt.

There were some batteries and/or charge controllers along with the panels in three of those deals, but I'm not counting the value of those in the math. If you want to include them, I'd price their value at roughly (hmm... Trojan T-125's, group 27DCRV, 16 amp CC, a couple other smaller CC's.... carry the two...) let's call it $200 for the four batteries and four charge controllers ($150 for the four batteries, and $50 for the four CC's).

That makes my cost for just the panels at about $2.55/watt.

[Titantornado]

Yea Powerbuoy, don't panic.  The prices to be had can be much lower.  I've been acquiring new to near new 175 watt mono-crystaline panels for an even $4/watt.  Got eight so far, and hoping to get at least four more before he runs out of them.  Sorry, I won't share my source for obvious reasons, but you get the idea.  Just be vigilant on the hunt.

[coldspot]

"This panel costed"

When I stated panel costs

it wasn't to get slammed about how much I'm willing to pay.

What I paid and why are very different than what others have or will.

I have my own needs and reasons.

I don't think 10 to 8 a watt is to bad, for the two panels I had to buy, the other panels, (24 VDC 5 Watt, and a 12 VDC 1 Watt, and a couple even smaller I'm still playing with), are about the same as most of the stuff I get.

Seeing's that I don't have to pay for other things,

battery banks, Inverters, 3 phase motors to convert, ect. ect.......

"Master Parts Person"

(It is who you know)

I just lack a place to play.

But am making headway with girlfriends brothers and

am now getting storage for stuff there, and a tower will go up soon!

[ghurd]

"Labor Costs".

Someone has to solder 36 cells together, big or small takes the same amout of time.

Someone cuts 4 pieces of fram, long or short, so what.

The frame needs assembled. The paperwork is the same. Etc.

If the unchanging labor takes 2 hours for a 5W or a 100W, at $10/H... They have $4/W labor in the 5W PV, and only $0.20/W in the 100W PV.

Then things like the frame. A square, 1 sq foot PV takes 4' of frame. A 9 sq foot PV is 900% larger but only take 3X as much frame.

Bigger is cheaper.

G-

[Slingshot]

Just curious - is there a way to simultaneously search Craigslist "all cities" for a particular item or keyword?  I have to log into each city separately before searching, which makes it a pain trying to locate unique items that might be worth shipping, or driving to pick up.