Which solar panel is better? Want cheap and good ones

[Memars]

Hi, I'm living in Germany, and I want to install a solar power system for my home. I am new to this area and need to buy solar panels, inverters and batteries. I want to save money, if I can make money from this system, that would be better.
There are many brands in the market, I noticed the Portable Solar Panel S200 200Wfrom Marstek, and it sells other products, like microgrid products.
Anker is another brand that seems good. So what have you bought before and what's your real experience? The information you share will be very helpful for me.

[J.P.M.]

Best brief info I can share is 2 things:
1.) Like most other things in life, for PV applications you can have cheap, fast or quality.
Pick two.
Most all possibility of the third will be eliminated by your choices.

2.) Get self educated.
Start with a free PDF download of "Solar Power Your Home for Dummies". It's a bit dated but the basics in the book are still valid.

Welcome to the forum of few(er) illusions.

[SunEagle]

Usually the cheap products don't last and end up being replaced

[littleharbor2]

Best value for your money will be in the 450-650 watt panels. Don't scrimp on charge controllers.

[DanS26]

https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/pros-and-cons-of-tier-1-vs-tier-2-solar-panels

[J.P.M.]

https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/pr...2-solar-panels

Tiers are mostly an unofficial designation of COMPANIES rather than PANELS.
Peddlers have bastardized the meaning into tier one (somehow unquantified but any way unstated) to be supposedly better quality or more expensive or more reliable or something. It's mostly sale/marketing B.S.

According to Renvu which is some marketing outfit:
"It is important to note that this ranking system is based solely on the financial status of the companies and should not be taken as an indication of the quality of their panels. When evaluating solar panels for your specific needs, it is essential to consider various factors beyond this ranking."

Apparently, the whole tier ranking system scam was started by Bloomberg and says more about the financial stability of manufacturers than the quality of their products. That may be of some importance when trying to figure if a company may be around in case of warranty issues, but it says little about product quality or suitability in any specific application.

Per Solar Reviews: "This classification was originally created by BloombergNEF in 2012. It's not a system to judge the quality of solar panels - it's actually a measure of 'bankability', and is based solely on financial criteria".

BTW, The Bloomberg system has only one tier.
Tiers 2,3,and 4 were invented by the peddlers who co-opted what was already a useless scam to sell product to the solar ignorant. The way the scam is run, any "panel" (not company) that isn't a tier one panel is something else - either 2, 3 or 4, or whatever.

There's a lot of good PV panels and a lot of junk PV panels, but this tier system won't do much to figure out which is which.

Even if such a system was useful, it might be good to keep in mind that most residential PV systems' problems are not caused by faulty panels.

Take what you want of the above. Scrap the rest.

[DanS26]

I have been on and off this site for many years. What is the the main complaint by far by users? It is that some piece of equipment has failed for whatever reason and the installer, supplier or manufacturer has gone bankrupt or otherwise gone out of business and it is impossible to get a repair or matched equipment. Most solar warranties are not worth the paper they are written on.

So in MHO you should look to the financial stability of the manufacturer, supplier or installer first.

[J.P.M.]

I have been on and off this site for many years. What is the the main complaint by far by users? It is that some piece of equipment has failed for whatever reason and the installer, supplier or manufacturer has gone bankrupt or otherwise gone out of business and it is impossible to get a repair or matched equipment. Most solar warranties are not worth the paper they are written on.

So in MHO you should look to the financial stability of the manufacturer, supplier or installer first.

Dan: Respecting your opinion, seems to me that this whole tier business is of little use and anyway, misused and unnecessary anyway.
In one sense, given the track record of solar manufacturers for longevity and financial stability and survival rate compared to, say, major vehicle companies or appliance manufacturers, a cautious consumer might well come to the opinion that residential PV isn't worth the risk.
Overall, most residential system problems are not due to panel failures. Panel failures are very low making any implication that what appears to be a bogus/tier rating system more of a red herring distraction away from other problems like inverters/optimizer wiring or the most common problem, inferior assembly, wiring practice and lack of professionalism in installation.
A good part of what is generally considered to be panel reliability is due to the simplicity of basic panel design and also to a lot of manufacturing standardization of the product. Panels have become pretty much a commodity.
Long panel warranties are also a giveaway about panel overall quality. Seems to me that panel manufacturers tend to agree with me on that. The standard panel warranty is 25 years. Whether a company survives or not, they wouldn't warrant a panel for that long if they thought it wouldn't last that long.
So, beyond investigating for some basic level of manufacturing quality and financial stability (as best as any basic due diligence can provide as a means of predicting the future) due diligence and checks as to manufacturer financial stability may be all that one can reasonably be expected to do. And that may be quite enough without resorting to some bogus system of unknown criteria or internal discipline.

[DanS26]

IMO the best warranty for quality solar products is to purchase spare parts on the front end. So if a panel goes out in 10 to 15 years with snail trails or a faulty diode, you have a ready replacement which is the right size and color of the original array. Same holds for inverters.....why wait for six months to get your micro replaced MAYBE under warranty...just replace it from your spare parts bin the next day, and be back up and running. Yes, a little bit more upfront cost but the hassle avoidance is priceless.

[Memars]

Dan: Respecting your opinion, seems to me that this whole tier business is of little use and anyway, misused and unnecessary anyway.
In one sense, given the track record of solar manufacturers for longevity and financial stability and survival rate compared to, say, major vehicle companies or appliance manufacturers, a cautious consumer might well come to the opinion that residential PV isn't worth the risk.
Overall, most residential system problems are not due to panel failures. Panel failures are very low making any implication that what appears to be a bogus/tier rating system more of a red herring distraction away from other problems like inverters/optimizer wiring or the most common problem, inferior assembly, wiring practice and lack of professionalism in installation.
A good part of what is generally considered to be panel reliability is due to the simplicity of basic panel design and also to a lot of manufacturing standardization of the product. Panels have become pretty much a commodity.
Long panel warranties are also a giveaway about panel overall quality. Seems to me that panel manufacturers tend to agree with me on that. The standard panel warranty is 25 years. Whether a company survives or not, they wouldn't warrant a panel for that long if they thought it wouldn't last that long.
So, beyond investigating for some basic level of manufacturing quality and financial stability (as best as any basic due diligence can provide as a means of predicting the future) due diligence and checks as to manufacturer financial stability may be all that one can reasonably be expected to do. And that may be quite enough without resorting to some bogus system of unknown criteria or internal discipline.

Thanks for your clear and detailed answer, it seems like we don't need to worry about the solar panel itself a lot, but we need to check the financial situation of the company.If the price of solar panel from Marstek is a good choice, I think I will buy two.

[Memars]

Best value for your money will be in the 450-650 watt panels. Don't scrimp on charge controllers.

Thanks for your advice for the system, will it be expensive?

[J.P.M.]

Thanks for your clear and detailed answer, it seems like we don't need to worry about the solar panel itself a lot, but we need to check the financial situation of the company.If the price of solar panel from Marstek is a good choice, I think I will buy two.

As I have always suggested, buying low buck anything, especially PV equipment is the errand of a fool.
Do deep research, meaning first learning how PV works and then set goals of what you want to accomplish.
Then see what's available that meets your criteria.
Then, spend more time and effort on finding an established electrical contractor who has been around long before PV got to be the darling of the well off and has sold PV for morethan a few years.
Most problems with residential PV stem from vendors who are inexperienced and/or unprofessional.

[littleharbor2]

Thanks for your advice for the system, will it be expensive?

Shop around. I recently bought 4, 595-watt Bifacial panels for $ 181 USD a piece.

[J.P.M.]

Thanks for your advice for the system, will it be expensive?

Expensive is a relative term. You want nice, you pay nice.

[Memars]

Shop around. I recently bought 4, 595-watt Bifacial panels for $ 181 USD a piece.

That's amazing! I will shop around though I don't need the system with that much power.Thanks for sharing.