Anyone buy used panels from eBay? | DIY Solar Power Forum

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Anyone buy used panels from eBay?

CoryBaker

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May 12, 2020
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Just curious? Bought 10-250 watt poly panels from Santa Solar in Arizona off of eBay. 540.00 shipped. I have not tested or even seen them yet... They are in my garage. I'm a little out of the country right now.
 
Lots of us have from several sellers, welcome to the club! Once you have a plan share it with the forum and everyone will be happy to help.
 
Well I have a tentative plan....a lot of time on my hands right now to research! Ordered 90 ah lithium prismatic cells 16 for 48v. Looking into an epever 80-100 tracer AN series mppt. Custom charge program,
2000w epever inverter. Will be running a couple campers out in the middle of the boonies. 44 degree N latitude in MI. BMS on the way too. Will use a combiner box... Probably use 9 panels to start, with 3 strings of 3. The rest is just wiring to a couple spots on my property.. will be using 6awg wire for all. This is a start till I get a small cabin built. Will need power for a deep well at some point too... Have to do the well first!
There are the basics!
 
Yeah lots of great reviews.. sold thousands of them... How do the rate as far as advertised output?
 
I bought used 255 watt panels for $37.50 each and output was good as tested with a VOM.
 
I bought used 255 watt panels for $37.50 each and output was good as tested with a VOM.
Yeah. I was able to get them for about the same. Come out to be about 54 each with freight and tax. I was hoping people would be happy with them (me included) . That way I can buy more later!
 
I delt with santan via email, they were great. I got 20 250w 60cells, a mpp 2424 and a 30a epever. I wanted 8-12 panels for my planned array.

shipping was $300 to my place, $230 if i picked it up at a terminal.

I haven't started the build yet, I have sold 9 panels to people with no complaints.

panel cost after shipping was about $55 each (adding the other gear didn't effect shipping price), I've been getting $100 each, I'm considering doing another order soon.
 
Well I have a tentative plan....a lot of time on my hands right now to research! Ordered 90 ah lithium prismatic cells 16 for 48v. Looking into an epever 80-100 tracer AN series mppt. Custom charge program,
2000w epever inverter. Will be running a couple campers out in the middle of the boonies. 44 degree N latitude in MI. BMS on the way too. Will use a combiner box... Probably use 9 panels to start, with 3 strings of 3. The rest is just wiring to a couple spots on my property.. will be using 6awg wire for all. This is a start till I get a small cabin built. Will need power for a deep well at some point too... Have to do the well first!
There are the basics!
@Hedges. This is what I have planned. Advise is awesome!
 
Cool forum!

I registered tonight specifically to ask about these panels, so finding this thread is timely. I'm trying to power an off-grid ham radio repeater system which will be located at a mountainside site (which nobody else wanted because no AC power was available.) All systems will be 12-volt, including a 100-watt transmitter, so no inverter will be used, but I'll need a good MPPT controller. My planned power budget is about 3.5 kWh per day, so four of these panels should get me there if they actually make 200 watts or more.

The cost savings would be significant compared to new, leaving me room to budget more for batteries, but I'm anxious to know if anyone has actually measured output on these.
 
Well mine are sitting in my garage and I am on the other side of the planet at the moment?. Wish I could help. It's not an uncommon thing from what I've read. You can look at reviews of Suntan Solar on eBay. Thousands of happy people!
 
Yeah...My issue with ebay reviews is that so many seem to get posted as soon as the ordered goods arrive, and I see very few which mention actual experience using the product, let alone testing it. They seem to mostly rate the transaction experience, not the products.

I'll go back and read more deeply. Get home safe & soon, Cory!
 
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Yeah...My issue with ebay reviews is that so many seem to get posted as soon as the ordered goods arrive, and I see very few which mention actual experience using the product, let alone testing it. They seem to mostly rate the transaction experience, not the products.

I'll go back and read more deeply. Get home safe & soon, Cory!

There are many posts about San Tan Solar on this site in addition to this thread.

I have panels from them arriving today in Ohio. 4 of the Amerisolar 375w ones.

How many hours of sunlight do you expect per day?
 
I'm planning for six hours. That seems realistic here in mid-winter. I'll have more in summer, but at less-than-optimum sun angles.

I built one of these systems before, in the mid-1990s, to enable installation of a small repeater on a rooftop site with no AC mains on a 17-story building in Orlando, FL. That was a very small off-grid system, using a single 48-watt panel which peaked at 3 amps at 16 volts. It fed a single 12-volt Group 27 gelled lead-acid battery of about 100 AH through a homemade relay-based controller (to avoid RFI.) The repeater had a two-watt transmitter and drew only 2 amps in transmit.

That repeater was on the 440-MHz UHF band. It taught me that the math works regarding solar, and very conservative margins are unnecessary and just increase costs. My goal this time around will be to budget the power much tighter, and devise a reduced-power "limp mode" for the transmitter in case there are rare days when I cut it too close.

The new one will be a split-site system on 29 MHz, pulling about 12 amps peak at the transmitter site and requiring a much larger power budget. The system should also experience demand which roughly tracks with hours of daylight, due to the propagation characteristics in the 10-meter band. If all goes well, I'll try to document the build on YouTube.
 
You can also buy direct from them at SanTanSolar.com

I have had good experience with them.

NOT to be confused with SATANsolar.com which I honestly thought was its real name for some reason ... seriously i must have searched google for SATAN SOLAR for 15 minutes before i realized - SANTANsolar ...
 
I'm planning for six hours. That seems realistic here in mid-winter. I'll have more in summer, but at less-than-optimum sun angles.

I built one of these systems before, in the mid-1990s, to enable installation of a small repeater on a rooftop site with no AC mains on a 17-story building in Orlando, FL. That was a very small off-grid system, using a single 48-watt panel which peaked at 3 amps at 16 volts. It fed a single 12-volt Group 27 gelled lead-acid battery of about 100 AH through a homemade relay-based controller (to avoid RFI.) The repeater had a two-watt transmitter and drew only 2 amps in transmit.

That repeater was on the 440-MHz UHF band. It taught me that the math works regarding solar, and very conservative margins are unnecessary and just increase costs. My goal this time around will be to budget the power much tighter, and devise a reduced-power "limp mode" for the transmitter in case there are rare days when I cut it too close.

The new one will be a split-site system on 29 MHz, pulling about 12 amps peak at the transmitter site and requiring a much larger power budget. The system should also experience demand which roughly tracks with hours of daylight, due to the propagation characteristics in the 10-meter band. If all goes well, I'll try to document the build on YouTube.

The 4 call threw me off but according to QRZ you are in Utah so more sun than I thought. I would still stick with higher wattage panels and suggest you go for more wattage overall. In addition deal with SanTanSolar direct to save ebay fees.

I also saw you are looking for a HOA stealth antenna for HF. I would suggest a MFJ1979 whip adjusted to a true quarter wave vertical on any band 6-20m as described here:


Add a loading coil for 30 and 40m.
 
NOT to be confused with SATANsolar.com which I honestly thought was its real name for some reason ... seriously i must have searched google for SATAN SOLAR for 15 minutes before i realized - SANTANsolar ...

I don’t even want to guess what you found searching for satan solar ?
 
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