SolarWorld vs LG

[chr2002ca]

I live in the Carlsbad area of San Diego and I'm about 180 yards from a tee box along a golf course. We have a golf ball fall out of the sky and land in our yard or on our roof about once a day. They come in at a pretty good rate of speed. Our solar panels are mounted on the opposite side of the house and at a light down angle facing away from the incoming angle of the balls, but that really doesn't matter obviously. I just had a golf ball crack one of my LG 295N1C-A3 panels this weekend. Because the glass is sealed to the solar cells, you have to replace the whole panel when this happens. We just purchased the home 6 months ago and I found my paperwork and called the company that installed my system. They mentioned that they just replaced 2 of the panels on this home right before it went up for sale 8 months ago, so this frequency of damage and replacement is absurd. He said he warned the previous owner not to install the LG's due to the home's location and instead to use SolarWorld panels because their much more durable, but the previous owner didn't listen. I'm investigating a bulk trade-in right now with him because I can't be paying for LG panel replacements 2-3 times a year. The SolarWorld durability demo on YouTube convinced me. SolarWorld panels do come in black. I'll most likely be going with the 280s. There is a light drop in power there from my 295s, but we're overproducing right now anyways ever since we got rid of our spa so it's not an issue. If one of the SolarWorld panels crack due to a golf ball, I'll post again here and let everyone know.

[DanKegel]

I'm investigating a bulk trade-in right now with him because I can't be paying for LG panel replacements 2-3 times a year.

Great story.

Would netting be an option? I just googled 'invisible golf ball net' and got a hit or two.

[chr2002ca]

Great story.

Would netting be an option? I just googled 'invisible golf ball net' and got a hit or two.

Unfortunately no. There is no way to erect any sort of netting/fence on the perimeter of our property as it would have to be way too tall and would be an absolute eyesore. Placing a netting over top of the panels(maybe 8"-12" above the panels) would reduce their output and would also be an eyesore for us because our solar panels are at the front of our home and clearly visible from curbside and to anybody who visits the home. I'll give these SolarWorld panels a shot and see how it goes and report back.

[albert436]

Hypothetical question -- if you didn't live near a golf course/baseballfield/etc., would you still think it worthwhile to install Solarworld rather than LG?

Just curious.

[J.P.M.]

I'm looking at the two data sheets for those panels and based on that somewhat limited data, I'm having a hard time understanding how one panel can have more impact resistance than the other in a predictive sense.

Perhaps the only clue for me might be that the Solarworld panel weighs about 2.7# more than the LG, or maybe about 5% more on an area basis. Since the glass thickness is not listed in either one and the framing seems perhaps a bit beefier on the LG, than on the Solarworld, maybe the Solarworld uses slightly thicker glass, but not much. If there is a better impact resistance, it may also have something to do with the fixation and rigidity (or flexibility) of the attachment methods of the glass to the framing or the distance of the glass to the surface - less allowing less glazing deflection, although I'd wonder how much effect such a distance has on impact failure mechanics.

Or, it just might be the luck of the draw on some ball strike velocity, trajectory and panel strike location. Sometimes, and under some loading conditions that are impact in nature, failures of brittle materials have some of the uncertainty characteristics of something called Euler buckling, referring to sudden, somewhat unpredictable and usually catastrophic failure of long, slender columns under various types of compressive loadings.

That's nice and academic, but mostly and probably absolutely useless for the OP's situation. I live about 100 ft. +/- from a tee box and sympathize. I could certainly be wrong, but I'm not sure a wholesale replacement of one panel to the will result in noticeably fewer failures due to ball strikes. Tough call.

[thejq]

That's nice and academic, but mostly and probably absolutely useless for the OP's situation. I live about 100 ft. +/- from a tee box and sympathize. I could certainly be wrong, but I'm not sure a wholesale replacement of one panel to the will result in noticeably fewer failures due to ball strikes. Tough call.

FWIW I'd agree with that. There's no demonstration that Solarworld is more impact resistant than LG. There's a Youtub video of bike riding on Solarworld panels, but bike's tire is soft. Without knowing if it will help, I'm not sure if it's wise to change them blindly (esp if it costs lots of $$$). Alternatively I'd consider a layer of Plexiglass which is commonly used in areas with high impact on top of your solar panels. I'm not sure how easy it is to install, but it's a surer way to protect your panels without sacrificing too much sunlight.

[J.P.M.]

FWIW I'd agree with that. There's no demonstration that Solarworld is more impact resistant than LG. There's a Youtub video of bike riding on Solarworld panels, but bike's tire is soft. Without knowing if it will help, I'm not sure if it's wise to change them blindly (esp if it costs lots of $$$). Alternatively I'd consider a layer of Plexiglass which is commonly used in areas with high impact on top of your solar panels. I'm not sure how easy it is to install, but it's a surer way to protect your panels without sacrificing too much sunlight.

Seems to me that most utube stuff is about as useful and believable in terms of representing reality as porno.

I'd avoid another solid layer of solid material over the array. It may, on first thought, appear to have advantages, and for impact resistance, it probably does. However, further thought may bring to mind other not so nice and troublesome consequences.

Off the top of my head, a few of the drawbacks might be:

- Unless there is a fair distance, say 10-15 cm. or so, panel temps. will be higher, impacting performance and probably service life.

- Attaching such covers may very well void the warranty.

- If attached directly to the array and stood off some distance, the dead load and dynamic (wind, seismic) loads will increase meaning a check and possible roof/support structure modification. A building permit may be required.

- Solar resource availability will decrease by at least several % at the beginning due to transmittace losses and unless it's glass, probably increase as the material ages. This is true for most plastics.

- If stood off some distance, say that 10 - 15 cm., there will be two surface to foul - the panel glazing and the protective cover, meaning things will nominally foul 2X as quickly and in the limit 2X as much. Also, have fun trying to clean the panel glazing.

I lived on the 12th fairway near the green @ Castle Creek (for any locals who know where that is) for several years. One of other homes on that fairway was about 150 yds. downrange from, and to the right of, the tee box. The owner of that home needed to take the rather extreme measure of constructing a plexiglass wall down one of the walkway on the tee side of the home for property and personal protection. The wall was regularly cracked in a very visual way on a regular basis by ball strikes and regularly removed before the house went on the market. As I recall, that house went through more owners than other, adjacent homes.

[chr2002ca]

Hypothetical question -- if you didn't live near a golf course/baseballfield/etc., would you still think it worthwhile to install Solarworld rather than LG?

Just curious.

I wouldn't be bothering with this at all if that was the case and would stick with the LG's that are there.

[Kev]

What sub did you drive?

(USS Thomas A. Edison SSBN 610 Blue)

[outie]

Hi everyone. I am now down to decide between LG 300 and Solarworld 275. As of 2015 what do you recommend? The price between them is $3.6/W for LG and $3.39/W for SolarWorld for a 5.7kW system. I might actually increase that to a 6.6kW system.

Inverter is SolarEdge 5kW Inverter with Optimizers.

I think SolarWorld makes better panel and LG is more likely to stay in business. So... it's a tough call.

The local solar installer said all the SolarWorld panels they installed were good and if there were issues, the warranty claims went smoothly. My only concern is if they will stay in business for the duration of my panels.

Thanks in advance!

[gvl]

Hi everyone. I am now down to decide between LG 300 and Solarworld 275. As of 2015 what do you recommend? The price between them is $3.6/W for LG and $3.39/W for SolarWorld for a 5.7kW system. I might actually increase that to a 6.6kW system.

Inverter is SolarEdge 5kW Inverter with Optimizers.

I think SolarWorld makes better panel and LG is more likely to stay in business. So... it's a tough call.

The local solar installer said all the SolarWorld panels they installed were good and if there were issues, the warranty claims went smoothly. My only concern is if they will stay in business for the duration of my panels.

Thanks in advance!

Not an answer to your actual question, but a 5kW Inverter with a 6.6kW array will be maxed out or close and you won't be able add panels to it in the future if that is even a consideration. Should you decide to go with micro-inverters instead of SolarEdge SW275s will not be clipping with Enphase M250s, but LG300s will.

[outie]

Got it. I will make sure they use the correct inverter.

[albert436]

I've read through this thread a couple of times but at the moment don't remember one thing.

What's the relative cost per watt of LG vs. SolarWorld panels, generally speaking.?

[thejq]

I've read through this thread a couple of times but at the moment don't remember one thing.

What's the relative cost per watt of LG vs. SolarWorld panels, generally speaking.?

Check http://www.civicsolar.com/ or http://www.wholesalesolar.com/ , but generally about $0.3/W.

[J.P.M.]

Gut check time:

LG, Solar world and most reasonably made and quality controlled panels including Sunpower are close to being a commodity, with a lot of the difference being appearance. These days, most quality stuff is fit for purpose.

Any golf ball can damage any panel if hit the right (wrong) way. Living on a golf course makes ball strikes a fact of life.

The quality of the vendor, including their experience, integrity and communication skills are more important than the lowest initial price. However, $0.30/Watt might be a bit much.