Best retail solar panels ?

[Solardreaming]

I'm researching putting together a solar system and have been searching for some reviews on retail PV's.  I heard Kyocera & Sharp were the best rated but what about Mitsubishi? Any recommendations? I can get a good price on the 165W. What should I expect to pay?

I'm building a new house, doing off grid but just at the beginning of my research. TIA

[ghurd]

Sounds like you saw a site where everything is always " -on-Sale".

He's quite the salesman, slapping his own back so much.

Search through the 'solar' section here, at the top.

G-

[pyrocasto]

I think these people have some of the best prices I've seen so far for brand new stuff. You might find a good price on Ebay if you want to buy a lot in one auction.

[Solardreaming]

yep you got it but as I said I'm just starting and kinda at a loss of where to start.  I did a search here but couldn't find any 'reviews.' I thought I had a solar contractor that would do my system but after being quoted $25-30,000 I'd like to look at doing this myself. That might not be possible but I'd like to try.  

[Psycogeek]

the best is the one with the best WARRENTY :-) if you ask me from what i know now.

and the company to back it. and from what i have seen of the warrenties, they remind me of "pro-rated" tires, that are 60,000 miles, that make it 30,000, and you get 3$ back :-)

so in your quest to find the best, make sure you do adequite research on the warrenties they will have.

the cheap powerfull one today, may not be the one that survives the longest.

or better yet, find the one that is built to the hilt, instead of built for low weight shipping, if the warrenties are useless, finding ones in a quality container , might be important.

if sombody told me that this one has 15 more watts than the other, i would say SO WHAT, which one will live forever.

[crag]

here are some basic links to figure out watt/hour needs:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4939

http://www.backwoodssolar.com/

You really ahve to figure that out first so you can decide what you need, and what you really need. It may cost that much if you are going strait solar, but even then you aren't going to have many thing you currently might use, or not at the same time.

Then if you decide you don't actually need the same things or if you change the things you use a bit you can probably get by with less. A number of these people here are building their own panels, but if that is saving them is probably questionable. I am still trying to figure it out.

As for certain brands, it depends on the efficiency rating weighed against price per watt. Or that is how I'd evaluate it offhand, maybe there is a better way.

[pyrocasto]

Good thing about solar panels is they all should last forever. If you're not buying a homemade one, then I honestly would not worry about them lasting. I would check the warrenty as stated incase your glass breaks, it would be nice to have it replaced.

[Psycogeek]

they Should last forever??

when i search for solar cells, i see loads of poorly maintained, broken curcuit, failing, AS-IS deals all over the place.

what i am Seeing, leads me to believe that a person should have a reasonable capacity to repair the things, and keep up with what is dying on them.

mabey they are older cells.

i have even seen ones that have been tortured in the sun, disolved by the elements, and damaged by the wind.

The glass may last forever, in little itty bitty pieces, connected with corroded parts of what is left of the wire :-)

It reminds me of the streetlights we have in this town, they replace the bulbs with LEDs, why they would live forever. but now 80% of them have parts of the led array blown or broken or failing for some reason.

are you going to tell us, that there is stuff out there, that WILL FOR SURE last for 20-30 Years, at at least 80% power?

because that would mean that in the many years they have been doing this they somehow IMPROVED them by lots and lots.   while everything else is turned into plastic short term landfill :-)

and is it the ones that have a plastic back :-)  ever seen what plastic does in the elements of the earth after 10 years outside?

[ghurd]

Most failures of good PVs I see are related to improper instalation.

Screwed flat to the roof without proper, or any, ventaltion.

Mounted with a twist force to the PV.

Stuff like that.

G-

[TomW]

G- ;

Yep, blaming a PV failure on the manufacturer when they were clearly installed improperly and contrary to the stated method is like blaming GM for a motor seizing up from no oil.

Just a couple things I have seen in my limited experience are flat mounted to a black roof and now showing low output, galvanic corrosion of metal because they were too cheap to buy stainless fasteners and now the frame is shot.

Then there are the panels on a neighbors house that still apparently kicks out the same power and looks as good as it did when installed 25 years ago because it was installed properly and cleaned regularly, etc.

Just some observations.

The devil is in the details.

Cheers.

TomW

[pyrocasto]

Considering some panels come with a 20-30 year warrenty, I would say yes. If they drop in power by more than 10% in that time, alot of companies will replace them for free. If you take good care of your panel, it will last as long as you want it to. Hell, some of the first solar panels and expirements are still producing power just fine.

They havent improved THAT much, since the older ones will last near as long if you take care of them. It's just the outer shell of the older ones has been improved a little.

Yes I have seen it. The plastic will last a great long time ass well. There isnt much UV getting to it, and it's protected from the rain and such.

[Psycogeek]

i think at least the ones your making, qualify, for being fairly well manufactured, and repairable.

[Psycogeek]

so a good Frame, and i have seen really good frames, is important too.

[DanG]

http://www.fieldlines.com/comments/2005/4/26/175836/155/12#12

above post is a little research into warranties - Shell is good and BP's better depending on which grade of panel you purchase...