Solar Panels

[rastus86]

anyone tell me the best and cheapest place to get solar panels from ?

[trash]

Ya know those traffic control lights ? Oh right, legally

Ebay had some good prices, but the shipping might kill that idea.

A good price is about $10 per Watt, $6.60/W is a very good price.

There are also a few solar specialists around, but I don't know how their prices compare.

[Godzilla]

I noticed Super cheap auto now carry them in the battery department the other day near the chargers if that helps you.

[z80]

China is the cheapest.


But locally Altronics wholesale will do an 80 watt panel for about $575 inc GST.

Of course I am talking about monocrystalline panels, not the cheap polycrystalline ones.

Also they are weatherproofed and have an inbuilt reverse polarity diode etc.

[lee]

Have a look at your local ham radio swap meets. (hamfests)
i bought some 80w 2nd hand panels for about $100 ea

have a look at and see where the swap meets are.

[trash]

Wow, you suck ! My local hamfest hasn't seen any, else I would have snapped them up at that price

[z80]

I would instantly buy at least 200 of them at that price...

[lee]

yes i agree it was good value but he only had 2 panels.
fairly old, about 1200 x 400, with circular cells, and that come with a controller as well.
the seller said that they had just been "decommissioned"
i just had to buy them...........

[Uncle Fester]

Just my experience with older Solar panels:

My mum has 50W noname(I can't locate a brand name) panels that are 15y old. They look partially discoloured and produce now barely 30W @14V.
I have 50W panels from Siemens roughly of the same age. Not only do they still look like I just unpacked them from the box when I wipe over them but they produce almost 60W @14V on the same location.

[Joey]

Ya know those traffic control lights ? Oh right, legally

Ebay had some good prices, but the shipping might kill that idea.

A good price is about $10 per Watt, $6.60/W is a very good price.

There are also a few solar specialists around, but I don't know how their prices compare.

Jaycar Wholesale ( Electus ) have decided to get real about their Solar Panel pricing now , You can get a 175W SunPower Mono for about $1100.00 with 20Year Warranty. That's about $6.30/W Very good value and high Quality.

I would be vary wary of some of the cheap no name panels selling on eBay from China using B Grade silicone. , You would be lucky if the sellers are around for 20 days let alone cover a 20 / 25Year warranty.

My best advice is stick with panels distributed here in Australia ,EG: the 4 highest quality panels on the market SunTech , BP , Sharp and SunPower .

[z80]

Of that list BP are by far the best...and the dearest.