Came across these panels that supposedly perform much better in partial shade

[Dzl]

Performance Series (P-Series) Commercial Solar Panels

Performance Series commercial solar panels are designed to deliver more power, energy and excellent value to business, government and power plant

us.sunpower.com

Anyone have any experience with the Sunpower P-Series. According to their promo literature they are built to perform better with partial shading. Would love to see a real world test between one of the p-series panels and another panel in different shading conditions. A panel that performs well in partial shade could be awesome for mobile systems.

Here is Sunpowers (short) youtube video on the P-Series
And the datasheet

 

[gnubie]

Interesting idea. Each panel is not a single string of cells as is the case in normal '24v' panels. It's a parallel array of strings of lower current cells that are in series. Long edge oriented shading knocks out just the shaded strings but short edge oriented shading would still have considerable power loss.

How you park your vehicle would make all the difference... but you could just use regular panels and take the same level of care when parking.

*edited to add more*

 

[DThames]

I have them but I have them out in the open. The only shade is at sunrise and sunset, only for a short period and then they are all in the shade. They are largely made for flat roof sawtooth landscape type installations where the bottom part might be shaded in the morning or evening by the row in front of it. They can get more rows on a roof if they allow a little shading early and late. With these panels they will not be totally knocked out by a little shade.

By the way, the output is great. I have a fixed angle mount and I get (or close to) the PTC rated watts about 2-1/2 hours mid day. You can get P17-330watt to 350watt for $110-$125 US from SanTanSolar. They had P17-340s for a long time as low as $110, but it looks like they are not listed any longer. They carry old stock, never installed, no factory 25 year warranty, but buy a couple of extras if you are worried about failures.

Also note, pay very close attention to the open circuit voltage, it is not standard. 83 cells and 51v as I recall. The connections are one at each end like they were meant for series strings. So be prepared to make up your own extension cables. But still very good price per watt.

 

[Dzl]

Long edge oriented shading knocks out just the shaded strings but short edge oriented shading would still have considerable power loss.

How you park your vehicle would make all the difference... but you could just use regular panels and take the same level of care when parking.

Yes, that is my thinking too. I will likely be installing on a smaller vehicle. So at most 2 fullsize 60-96 cell panels, or 4-6 smaller "12 volt" panels (and I'll likely be limited to 100v). In the case of the former (1-2 large panels) which is what I'm leaning towards, I could see this having a big impact on power production in partial shade.

Regarding short edge shading, it looks like it would have no advantage with full short edge shading, but with only partial short edge shading it seems like it might still have an advantage in some situations.

By the way, the output is great. I have a fixed angle mount and I get (or close to) the PTC rated watts about 2-1/2 hours mid day. You can get P17-330watt to 350watt for $110-$125 US from SanTanSolar. They had P17-340s for a long time as low as $110, but it looks like they are not listed any longer. They carry old stock, never installed, no factory 25 year warranty, but buy a couple of extras if you are worried about failures.

Also note, pay very close attention to the open circuit voltage, it is not standard. 83 cells and 51v as I recall.

Thanks for the heads up about the nonstardard specs, and the deal at Santan, I'll definitely look into that more. Glad to hear the positive feedback, and glad they are working out for you.