Solar Panels - Whats The Latest News?

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by capricorntwenty

Mmmmm, why bother about the price per watt...what would you pay NOT to have warm beer constantly!

Most of my customers its more about hard ice cream than beer.

[TacomaSailor]

A little history

Three of us purchased eight (8) 125 watt Kyocera panels in May 2000. We did a bulk purchase deal at $600/panel.

$4.80 per watt

The good thing is that on just my boat (4 panels) they have cooled at least 12,000 cans of beer so the per beer cost is down to 20 cents per can. If we add in all the cheese and steak the panels start to seem economical.

[Symphony]

thanks for this thread. besides cost, what are the implications or differences between the controllers?

thank you in advance

[capricorntwenty]

Having sailed for years on my monohull without refrigeration, without engine, telling all and sundry that I didn't need cold beer and wine etcetera, with my new cat I realised what an idiot I had been for those former years, so, price that if you will, priceless probably!!

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Symphony

thanks for this thread. besides cost, what are the implications or differences between the controllers?

thank you in advance

This discusses controllers:

Installing A Small Marine Solar System Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

[carlo de leo]

Originally Posted by TacomaSailor

A little history

Three of us purchased eight (8) 125 watt Kyocera panels in May 2000. We did a bulk purchase deal at $600/panel.

$4.80 per watt

The good thing is that on just my boat (4 panels) they have cooled at least 12,000 cans of beer so the per beer cost is down to 20 cents per can. If we add in all the cheese and steak the panels start to seem economical.

Way To Go!!
I see some complaining on price (not you Tacoma), but here in Brazil, a chinese semi flex panel costs U$5/watt....😩😩

[latka]

[QUOTE=Boatguy30;2130965]The really big Chinese panels are less than $1 watt but decent marine quality panels are still well over $1.

What's really new is that the Chinese are now the driving force behind the solar energy development. They now produce and install more (5x more compared with US) solar panels than any other nation in the world.
We can thank the Germans for embracing the technology in its early stages of development but the Chinese,with German investment, are taking it to a different level. The constantly falling production costs have resulted in cheaper produced energy compared to oil.
As far as quality is concerned, most Chinese panels are now on a par with the ones produces in Europe and the US.

[Summersail]

Way to go Tacomasailor......you could be an Aussie with that sort of attitude!

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by Symphony

thanks for this thread. besides cost, what are the implications or differences between the controllers?

thank you in advance

PWM controllers basically switch themselves off and on at a high frequency, in an effort to drop the solar panel voltage down to the charging voltage. MPPT controllers find the maximum power point of the solar panel(s) in real time and adjust the incoming voltage accordingly, while converting the high voltage/low amperage input to lower voltage/higher amperage output to the batteries. MPPT controllers are more efficient, it's not that they make power, it's that they don't waste any power, unlike PWM controllers that shut off for a percentage of the time, which is wasted power.

I prefer higher voltage, higher output panels, and MPPT controllers harvest the most power out of the array's output.

If you know what to look for, you can find good MPPT controllers for such low prices that it doesn't make sense to settle for a PWM controller, the price difference is almost negligible especially when you amortize it over the life of the system and the extra power you'll harvest.

[Getweh]

Originally Posted by TacomaSailor

The good thing is that on just my boat (4 panels) they have cooled at least 12,000 cans of beer so the per beer cost is down to 20 cents per can. If we add in all the cheese and steak the panels start to seem economical.

You sure your math is right? Thats only approx 2beer/day???

[phalo]

Newhaul mentions a preference for mono over polycrystalline pv panels but my company has installed both on land sites over 20 years with some sited side by side showing very similar total daily power . I believe clear sunny sky parameters suit the mono and normal weather conditions suit the poly .
Tacomasailor mentions Kyocera panels which don't seem to claim mono or poly status and were the leading panel for performance in Australia for many years.
However 2000 was a not a good vintage for Kyocera as we had to replace the same model manufactured in 2000 on our Seawind two years back. Quite a few were replaced on land sites as well. Fortunately our panels were replaced under warranty before Kyocera closed up in Australia.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by carlo de leo

Way To Go!!
I see some complaining on price (not you Tacoma), but here in Brazil, a chinese semi flex panel costs U$5/watt....😩😩

Same in the UK, although this price level is for the higher quality panels rather than the really cheap ones which don't even have the junction boxes potted to seal them, a disaster in the marine environment. Still even this price is down considerably on the cost a few years ago.

Pete

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by phalo

Newhaul mentions a preference for mono over polycrystalline pv panels but my company has installed both on land sites over 20 years with some sited side by side showing very similar total daily power . I believe clear sunny sky parameters suit the mono and normal weather conditions suit the poly .

Here in the pnw I have found that in a side by side the mono do better in " normal" weather .
The poly seem to need a more direct solar angle and clear conditions. ( which we rarely get here. )

[EllesBelles]

Newhaul, would you mind sharing your "goto" manufacturers for panels? We currently have mppt set up and have been waiting for the right solution to upgrade our arch panels on our Antares 44i.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by EllesBelles

Newhaul, would you mind sharing your "goto" manufacturers for panels? We currently have mppt set up and have been waiting for the right solution to upgrade our arch panels on our Antares 44i.

Well most of my customers are on a strict budget so for the most part I install 12 v system panels from windy nation and renogy and the p30 l pwm controllers but the panels would work great with about any controller you want to hook them to. ( last time I talked to carol at windy she told me that for now they don't have any mono panels available for small installs like we do on boats) . Look on eBay you can usually get some good deals from renogy on panels . The last one I got from them was 100 watt mono for 125 delivered.