PV Panels. recommendations?

[Wolvenar]

Ok guys this year I am going to get serious about getting my RE system back online, and doing some *real* work.
One of the first things I would like to accomplish is obtaining at LEAST couple hundred probably more in PV.

Anyone have recommendations on brands that are good for their price, and if anyone knows a good place that sells them where it is cost effective to ship to central Minnesota.
I'm hoping not to turn myself into to much of a sucker

Yeah I know I could be inviting shameless advertising here,
but if its done with some class and scrutiny and meant to fit the intent...
I am hoping this does not get out of hand, and the rest of the mods will allow it.

[RichHagen]

I made a purchase of some Evergreen panels from Sunelec.com for 78 Cents U.S. per Watt.  I have yet to mount them, but they appear to test as advertised.  These have the MC cables, for my own stuff I actually prefer a junction box with knockouts, but for the price these seem a real bargain to me.  Even with shipping I was under a buck a Watt.  They had re-advertised some at this price and still had some last time I checked, but I think the minimum was about 4 panels.  The ones I got were 215 Watt panels, and they are about 30 Volt at maximum power point.  Rich

[oztules]

Looks a bargain to me too.....and I build my own.



..........oztules

[Wolvenar]

Well cannot get them at that price anymore, but anyone with experience and feedback on
Canadian Solar?

[Volvo farmer]

Looks like prices are going up some. I got some Suntech 170s for $1.23/watt, but they appear to be over $1.50 now, unless you get into the 250W size panels.  Be advised, Sunelec is really weird to deal with, and they're not real fond of small orders from what I have heard.  Might read up here before ordering, and maybe use a credit card to be safe.

http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/showthread.php?13559-78-cents-per-watt-is-it-too-good-to-be-true

[ChrisOlson]

Well cannot get them at that price anymore, but anyone with experience and feedback on
Canadian Solar?

I was going to buy Canadian Solar panels the last time I got some.  But then I found out they are made in China.  So I bought Schott Solar instead that are Made In USA.  I got some low voltage (~ 30 Vmp) panels and connected them series with MPPT.  They work good when they're not covered with ice and snow.

I was sweeping them off religiously every day for nothing.  We got freezing rain a few days ago and I worked for two hours to get 1/4" of ice off them that was tougher, stronger and harder than tungsten carbide.  Then it snowed again.  So I swept them off again.  The sun was supposed to shine yesterday.  Never happened - just heavy overcast.  Then it snowed again last night - another 3".

I went out to bring in a sack of coal this morning and looked at the panels buried under snow again.  Then I looked at the turbines, which had shed their ice a few hours after the freezing rain problem, and were spinning just at cut-in in a light breeze from the SE.  I said to heck with it.  Them solar panels are as worthless as tits on a boar pig.  They can stay buried because I'm done with it.

Solar Panels (sole-urr pann ulz): n: devices installed in Wisconsin that collect snow at the proper angle to reflect all the sun's heat down to the Bahamas
--
Chris

[Wolvenar]

Next up.. shipping costs..

I hope I could find something within the state, or neighboring states ( or Michigan as I am going there soon)

[ghurd]

Solar insolation
Some days a solar panel may not make any power.

Average wind speed
Sometimes a wind turbine make not make any power for 3 days.

There were many a sunny day with the turbine not spinning.

[Wolvenar]

Yeah plan to do both, wish I had usable hydro 

[oztules]

It's sad that the weather up in the USofA is so poor.

My home brew ones did 25.2kwh on Wednesday.

The windmill (which only charges the EV) barely turned a watt. No wind makes no power, but even a very very dull day gets me 5-7kwh, and a good day 25+.

Here is how it's going since 8 December 2011: http://pvoutput.org/list.jsp?id=6301&sid=5018

................oztules

[Wolvenar]

Ok now you have me interested in that link.. I tried to find a little more info on the site for recommended ways to setup but came up kinds empty..

Car to share how *you* do it?
Is it automated, or is it all manual?

[ChrisOlson]

I hope I could find something within the state, or neighboring states ( or Michigan as I am going there soon)

There's some panels that are built in Milwaukee by Helios Solar Works:
http://heliossolarworks.com/

I have no experience with their panels at all, but one of the RE installers in Eau Claire uses their panels for all their installations and they're happy with them.  There's a Contact link there where you could get hold of them to find out about prices and whether or not you can just swing right in and load some up in your truck when you go to Michigan.

The first 20 days of January, which is the last time I processed the SD card in my APRS data logger, we had 88.2 kWh from 2,230 watts of installed solar capacity, 468.4 kWh from wind, and 8.9 hours on the genset.  We got enough solar capacity, but won't waste any more money on it in the future.

Living in the "weather shadow" of the largest body of fresh water on earth just is not conductive to good solar conditions.  The lake isn't freezing over this year and that just makes continuous heavy overcast.  The lake only typically freezes over about once every 20 years and then we get clear conditions in the winter.

On the solar maps we live right smack dab in the "bad" zone of Lake Superior.
--
Chris

[RichHagen]

I'm doing a bit better down in the balmy Chicago region.  I still managed over a Kwh on a  relatively dim cloudy day from my panels.  On the bright side, the snow is off the panels, and from plotting power production in a prior year, I know that the panels will generally be producing more power as the season wears on.  It is a slow choppy trend, but it is upward from here.  The darkest times are  behind us. 

Solar and wind tend to compliment each other well, but still about  5% of the days there is not much of either here.

[Freejuice]

Heck, probably if it meets a UL 17401 code you are probably in a good "quality" zone if it has passed those standards....maybe?
I got in on those Evergreen panels from Sun elec @ 78 cents a watt... after testing each panel they are doing what it is rated for... I'm still doing the DIY install.
 Anyway, I thought I was buying AMERICAN MADE or at least European, but found out they were also made in China; they look well made...I really have no beef with the Chinese, but feel they have enough share of the world economy and there no harm in spreading the wealth around to American or European workers.
 Like Chris, did I also looked at Canadian Solar and was surprised to find they were Chinese Mfg'ed.....good cover huh? LOL maybe I will start a solar panel company,  use the same assembly line in  China and parrot "Ottawa Solar"....groan.

LOL, now for the real kicker, since I'm grid tying these panels I opted to drink the Enphase micro-inverter koolaid....heck it was the 25 year warranty which sold me....if they stay afloat for 25 years...but that's another issue unto it's self. Anyway,  I began to " fondle" the just arrived Micro-inverters and figured since they were a California Company and damn proud to be so, that at least  would be made over here in the states....lol...wrong again, yep it was China.

Oh to add.... there has been a lot of happy customers from Sun elec and not so happy customers, personally my order was done without a hitch...without me spurring them along... when they won that that giant 7MW Evergreen auction, I inquired about some panels on their blog and left my contact number....heck the next day my phone rang 2-3 times from folks at Sun. At anytime throughout the ordering process they called or email and gave me updates such as shipping date, the carrier,  etc.
 Would I buy from them again?- Yes
 It appears those who make inquiries on Sun's blog gets the attention!

[rossw]

yep it was China

If you dig deep enough, you'll find the vast majority of stuff has a non-trivial chinese content.

There are not many non-chinese PV manufacturers left. There are an alarming number of people who just "re-badge" chinese stuff and sell it as their own. Hell, most of them don't even re-badge it - the chinese will print whatever you want on it before they ship it!