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Manufacturer says this defect is OK?

No1JetDoc

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Sep 11, 2020
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I purchased a 200w 12v panel and it arrived with some external damage (box looked fine). The RTV application is rather subpar as well. My biggest concern is the is a defect in one of the cells where the wires are clearly broken. The panel seems to work OK. I have contacted the manufacturer and they have told me that the defect will not effect panel operation or safety and offered a $30 discount for the damage or I can exchange it but I'm guessing this would be my cost. Can anyone give me any guidance on the defect? What do you think of the offer? I have 2 other panels of the same model and was planning on buying more. I asked for 1/2 off a new panel of the same model but they declined.
 

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Another image of the defect.
 

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If it's sold as A grade it should be replaced by them. I don't know where you are in the world so that may cost you shipping. If you are in Australia the full cost of getting the replacement to you and the defective item back to them is their problem. You would have the choice of full refund, replacement, repair... at your discretion, not theirs.

If you go down the partial refund path, look around for comparable wattage B grade panels to get an idea if their offer is suitable compensation.

Technically it won't make any real difference to the panel output as the current in the affected area can flow via the intact traces back to the nearby bus with minimal impact. You can see that it's not the only defect either, some of the other traces are offset from the bus bars.

Personally I wouldn't buy any more as if their QC processes are low enough to let a cell with this sort of obvious defect through, what else are they missing?
 
Thank you. Brand new panel. No indication it wasn't grade A. I told them right off that this panel never should have been shipped to me in this condition. The other 2 I bought from them previously are good quality. This looks like a knockoff but I bought direct from the manufacturer's website. I felt like offering to keep this one and buy another at half off was fair. Maybe I will just take the $30 and buy from another manufacturer in the future.
 
I personally would be disappointed, but tell us who you are dealing with and that will do two things. First we will be careful when ordering, and the other thing is if it is a no name product we will not be surprised, but if is a respected name that will be sad!
 
If you insist. I kind of wanted to give them a chance to make it right because the first two panels I bought were very nice but really I have given them a chance and they offered me a $30 refund on a $200 panel. I wanted to buy more of these but gnubie has a point about their qc processes.
 

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I don't know how much it matters much but the RTV application is quite subpar. If my name was on this panel it would never have left the factory. If it did I would do whatever I needed to to make it right and protect my reputation. I'm sad because I had a high opinion of this company based on Will's reviews.
 

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I think this is what they should expect, and I also think they should be agreeable to taking care of it. I am someone who loves a great price, but I hate to buy new and get a subpar product. Thanks for sharing, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Good luck with it.
 
It arrived with a small amount of damage on a couple corners. The box was perfect so it's hard to see how it could have happened in shipping. Not a huge problem but disappointing especially given all the other issues. The surface of the panel seems wavy also. More so than the other 2 I have.
 

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I think this is what they should expect, and I also think they should be agreeable to taking care of it. I am someone who loves a great price, but I hate to buy new and get a subpar product. Thanks for sharing, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Good luck with it.
Thanks. The panel seems to work OK. Which I why I would have kept it for half off of a new panel but I'm not paying to ship this back so they can fix their mistakes. Short sighted on their part I think.
 
One thing I will say, nowadays, it is hard to get things delivered in one piece. They are calling your bluff, but shipping is not a reasonable thing, I would try to live with it, and likely not order from them again.
 
Issues like this are why I worked hard to find a local supplier that I could pick up my panels from. That and the cost of shipping.

Mine came stacked four on a pallet. Any deviation from perfect were all my fault. I've subsequently drilled a lot of holes in the frames of my panels.
 
mine came stacked 5' high on a pallet.
Cost of shipping was about $4 each.

panels on truck.jpg
 
:)
That was only half the shipment. Took two trips, 2500# each which is the capacity of my 3/4 ton.
SanTan said only one pallet fits in a pickup (a bit over 5' long)
What I did was lay four 2x12x12' planks in the bed. Second pallet had its midpoint at end of bed, so only tailgate and its chain would have prevented tipping (prior to straps) without those planks.
Forklift had a bit of trouble pushing first pallet rest of the way in with second pallet. On second trip I parked where lot had different slope and had him push on an empty pallet to slide the first in.

Cost about $10k, 8% of what same number of panels 1/3 the wattage cost 15 years ago.
Not that I need so much more power, but it was such a good deal ... now I have to figure out what to waste it on.
 
If you insist. I kind of wanted to give them a chance to make it right because the first two panels I bought were very nice but really I have given them a chance and they offered me a $30 refund on a $200 panel. I wanted to buy more of these but gnubie has a point about their qc processes.
Seems like a lot per watt for mono
 
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