What is your favorite solar panel for marine use

[FilterGuy]

Folks, I have a need to replace a failed solar panel on a boat. Space is extremely tight so there is only room for a single panel. Consequently, I am looking at 300-400W panels. I would like to find one that has internal parallel strings in order to minimize shade impact. (It is hard to avoid shade on a boat)

What panels do you like for a marine environment?

 

[FilterGuy]

BTW: Kyocera has been a favorite..... but I am not finding any higher wattage kyocera panels.

 

[Dzl]

I think REC's half cut panels would be pretty good for this application. The REC Alpha is there flagship, it (along with all their other half cut panels) has 6 strings of 20 cells (cut half lengthwise and in thirds width wise), and has one of the better (lower) temperature coefficients. There is a 60 cell and 72 cell version.

REC Alpha 72 Cell Datasheet

 

[FilterGuy]

I think REC's half cut panels would be pretty good for this application. The REC Alpha is there flagship, it (along with all their other half cut panels) has 6 strings of 20 cells (cut half lengthwise and in thirds width wise), and has one of the better (lower) temperature coefficients. There is a 60 cell and 72 cell version.

REC Alpha 72 Cell Datasheet

Thanks! I had not looked at REC, but I have looked at a few other Half-cut panels. It seems like only the half-cut have the internal serial-parallel wiring. I guess this makes sense. If you have half-cut cells and run them all in series your voltage is going to be pretty high.

 

[Dzl]

Looks like Alt-E sells individual REC panels as well as some other half-cuts. The Alpha is spendy, but for a single panel, the energy density might be worth the cost, if not the Twinpeak2 is sub $200 for 305W.

Not sure if you followed this thread but it may be worth a peak, specifically page 2 and 3 where the Maxim chip is discussed.

 

[FilterGuy]

Not sure if you followed this thread but it may be worth a peak, specifically page 2 and 3 where the Maxim chip is discussed.

Is the thread link wrong?

 

[Dzl]

Oops, yeah wrong link.

Correct link here

 

[FilterGuy]

Shipping will suck, though.

Yup.... and finding places to purchase the good panels locally can be a real challenge.

 

[Dzl]

Absolutely false. They are not more efficient. I have real world data on this. If they were more efficient they would be used in environments where efficiency counts. They are just cheap china crap.

Yeah @deandean you are going to need to clarify your statement or back it up with some evidence, what you are saying generally goes against the conventional wisdom. Flexible panels are generally significantly less efficient (both in terms of watts per square meter and in terms of real world output vs nominal rating). There may be specific situations or specific flexible panel types where this is not the case, but you need to make that clear if thats what you mean. As a blanket statement flexible panels are not more efficient in the real world.