Solar panel suppliers

[Nightjar]

Have been looking for a new solar panel to rig on the roof of my ute.
The current one is a 120 watt I bought years ago, now time for an upgrade.
Looking through eBay there are many options from mainly NSW.
Focused on a 350W retailing for $159.
Made a list of the many selling this panel at roughly same price.
Next I checked the feed back on four sites and every one of them had negatives regarding the solar panels not delivering any where near the rated 350W.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to a reliable supplier?

 

[Ded Driver]

One thing i have noticed, better quality panels sell for around $100/100W

 

[Simmo]

I'm not sure if my comments will help you mate, but I'll make them anyway.

I found that the 24v household PV System panels are much cheaper.
They are not aimed at the niche 4wd market, like the 12v ones are.

So I got a 250w/24v panel, (downside... they are big in size!) for $50.
Get a good MPPT controller, and it will turn 24v into 12v with double the current.

It's working for me right now?

 

[Nightjar]

Good thinking Simmo, but yes, too big.
Mounted on cab maximum length is to be 1350mm.

 

[Mike678]

Yes, that is what I did bought one that was too big 15 kgs . Too much of a hassle to carry around . Not fixed to the truck . I would now look at fold up ones .

 

[20x]

This is my first solar panel, charges a 130amp battery up no problems.

Hoping that little German certified label is a good thing.

 

[Nightjar]

Unfortunately 20Xwater,
The seller of your panel is one of the four that I checked out reviews. Thanks though for your input.
eg: Just two of the many negative reviews.

Brought a 250w panel advertised to put out 13+ amps. On a good day will only puts out 6 amps. Offered 50% refund to revise comment.

Definitely not a 300w panel. The 100w I replaced it with produced more power. Not happy

 

[Tathradj]

I had a folding set of these before.
Bloody brilliant.

Some one wanted them more than I did. ]

As far as panels go, This manufacturer constantly obtain high reviews.

http://www.richsolar.com.au/Folding-Solar-panels/78/productview.aspx

 

[20x]

Unfortunately 20Xwater,
The seller of your panel is one of the four that I checked out reviews. Thanks though for your input.
eg: Just two of the many negative reviews.

Brought a 250w panel advertised to put out 13+ amps. On a good day will only puts out 6 amps. Offered 50% refund to revise comment.

Definitely not a 300w panel. The 100w I replaced it with produced more power. Not happy

Interesting, I'm not using now but when I have it's recharged the 130amp battery from 12volts to 13.4 volts in the time I've had it charging which I haven't exactly monitored but max would be 6 hours.
Electricity isn't my strong point so I don't know if that's good or not.
For $140 it does the job..

 

[sesblocker]

Unfortunately, so many panels on Fleabay are wildly overrated, in that so many panels sold as 300w but you're lucky if you get 150w out of them. I went down this road once with a well-known Fleabay seller and they are still flogging these panels years after my experience.
My mantra. . . "The bitterness of poor quality lasts longer than the thrill of a cheap price"

 

[Redfin]

Buy quality, Redarc, Korr, etc

 

[Nightjar]

Contacted seller and their reply was;
'The 350W panels we have tested put out 9.7 amps."
Maybe someone can correct me;
eg: 18V X 9Amps = 162Watts?

 

[Simmo]

Yup thats the formula. P=IV
So a 12V Panel with I = 9.7 = 116.4W

Are they definately 12 v panels?

 

[Nightjar]

Simmo,
They advertise 12V.
Would it make any difference it was hooked up to a MPPT regulator?

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2931901...rentrq:533a445317b0a77d141b3c62ffc921ca|iid:1

 

[Swinging & digging]

The output from solar Panels varies depending on Solar energy available.
I have a roof mounted 4.3 KW system on my home and the variation goes from between 1.5KWh total daily energy production on a heavy overcast Winter day
to 29KWh on a sunny cloudless Summer Day. My inverter displays the generation data and I have seen it doing the full system rating 4,300 watts but not very
often and not for long.

Solar Panels will degrade over time which also reduces the energy produced, better quality panels are expected to last 25 years but the output will be reduced.

 

[Simmo]

Simmo,
They advertise 12V.
Would it make any difference it was hooked up to a MPPT regulator?

No mate.
The voltage they are specifying is open circuit voltage, you would expect that sort of level out of a 12v panel.
These panels, on face value, sound like 5hit!

MPPT regulators would/could take a 24v input, from a 24v panel (with an DC voltage of maybe 36v?)
And turn that into a 12v charge into a 12 V battery however with nigh on twice the current.

Maybe @Condor would like to comment?

 

[pcman]

i typed out a response with links but cant post it due to not being allowed to post links BOOO

anway, ive use 12v panels from low energy developments in melbourne, they also sell on ebay, 200w panel puts out 9-12amp, 2x 110w panels 10-13 amps,

ive recently upgraded on the cheap, 2x used 190w 36v house panels $40 each, and a 40amp tracer mppt regulator $140 ebay, putting out 6amp on a crappy overcast winters day, ive seen 21amp on a sunny winters day, cant wait for summer to see what it can do when the sun really shines and the battery drops voltage from running the fridge overnight

 

[DaveWal]

Output is closely related to size. 350W will be nearly 3 times as big as 120W. Also ask for the manufacturer's details and a copy of the specification sticker.
Max Voltage X Max Current is NOT Equal to Power Output (Watts) because the current drops to almost zero at max voltage. If the sticker says Max power output voltage and Current at Max power THAT is Max Output.
Dave

 

[Gold1hunter]

Have been looking for a new solar panel to rig on the roof of my ute.
The current one is a 120 watt I bought years ago, now time for an upgrade.
Looking through eBay there are many options from mainly NSW.
Focused on a 350W retailing for $159.
Made a list of the many selling this panel at roughly same price.
Next I checked the feed back on four sites and every one of them had negatives regarding the solar panels not delivering any where near the rated 350W.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to a reliable supplier?

I've been on the rd for over 10 years now and I've come to the conclusion that EVERYONE selling Lithium Batteries and SOLAR PANELS are LIARS so buy bigger and more powerful than you actually need to get what you really want!

 

[Aug]

Yeah those super cheap high-power solar panels are indeed too good to be true. I can vouch for these panels: https://www.solar4rvs.com.au/solar-panels/exotronic/

Exotronic is a brand under the solar4rvs company, which is a small Australian business with solid ethics. Got 2x160W panels for our caravan and they perform as advertised.