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Old 22-01-2019, 13:25   #1
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Panasonic HIT solar on sale

330W Panasonic HIT solar panel on sale for $360.00 from Coastal Climate.
https://www.coastalclimatecontrol.co...egory=25861122

Is this panel a good deal?

In contrast, a "high end" panel like the Sun Power X22-360 is north of $1400, 30W more, same size and weight. What do you get for the extra $1000 besides 30W?
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Old 22-01-2019, 15:54   #2
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

Panasonic HIT are great panels if you have the room for them.

$330 at altestore.com.

https://www.altestore.com/store/sola...AN330HITMONO40
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Old 22-01-2019, 20:14   #3
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

I have of these on my cat. Super panels at a great price. I also purchased from Alt E.
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Old 22-01-2019, 20:57   #4
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

Given the panel size (watts), do you have separate controller per panel? Or series or parallel them? I'm tempted at that price to get a few for our cat, but I haven't worked out the logistics of connection! (yes, we have the space...)
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Old 22-01-2019, 21:56   #5
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

I did a 3 in parallel and 2 in parallel. The 3 panel config has a Victron MPPT 150/85 and the 2 panel config has a Victron MPPT 100/50. I also have each panel running into its own breaker before it hits the Controller. I have seen 80 amps coming in with my 5 panel setup when the sun is high in the sky. I think somethings wrong with me cause I constantly stare at the BMS in amazement at the power it produces. Sorry hunny.
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Old 23-01-2019, 03:46   #6
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

For about the same price you can get the Benq Sunforte, about 330W as well. The good thing about those is they share the exact same dimensions as Sunpowers. It seems to me those panasonics are slightly different, but could be a metric conversion error.
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Old 23-01-2019, 07:48   #7
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

The HIT cells that Panasonic uses are what make this panel a great deal. They are the closest cell, commercially available, to the super efficiency of SunPower cells, 20% as vs 23%. So, one will get more amps per watt from the HIT or SunPower panels than off other panels made with less efficient cells.

I haven't seen AltE's shipping costs, but that should be a factor to consider when purchasing. May negate the $30 difference with Coastal Climate Control's offer.
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Old 23-01-2019, 08:00   #8
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

I purchased 3 panels from Alt E. From MA to South Florida was $200 smackers for shipping so yes its a big part of the equation.

I also read that the Panasonic panels were rated just under Sunpowers specs. It was difficult to find the Sunpower panels or should I say impossible to find a company to sell them. There was someone down in the Keys who quoted me like $1400 a panel which is just bonkers.
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Old 23-01-2019, 08:30   #9
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

Yes, Sunpower panels are hard to find. I'm told their dealers prefer to sell to commercial accounts in large quantities, not 1-8 to individuals.

I believe Coastal Climate Control charges a flat rate to truck the panels, MA (factory) to FL, NC, TX, etc: $95 per pallet load (one panel or more, don't know how many can be on one pallet, but you get the point).
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Old 23-01-2019, 09:25   #10
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

AltE's website just quoted me $446.25 for shipping one panel from Mass to a residential address in New Jersey. Yikes! Shipping to the marina where the boat is would be $294.45. Coastal Climate's website says they will not deliver to my home address. Looks like either way I'll need a long drive to take advantage of this.
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Old 23-01-2019, 09:44   #11
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

Perhaps you should give Coastal or AltE a call. Sometimes humans know more than computers.....
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Old 23-01-2019, 10:19   #12
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

Disclosure - I'm a former Sunpower employee. I didn't pay street prices for any of my panels.

In theory Sunpower only allows sales of their panels installed, and they won't do boat installs. Any panels sold without installation are serious grey market but they are sometimes available. Sunpower does sell cells to other vendors (Solbian for example) who then put the cells into modules.

I have 4x230W Panasonic HIT panels and 2x230W Sunpower panels. All are about 6 years old. All have nearly identical specs - 19% efficiency, 42.x Vmp, 5.4x Imp (they differ in the final decimal). We have them installed to try and make sure they get 'equal' shading (as much as we can).

Have done a lot of datalogging over time (amongst other things I did performance guarantee work/validation for Sunpower). Short answer, the HIT panels produce about 6% less total energy over the long-haul compared to the Sunpower panels. About 1/3 of the difference is evident in the temperature coefficient, which is slightly higher with the Panasonics, so they perform a little less well as temperature rises. The rest is mostly due to slightly lower performance in lower light conditions (before 10AM and after 3PM or so).

We charge LA batteries, so we don't tend to use all of the available solar in the afternoon, therefore the Sunpower panels might gain a bit more in afternoon but my data won't support that because we've moved off the maximum power point.

In the end, the absolute best you'll see might be a 10% performance bump from Sunpower panels over other high-efficiency panels. Boat systems tend to be very space limited and that 10% may justify a significant price bump. But if you can find just a little bit more space then the HITs and their other high-efficiency brethren probably make a much more cost-effective solution.
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Old 23-01-2019, 10:25   #13
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

[QUOTE=
I haven't seen AltE's shipping costs, but that should be a factor to consider when purchasing. May negate the $30 difference with Coastal Climate Control's offer.[/QUOTE]

Def check out shipping costs. I looked at both companies and the cost was more than the panel
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Old 23-01-2019, 12:32   #14
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anna Sail View Post
The HIT cells that Panasonic uses are what make this panel a great deal. They are the closest cell, commercially available, to the super efficiency of SunPower cells, 20% as vs 23%. So, one will get more amps per watt from the HIT or SunPower panels than off other panels made with less efficient cells.

I haven't seen AltE's shipping costs, but that should be a factor to consider when purchasing. May negate the $30 difference with Coastal Climate Control's offer.
More amps per watt????

You might want to rethink that pronouncement!

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Old 23-01-2019, 13:25   #15
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Re: Panasonic HIT solar on sale

Maybe it was watts of solar?
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