New Evergreen Solar Panels at 78 cents per watt

[Windpower]

Sunelec has extended the sale of Evergreen Panels until 4:00 tuesday -- they have a few left

http://www.sunelec.com/

[OlJarhead]

Sunelec has extended the sale of Evergreen Panels until 4:00 tuesday -- they have a few left

http://www.sunelec.com/

Oh man!  If those were 12v panels I'd get TWO!  As it is I'm thinking of getting at least one for the well pump, or maybe two or three...at that price it's almost stupid not too!

[Squirl]

They accept gold and diamonds. 

[OlJarhead]

They accept gold and diamonds. 

Saw that -- not unusual in today's world....when I was in Canada back in October my US dollars were refused at a gas station/store.  I was in shock as that had never happened and even though I knew it could, it was the first time EVER....

I doubt it will be long before others start refusing to take our FIAT money.

[MountainDon]

The module price is very good.

All I want to say is that anyone thinking about snapping some up because they are a good deal should have what their power and equipment needs are nailed down solid.  Not everything bought "today" as a good deal ends up being easily compatible with what we get around to buying to complete the system "tomorrow".  Just my opinion.

[OlJarhead]

The module price is very good.

All I want to say is that anyone thinking about snapping some up because they are a good deal should have what their power and equipment needs are nailed down solid.  Not everything bought "today" as a good deal ends up being easily compatible with what we get around to buying to complete the system "tomorrow".  Just my opinion.

Agreed.

I can't use these on my current system, however I only need about 200 watts to run my sureflo well pump

[Squirl]

Does anyone know about how these are certified?  I see the ETL listing, but not the UL sign in the brochure.  Although at the bottom it states "This product is designed to meet UL 1703, UL 4703, UL Fire Safety Class C, IEC 61215 Ed.2 and IEC 61730 Class A standards." 

I'm just looking to know if these would likely fail an electric code inspection.  Does anyone have any insight?

[MountainDon]

UL listed or ETL listed satisfies NEC. 
The UL numbers refer to specification requirements that cover certain types of equipment.

So those panels should be okay as long as they have ETL or UL approvals. That was one of my concerns about some modules that carried the SunElec name a while back.

Not all modules sold as seconds, blems or other things have the labels though, so that does bear a careful assessment if there is an inspector likely to be involved. Sometimes the really cheap modules may be the same as a module that costs more but has the label. The manufacturers do pay (for the UL?ETL certification) by the number of labels produced and applied to the units they sell if my understanding is correct.

[Squirl]

The links that the panels link to is incorrect.  This is what they are actually selling.

http://evergreensolar.com/upload2/ES-E/ES-E_USA_Datasheet_(040111).pdf

[diyfrank]

Is this a better deal then the Sun at .50 a watt listed below the Evergreens.

[Squirl]

For me, much.

The sun panels.

Certifications None .

[considerations]

"Oh man!  If those were 12v panels I'd get TWO!"''

So at the risk of having my ignorance showing, how does one determine what voltage they are?  I didn't have any immediate luck looking up the item numbers....usually its listed with the item. 

[MountainDon]

Traditionally a PV module that was going to be used for charging a 12 volt battery would have a voltage output rated at around 17-18 volts. That provides enough voltage under various (lower) sunlight brightness levels and gives a hot weather performance cushion. That was before there were MPPT charge controllers. Those modules are all in the 28 to 30 volt range. If they were used with an older charge controller on a 12 VDC system, some of the available power from the module would be wasted. With an MPPT charge controller the controller converts the higher voltage down to be just high enough to charge the battery and that boosts the amps going into the batteries.

Did that help?

[OlJarhead]

"Oh man!  If those were 12v panels I'd get TWO!"''

So at the risk of having my ignorance showing, how does one determine what voltage they are?  I didn't have any immediate luck looking up the item numbers....usually its listed with the item.

Listed as Vimp

I can't use them on my system because my 3 panels are all 18.27Vimp panels...and I have to keep any I add to the string within a few percentage points of that so the 28-30Vimp panels are too high.

[Rob_O]

So at the risk of having my ignorance showing, how does one determine what voltage they are?  I didn't have any immediate luck looking up the item numbers....usually its listed with the item.

The number you are looking for is listed on the spec sheet as Vmp. As Don said, a typical "12V" panel puts out 17-18V, double that on a 24V system and so on...

[Squirl]

Thanks.  I ordered 9 - 215s

[glenn kangiser]

They accept gold and diamonds. 

Hmmm this could spell out the end of Sunelec.  Look for the US to invade their warehouse at the behest of the world bankers ... remember Libya and Iraq.... it is against US policy to trade in anything other than dollars.

   I saw the ad from Sunelec. Good deal but I have more panels I have not put up yet and am pretty well keeping up with power now even without the wind generator working.

[considerations]

Thank you all for the information.  I did my solar research about 6 years ago and would have had to dig through all of that again to remember.  You'all saved me a lot of time. I've been up since 4AM, the cabinet folk are installing the kitchen today, and I woke up like it was Christmas morning and I was 6 years old. 

Simple pleasures for simple people, I guess. 

[Squirl]

I ordered these and emailed about shipment date a few days later.  They said they would ship them in 4 weeks!

Is this normal?

Has anyone else had this experiance with sunelec?

[UK4X4]

I seem to remember that the original advertisement - said that it was pre-orders- on containers full of panels out of europe,

ie they were'nt in stock, and if i remember they had a container load or ship date too

[Windpower]

All 77 Containers were Shipped dec 4! Only 11 More Days Until it arrives in the port of miami.

We will keep you updated on the website if any more become available. We're doing our best to prepare all orders and ship them as soon as they arrive to miami.

Click model ES-A and ES-E for spec sheets.

[OlJarhead]

Most of my system came from Sunelec for those interested and I was very happy with their service.

[Windpower]

Finally got the panels thursday

all 1338 pounds

I thought --- incorrectly -- that we could just roll them into the truck

the panels were  stacked about 5 1/2 feet high with plastic seperators at the corners 

it was a project to load up 8 or 10 at a time into the white beast (F250) drive home and un load them into the garage

fortunately the guy the the wharehouse helped load them into the truck

and my wonderful wife helped with the unloading 

next time (if there is one ) I'll pay extra for home delivery   


These are blemished panels but honestly you have to really look to find the blems --mostly small scratches on the frames

ETA I just checked they do carry the ETL approval even though blemmished 

so we now have almost 8 KW of panels -- more than enough to get us off grid

I may split these up at 2.4  KW for the shop and the rest for the house

[Windpower]

Finally stacked safely in the garage

[Squirl]

I received my panels Wednesday.  Sunelec called me on Monday to tell me they shipped them. I only bought 2 kw (9-215w panels).  They came stacked on a pallet with corner separators.  No scratches or dents that I noticed.  I pulled up the little 4x8 trailer with the Jeep and the loading dock dropped them right on with a forklift.  Unloading them I had to take them off one at a time. The heaviest piece was the pallet. I never had anything shipped freight before and was a little nervous.  The company communicated well, and I was able to pick them up at their shipping facility 24 hours, which was great because I could go after work.  Now I just have to design a tilting rack and install them once the winter breaks.