costco or ebay solar panel? (1 Viewer)

[khm3rgtr]

i'm looking to solar panel and i don't anything about solar panel and i see costco sale 300w for $599 and ebay 320w for $389. for the price i toward ebay but my concern is the quality between the two are they the same ? which one would you guys pick ?

Solar Cynergy 320 Watt Kit TWO 12 Volt Mono Solar Panels 160 W Watt PV Panels | eBay

Costco Wholesale

 

[mct75]

Quality is mostly a crap shoot. With solar panels, the main issues are the frames and how durable and water-tight they are. The glass needs to be durable enough to not break when the frames flex or hail hits them. Panels designed for mounting on a house roof might not do as well if you strap it to a moving vehicle. The solar cells themselves aren't that important.

The Costco kit comes with a 300w inverter that is probably not great quality. I would get the cheap stand-alone panels and go from there. Get yourself a nice inverter and charger, maybe ones that can scale up if you ever need to. DMSOLAR is a somewhat name brand that has a 335W panel for $218: Solartec 335w solar panel, solar module 335w


Also, what are you wanting to do with these? That's important as well!

 

[Cruiserdrew]

How much power do you need? A big house type panel will work fine but is overkill for a camping truck and usual associated loads. If you get a house type panel, you will need an MPPT controller. Two recent good deals:

1- 160 Watt 12 Volt Battery Charger Solar Panel Off Grid RV Boat 160 watt total | eBay

I have one of these and it's been great.


I also bought one of these for another truck:

Grape Solar 180-Watt Monocrystalline PV Solar Panel for Cabins, RV's and Back-Up Power Systems-GS-STAR-180W-US - The Home Depot

They seem to vary the price on this panel daily. When I bought it a month or so ago, it was $199. Then, it was $258 for awhile and now $219.

 

[JCruse]

I got a Renogy 100w panel for $160 off Amazon. Its a known name and mine has stood up well for 4 years now. It has a 20 year output warranty and has given me no trouble, except where I dropped a wrench on it.... and actually got a 4 or 5 inch crack on the BOTTOM glass. I guess its not as strong as the top. Still works fine and I havent repaired it yet.