Which Solar Panels?

[richard cabesa]

Review all of Will's youtube videos on panels. Lots of good info and comparisons.
As for what makes one panel better over another? Here are a few thoughts:

Quality manufacturing
Customer satisfaction (reputation)
Longevity of manufacturer
Warranty
Power output under summer heat(temperature coefficient. Thats one stat what makes REC better)
Shading effect(another huge factor)
Cabling( some cheap panels skimp on the quality of the MC4 cables)
Install base ( What panels are solar companies using? They usually dont want unhappy customers).
Cost(Higher does not always mean better)
Availability( will you be able to expand later if needed)

And of course, how many panels are needed to satisfy your inverters volts and amps requirements

One thing I would add is to make sure you don’t buy something that is odd size/voltage/wattage in case a panel gets damaged and needs to be replaced

 

[doox00]

Spoke to signature solar on the phone and they told me no reason to get the bluesun over hyperions.. and went even further and suggested the Talesun 400w bifacials over either of those two at only 3600 a pallet (36 panels). So that is what I did, bought 2 pallets of the Talesun. total cost for 72 panels and 3 eg4 6000xps were 10800 shipped (free shipping and gave me 5% off as well).

14.4kW Pallet - Talesun 400W Bifacial Solar Panel (Black) | Up to 500W of Bifacial Gain | TP7G54M(H) | Full Pallet (36) - 14.4kW Total

Signature Solar provides solar panels, off-grid solar systems, grid-tie, and hybrid systems. Quality solar inverters, bifacial solar panels, complete solar kits, solar batteries. Featuring brands such as EG4 Electronics with their solar battery, LifePower4 and EG4 LLifePower4 and EG4 LL

signaturesolar.com

 

[Sanwizard]

Spoke to signature solar on the phone and they told me no reason to get the bluesun over hyperions.. and went even further and suggested the Talesun 400w bifacials over either of those two at only 3600 a pallet (36 panels). So that is what I did, bought 2 pallets of the Talesun. total cost for 72 panels and 3 eg4 6000xps were 10800 shipped (free shipping and gave me 5% off as well).

14.4kW Pallet - Talesun 400W Bifacial Solar Panel (Black) | Up to 500W of Bifacial Gain | TP7G54M(H) | Full Pallet (36) - 14.4kW Total

Signature Solar provides solar panels, off-grid solar systems, grid-tie, and hybrid systems. Quality solar inverters, bifacial solar panels, complete solar kits, solar batteries. Featuring brands such as EG4 Electronics with their solar battery, LifePower4 and EG4 LLifePower4 and EG4 LL

signaturesolar.com

Interesting. I never heard of Talesun before. Great deal if they perform!

 

[doox00]

Interesting. I never heard of Talesun before. Great deal if they perform!

Yeah, hope so too, they have been around at least 10 years.. as I was able to find youtube videos that are 10 years old talking about them.

 

[Sanwizard]

Yeah, hope so too, they have been around at least 10 years.. as I was able to find youtube videos that are 10 years old talking about them.

Is this a commercial install? 28KW of panels in unusual for a home.

 

[doox00]

Is this a commercial install? 28KW of panels in unusual for a home.

Yeah it is a lot but ultimately I don't want to rely on grid power at all. It is for my shop (business) and my home, I average about 4-5000 watts usage around the clock, sometimes 3k being used and other times 9-10k being used and live where we get snow so wanted enough panels to generate the power we need and keep the batteries charged, which will be more challenging during the winter time. To start I will be using 60 panels on the 3 inverters and if that is not enough I will add a 4th inverter and the other 12 panels.. otherwise those 12 will be backup/spare panels.

 

[@prepared_life]

I have batteries and inverters (eg4 6000xp's, 3 of them to start with) but not sure which panels to go with. Are there big differences (besides wattage) between the ones sold for instance on current connected or signature solar? I was looking at 2 pallets of the Hyperion 400w bifacial panels. What are the main differences with those and the much more expensive Bluesun 460 watt bifacial panels? Any recommended panels and which ones to avoid and why?

Hyperion 400W Bifacial Solar Panel (Black) | Up to 500W with Bifacial Gain | Full Pallet ( 36 ) 14.4kW Pallet

Signature Solar provides solar panels, off-grid solar systems, grid-tie, and hybrid systems. Quality solar inverters, bifacial solar panels, complete solar kits, solar batteries. Featuring brands such as EG4 Electronics with their solar battery, LifePower4 and EG4 LLifePower4 and EG4 LL

signaturesolar.com

https://signaturesolar.com/product_images/HY-DH108P8%20390-410W-202110%20(short%20cable)%20(2)%20(2).pdf

I just installed 10 of the Hyperion panels from SS to use for charging my batteries along with their solar charger. I guess time will tell if it was a good investment. At the price, I'll take that chance.

 

[doox00]

I just installed 10 of the Hyperion panels from SS to use for charging my batteries along with their solar charger. I guess time will tell if it was a good investment. At the price, I'll take that chance.

Yeah they are inexpensive and the Talesun are even less, at 100 bucks a panel (95 with 5% discount they gave) it seemed like a good deal to me!

How are the hyperion performing so far?

 

[42OhmsPA]

Have you seen the Philadelphia Solar 400w bifacials for $0.25/w with free shipping? (lift gate would be extra.)

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Edit - nevermind. See you already ordered. Post updates on your build.

 

[@prepared_life]

Yeah they are inexpensive and the Talesun are even less, at 100 bucks a panel (95 with 5% discount they gave) it seemed like a good deal to me!

How are the hyperion performing so far?

I just finished the install this afternoon. I'm only looking at getting use out of them from sunrise till a little afternoon as they are on the Eastside of my garage. I wanted to get a head start on charging my battery bank realizing I was missing some potential. I won't get the the bifacial benefit of the panels as they are flat on the roof but I wasn't interested in those gains just the price. At noon with 10 panels I was only seeing 367 watts, now around 1506 hours about 167 watts. I should see some good numbers come spring and summer.

 

[tomlos]

I just finished the install this afternoon. I'm only looking at getting use out of them from sunrise till a little afternoon as they are on the Eastside of my garage. I wanted to get a head start on charging my battery bank realizing I was missing some potential. I won't get the the bifacial benefit of the panels as they are flat on the roof but I wasn't interested in those gains just the price. At noon with 10 panels I was only seeing 367 watts, now around 1506 hours about 167 watts. I should see some good numbers come spring and summer.

I'm actually looking at picking up some of the Talesun 400W bifacial panels for our off-grid cabin, given the price.. like others have said, if they perform, it is certainly worth giving them a try! How are your hyperions hold up so far.. knowing it's winter time up there?

 

[@prepared_life]

I'm actually looking at picking up some of the Talesun 400W bifacial panels for our off-grid cabin, given the price.. like others have said, if they perform, it is certainly worth giving them a try! How are your hyperions hold up so far.. knowing it's winter time up there?

So far good. Given the season and that they are not at an optimal angle. Today, I almost witnessed them hit 1000 watts as the sun is out( with the Suns angle they are shaded during the winter). They should serve me well for what I want them for, early morning charging from sun up till noon.

 

[tomlos]

So far good. Given the season and that they are not at an optimal angle. Today, I almost witnessed them hit 1000 watts as the sun is out( with the Suns angle they are shaded during the winter). They should serve me well for what I want them for, early morning charging from sun up till noon.

I picked up 15x and should be delivered this week, then promptly installed to grow our currently array of 4x 370w sungold panels. The price was just so right, and figured I couldn't go wrong with a tier-1 panel. We'll get to 19 panels, and about 7,800w or so..... plenty of juice for the cabin.

 

[Siamac]

I picked up 15x and should be delivered this week, then promptly installed to grow our currently array of 4x 370w sungold panels. The price was just so right, and figured I couldn't go wrong with a tier-1 panel. We'll get to 19 panels, and about 7,800w or so..... plenty of juice for the cabin.

The bifacial 400w panels? How much were they?

 

[daystarmike5]

The bifacial 400w panels? How much were they?

They are listed at $108 a panel on Singular Solar, but if you can take the tax credit, they end up being about $76 a piece. I just purchased 16 for my new backup system. I also, was encouraged by the Singular Solar sales that they were a better panel than they hyperion. I am anxious to see how much power they end up generating.

 

[tomlos]

The bifacial 400w panels? How much were they?

Apologies for the late reply, but they were $108/panel which is a fantastic price. The packaging, shipping was stupid fast with Signature Solar , packing was awesome, and we ended up getting all 15 onto my buddies pickup, and hauled 3 hours SE to our ranch, and installed this weekend.

Our system was sized very small to just get our cabin started, so we had 4x 370W SunGold Power panels, now we have 19 in total with this new 15 installed. We went from generating ~1,300w to now almost ~7,500w and charged all three of our 5kwh batteries by 11am yesterday morning...

WOW! My two charger controllers are now maxed out on this inverter, so it's just time to add more batteries. I highly recommend these panels. They look great, frames are solid, work well and soak up the sun very well. I need to do a more detailed review on our YT channel.

 

[Cmy]

Going through the same comparisons, Bluesun 460s 'older' style, ~10 lbs heavier, 40.87" wide, has higher Voc with lower Isc than newer M10 44.7" width. So older better for inverter string amp limits, Voc 50.8v and Isc 11.5. M10 Talesun 400's Voc 37v and Isc 13.78 puts a S-A 26 amp self limiter to work

Bluesun more efficient at 21.2% vs. Talesun 20.5% but price difference makes it easy to add a panel to make up and efficieny loss.

 

[silverlexg]

Sorry for odd questions but i cant seem to determine how transparent the Talesun panels are, I see that are bifacial so they should have some kind of transparency. If anyone has them can you provide a picture of something of the back or perhaps in light to show how transparent they are? I'm looking to add them as a 'roof' on a pergola and would like some transparency and not a full black back. Thanks

 

[Rumast21]

Can anyone comment on how the Talesun panels are performing? Debsting between those Canadian Solar 400w.

 

[Liam M]

Can anyone comment on how the Talesun panels are performing? Debsting between those Canadian Solar 400w.

bump, I'm thinking of ordering these.