My first system from the 90s

[The Dish Doc]

Since this is the beginner’s corner I’ll post a pic of my first setup. This is the only pic I can find right now. This was taken in Dec 1999 before the Y2K scare. Anybody remember that LOL? That and being a ham radio operator got me interested enough in solar to actually put something together. Those Quad-Lams came off a solar defunct project in AZ and the two little amophourous panels I picked up at the Dayton Hamfest one year. The whole array put out about 8 amps ? Things sure have changed since then. Equipment is much more affordable, that’s for sure. My daughter in the pic is now all grown up with two little ones of her own. Dang times flies.

 

[Bvillebob]

I still have a couple of 64 watt (!) amorphous panels in boxes in my shop I bought years ago, around 2000 or so. Each was about $350, or almost $6 per watt. A couple of years ago I bought 40 of the 250 watt panels from Santan at $0.25 per watt, delivered. Wish everything else was following that same price trend! This year I bought 24 of the REC 370 watt panels from them, brand new so more expensive but still about 0.40 per watt, and what surprised me is they're the same size as the older 250 watt panels due to efficiency improvements over time and are considerably lighter and easier to handle.

 

[The Dish Doc]

I still have a couple of 64 watt (!) amorphous panels in boxes in my shop I bought years ago, around 2000 or so. Each was about $350, or almost $6 per watt. A couple of years ago I bought 40 of the 250 watt panels from Santan at $0.25 per watt, delivered. Wish everything else was following that same price trend! This year I bought 24 of the REC 370 watt panels from them, brand new so more expensive but still about 0.40 per watt, and what surprised me is they're the same size as the older 250 watt panels due to efficiency improvements over time and are considerably lighter and easier to handle.

Yea I think I paid $750 for those four Quad-Lams back then.

 

[Rednecktek]

Where's the big hair and parachute pants?

 

[JoeHam]

I still have a BP Solar 10W panel I picked up at the Dayton flea market decades ago for $75.

The guy drove a truck load of them up from Houston after they swapped them out from an oil rig.

 

[A.Justice]

Where's the big hair and parachute pants?

I think he left that in the '70s. ?