Kaneka Solar panel worries..

[cr8zy1van]

I recently started looking at commercial panels, and found this link:


LINK


2 Kaneka 60watt panels (120 total watts) for $461.16. Thats $3.84 per watt! Has anyone purchased these "thin film" panels, or heard any horror stories? Furthermore has anyone purchased Kaneka panels specifically? I want to get the most bang for the buck, but would rather spend more money to get a quality panel. Any discussion would aid me in making my purchase.

[bob g]

the only question i have is what does the astericks mean as attached to the warranty figures??

i always go to the fine print, but i don't see the reference, perhaps i missed it.

i want some solar too, but am not crazy on return on investment, ie. high dollar per watt.

and how do solar panels in general hold up in hail storms? or rather how much hail can they stand? how large? pea size? marble size? golf ball? grapefruit? volley ball? lol

i would certainly need them to handle marble size, but sure as heck i put em up and here comes the medicine ball size hail.

bob g

[MelTx]

  Hello On the page that your link brings up right by product # it says "be the first to write a reveiw....Does that mean that they havent sold any yet ?

                                         MelTx

[DanG]

It looks like they don't have a true North American Division, so the product may be "Gray Market" and the Japanese warranty is null & void, unless altenergystore is willing to back them... U/L listing means it meets standards for most weather events.

"Low voltage PV modules maintain initial energy conversion efficiency (after full stabilization) over long periods, attesting to its outstanding reliability. Low voltage modules will maintain more than 90% of their minimum rated power for 10 years ( based on data from silicon PV modules installed over a month under conditions of 25ºC, A.M. 1.5 and 100mW / cm2)."

**based on data from silicon PV modules installed over a month???

79W initial and 60w sustained to 54w at 10 years, higher output in high temperatures.

dunno - who wants to buy 20 and write the review?

[windstuffnow]

  Bob,

    I have some evergreen panels and their warranty states it will withstand  1" diameter at 50mph.   I always wondered if it was a single they shot at the panels for testing purposes or if it would withstand a "shower" of them.  

    I tend to be a bit skeptical of any advertizement from the company the product is made.  There is so much hype and mini lies in marketing its difficult to sift through to the truth sometimes.  A wonderful example is a Fast food TV ad... The sandwich is thick, juicy, burger hanging over the bun, tons of goodies in the middle... an extreemly noticable "gap" between buns.  When you get there, there is no gap between the buns, burger is an inch from the edge and hardly anything inside, tomatoes cut thinner than physically possible but usually there is a huge pile of lettuce to make up the difference...right?  Everyone should demand they get one that looks like the one on TV !

  Your right !   Watch the fine print, read it twice before you buy.

.  

[ghurd]

Bob and Ed,

I believe the UL listed PVs have a minimum for hail speed and diameter.

Not sure what it is, we don't get much large hail, but I've never heard of one broken by hail around here.

Seems UL wants to sell a book, then you can look it up!

G-

[rottingspinalcord]

if i had the money i would order a few of them but i really dont so idk and the shipping isnt calculated. and they dont tell the size. im lookin for good cheapish 1foot by 1 foot solar panels. if anyone knows of theese please tell me.

[searat]

They are listed at something like 67 volts, 0.9 amps.  May not be too practical for 12v or 24v battery charging.

[AtenSolar]

If you want the lowest cost per watt, then go to http://www.atensolar.com. Atensolar is selling these a-si panels for $3.10/watt!! Technical specs are on the website.

Also, I am selling Kaneka 60 watt at $3.49/watt!! Substantially lower than anywhere on the internet!

-Sales Team

[Seth]

I don't seem to see a list of products for sale at the link you provided.

[craig110]

I went all over the site and couldn't find any prices.  Just an FYI, but I rarely contact a company to get a price quote on something.  If Aten Solar's prices are good, how about adding them to the product descriptions?

[AtenSolar]

We are a wholesaler/reseller of modules & pre packaged systems so it is impossible to quote one single definitive price ($cost/watt). Put in another way, there are many variables that determine pricing. Having said that, we usually sell our ATPV 40 watt modules for about $2.99/watt. Options include aluminum mounting brackets at $1/panel and $2.30/panel for UL approved rubber MC connectors.

We are reluctant to self promote our modules but want to offer more cost effective choices to American and Canadian customers, especially when utility prices are on the rise. Please let us know if you have any questions 1-732-810-1983 or 1-800-310-7271.  Regards, Sales @ Aten Solar.

[AtenSolar]

We are a wholesaler/reseller of modules & pre packaged systems so it is impossible to quote one single definitive price ($cost/watt). Put in another way, there are many variables that determine pricing. Having said that, we usually sell our ATPV 40 watt modules for about $2.99/watt. Options include aluminum mounting brackets at $1/panel and $2.30/panel for UL approved rubber MC connectors.

With silicia prices increasing for the unforeseeable future, we would like to offer more options to our North American customers. We see that thin film technologies such as Aten Solar with its 40 watt modules and Kaneka with its 60 and 120 watt modules can fill the void at certain price points, projects and state rebate incentives schemas.

[Seth]

wonder if you can discounts/incentives in Wa St .. probably not ..

ill bet its a 2 year waiting list !!!!

[vegasjak]

   I bought 33 of these little Kaneka panels and installed them on a solar well.  They were well constructed and well packaged.  I got 87 volts out of the box but am told that they will break in to the 67 volt rating.  I put three pumps in the well.  One three inch flex pump from Grundfos and two four inch Grundfos flex pumps.  I bought a package from a guy in Oklahoma.  I won't recommend him to anyone.  His electrical diagram was just plain silly.  He wanted to run all three pumps on one #12 CU circuit and his relay system to switch to Alternating Current was wired with # 20 stranded wire.  I am a master electrician and I rewired everything so that each four inch pump ran on 12 panels and the three inch ran on 9 panels.  

   Now I am putting 9 more of these panels on the site to feed a small cabin.  There are controllers that will accept the higher voltage and remember with higher voltage you can use smaller wire.  When these new panels have charged the batteries for the cabin I intend to relay them to boost the power on the pumps.  

   These wonderful pumps will run on 30 to 300 volts AC or DC.  I am getting about 25-30 gallons a minute in a two inch line.  

   I would recommend these kaneka panels to anyone.  They are well made, easy to handle and work just like they are supposed to.  Jack

[Solar Wil]

we have had three pallets of these come up missing in the southwest, one in Las Vegas NV, one in Kingman AZ, and one somewhere in New Mexico. if you hear of some Kaneka 60 watt panels for sale they may be stolen

[ruddycrazy]

Our house array has 14 of the 60 watt Kaneka thin film pv panels and they have been working great for the last 7 years. When my AERL900B MPPT tracker went south I got a FM60 under my insurance and I had to re-wire all the panels in parallel as in 2 in series/parallel were too high a voltage for the FM60. The nice thing about the kaneka's is when it's overcast they STILL charge where my mono crystalline pv panels stop charging. The only way to use these panels in an off grid situation is  use a FM60/FM80 or other MPPT to get the voltage down to the battery level.

The next major RE job after my dual axial flux genny is getting those panels off the roof and onto homemade trackers where I'll put 4 panels to each tracker. This will mean I'll have to buy 2 more so I can have 4 trackers all with 4 panels.

Bang for buck if they are cheaper and your weather conditions show it's not always sunny then I would consider Kaneka Thing Film panels good value for money.

Regards Bryan

[Striider]

I got my (2) 195 watt Evergreen (think they were Sun brand - but they have evergreen labels on them) panels here, and they were 2.52 a watt over a year ago.  Almost everything they have is less than your price, and you can use less space to make more wattage.  They used to have the Kaneka 60 watt panels at 98 cents a watt (in bulk) at one point, but it looks like they sold out or you have to call for pricing.  Yes, 98 cents a watt - that's what I said!  I liked the way they shipped my panels on a pallet and well protected, and their communication was decent too.

http://sunelec.com/