Eco-Worthy 100w Bifacial panel purchase, shipping and eventual installation review.

[Mattb4]

I ordered 4 of (2-100w) packs of Eco-Worthy panels off Ebay during their 20% off Spring special on 3/9 and received them today (3/14). This is 800w worth of Bifacial panels with a total price after tax to me of ~$407 with Free shipping. This is the largest one time amount of panels I have bought shipped Fed X. I have not been pleased with FedX and their shipping in the past.

Previous panel buys from Eco-Worthy last year (200w mono panels) I ended up with several broken panels. I will say they were good about trying to make it right but after 3 separate shipping efforts, ending up with totally shattered panels, I gave up and they refunded the purchase price. It just was a huge bother to repeatedly send messages with photos of smashed panels. Plus I had to dispose of them since Eco-Worthy did not require me to ship back the broken ones. *

Well after receiving and opening the boxes I see no broken panels though I was a bit worried from some of the damage to the cardboard. I must say they did a good job of putting in a lot of things to protect them and with the 2 per box and smaller 100w size they managed to get past the Fed-X Baggage Smashers -Union members (Local 911).
Edit: Tested each panels voltage and they are all near rated Voc.

The Eco-Worthy 20% Spring discount on Ebay runs through 3/18 if anyone is interested. The panels measure 40 X 18 inch which comes to just about exactly 100w from sq meter calculation (.46sqm) with 22% efficiency.



* One of the smashed panels actually tested out to have some production and I put it into use after coating the surface to prevent water intrusion. I figure it became a 125w panel after the damage.

 

[Mattb4]

One thing interesting about these Bifacial panels is the specification label is printed on the top front of panel instead of a glued on label on the back. Should be near permanent this way since it can't fall off. I suppose this method of label was necessitated by not blocking the back side of the panel.

 

[Mattb4]

Used my Baby 1-ton excavator yesterday to get the poles set for the new ground mount. In the image below the 4x6 PT poles I had from the past are braced, with a sample support arm from scrap wood, was used to make sure the dimensions are all good. On Monday I have to be in town and can pick up the lumber I need to build the mount for the 8 panels.

 

[scrubjaysnest]

It isn't just Fed Ex, my 4 Newpowa came USPS and one box looked like it was hit by a fork from a fork lift. Panels had no damage and met both Voc and Isc.

 

[Mattb4]

After picking up material on Monday I spent a lot of today getting the mount all completed with the Bifacial panels for my new #3 Array. Just have the wiring left to connect up which I will be doing later on. Pretty beat from getting the setup and mounting all 8 panels. Big thing I had tried to accomplish was to ensure the backside was as clear as possible of things that would block light.

 

[Mattb4]

I got them wired up yesterday and after the morning fog rolled off this morning they are producing watts. At noon with a light haze they are producing just 630w. Not too bad considering. About in line with my other panels that are also 100w rated. Peak sun will not occur for another hour or so.

Edit: At 1pm with 50F the new array is pulling in 744w. This is about 100w more than my older non Bifacial panels.

 

[Mattb4]

I rewired these Bifacials in with my #2 array a couple of days back and split out some marginal panels from it to make them the #3 array. The setup is now 2 ea in parallel and then all in series with 6 -200w mono. Total array wattage is 2000w rated. The Voc reads in at ~223vDC and seems to operate at 190Vmp. The array is very good at producing power even on an overcast day like today. I was seeing 500w to 750w during the peak hour from a nominal 2000w array size.

Cloudy day nirvana! My ~4000w of arrays produce enough that my batteries are being charged while carrying house loads (no heat or A/C) though the day is not stellar. I am getting real close to being grid independent.