Want to purchase Solar Panels from China and import to USA...

Oh, with engine hoist lifting things from the bottom (like a transformer) they can tip. So I added a strap around the top. Also have to prevent straps on bottom from slipping to center and unbalancing.

I think I did install side handles and lift tool chest that way last time. Unloading new one at home, I lifted from bottom and had to fight it quite a bit.

Safety first, and avoiding property damage second.

There are some devices to convert a hoist into a forklift. I ought to fabricate one.



Without requiring torsional strength, just tension or compression, pipes (or lumber) and cables could lift a pallet by 2x4 slipped under it.

Hedges said:

Oh, with engine hoist lifting things from the bottom (like a transformer) they can tip. So I added a strap around the top. Also have to prevent straps on bottom from slipping to center and unbalancing.

I think I did install side handles and lift tool chest that way last time. Unloading new one at home, I lifted from bottom and had to fight it quite a bit.

Safety first, and avoiding property damage second.

There are some devices to convert a hoist into a forklift. I ought to fabricate one.

View attachment 175751

Without requiring torsional strength, just tension or compression, pipes (or lumber) and cables could lift a pallet by 2x4 slipped under it.

View attachment 175752

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That lift with forks could be adapted to 3 point hitch.

HLB

Propane 11,000lb rated forklift - cost me $3,000 22 years ago, one of the best purchases I ever made, sometimes wish it was battery !
Used the forklift to raise a steel monorail beam up to the ceiling and bolted it to the steel structure above centred on the main shop truck door and put two rolling beam dollies with 1-ton chain hoists on that monorail. so handy - Back in the door with a load in truck or trailer, lift the load with the monorail hoist (or use both for long stuff) roll effortlessly down the full length of the shop and lift onto a work table or lower the load gently to the floor or a pallet for easy moving with a pallet jack. saves a lot of potential back injuries gotta say, especially as I get older.

OffGridForGood said:

Propane 11,000lb rated forklift - cost me $3,000 22 years ago, one of the best purchases I ever made, sometimes wish it was battery !
Used the forklift to raise a steel monorail beam up to the ceiling and bolted it to the steel structure above centred on the main shop truck door and put two rolling beam dollies with 1-ton chain hoists on that monorail. so handy - Back in the door with a load in truck or trailer, lift the load with the monorail hoist (or use both for long stuff) roll effortlessly down the full length of the shop and lift onto a work table or lower the load gently to the floor or a pallet for easy moving with a pallet jack. saves a lot of potential back injuries gotta say, especially as I get older.

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Just think what it would be like to have any machinery, any tools, at hand any time you need them; but not have to store and maintain them. Same goes for transportation - airplane, truck, sports car, submarine, space ship. I want to be a member of that club.

HLB

I now have the extra shipping charges on my order:

>>>>
Thank you for filling in the survey!

We noticed that residential delivery were requested for this order, and that service falls outside our standard delivery scope, so there would be a $288.50 charge (residential delivery with a liftgate and pallet jack, and sending a smaller truck to the delivery site). If you could please confirm we will proceed with an invoice for these charges.

Thank you,
Sonia
<<<<

HLB

Please keep us posted. Very interested to see final in hand cost.

@HLB any luck yet? Mine arrived today! 1500lbs was a bit heavy on the tractor but she did it

I am very happy that my shipment has arrived. As with all shipments, there were difficulties, but this one went pretty well. The shipping company, XPO, called Wednesday as I had requested the shipper to contact me before delivery. They did not know to ship in a short truck and were going to send the pallets on a 53 footer, which would not have fit. I corrected that and Thursday they brought the load in.

The driver was very helpful; however, the pallets had been positioned by the loader in such a way that the driver and I had to pull them from where they were with my tractor and rope so he could get his pallet jack under them.

The condition of the product looked good but I have not opened and examined the panels yet because of timing and rain. I will do that in the next few days.

The panels were:
HT Solar 370W - HTM370MH3-60 (34 Modules)
Quantity: Pallet - 34 Modules
QTY 2

Cost on these works out to:
$3,881.84 panel cost, for which I get $77.64 back on my credit card. The breakout for this is:

• Subtotal
  $3,522.40
• Shipping (Free Freight to Commercial Location (special services additional))
  N/A
• Tax
  $246.57
• 
  
• Processing Fee
  $112.87
• Total
  $3,881.84

$297.43 shipping beyond local commercial dock, for which I get $5.95 back on my credit card.

Total cost when credit card pays back will be $3,881.84 + $297.43 - $77.64 - $5.95 = $4,095.68

This yields a cost per Watt of $4,095.68 / (68 x 370) = 16.3 cents per Watt.

So this is a good bit better than the original price from Rosen Solar in China would have been once I got those here. I am very happy so far and I think this was just good luck for me. Thank all commenters for their help in this matter.

HLB

domsdiysolar said:

Have you looked into panels from Canada?

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Not specifically. I pretty much assumed that the cost of panels would be higher any place other than close to their manufacturing point because of middlemen. The reason for this is that highly developed countries labor costs and middlemen needs would add aggressively to the panel costs unless they offset that by automation. My only explanation for the low cost of these panels I purchased in country is that they are the product of a slowing solar industry. In fact, one of the reasons Inxeption gave for lowering the price is that they had not been selling. I don't know if Canada has any product that is selling for a similar reason at similar costs of if they have highly automated manufacturing.

HLB

JLBinTN said:

I'd go the used panel route myself. There's a broker around Knoxville who routinely sells panels at 25 cents ish per watt in quantity.

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HLB got better price (21.60/w) on New with warrantyn delivered to his home.

OffGridForGood said:

HLB got better price (21.60/w) on New with warrantyn delivered to his home.

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Actually better than that - 16.3 cents per Watt.

HLB

And here they are at SanTan for $0.42/W
So you got like 61% additional discount buying direct.


Don't think I see the company on California's CEC list.
Which would be handy for PG&E approval.



"HTM360-380MH3-60
Qingdao Hinergy New Energy Co., Ltd"


Oh, maybe it is "Tangshan Haitai New Energy Technology Co., Ltd."
They are on CEC list, but no panels smaller than 395W

Awewome!

I’m surprised this worked out so well. Congrats.

Bluedog225 said:

I’m surprised this worked out so well. Congrats.

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You aren't the only one...
I am going to unpack them tomorrow and see what I have.

HLB

So...now that you have 68 solar panels, what is the plan for them?

OffGridForGood said:

So...now that you have 68 solar panels, what is the plan for them?

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I have 68 solar panels because I could not resist the price. Now I have to look at them, pull a few out to test, and store the rest because there are other things I was already doing that have to be done. Next Summer I can start to mount them. I have one old 2KW inverter and 6KWh of batteries that I can toy with. After that, it is new inverter and battery time. I will learn the ins and outs of government and power provider "control" in my area. I would love to build my own inverter. I want to develop a high voltage buck converter to run the direct current from, hopefully, all the panels in series, to my inverter/battery location. I could use the batteries to "float" the down-converted solar voltage across to the inverter and that would keep the batteries charged also. That would be 68 x 41 = 2,788 Vdc down to nominal inverter battery input. This probably hinges on the meaning of the parameter "Maximum System Voltage 1000/1500V" of the panels. So, dysfunctional as that may be, that is my plan.

HLB

HLB said:

I have 68 solar panels

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HLB said:

I want to develop a high voltage buck converter to run the direct current from, hopefully, all the panels in series,

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41.2Voc x 68 = 2806V

Please have the good sense to buy life insurance and be sure to create a video for others to learn from.

HLB said:

I have 68 solar panels because I could not resist the price. Now I have to look at them, pull a few out to test, and store the rest because there are other things I was already doing that have to be done. Next Summer I can start to mount them.

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I have room for them, if you need a baby sitter until next summer!

HLB said:

I have one old 2KW inverter and 6KWh of batteries that I can toy with.

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I think your 68 panels will charge those batteries in about 14 minutes of good sunshine...Ya gonna need a bigger ESS I feel!

HLB said:

I will learn the ins and outs of government and power provider "control" in my area.

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This one,...likely at odds with:

HLB said:

I would love to build my own inverter.

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UL1741?

HLB said:

I want to develop a high voltage buck converter to run the direct current from, hopefully, all the panels in series, to my inverter/battery location. I could use the batteries to "float" the down-converted solar voltage across to the inverter and that would keep the batteries charged also. That would be 68 x 41 = 2,788 Vdc down to nominal inverter battery input.

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UL 9540A?

HLB said:

This probably hinges on the meaning of the parameter "Maximum System Voltage 1000/1500V" of the panels.

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Maybe you split your panels into two or three groups of <1000v/<1500v
Honestly, I can't even imagine this kind of DC current, let alone the safety aspects of actually working with this voltage.

HLB said:

So, dysfunctional as that may be, that is my plan.

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I hope to see what you come up with, how you control it, and what the advantages are over off the shelf systems.

Hedges said:

And here they are at SanTan for $0.42/W
So you got like 61% additional discount buying direct.

New HT Solar 370W Mono Solar Panel | SanTan Solar

These panels ship from GILBERT, AZ ONLY New with factory warranty

www.santansolar.com

Don't think I see the company on California's CEC list.
Which would be handy for PG&E approval.

https://solarequipment.energy.ca.gov/Home/PVModuleList

ENF Ltd.

A global solar panel directory with advanced filters that lets you review and compare panels. Pictures, datasheets, PDFs are shown.

www.enfsolar.com

"HTM360-380MH3-60
Qingdao Hinergy New Energy Co., Ltd"


Oh, maybe it is "Tangshan Haitai New Energy Technology Co., Ltd."
They are on CEC list, but no panels smaller than 395W

https://cdn.energypal.com/panels/htm370mh-72/energypal-solar-panel-spec-datasheet-tangshan-haitai-htm360-390mh-72-htm370mh-72.pdf

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That last site listed the panels as HTM370MH3-72 rather than -60. I don't know what that means. While I did try to buy direct from China, the Inxeption place is not a "direct from China" buy but some sort of shipping company that happened to have these in their warehouses - I think. So, the title of this thread has morphed in to, "I tried to buy direct from China direct but found them cheaper here". I am so happy that I do not have to comply with California's energy deity and their equipment lists. I just don't comply that well - never have been able to do that.

HLB