Interesting solar panel

[Blitz]

Just seen this Solar panel reviewed on one of my regular YouTube watch lists. Anyone seen anything similar from a UK supplier?
Very good results in the shade and not overpriced.
Contacted the Company in the U.S but unfortunately they don't have any European importers as yet and shipping would be nearly $100 plus tax.

 

[Howzat]

Had no idea how just a little bit of shading could have so much impact on the solar efficiency. I'd have thought it to be proportionate as in 10% shade = 10% loss but his testing suggests that 10% shading is more likely to result in 50-75% loss. When he places the chair on the Renology panel covering about 40% of the panel it was only harvesting 1.5w out of a possible 100w.

 

[roadtripper]

Shading has a huge impact, the panel can only reach maximum power gated pretty much by the lowest performing cell - so shading a single cell will lower the power output of all the ones connected.

 

[Bav]

Had no idea how just a little bit of shading could have so much impact on the solar efficiency. I'd have thought it to be proportionate as in 10% shade = 10% loss but his testing suggests that 10% shading is more likely to result in 50-75% loss. When he places the chair on the Renology panel covering about 40% of the panel it was only harvesting 1.5w out of a possible 100w.

Yep - so best to avoid roof bars over the top of your panel (or parking near trees/buildings/seagulls)

 

[Salty Spuds]

Shading has always been a big issue in the solar panel world. The cells in an individual panel are in a configuration where several rows of cells are arranged in series & then these clusters are arranged in parallel. If one of the series cells in a cluster is shaded or fails, it brings down the whole cluster. Depending on how the cell clusters are configured, one failed/shaded cell can reduce the whole panel output by 50%. If a couple of cells in separate clusters are affected, the panel output will tank.
This is why so many flexible panels fail, it only takes a couple of cells in separate clusters to crack a bus bar (the bit of foil that you can see connecting the cells together) and the whole panel is toast. Rigid panels seem to suffer less from expansion/contraction problems. Maybe because fewer different materials are used in the construction & the rates of change are more uniform.

 

[Dellmassive]

Shading has always been a big issue in the solar panel world. The cells in an individual panel are in a configuration where several rows of cells are arranged in series & then these clusters are arranged in parallel. If one of the series cells in a cluster is shaded or fails, it brings down the whole cluster. Depending on how the cell clusters are configured, one failed/shaded cell can reduce the whole panel output by 50%. If a couple of cells in separate clusters are affected, the panel output will tank.
This is why so many flexible panels fail, it only takes a couple of cells in separate clusters to crack a bus bar (the bit of foil that you can see connecting the cells together) and the whole panel is toast. Rigid panels seem to suffer less from expansion/contraction problems. Maybe because fewer different materials are used in the construction & the rates of change are more uniform.

What he said ....

 

[cgtmiles]

So to reduce the impact of shading etc is it better to have multiple panels instead of one massive one?

 

[Blitz]

Yep as a Solor geek I was aware of the shading issues, the interesting part is how badly the Renogy panel was affected (although an expected result) vs these new panels. For the UK weather and obviously unavoidable shading conditions we face on camp sites etc these do look very appealing. Independent review also removes the usual bull shi# clames most companies use these days. At less than $1 per watt these are really competitive.
I'm no expert but I'm guessing shipping costs are mainly due to the large box size rather than a weight issue. No idea on the import tax though per £100? That's why most people avoid U.S imports.

So to reduce the impact of shading etc is it better to have multiple panels instead of one massive one?

Yes. Running in parallel and series etc. Although that increases voltage this couses other complications.

 

[roadtripper]

The way it's done in large installations is to have separate MPPT controllers so each can track independently. On my house roof I have 2 strings arranged to minimise the shade of the trees in the afternoon. My inverter can also do smarter MPPT tracking where it searches for a better tracking point every few minutes. The other popular technique is a micro inverter per panel then shading will only ever impact one panel.

In a van if you put 2 panels up and had the space two MPPT controllers would give you the best resilience and also some redundancy.

If you can put two panels up on the van roof to avoid shading where a larger single one would be shaded that would help, but if they are on the same MPPT controller shading on one will still bring the output of the array down.

Also if you are connecting multiple ideally they should be the same panels as, again, they will only be on a single MPPT controller and only matched panels are going to behave identically.

 

[Blitz]

The problem on a van is always wiring amount and size. Most will want to use the easiest method and connect in parallel, which like you say doesn't help with shading. This was a real problem when I first started with my van as most controllers didn't support enough voltage to allow even two panels in series. Luckily most half decent ones now do but with only 2 panels, it's still easy to shade one and loose 50% of your output. I think these panels are real game changers for campers and mobile use, if they are reliable and resilient.

 

[Martinf]

In a van if you put 2 panels up and had the space two MPPT controllers would give you the best resilience and also some redundancy.

If you can put two panels up on the van roof to avoid shading where a larger single one would be shaded that would help, but if they are on the same MPPT controller shading on one will still bring the output of the array down.

We have an NDS SunControl2 which has two separate inputs for solar panels. I don’t know whether this is any different to just connecting two panels in parallel, but it definitely provides 50% degraded capability when one panel fails.

At BusFest last year we identified one panel was failed, but were fortunate still to have half our input. Our Converter wanted to replace the system with single large panel, which we rejected because the graceful degradation of a two panel system had proved itself. Though it doesn’t protect against solar controller failure of course.

 

[Ayjay]

I just looked at their website and to ship to my post code in Gloucestershire would be £257 plus £152 for the panel. That said, I doubt if it will be too long before those or something very similar are available here at a decen(tish) price - probably the same number of £ as $ (or perhaps a few more).

 

[Skyliner33]

So to reduce the impact of shading etc is it better to have multiple panels instead of one massive one?

No, if in series, unless you have optimisers on the panels. If you run 2 panels in series then its the same as one big panel. Although some panels have bypass diodes which help.

 

[Blitz]

I just looked at their website and to ship to my post code in Gloucestershire would be £257 plus £152 for the panel. That said, I doubt if it will be too long before those or something very similar are available here at a decen(tish) price - probably the same number of £ as $ (or perhaps a few more).

Told me £95 shipping on the online chat for two 100w panels. Somethings a miss, although most Americans don't know where Europe is let alone the little U.K

 

[roadtripper]

Having just got a Renogy 100w folding panel to play with I did some shading experiments:

BLUETTI EB3A initial review

So for non T6 reasons I ended up buying a Bluetti EB3A so I thought I'd let folks here know my initial review thoughts. There are lots of threads about the bigger systems but less about the more modest ones. Basic impressions So this is the Bluetti EB3A alongside my small Beaudens I use as a...

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