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I have found some 240 watt new Sharp brand solar panels locally, the ad says they are new and have full output, they are grade B because they failed the lamination process and it is a visual defect only. I am planning on building my own system so always looking for a deal but don't want a flawed product.
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Do they still have the factory ser # label and warranty coverage ? Mostly B panels carry warranty except for visual blemishes, but power output should still be coveredPowerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
|| Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
|| VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A
solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-ListerComment
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There is no legal definition of B panels. Some manufacturers offer what they label as grade B panels which are full warranty for performance but they usually have visual flaws. Other companies do not sell or warrant B panels. They may sell them as scrap and an intermediate firm will buy those scrap panels and relabel them under a their own brand. Sun Electronics in Florida on occasion relabels panels under Sun brand. Sometimes the scrap panels are sold complete and some are sold unfinished for DIYers to finish. Other scrap panels may be sold with the agreement that they are not sold in the US, for export only and generally those have no warrantees except any that the reseller may offer. Many resellers of "scrap panels" will usually swap for a dead panel that was delivered defective. That is only practical if they are local because shipping them back is costly and paid for by the buyer. An offspec panel can be hazardous waste so the manufacturers would far rather get some minor revenue for the sale of them to reseller than pay to have them disposed of.
Thus Grade B panels are not necessarily good or bad. If they are sold through a manufacturer with a warranty they are good as the manufacturers standard product as long as you don't mind typically visual flaws. If they are on a barn on in the middle of the woods, not an issue but on a residential home in view of the public, it may be. Note that the visual flaws are usually quite apparent. Grade B sold through a reseller with a generic label is definitely riskier. If you get a great deal and buy some spares, it may be worth it. I would suggest using microinverters as if you lose a panel its a lot easier to live with one dead panel than have to reconfigure a string inverter and in some cases loss of a panel will knock you out of the voltage range of the string inverter.Comment
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Decent panels are available on the net now for low prices - these wold almost have to be given to you to be of interest.[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Comment
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Are you saving that much to take the risk?
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