Know anything about REC panels?

[DenverDave]

Sorry if this is covering ground from other posts. I tried searching for REC but got no search results. A local company is proposing REC's AE series of panels for my home. They're some of the least expensive panels I've seen. But this local company seems to have a good reputation for knowing their stuff. Anybody have any experience or knowledge about these particular panels?

[russ]

sales literature

I would hope they have supplied you with some documentation about the REC panels. Information from that would possibly help the guys recognize the manufacturer.

[DaveC]

REC Solar is a Scandinavian company. They had a severe production issue recently and were forced to recall all of their modules that were sold in 2008 and some sold in 2007.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/rec-to-recall-all-of-their-solar-panels-from-2008-report/

This might have something to do with their low prices right now. I'm sure they lost a lot of business due to the recall and I'm guessing their trying to make some of it back up.

-Dave C.

[DenverDave]

REC Solar is a Scandinavian company. They had a severe production issue recently and were forced to recall all of their modules that were sold in 2008 and some sold in 2007.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/rec-to-recall-all-of-their-solar-panels-from-2008-report/

This might have something to do with their low prices right now. I'm sure they lost a lot of business due to the recall and I'm guessing their trying to make some of it back up.

-Dave C.

Great info. Thanks Dave.

[joecarranco]

remediation

I know quite a bit about this recall and the circumstances of it, and I think that REC Group and REC Solar are doing the right thing. The issue had to do with a connection inside of the junction boxes of the modules that was affecting roughly 7% of the production run in 2008. The company decided to replace/or repair every module that was affected, rather than wait until the affected modules failed and the customer called them to file a warranty claim. Doing it this way was likely much more expensive for them, but it was the right thing to do.

Sunpower, Kyocera, and BP all have models of their solar panels that are failing at high rates, but they are not being proactive about the replacement of the panels. Rather, they are waiting until the panels fail and the customer calls them, or calls their solar panel installer to complain about low production. While this is their choice, I feel that this is wrong. They know that they have an issue with their panels, and yet they are not doing anything about it until someone complains. The end user may not know that something is wrong for a year or more. If they are not looking at their inverter occasionally, they might not see that the production is lower than normal, and wont find out that something is wrong with their system until they get their "trueup" bill from the utility company at the end of the year.

On the other hand, REC Group is honoring their reputation as a top notch company by being proactive about the repair of EVERY module that could potentially be affected. I think that in the long run, REC Group with come out ahead because they are being honest and upfront about the isses that they had.

[DenverDave]

Wow, that's some great background. Thanks so much, Joe.

[joecarranco]

One other note. The recall was for their model ending in "SCM", the "AE" and AE-US models are not included in the recall/replacement.

[Stubby]

REC SCM Solar Panel Viability

I am looking at a seller who has some Rec Scm 220 Watt panels for sale for cheap. The company is from China. They say that they are original panels, not remanufactured. REC had a recall on these panels. Questions:
1) Is there any concern about the viability of these panels?
2) Is there a warranty that still comes with them? The seller says that they still have the origianl warranty of 90% effectiveness after 10 years, and 80% after 25.

Does anybody know anything about this?

[russ]

Check with the manufacturer - they are the ones that would be carrying the guarantee - not the seller you are talking to.

Sounds hokie to me but worth checking on.

Do they carry the UL certification sticker?

[Breanna_SF]

BP Panels

I know quite a bit about this recall and the circumstances of it, and I think that REC Group and REC Solar are doing the right thing. The issue had to do with a connection inside of the junction boxes of the modules that was affecting roughly 7% of the production run in 2008. The company decided to replace/or repair every module that was affected, rather than wait until the affected modules failed and the customer called them to file a warranty claim. Doing it this way was likely much more expensive for them, but it was the right thing to do.

Sunpower, Kyocera, and BP all have models of their solar panels that are failing at high rates, but they are not being proactive about the replacement of the panels. Rather, they are waiting until the panels fail and the customer calls them, or calls their solar panel installer to complain about low production. While this is their choice, I feel that this is wrong. They know that they have an issue with their panels, and yet they are not doing anything about it until someone complains. The end user may not know that something is wrong for a year or more. If they are not looking at their inverter occasionally, they might not see that the production is lower than normal, and wont find out that something is wrong with their system until they get their "trueup" bill from the utility company at the end of the year.

On the other hand, REC Group is honoring their reputation as a top notch company by being proactive about the repair of EVERY module that could potentially be affected. I think that in the long run, REC Group with come out ahead because they are being honest and upfront about the isses that they had.

Do you know much about BP panels? We had one fail due to a bad junction box that overheated. They said it was random, but another one just failed. I know they did a recall in 2006 or so for some other panels. Apparently that didn't cover mine.

[earthshelterman]

REC replacement

I can chime in here. we acquired 4 unused REC panels that were from a failed project. I read this thread and approached REC. they were outstanding in the replacement process. they shipped the new units (not repaired) to me and arranged the return shipping all in a very short time frame. we look forward to purchasing more of their
panels in the spring. FYI

[russ]

I can chime in here. we look forward to purchasing more of their panels in the spring. FYI

Hi and Welcome to Solar Panel Talk!

Sounds like very good service!