Cheap vs Quality Panels

What is your guys opinion? Would you rather buy (for example) 50x cheap as dirt panels for $50 each, that might not perform 100%, but maybe 85-90% (like the ones San Tan sells) or 20x high quality panels for 4-10x the cost?

Depends on the amount of real estate you have. The inexpensive used panels (SanTan 250w) are the best deal I have seen right now.

In your example x50 250w panels is 12.5kw of panels for $2500+shipping ($2-300). That is $0.23 a watt, and I think you can negotiate a better price on a x50 piece order. The only caveat is that you need a big roof or ground mount for 50 panels.

Lt.Dan said:

What is your guys opinion? Would you rather buy (for example) 50x cheap as dirt panels for $50 each, that might not perform 100%, but maybe 85-90% (like the ones San Tan sells) or 20x high quality panels for 4-10x the cost?

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my "cheap" 250 watt panels, 8 years old, still produce 95 - 98 % of their rated output.
if you have the space, get the used ones IMHO.
for the price of 1 new 550w panel ( 180 - 200 usd ) you can buy 4 250w panels ..
price per kw is the name of the game

Ok heres a monkey wrench for you guys;

My LV6548's have 2 inputs each, making 4 inputs total. 3 inputs are being used, and my 4th is still available. Here are my options based on acceptable VOC and max Current:

12x 250w SanTan panels, in a 6S2P fashion. Last time they sold me Snail trail panels at $33.75/ea, but if you wanna figure in full price its $400-600.

15x 240w Sunpower panels in a 5S3P fashion (which i already have 12 in a 3s4p on my roof and they are fantastic.) I can get For $1275 + shipping. These panels perform better in every way. Power comes on sooner, stays on later in the day, does better with clouds/shading, and output more wattage than the SanTan 250w panel (even though they are rated at 10w less), and weigh 11lbs less per panel (which is surprisingly turning into a bigger deal to me than I thought lol).

Tough call. I would go with the SanTan panels simply because $700 difference is pretty substantial (to me anyway), so that would be one of the deciding factors. I trust SanTan, which would be another big factor (but if your other source is trusted, this doesn't apply). You will be getting more wattage out of the Sunpower, so if you need every drop of power, that might be a deal breaker as well.

Exactly my dilemma. Both are coming from SanTan, so trusted either way. Either one will satisfy my needs, im only planning on buying them to not waste my available MPPT input and to get ready for the shorter winter days. Im going to be going from 8hrs in the summer, to maybe 3-3.5 hrs in the winter lol

I love my used Sunpower SPR-210W, I pick up 8 panels from local guy here for $70 ea. I wish I can get the 240W one but they are hard to find around here in SF North bay, the built quality of Sunpower panel is really good.

I think it depends on roof mount or ground, grid tied or not. Roof mount will need rsd. So that will add 50 to 60 for each panel, plus racking, I'm new to solar, have been reading a ton but it seems like new solar panels are the way to go if your space limited.