roof mounted solar panels - which ones to get?

[dreadlocks]

Our products are designed and handcrafted in the United States with the highest quality materials available on the market. Every single panel is signed by the person who assembled it at our headquarters in Bend, Oregon.

Made in America or Assembled in America? Who's actually making the cells? It sure in hell aint Zamp.

FWIW, my Panasonic HIT was also made in New York, USA at Tesla's Solar Factory.. but its not made with artisanal gluten free essential oils so mebe thats why its still cheaper than a 90W Zamp..

 

[THATSALEXUS?]

Made in America or Assembled in America? Who's actually making the cells? It sure in hell aint Zamp.

FWIW, my Panasonic HIT was also made in New York, USA at Tesla's Solar Factory.. but its not made with artisanal gluten free essential oils so mebe thats why its still cheaper than a 90W Zamp..

Can’t comment on the complete lineage of Zamp panels, but the ones I have state “made in USA”
, not assembled in USA or assembled in USA from foreign and domestic components, etc.

I like that they offer a long narrow panel for my application. It’s like half a 160 watt panel split in half lengthwise.

Add to that the fact that they demo the panel by standing on it, bouncing until the glass shatters and they still provide full output. I still think they’re worth considering.

I’ve installed hundreds without experiencing a single failure, I’m a fan.

 

[dreadlocks]

Glass shattering would improve performance slightly, just less in the way, just would not last horribly long after that with cells exposed directly to the elements..

solar panels are quite tough.. building codes require em to be able to withstand hurricane force winds so they don't become 50lb projectiles, often they are stronger than the roof's they are mounted too.. We have quite a bit of solar here in Colorado and some stupid intense/expensive hail storms, a co worker had to replace roof, siding, windows, basically most of the exterior of her house from a hail storm, but she didn't break a single solar panel on her roof, hrmm.

I rented a trailer with ZAMP portable panels, there was nothing special about them.. standard run of the mill solar panels with a hinge, clasp, handle, and case.. most of it broken from abuse of being in a rental.. and the solar charger was just a run of the mill no-name pwm controller that looks like the hundred of other cheap generic ones on Amazon but with ZAMP printed on the case.

$380 for a 90W long, hot damn.. at that point just chain four 20-25W panels together, they are about 13in wide and $40/ea.. and would work better w/more blocking diodes..

Is there a reason why Zamp's website dont even list any specs? like nothing, not even a pic of the sticker on the back let alone heat coefficient, number of diodes, luminocity charts, wind ratings, dimensional diagrams, nada, zip, zero.. Guess none of that matters because my trailer is ZAMP ready, so it'll work.

 

[llamalander]

You might contact some solar installers to see what single panels they might have lying around. Often domestic arrays are installed in pairs so odd panels left over are not worth much to them-
I got a 300+ watt panel for less than $.50/ watt, Canadian Solar perhaps?. 4'x6.3', lives on the truck all year and keeps 2 batteries fully charged with a small Blue Sea ACR. Higher voltage means it is producing useable watts from dawn till dusk on clear or cloudy days. After several thousand miles of road trips, washboards, camping and crawling birds still crap on it, but it has otherwise endured without an issue.

 

[shade]

FWIW, my Panasonic HIT was also made in New York, USA at Tesla's Solar Factory.

This one?

N325 Photovoltaic Module HIT®, 40mm

The 96-cell high-efficiency HIT® N325 solar panel provides your home with a powerful combination of immediate energy savings, long term performance, and sleek beauty. A remarkably low temperature coefficient of -0.258%/°C helps generate greater electricity output even on the hottest days...

na.panasonic.com

 

[67cj5]

Thing is running a 160w panel you will loose about 20% of that 160w which means you will only be getting 128w at best, With 2 X 100w panels is 200w you will get around 160w because all panels loose about 20% so you really need to have more watts to get the amount of power that you have in mind, If you want 200w then you need to buy 2X 120w panels to get close to what you want and run them in series,

 

[dreadlocks]

@shade, close.. I wanted all black so I wouldn't have to paint it:

N325K Photovoltaic Module HIT® BLACK, 40mm

The 96-cell high-efficiency HIT® N325, 40mm solar panel provides your home with a powerful combination of immediate energy savings, long term performance, and sleek beauty. A remarkably low temperature coefficient of -0.258%/°C helps generate greater electricity output even on the hottest days...

na.panasonic.com

 

[67cj5]

@shade, close.. I wanted all black so I wouldn't have to paint it:

N325K Photovoltaic Module HIT® BLACK, 40mm

The 96-cell high-efficiency HIT® N325, 40mm solar panel provides your home with a powerful combination of immediate energy savings, long term performance, and sleek beauty. A remarkably low temperature coefficient of -0.258%/°C helps generate greater electricity output even on the hottest days...

na.panasonic.com

Trouble is with black ones is they absorb the heat which intern lowers their output,, Although the panels are black the silver helps disperse some of the heat.

 

[dreadlocks]

HIT's have the lowest temp coefficient of any panel on market, and its just the frame.. which is very lil mass.

 

[Alloy]

This one?

N325 Photovoltaic Module HIT®, 40mm

The 96-cell high-efficiency HIT® N325 solar panel provides your home with a powerful combination of immediate energy savings, long term performance, and sleek beauty. A remarkably low temperature coefficient of -0.258%/°C helps generate greater electricity output even on the hottest days...

na.panasonic.com

I use the 330w.

At 6:45am at 51.6 North latitude, an hour after sunrise with heavy grey overcast and no visable sunlight on the flat mounted panels. One panel is producing 0.25- 0.5amps of 12VDC.

Commercial panels have to keep up with the latest tech or loose market share wear as low (under 30v) voltage panels are made for the budget minded consumer.

 

[Alloy]

Two hours past sunrise (7:45) there is +\-1 amp under these conditions.

 

[shade]

Any way to save weight in the 200W - 300W total output range? I see those Panasonic panels weigh around 42 lbs, which isn't horrible, but I try to keep weight down on my truck, especially up high.

 

[dreadlocks]

not really, glass is heavy.. a 100W Renology weighs 16lbs.. three of em would weigh 48lbs..

flexible panels are much lighter, but they dont last and will be worthless within a decade.

 

[shade]

not really, glass is heavy.. a 100W Renology weighs 16lbs.. three of em would weigh 48lbs..

flexible panels are much lighter, but they dont last and will be worthless within a decade.

Yeah, I won't be using flexies.

I figured those Panasonic panels were about as efficient as any, and the corresponding weight is about as good as it gets for the output. I may ditch my idea for a 100W wind deflector panel and just go with a single 300W panel centered on my camper, between crossbars to avoid any shadows.

 

[dreadlocks]

yeah the only way to get lighter is to go for higher efficiency, the bigger those efficiency numbers the smaller the panel is for a given wattage.. and thus lighter.

unfortunately ~20% is about the ceiling for consumer grade panels right now, there's some tech in the 25-30% range but its super expensive and being used more for space applications where cost per pound of reaching orbit is in the 6 figures.