Unisolar alternatives

[mattg]

Hello

I have a unisolar panel (US64) which Im very happy with. It's mounted on top of my truck and charges a battery bank which supplies power to low voltage lighting and a small inverter.

I want to expand and get another panel, but Unisolar appear to have discontinued these (in fact all) of their framed panels.

Can anyone recommend a suitable alternative 60W ish panel, to meet the following demands:

• Around GPB 250 for a similar amount of power (as I paid for the Unisolar)
  
• Similar build quality and strength. This is especially important- the Unisolar panel is reasonably flexible and is not made of glass so seemed perfect for mounting where it might get hit by various things while driving.
  
  

Thanks

Matt

[DamonHD]

Hi,

Have you tried MidsummerEnergy? They were able to give me a quote recently, though expensive as based on importing from the US.

http://midsummerenergy.co.uk/buy_solar_panels/solar_panel_kits/ES62_solar_panel_kit.html

Rgds

Damon

[mattg]

Thanks for the reply!

I think that might be an old page on their site because although the link works i can't seem to get to it from the homepage...Still, thanks for the link. It is a bit pricy- Ill contact them anyway, maybe they have a few that they want to get rid of cheap... (haha yeah right). Did you go with Unisolar in the end?

Matt

[DamonHD]

Hi,

I have one ES62 panel that I've had for over a year and that I'm very happy with.  In particular its robust construction and lack of glass means that I can have it on our patio where my toddler plays... B^>

Rgds

Damon

[dnix71]

Unisolar made their panels on a continuous sheet of stainless steel. Triple junction with blocking diodes. Those were better than pretty much anything else in it's class.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Nesslegrove-Technologies-Ltd sells panels the size you want in the UK for £250. VAT is included and the postage is only £12.5

[bdrodge]

This person in canada has some on eBay

http://cgi.ebay.ca/31-Watt-Uni-Solar-Laminate-Panel_W0QQitemZ120416407825

It is a 31 watt panel @ 6v so 2 of them would be 62 watts @ 12V

I was looking at them and asked about the dimensions and they are 15.5" wide and 55.5" long each.

US $85.00 each

I don't know what the shipping would be but you could ask them.