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diy solar

Hello from Denver - anyone want to go in with me on a pallet of used solar panels?

SunshineAnnie

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Nov 7, 2021
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I bought a Bluetti EB240 and it's the biggest thing I've bought - Merry Christmas to me!
Now I have to figure out get some solar panels for the thing...
Should I get 3 x 100 watt panels? Should I get a larger panel - which is why I would want to share shipping costs with someone else?.

I'm not putting things on my roof at the moment, so that is a consideration. If I get a larger panel (or 3 or 4), I'm thinking of putting them on this bedframe that has those little wheels on the bottom so I can move it in and out of the garage. The 100 watt panels I can lift easily, and I could probably manage a 200 watt panel, but bigger ones I don't want to be lifting around on a regular basis. I have a nice sunny south facing driveway. I want something semi-portable so I can retreat with it to the garage when weather gets too windy.
Someone(s) help me think this through.

I'm pretty much learning still. Last year I bought a RockPals 350 and a RockPals 300 with a couple 100 watt panels. I want to step it up every year, so next year I want to get a 5kw battery with the all-in-one MPP or Growatt charge controller/inverters. I'm also interested in heating water directly from panels which is why I would get a few larger panels. I spend watch alot of videos. I'm not interested in building my own batteries, but I watch videos to understand.

After this post, I will retreat to the forum for people still learning. I just started, so I hope nobody else asked this question.

Thanks!
Sunshine
 
Another option is to buy new locally so there is no shipping costs. I had a very good experience buying 3 330W panels from CED Greentech in Denver.


Give them a call to see what they have in stock. More than likely their inventory will be more on the side of larger panels. But one 300W panel is probably a lot cheaper than 3 100W panels.
 
Thanks for the info on CED Greentech! I'll give them a call Monday. I see they deliver, too. I don't have a way to transport other than renting a uHaul, so that might be nice.
 
I'm not putting things on my roof at the moment, so that is a consideration. If I get a larger panel (or 3 or 4), I'm thinking of putting them on this bedframe that has those little wheels on the bottom so I can move it in and out of the garage. The 100 watt panels I can lift easily, and I could probably manage a 200 watt panel, but bigger ones I don't want to be lifting around on a regular basis. I have a nice sunny south facing driveway. I want something semi-portable so I can retreat with it to the garage when weather gets too windy.

You could always go the solar suit case route. It's just two panels with a hinge. This one features 175 watt panels, but they have 200 watt panels that are now roughly the same size as the 175 watt panels. It would be a 45 to 50 pound item to lift for each suitcase. Or you could be a smaller 100watt X 2 watt suitcase.


They fold up for much easier storage than the bed frame. They store much easier than 350 watt panels. They also tilt which is important during the winter.

I don't like the prop rods used in that video to support the panels. Other suitcase videos have pvc pipe and aluminum legs which support the unit better and then you don't need the screwed down angle bracket piece that he uses.

I've considered building something similar to the bed frame idea for my own garage. The entire unit would need to tilt up vertically, so that it can be stored out of the way. For my own garage, I would need panels that are not more than 60 inches long for this idea, so probably like 4 to 6 200 watt panels.
 
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If you want to go with your original idea consider posting in the Group Buy section.

If you want delivery also take a look at newpowa. See here :


Note that their prices include delivery to your door.

And welcome to the forum!
 
Thanks for the info on CED Greentech! I'll give them a call Monday. I see they deliver, too. I don't have a way to transport other than renting a uHaul, so that might be nice.

I bought my 320 watt panels from the CEDGreenTech office in Denver. It was an easy process. I don't know that they carry the smaller panels however. I have a pickup, so getting my four panels was easy. I would find a friend with a pickup and pay their gas and get lunch. That's probably less than renting u-haul.

There are a few sellers on the Denver Craigslist of used panels.
 
You could always go the solar suit case route. It's just two panels with a hinge. This one features 175 watt panels, but they have 200 watt panels that are now roughly the same size as the 175 watt panels. It would be a 45 to 50 pound item to lift for each suitcase. Or you could be a smaller 100watt X 2 watt suitcase.


They fold up for much easier storage than the bed frame. They store much easier than 350 watt panels. They also tilt which is important during the winter.

I don't like the prop rods used in that video to support the panels. Other suitcase videos have pvc pipe and aluminum legs which support the unit better and then you don't need the screwed down angle bracket piece that he uses.

I've considered building something similar to the bed frame idea for my own garage. The entire unit would need to tilt up vertically, so that it can be stored out of the way. For my own garage, I would need panels that are not more than 60 inches long for this idea, so probably like 4 to 6 200 watt panels.
I like the solar suitcase idea - thanks for the video. I agree that I don't like prop rods. I do have some scrap pvc around that I could probably rig something up. It will be after Thanksgiving before I get to this at the rate life is going right now...
 
If you want to go with your original idea consider posting in the Group Buy section.

If you want delivery also take a look at newpowa. See here :


Note that their prices include delivery to your door.

And welcome to the forum!
Thanks for the tip on the Group Buy section. I'm still learning how to navigate this forum - there is so much here!
I looked at the newpowa website and can get essentially the same price and delivery from amazon. I was hoping for something a bit less expensive.
 
I bought my 320 watt panels from the CEDGreenTech office in Denver. It was an easy process. I don't know that they carry the smaller panels however. I have a pickup, so getting my four panels was easy. I would find a friend with a pickup and pay their gas and get lunch. That's probably less than renting u-haul.

There are a few sellers on the Denver Craigslist of used panels.
Yes, I do have my eye on the Denver Craigslist folks... go Vets... and there is another one as well. I haven't been to visit either of them, yet, but I plan to next week. I've had a couple other things to attend to in life lately and hopefully that will slow down next week.
 
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