Riding for free with solar charging!

[jkbrigman]

Unisolar went bankrupt several months ago. About a month or two ago was prime time to get these panels cheap, now they're becoming hard to find unless you want to pay a bit more.

Just look around for unisolar panels, these are not normal prices, and most of the deals are long gone. eBay is a fairly good place to try and find them, but I didn't see any great deals on there in weeks.

This is a decent price on the newer 144w panels, but its a largely undesirable solder connection.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Uni-Solar-144-watt-PVL-144-Solar-Panel-24-Volt-with-Peel-n-Stick-from-Unisolar-/221129219935?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337c541f5f

You can still get 30 packs shipped to you for about $1/watt, which isn't bad considering the mounting savings over standard panels and racking. If you have a metal roof, or need a new roof, this would be a great buy even at $1/watt. Especially if you're on grid and get government incentives. A grid tie setup with these panels can have payback times <1 year if you DIY.

Crap. I love those flexible stick-on panels.
...former text deleted...

EDIT: Unisolar bankruptcy confirmed. Still available on ebay, but at increasing prices.
My comments about that particular deal are now worthless, as it no longer exists...

JKB

 

[t3sla]

protip; for greater cycle life raise your battery off the concrete ground 8)

 

[Alastor]

protip; for greater cycle life raise your battery off the concrete ground 8)

You are so right.Insulate your battery bank its mandatory and it will add up a lot of years to your bank.Make a cheap wooden box to protect em from weather or even use an old refregirator to ensure that your bank will have a steady temperature.

P.s.
The refregirator idea might seems crazy but i could not find a better , cheaper way to go with it.

 

[ZOMGVTEK]

Unisolar went under?!?!? Crap. I love those flexible stick-on panels.
I checked out the ebay link you mention - that particular auction is over but the same seller has a batch of 30 more for $3900. 95 cents/watt before the $375 shipping cost.

They are solder tab. I'd have find the MC4 junction boxes and connectors. I could add Enphase inverters for $200/pop, an AC cutout switch and tie them into a meter base. (gotta check and see if the fancy new electronic meter the local EMC installed will do net-metering...)

Adding inverters would push that payback number to around 3-4 years, but even without incentives (you don't get those if you DIY, but heck, you don't get 'em if you contract the job either... ) that's one heck of a good deal....

JKB

They sure are great panels. Linking to these is often useless since the good deals disappear within hours. One auction had 136W panels for $0.60/watt with MC4's, and shipping was about $200 to most anywhere in the US. It would be easy to install that for <$1/watt grid tied.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/UniSolar-4-08KW-Carton-30-Flexible-Grid-Tie-or-Off-Grid-Solar-Panels-0-90-Watt-/200815410767?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ec187fe4f

All you need to search for is 'unisolar' and you come up with things like this. You can probably get the seller to roll shipping into that cost or take the $200 or so off the price, they were sitting them on them for a while.

You're over thinking things if you want micro grid ties. The better bet is run them all in series into a big grid tie and loose the individual monitoring. I've found great prices on a few year old 3-5kW SMA grid ties. They usually take a few hundred V input, so you only need a few parallel strings which really simplifies wiring. Getting panels with the MC4's already on would be easiest, then it would be stick and plug, with two cables running into the house. Otherwise i'd just solder wire from point to point without connectors and just silicone or something over the connections. I'd much rather build a relatively robust system thats exceedingly likely to pay itself back in <1 year as compared to spending way more and building something thats really 'nice' and has a 3-5 year payback.

This one only ended a few days ago.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/30-x-UNISOLAR-136-WATTS-FLEXIBLE-SOLAR-PANEL-75cents-PER-WATT-BRAND-NEW-PANELS-/221127094973?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337c33b2bd

Definitely a deal.

 

[edamame]

I will be moving the sealed lead acid batteries inside my house in the next few weeks. I will be running the bike charger outside and my office equipment inside. I was aware of keeping the batts within a 70-80 degree F window.

 

[edamame]

For anyone watching this thread I wanted to mention that my solar installer gave me two 235W panels that were damaged cosmetically. I asked him what he would say if anyone came to him wanting a discounted "big" panel. He said that installers almost always have blemished panels or lower-than-current wattage panels that cannot be sold easily retail. He had many extra 230W Scott panels last summer that he could have sold for $250 each. If you are looking to do some solar experimenting, call all of your local solar installers to see if they have some blemished or leftover panels that they'd like to part with. You might be surprised. Also, ask if they can deliver for a fee. The big 230-250W panels are hard to move without a pickup truck.

Check Craigslist for solar panels. I see new 230W panels in the $250 range pretty often.

I use the Morningstar SunSaver MPPT 15A controller since it is the only controller in the $200 range that can handle what a 235W panel can put out. I am now running a 24V solar system to charge the bike, run my pool cleaner and run a pool pump cooling water circuit. If you are running a 140W panel I would suggest the Genasun GV-10 controller for $170. It puts out a lot more watt hours per a given amount of sunshine than the SunSaver does but it is limited to 12V and 10A which isn't quite enough for a big panel.

 

[edamame]

New info^^^^^