Grins, actually My MPPT cost more than the panels. £70 for each panel plus £33 shipping the pair. The 2 30a MPPTs £90 each.
But when fitting to a house it’s likely to be mounting by a pro that is the bigger cost. So yeah, way easier to replace the MPPTs etc then climb on a roof.
Fortunately, with a narrow boat a can do it all myself with just the risk of wet feet ;)
Erm as he is talking about what the panel providers are willing to warrantee. Where else would you expect to see it.
Give me a week and I can go get the warrantee paperwork for my panels. But I’m net heading out to them till after Xmas. But it’s 20 years at something like 85% of original performance.
If you are expecting to see test data. Well, honestly, other than manufacturers. The older technologies really were not as reliable. The same manufacturing techniques that have reduced the price of panels over the last few years. Are the reason UV damage etc will take longer to effect them. Hence, the long warrantees. 70-90s panels used to suffer from UV fogging over the diodes, so did not expect to last as long. But even they tended to last about 10 years.
As I pointed out else where. It is not the panels that are likely to fail in 6 years. (unless damaged) But the electronics adjusting to battery or AC voltages for use. They tend to come with much shorter warrantees. But if fitted well, are also much easier to replace.
Honestly, it depends on what you spend. Many high-end fridges in Europe come with 10 year manufacturer’s warrantee. And EU law requires manufacturers to provide parts for 10 years on such goods. So honestly yeah.
That said, cheaper ones tend to make it past 5 (mine is 8 years old) without maintenance. And if I had to replace it 3 times in 10 years, it would still be cheaper than getting the expensive ones. (worse for the environment)
As for solar panels. I am about to replace the one on my boat. It is well over 5 years old and still works. I’m replacing it because I can get 2 410w huge panels for way less than the 100w one cost the past boat owner.
6 years really is nothing for a solar panel. My new ones came with a 20-year warrantee. (something like 85% after 20 year). High-end ones are better.
The 2 MPPTs are likely to need replacing first. But again, 6 years may be well beyond their warrantee. But is reasonable to expect. The lifepo4 battery should just manage 10 years. Before losing significant storage. But that is with the BMS set to keep them from 10-90% charge.
So no, 6 years is a very reasonable time to expect from solar.
EDIT: In a house setup. It is the inverter that is most likely to need replacing. But again, 6 years is more than likely for a quality one.
On my boat, the vast majority of the equipment is 12v, as it’s just more efficient. But the cheap (very) Chinese inverter did not last a year. So yeah they can be cheap crap if you don’t get good ones. But we don’t really use it much. So haven’t bother replacing it yet. Will do so this summer.
Worth adding. In homophobic a community. It is much less likely that gay men are able to get honest advice.
And way more likely that those gay men also risk heteosexual women. When attempting to avoid prejudice. Ie pretending not to be gay.
Back in the early 80s when aids first came out. The US and UK were very homophobic. To the point it was often illegal in some US states. And only recently legalised but still restricted in the UK.
This in no way prevented gay men and increased the risk to both gay and hetrosexual communities.
‘If 1.5m Germans have them there must be something in it’
Yep, an impressive marketing campaign.
Honestly, I’m not saying they are bad. Depends on location and angle.
But the tittle is total rubbish.
Agreed.
As I say, it’s just the idea of 1.5m can’t be wrong that is wrong. More so coming from a newspaper that depends on the success of marketing for its revenue.
Approx 2% of a population can definitely be sold a crock of shit if the marketing is good. Just look at the numbers who voted Trump in the US or Reform in the UK.
Honestly, if solar Balconies produced 30% of the nations’ electricity, then it would be very impressive.
But while Germany producing 54% clean energy is bloody impressive. Honestly, 30% is likely to be solar as a whole, not just balcony solar.
The number of locations where the low sun would be inline to balconies is limited. Due to urban conditions. Mainly only higher flats over the average city line and rural areas.
And while in those higher or rural flats. The low sun may shine the correct way 30% of the day (if the panels can tilt). For that to generate 30% of the flats use over a whole year. Would take a pretty big balcony. The best panels available commercially nowadays are <300w per m2. So most balconies would have 600 to 1200w max. The whole side of the flat would likely be 4x to 6x times that.
I’d guess it’s still worth doing. (def the whole side of the building thing) Mainly because the panels are so freaking cheap atm. It’s the cost of bats and volt/current/charge management that would be the greatest cost part. But for most users. 30% from balcony alone is not realistic.