SunElec Sale on laminated panels

[theshadownose]

Went to SunElec Website- (www.sunelec.com) They have laminated panels starting at 58 cents per watt.  These panels have " No Frame, no Junction Box, nor Cables."
 and a minimum order of 5 panels

They are new Sun branded panels

I am not an employee, nor affiliated,  just a really good price.

[birdhouse]

that is cheaper than cheap!  but then you think about mounting and wiring a frameless, wire less panel and it doesn't sound quite as good.  so aside from making an aluminum frame for these, how else would one mount them?  a tube of silicone per panel??? 

interesting, got my gears churning for sure!

adam

[BrianSmith]

If you had a sunroom, maybe you could glue them to the inside glass on the ceiling.  It would kinda make it a darkroom then, but with lots of power!

[dnix71]

They look sealed. The larger pix show foil strips coming out the back. Buying 5 at a time makes sense. They would probably ship safer if stacked together with a sheet of cardboard between each. How much does Sun want for shipping? That's usually the "gotcha." If they want $200 for shipping is isn't such a great deal.

The sunroom idea sounds good as long as you have low iron glass. You could build a solar kit car with those, no frame means less weight. I need to think about this more. If I could think how to mount and seal these this has potential just because of the price.

[dave ames]

 be nice to get some more better specs on those.. seems the voc/vmp and the imp/isc is swapped? some oddball voltages there!

 might give them a ring in the am and see about 5 pcs (min order) of the 30 watters. could maybe make a good self regulating 12v charger? ..and ask what the story is on the data sheets.

...wonder what the bending radius is..yup, wheels turning here as well

 it's all good fun!


edit: should be "35 watters"  WOW!  5 for $100

[DanG]

Bending radius?  Zero.  Ever.

[dapdan]

Guys,

I have order 10 of the 55w and 4 of the 80w all have frames the 55s have J-boxes with the cover missing and the 80s have no J-boxes. I will let you all know how it goes but I figure you can't lose at that price. The ones with the frames are at $1.20/W.

Cheers....
Damani

[WindriderNM]

I have eight of these I used wooden picture frame  material painted with epoxy paint for the first four and cut down the old screen door frames for the next four. It is very easy to solder wires onto the tabs and then cover with epoxy glue. Then glue a plastic electrical box (the kind used with plastic conduit) with a hole cut in the back over the connections with a terminal block inside to attach the wires to. they are working well so far. I just checked the shipping for five more it is $85 USPS to New Mexico. For testing a female crimp on Spade connector will slip over the tabs. It could be possible to crimp them onto the tabs and then epoxy them if you don't want to solder them. these are sealed glass panels.

[dnix71]

WindRider, you said those are sealed glass panels. You mean they only lack a frame and junction box? I assumed they didn't have glass for that price.

[DanG]

Opps - edit, missed the question was pointed at WindriderNM.

The sunelec panels have bare glass with back plain covering, and most have junction boxes - just no covers.

That offer is so tempting - now if I just had a good sized stash of freebie extruded aluminum to fabricate mounts from...

[TomW]

Opps - edit, missed the question was pointed at WindriderNM.

The sunelec panels have bare glass with back plain covering, and most have junction boxes - just no covers.

That offer is so tempting - now if I just had a good sized stash of freebie extruded aluminum to fabricate mounts from...

DanG;

Hehe. Thy don't need "mounts" to sit in storage.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Tom

[DanG]

I find deep blue relaxing plus it stimulates creativity.

Everyone should have PV panels as the headboard for their bed.

And as Aluminitus (compulsive aluminum collecting) is not defined as a disease but more of a character flaw the 56 feet of Airstream trailers "stored" in my backyard are perfectly complemented by enough "stored" vintage deep blue PV to hide the bent & ugly one someday soon...

[ghurd]

I find deep blue relaxing plus it stimulates creativity.

Everyone should have PV panels as the headboard for their bed.

Yikes! What are the measurements, volts and watts of one of those monsters?
G-

[DanG]

Pictured are Schott 285's weighing in at 105 pounds measuring 4x6 foot with tempered glass front and back. Decommissioned after their 10-year grid-tie incentive contract expired; they still make 90% of labeled power - the prior owner wanted them gone, his neighbors trees had grown up enough to shade part of the array and the roof mounts were leaking. I figure they will make a great 12'x20' equipment shed roof.

[WindriderNM]

They have glass covers and a white plastic backing laminated together. The ones I got didn't have any boxes on them just thin metal tab.s. Extruded aluminum piture frame materal would make a good frame and they have little metal corer pieces to attach the corners and spring clips to hold a panel's in place. I have some of this material but it is in storage at a friends house a few hundred miles away. I used what I had on hand.

[Tritium]

Sun raised the prices.   58 cents this morning when I looked and now 78 cents per watt for the laminates.

Thurmond

[WindriderNM]

I tried to order some last night but the site wouldn't accept my PayPal payment. The site said to call. Since then the prices gone up $.20 per watt.
Bummer
This put the ones I wanted outside my budget. I guess I will have to consider getting smaller ones or waiting and hoping the price comes back down.

[BrianSmith]

They still are a pretty good price, but the motivation dries up a bit when they raise the price 0.20 / w in one day.....especially before you order which I was planning on doing tonight...

[dnix71]

I emailed Sun and they haven't answered me so I took my business elsewhere. All I asked for was shipping costs for 4 35-watt panels.

I ordered 2 100 watt Sopray mono crystalline panels for $2.50/watt including delivery.

[Tritium]

I emailed Sun and they haven't answered me so I took my business elsewhere. All I asked for was shipping costs for 4 35-watt panels.

I ordered 2 100 watt Sopray mono crystalline panels for $2.50/watt including delivery.

Unfortunately in my dealings with Sun they are bad about answering e-mails. They do generally respond to phone calls in a positive manner. YMMV by case.

Thurmond

[defed]

i bought some stuff from them.  they didn't respond to email questions, and when i tried to order, paypal failed.  when i called to check on the paypal (if the order actually went thru before i tried to order again) i talked to 2 ppl.  both were friendly enough and i got my order straightened out.  the 2nd guy even waited while i tried paypal again so i could report what the error message said.

[wilfor03]

Let me ask a quick question of those "laminated only" panels....how do you figure the size of the blocking diodes? Do you use the wattage of the panel, divided by the voltage to give you the amps, then give it a safety percentage for size? Those straight laminated panels seem like a deal to look at a lot closer. Anyone get a quote on shipping yet and does it sound reasonable? Just really curious about them? See ya....>Bill   

[WindriderNM]

 The shipping to New Mexico for 5   55 watt panels was $85
Diodes are rated in amps
There are 4 tabs on each panel  - and + the others are for a diode that somehow keeps the power up if one of the calls gets blocked I used some 5 amp diodes that i had laying around for this and they work fine.
I an using 30 Amp (2-15 amp in parallel)  blocking diodes on each set or 4 panels wired in parallel (12 volt system).

[dave ames]

 hey guys,

 the comments about these modules being glass laminated clears up any "bending" questions i had, thanks for that..

 shipping to connecticut was/is $105 for five 35 watt pv's and $120 for ten (ordered 9/16). still in transit from arizona (i think) no tracking info, but have bought from them several times without major issues. one time they swapped out evergreens for the sun modules i had ordered..a win!

 it's hard to keep up with the changing info on that website! i've seen the specs of the same pv module change several times throughout the day!!..still not sure what these are? they are listed today as 17.0voc and 15.3vmp i count 36 cells in the photo and they look like multi/polycrystalline panels..the 39x26" dimensions suggest a poor fill factor or mislabeled or defective or??.. we shall see. it is worth $32/module delivered to have some more "stuff" to pile in the shed

 i'll run them up on a spare fm80 to see what the actual i/v data is for these but doubt that any "next batch" offered will be the same. or even if all of them from this order will be the same. that's the diy bargain hunters burden. if someone was planing a system i would recommend that they start with a known stickered module and pass on a gamble like these modules.

cheers, dave

 

[tecker]

I 'm looking at the DA100s .Of coarse I 'm looking at the shipping which is freight .I just want 6 for now .That brings up a point .You shouldn't make a deal with out a good warranty .  The da100s are Chinese manufacture with 20 year replacement  although I think there's an american maufacture in the works . I want to set up a constant pulse on both banks in the shop and 70 volts at 6 amps is just about right.

[dnix71]

i just got my 2 x 100 watt Chinese/German panels from ebay today at work. They got here in spite of UPS. I'm going to let the seller know privately they need to use a little better packaging. There were corner guards and E shaped styrofoam separators, but those were all cracked and shifting around and there was a small hole punched in the front of the box.

The UPS driver didn't know what she was handling even though the box says in HUGE letters
"Sopray Solar Module." She thought I could run my whole house off of the panels. If only I could, that would be nice. $2.50 a watt delivered for mono crystalline is certainly better than Harbor Freight.

I won't be able to give them an outdoor test until the weekend. We are being squeezed between a cold front and a tropical depression off the Yucatan.

[tecker]

Sun da100s and the da100s are the same panel but different warranties . I think I'll pay the extra money to get the warranty from DuPont It's a 20 year replacement warranty . I know how to mount these panels now and can use the added voltage . I 'm sending back the Kyocera 130s they have never made it over 5 amps per .The DuPont panels can fill in while I make the exchange

[dnix71]

I haven't been able to properly test my Soprays but one is different from the other in low light. It's been raining for a day and will be for another day because of a tropical storm so I had them indoors.

Under a HF 5 watt cfl one panel had 6 times the Voc that the other did. I checked the weaker panel with an LED flashlight and all the cells are working. In fact, it's 72 cells in series, so if there was a break the entire panel would have failed. Under a 500 watt halogen work light I got 14v on one panel and 7.75v on the other. So the difference seems to narrow as the light level rises. Both panels put out the same current shorted across a HF digital volt meter.

Maybe low light variation is just a characteristic of mono crystal panels. If they both work okay in sunlight, I can always series them using the mc4 connectors and get some charging in lower light/shade.

[ghurd]

I haven't been able to properly test my Soprays but one is different from the other in low light.
Maybe low light variation is just a characteristic of mono crystal panels.

It is characteristic of all panels. 
Of the identical pairs of panels I tested, amorphous was the worst, and so bad I didn't go into much testing because they were not suitable for what I was trying to do.  To be fair, I am not sure if one of the amorphous PVs had exponentially more hours in the sun than the other.

Small polys were what I did the most testing on.
The surprising thing to me was how they were so different under different conditions.
The higher output panel in great sun may be the lower output panel with some very slight overcast.
The higher output panel at 12.2V may be the lower output panel at 14.4V.
The higher output panel when aimed straight at the sun may be the lower output panel with a few degrees of misalignment.

I suggest testing them all in decent sun for proper operation, then forget about it...
Or buy that 5 gallon bucket of Tylenol at Sam's Club before you get into the detailed testing.
G-

[dnix71]

We finally got a little sun today just before sunset. I took them outside and both behave the almost same in real sunlight. The voltage difference goes away as the light gets brighter. Both put out enough to barely charge a 12v battery in some pretty crummy light. Tropical storm Nicole fizzled and the front stalled, so it's still warm and cloudy and unstable weather here.

A coworker rode his bicycle to work expecting it to be nice, but it poured rain just before closing. His boss left at 4pm to mow a few lawns on the side and had to come right back. I have tomorrow off, so I plan to set them up outside and load test them if the weather permits.

I plan to leave the mc4 connectors alone for the sake of warranty. Plus I plan to series them so I'll only need one set to tie back to my batteries.

[Clifford]

Thanks for the links...
It looks like the company is slowly selling out of their Laminates, and have bumped the prices up again. 

It would be great to get laminate panels to rebuild my old Siemens solar panels, but obviously these are very specific overstock panels, and not general sizes.

The customer service leaves a little to be desired.

E-Mail to Miami asking for details on a "Scratch & Dent" panel.  No reply.
Called Phoenix, and was told they have no info, and I have to call back to Miami.

[dave ames]

an update about the pallet of 35 watt  laninates we ordered last month.

over the past 36 days i have seen these 35 watt modules in and out of stock several times on the web site but not in my driveway.

9 e-mails and 14 phone calls over the past two weeks and i have been refunded the funds.

we are very tiny fish to these folks!

dave

[dnix71]

Sun sent me another email offerings cheap panels. I just ignore them now. Legit businesses answer emails and actually ship things they sell to people. There is absolutely no excuse at all for low-balling like that and then not delivering the goods.

The email also said they expect the price of panels to fall more because the Spanish government can no longer afford to subsidize solar. The 'S' in PIIGS is Spain. There may be a glut of panels soon, followed by companies curtailing production and boosting prices to cover for the lost sales.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-18/spanish-solar-projects-on-brink-of-bankruptcy-as-subsidy-policies-founder.html  Spain used borrowed money to encourage solar, but it didn't create the jobs and taxes to pay back the loans.