750w of solar for $525 in Denver. OR Jimmys new toys.

[jimindenver]

I found a ad on craigslist earlier in the year for 250 and 280w panels for decent prices. Maybe not as cheap as the installer left overs I had been getting but these are brand new and warrantied. I ended up chatting with the guy for a hour and found out he owns the manufacturing plant here in the states. We talked at length and he is interested in the small systems I make and the Eco-worthy controllers I have been using. Planned is a future lunch to discuss some business plans. We shall see.

So these are the panels.

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j114/Jimindenver/P1018036.jpg~original

This is the label

http://s78.photobucket.com/user/Jimindenver/media/P1018035.jpg.html

I switch from the two Mono 245w panels because in light cloud cover they drop in output faster than a stone sinks. That is fine when you have a grid tied back up but not off grid where we still need our amps. These three panels will put out 12-15a where as the monos would drop to 2.38a in the lightest of cloud cover.

Should any of you be here or even passing thru the area and are interested, PM me and I'll send you his number. He also has 280w poly panels but those are 6 ft. The last price he had on those was $225 I believe.

 

[sushidog]

What voltage system are you planning on building? If only 12v, you will need a MPPT controller to get the most out of these high voltage panels. Looks like a great deal though at only 70 cents/watt.

At 71 cents/watt (available one at a time) these are a good deal for poly panels too: http://sunelec.com/solar-panels/sharp-245w-module.html

Chip

 

[jimindenver]

Chip

I have been using a 20a MPPT controller per panel so far and stacking them for larger loads like the microwave or air conditioner. I had intended on mounting the 245w monos but while testing them last year was disappointed in the low light abilities and the weather tends to compress coming over the mountains around noon daily, so we have lots of low light conditions that I wanted to deal with.

As for the controller I,m pretty sure I'll go with the Morningstar TS-MPPT-60 unless I pick up a fourth panel and build a platform, then it will likely be the big Outback.

Those sharp panels look great if you can pick them up locally.

 

[highdesertranger]

on the photo bucket site I saw a motor home with all kinds of panels on it. is that yours? those panel are made in the Navajo nation, I like, I am going to look into these. highdesertranger

 

[jimindenver]

No I found that on RV.net a while back. What a hoot. There is also a video of a rig that when it stops the panels slide out to reveal more panels under them. Kind of the RV version of sky lab to me. Of course me setting my big panels out as portables until I get them mounted makes it look like we are running a mini solar farm, so I guess I can't say much. lol

I like the fact that these are made here. It is a joint venture and they have a plant in Taiwan too. Partly just for the Made in the US thing and part because I've read how the competition between the Chinese manufactures has some of them cutting corners with questionable materials. Some of the cheap panels you can get are grade B too or even white sheet, probably good enough for our uses but not top quality. These are made here, grade A and under warranty.

I'll past the contact through PM and I bet he can tell you where to pick some up without having to come to Denver.

 

[IGBT]

Funny, I am seeing the exact opposite with our monocrystalline panels.  They are giving me 230 to 250 watts  on a 1000 watt system when it is heavily overcast, and even some power when it is foggy and pouring rain.   I never saw that type of output on a poly panel I had (but it is older).

Anyway, I think a lot of the debate over mono vs poly is just myth.   Maybe mythbusters will do a episode on it...if they can put C4 under the panel for the climax.

 

[jimindenver]

Last night I left the 250w poly and 245w mono in our drive. In bright sun they are really close and its hard to tell if its the different panels or the controllers making the decisions. The mono does tend to run a few 10s of a amp higher. Physically they are the same size so there isn't enough efficiency difference for the hype.

I haven't had the cloudy weather to go side by side but at dusk this morning the poly was awake and the mono asleep. That's the same as with my older poly so I am hoping to get the same usable output in cloudy weather.

Now how you set up affects low light output. In series monos can still kick out at the cost of less efficiency in bright light. My first test with the three polys will be in series since I don't have the cabling to handle the 30+ amp coming down in parallel.

 

[IGBT]

Yes, I have yet to see anyone place two panels, mono and poly, side by side, exact same manufacture date, same manufacture quality, and use the same controller for both, then give power output results in various solar conditions.

It is always, "well, I heard from a friend's brother's son that poly does better than mono in low light"

 

[jimindenver]

I've been doing the side by side test between poly and monos every since I got one of each 3 years ago. The 245w mono and 250w poly are both newer panels of good quality unlike the first two that were extremely different in size and output. I have often seen the hype for monos but that is for a grid tied situation, what they were developed for is getting the most out of bright sun and using the grid when it isn't bright. As a RVer the only fall back I have is a generator s if the polys can give us enough to even scrape by, we are better off than running the generator.

 

[gypsychic]

Good info for me on poly vs. mono for when I buy solar. I'm in PNW and see my share of overcast times throughout the day. I have been reading all your write ups about your experiences and I, for one, am very glad you take the time to write about them. Thank you jimindenver.

 

[jimindenver]

When I ran the test with the AC using the 245w mono and the 250w poly side by side, I was getting the opposite results as I expected based on my older 230w poly. It made sense this morning when I set one of the panels out for charging and the controller I thought was its was asleep still. I had miss ID'd the controllers.

The 250w poly peaks out so far at 17.75 amp and usually ran 17a+. The 245w mono peaks 17.2a but usually runs 16.5 - 16.75a.

Both had a Voc of 35v before hook up and I did Vmp at high noon and when the light was dropping. The poly ran 33v Vmp vs the monos 26 at high noon and 26 vs 20 Vmp in lower light. The poly had more voltage to lose as the light drops and will continue producing longer. The next morning the poly woke up it's controller at first light, not the mono.

The poly is new but the mono was new last year. They have the same foot print and only a 5w difference. I would have to say the hype about mono being more efficient in bright light or low in bunk.

 

[jimindenver]

I should have updated this before. When I sold off the last Mono system I found out why my numbers were off. I had the controllers labeled backwards. The 250 was outpacing the mono buy a half a amp in bright light and killed it in low.

Anyways, the monos are gone and today I was able to run test on the 250w polys on the MS-MPPT-60. I ran one test on a single panel to not only see what it provided at lower voltages but also compared to the Eco-worthy 20a MPPT controllers i have been using. Both controllers were seeing over 18a so the MS isn't a improvement there, it's the features I wanted. In series the three panels at 104.9v provided 48 amps which would be 6 amps short of three panels in parallel. Hardly worth the difference in wiring cost but i still have shading test to do.

I used the air conditioner again as a load and even though it ran for 4 hours the difference between two panels was night and day. With two panels the controllers stayed in bulk and the battery slowly lost voltage. With three panels the start surge from the compressor starting was almost unnoticeable. When the compressor restarting after cycling I had to look at the kill a watt to make sure it was running. Even running the excess power was bringing the battery voltage up and the controller switched to absorb at 45a. The voltage really rose when the compressor was off since the fan uses 80w and the panels were putting out 660w.