Source for solar panels as close to Tucson as possible

[John Simmons]

Hello everyone,

I have a Valiamt 47 with two Kyocera 250 watt solar panels that are about 10 years old. Solar cell tech has come a long way in 10 years.

Right now I am in Puerto Vallarta with plans to go up the sea of Cortez after Hurricane season.

The are that I have to install the panels is pretty much set by my old 250 Watt Panels. I have found the PERFECT panels 350 Watts at Arizona Wind and Sun, but shipping it to a town near Mexico is almost as much as one panel, 250 dollars, with the provision that the receiver has a receiving dock.

Does anyone have a suggestion other than to drive an extra 9 hours from Nogales to Flagstaff to pick the things up and shove them into the rental car.

All the solar panel stores I have visited here in Mexico are selling the very large 80 inch length panels where what I need is pretty much fixed at 65 inches.

John

 

[AlphaQWright]

Check out santan solar I made the drive from Tucson to avoid shipping costs and after about half an hour I was driving back home with 2 400w panels made by Trina strapped to the roof rack of my volvo xc70 and was out the door for $350 they are 78" long I believe and you are married to 65" seriously worth pulling a bit of macgyvering and figure out how to make it work I mean why pay $50 more and have 50w less? Where there's a will there's a way my friend that's how I put my 800w 38” X 78" on a 91 ford E-150 with no over hang

 

[Short_Shot]

Check out santan solar I made the drive from Tucson to avoid shipping costs and after about half an hour I was driving back home with 2 400w panels made by Trina strapped to the roof rack of my volvo xc70 and was out the door for $350 they are 78" long I believe and you are married to 65" seriously worth pulling a bit of macgyvering and figure out how to make it work I mean why pay $50 more and have 50w less? Where there's a will there's a way my friend that's how I put my 800w 38” X 78" on a 91 ford E-150 with no over hang

Sometimes paying 50 more to have 50w less saves hundreds of dollars in modifications to the mounting location lol

A boat isn't the same as a truck bed that has nothing stopping you from overhanging the panels.

 

[AlphaQWright]

Sometimes paying 50 more to have 50w less saves hundreds of dollars in modifications to the mounting location lol

A boat isn't the same as a truck bed that has nothing stopping you from overhanging the panels.

Lol @ hundreds in mods it was nowhere near even 1 additional hundred to stack one directly above the other and rig up a slide out to a panel to be deployed when parked bonus the slider panel is even saving me from having to shell out money to install a retractable awning that will need replacing every other year at least also an F-150 is a truck with nothing preventing overhang of the bed an E-150 is a van with the bed in any that has a bed is completely an interior one.

Santan may have a 65” panel that will work fine too and they're a 2 hour round trip from the old pueblo

 

[Short_Shot]

Lol @ hundreds in mods it was nowhere near even 1 additional hundred to stack one directly above the other and rig up a slide out to a panel to be deployed when parked

OP isn't putting them on an F/E150 mate. An E150 is even easier than the pickup would be so the minor mistake isn't relevant.

You don't have any idea what their space requirements are or if that's even feasible. Your scenario is not their scenario.

Typically folks may mount these things on the bow, which may have guard rails around it. You'd have to lift the panels a couple feet to clear them. Maybe more.

And that couple feet might be in the way of line of sight from the helm, depending on the boat design. So if you can't lift them and there's a bunch of guard rails in the way it gets rather expensive to remove the rails, cap the holes, etc. Then you have to worry about having caused leaks from the modification. Perhaps you will want or require the rails still be in place which racks up very quickly.

Or perhaps there are other obstructions. Boats tend to have a lot of crap mounted along the perimeter.

I do however agree with checking out santan solar as stated.

 

[DreaminFred]

SanTan Solar in Gilbert. Great folk, lots of options.

 

[JoeHam]

IF you are willing to get used panels I have picked them up from SanTanSolar in Gilbert, AZ priced as low as $37.50 for 250 watt panels !