yep 325W each, 650W total.. about $1.30 a watt, which is not terrible given its a premium panel and most budget panels are ~$1 per watt.. Delivery was super quick, bought on Friday had em on Tuesday.
I chose these panels for a couple of reasons:
- its 96 cell so its working at higher voltages, smaller cabling and less losses.. also has 4 bypass diodes instead of 3.. For a roof panel that had no tilt, and shade issues this harvests more and for a portable panel this means smaller cabling and less losses.. ~3-4A at 60-70v has less voltage drop than ~12-16A at 30/18v
- its got really great efficiency and thermal efficiency ratings.. this means more wattage in a smaller area, and more wattage in hot weather.
- N-Type cells are more durable and lasting than P-Type
- Panel size was perfect for my roof, and came in black.
- No regrets, I finally said fuckit, completely overbuilt and was determined to be satisfied since I have the carrying capacity.
Yesterday at sunset I was at 91% SOC, today was partly/mostly cloudy.. Mild day in 60's, lil rain, lil sun.. on good days it really only sees direct sunlight in morning and evening, tree blocks everything else most of the day.. its at such an angle when it does see direct sun its output is lucky to see 2/3rds its max output (max today was 175W in morning).. power-vent wouldn't have ran at all, 4h before sunset it was at 85%, by sunset it was at 89%
Finally, after over a decade of trying.. I can run my fridge indefinitely in less than ideal solar conditions and dont even need to setup anything.. only took 3x the solar and lithium, weather forecast for rest of the week just keeps getting more and more cloudy.. great for some worst case testing which is what I designed this system to cope with..
When the second panel gets mounted and wired in it'll be even better on worst case days since even a 10-20% output combined is ~65W-130W, more than enough to squeak by with the basics if all I get is diffuse light. Speaking of which, was doing research on vertical mounted panels, apparently wall mounting has some benefits, especially in the north since snow wont build up on em, and cold weather + reflections off snow on ground boost em to make up for the losses in the short summers.. I've been wanting to pickup some cots and do some winter camping all hardsided, will be good to know I can still use that rear panel if I park it south facing.. I hadn't planned for that, but I'll take it as a bonus.
Think I've settled on a plan of action for mounting the rear panel, I'll start gathering up the raw materials for it shortly.