Buying solar panels, what to look for?

[Dinobot248]

What are some things to look for when buying solar panels for diy ground mount?


I want to steer away from voltage, current, and or physical size. I know for diy, you want to try and match up your inverter solar input (max VOC, max current, max watts) with the number of solar panels.

I know the bi-facials cost more and certain brands are priced higher.

Another way to ask is why are these Hyundai 305w panels so much cheaper at 0.32 / watt for a pallet and 0.37 / watt for 10 panels. The other panels hover around 0.50 to 0.60 per watt.

Hyundai 9.15kW Pallet - 305W Solar Panel ( Black Frame ) | Half-Cell Mono-Crystalline| HiA-S305HG | Full Pallet (30 Solar Panels)

Signature Solar provides solar panels, off-grid solar systems, grid-tie, and hybrid systems. Quality solar inverters, bifacial solar panels, complete solar kits, solar batteries. Featuring brands such as EG4 Electronics with their solar battery, LifePower4 and EG4 LLifePower4 and EG4 LL

signaturesolar.com

 

[42OhmsPA]

I'd be looking for deals at Santan Solar and check your local Craigslist, ebay and Facebook marketplace (I re-activated my account and found LG neon's within 100 miles.
I imagine some are cheaper because of manufacturing costs, glass thickness, and freight to get them to there destination from the manufacturer.
Don't forget to take cold temperature corrections into account with your VoC calculations.

What are some things to look for when buying solar panels for diy ground mount?


I want to steer away from voltage, current, and or physical size. I know for diy, you want to try and match up your inverter solar input (max VOC, max current, max watts) with the number of solar panels.

I know the bi-facials cost more and certain brands are priced higher.

Another way to ask is why are these Hyundai 305w panels so much cheaper at 0.32 / watt for a pallet and 0.37 / watt for 10 panels. The other panels hover around 0.50 to 0.60 per watt.

Hyundai 9.15kW Pallet - 305W Solar Panel ( Black Frame ) | Half-Cell Mono-Crystalline| HiA-S305HG | Full Pallet (30 Solar Panels)

Signature Solar provides solar panels, off-grid solar systems, grid-tie, and hybrid systems. Quality solar inverters, bifacial solar panels, complete solar kits, solar batteries. Featuring brands such as EG4 Electronics with their solar battery, LifePower4 and EG4 LLifePower4 and EG4 LL

signaturesolar.com

 

[zanydroid]

.

Another way to ask is why are these Hyundai 305w panels so much cheaper at 0.32 / watt for a pallet and 0.37 / watt for 10 panels. The other panels hover around 0.50 to 0.60 per watt.

Hyundai 9.15kW Pallet - 305W Solar Panel ( Black Frame ) | Half-Cell Mono-Crystalline| HiA-S305HG | Full Pallet (30 Solar Panels)

Signature Solar provides solar panels, off-grid solar systems, grid-tie, and hybrid systems. Quality solar inverters, bifacial solar panels, complete solar kits, solar batteries. Featuring brands such as EG4 Electronics with their solar battery, LifePower4 and EG4 LLifePower4 and EG4 LL

signaturesolar.com

These are quite small (so you need more racking) and lower efficiency (so you need about 10% more area to get the same power). Installation labor sort of scales by the number of panels too.

By comparison if one were to go with 450W modules you would only need racking for 20 panels for about the same DC output.

Sometimes smaller panels do make sense, I bought some 120cell ones slightly bigger than the ones you linked to fill a gap on my roof. I think they were pretty heavily discounted relative to the 144 cell ones I used elsewhere (both bigger and higher efficiency)

 

[Dinobot248]

Thanks for the responses. Locally, Facebook and Craigslist are sna desert and does not have anything.

Since this is.diy, I have tended to stay away from larger panels. I am an army of one. They are heavier and as tall as me. I know they require less mounting hardware. That price point of 0.31/watt (almost half of the Amazon based panels 0.55/watt) is very tempting.

 

[zanydroid]

Thanks for the responses. Locally, Facebook and Craigslist are sna desert and does not have anything.

Since this is.diy, I have tended to stay away from larger panels. I am an army of one. They are heavier and as tall as me. I know they require less mounting hardware. That price point of 0.31/watt (almost half of the Amazon based panels 0.55/watt) is very tempting.

FWIW on my first install as a newb roof DIYer I installed 15 400W class panels myself on a single story roof over three weeks in July, and am doing 9 more next month. Those kinds of panels are about 45lb

If this is roof mount then you may compromise on number of panels. If it is engineered ground mount then more panels may mean more ballast or concrete which I don't think is cheap.

If it's ground mount not subject to inspections and you are value engineering it then you can probably come out ahead using these smaller/older gen panels.

 

[SamDeleted]

Price per WATT !

 

[pvgirl]

Price per watt, including shipping, mounting, cables, and combiners. Also consider space available.

 

[SamDeleted]

Also consider space available.

Yep , price and dimensions! That's all the really matters

 

[shadowmaker]

For Ohio ground mount I'd be looking bifacials for sure. 30-40% gain with snow on the ground while going through the darkest time of the year should help productionwise. Price per watt is the single most important thing, but bifacials produce more than their nominal wattage suggest, especially with snow and "loose" installation. Even without vertical installation they warm up much faster to slide snow off and start bifacial production.

I'd be looking for N-type cells as they don't seem to be any more expensive than "normal" P-type ones. Don't know about NA price level on mono-/bifacial or P-/N-type, but here, where everything is usually super expensive, I can order a pallet of 700W Bluesun bifacials (N-type, shingled cell, HJT, 22,8% efficiency) home delivered including 24% VAT under 0,3€/W.

 

[Dinobot248]

Those are some good prices for the Bluesun bi-facials. I would be afraid of a solar panel taller than most basketball players.

Nowadays, there isn't that much snow that sticks to the ground. We get 2 or 3 snow storms for winter, but everything else melts away within a day or two. It's been this way for several years.

I didn't mention it, but I get over 80% of my solar from about 12 noon to 4pm. It's probably more in the 90% range when you factor efficiency losses and covering the house load. House is facing north and trees are on both east and west sides.

I get about 1/2 of the standard solar collected (e.g. enter PV array size and zip code only) based on pvwatts.gov

 

[Gertundan]

You're right about bi-facial panels costing more, but they can be worth it if you have the budget and space for them. Brand reputation also plays a role in pricing, so it's good to do some research and read reviews from fellow DIYers. Now, about those Hyundai 305w panels being cheaper, it might indeed be due to bulk pricing or promotions. Sometimes, it's all about timing and getting a good deal. One tip I'd offer is to consider looking into solar kits. They often come with everything you need – panels, inverters, and mounting gear – and can be a cost-effective solution for a DIY project. Plus, it simplifies the whole process.

 

[zanydroid]

I mean 305W NIB strongly implies they’ve been hoarded somewhere for a quite a few years (IE since 305W was a mainstream form factor) which implies an eager seller.

 

[CJM]

What are some things to look for when buying solar panels for diy ground mount?


I want to steer away from voltage, current, and or physical size. I know for diy, you want to try and match up your inverter solar input (max VOC, max current, max watts) with the number of solar panels.

I know the bi-facials cost more and certain brands are priced higher.

Another way to ask is why are these Hyundai 305w panels so much cheaper at 0.32 / watt for a pallet and 0.37 / watt for 10 panels. The other panels hover around 0.50 to 0.60 per watt.

Hyundai 9.15kW Pallet - 305W Solar Panel ( Black Frame ) | Half-Cell Mono-Crystalline| HiA-S305HG | Full Pallet (30 Solar Panels)

Signature Solar provides solar panels, off-grid solar systems, grid-tie, and hybrid systems. Quality solar inverters, bifacial solar panels, complete solar kits, solar batteries. Featuring brands such as EG4 Electronics with their solar battery, LifePower4 and EG4 LLifePower4 and EG4 LL

signaturesolar.com

In EU panels are dumped to Ukraine. Dirtcheap. Buy as many you can afford.

 

[Hedges]

Quality.
Some panels degrade rapidly (depends on environment - hot and wet? Ammonia from a cattle ranch? Also operating conditions. Negative biased, positive biased, or floating with typical transformerless equipment like virtually all today.)
I favor brands which score high on accelerated life tests.

Redoing Canada Cabin Off grid system

I am looking for 1800 watts of 24 volt solar panels and mounting hardware for my cabin roof in Canada. Suggestions? FYI ... l also plan through away my third set of 8 acid batteries (Crown) and install four (4) 24 volt Battle Born LIFE04 in parallel. Pictures attached...

diysolarforum.com