Used Solar panels off Facebook

[petejj1104]

Would anyone buy solar panels off Facebook marketplace? 80 pound each. They are 80x1500 sized? Is this a good deal. Am a newbie and would like to get a solar set up to complement my battery.  Any advice appreciated. 

[BEngo]

On the face of it the price is not so low as to be too good to be true, but...

 

Who is the vendor?  Are they real?  All the other good internet sales questions are relevant.

We need more detail of the panels: how old, are they mono or poly, what are their outputs:  watts, max current, peak voltage? Do they have blocking diodes?  What is the warranty? Who is underwriting the warranty?  And more probably.

 

 For that sort of money per panel you can do business with established suppliers, and get new kit.  Look at Bimble, Sunshine Solar and others mentioned on here.  

 

Don't  forget that all but teeny  panels will need a controller between them and the batteries.

 

N

[petejj1104]

Thanks for the reply. I think that's what I wanted to know.  This is the info they provided. 

210w Mono solar panels £80 each 

Dimentions: 808x1580x35 (mm)

 

These are quality used grade A highly efficient Monocrystalline (Mono) panels, more powerful compared to Polycrystalline (poly) panels

 

GOOD USED EX FARM GRADE A PANELS IN PERFECT WORKING ORDER. FULLY TESTED

 

Limited QTY available, testing welcome.

 

Suitable for 12v/24v/48v/240v Battery setup. 

[MtB]

Sounds vaguely fishy to me. No-one uses panels that small on a solar farm, I wouldn't have thought.

 

Nor do people decommission and get rid of solar farms!

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

Sounds vaguely fishy to me. No-one uses panels that small on a solar farm, I wouldn't have thought.

 

Nor do people decommission and get rid of solar farms!

Bimble usually have second hand panels around that size. Someone somewhere must be decommissioning reasonably large solar installations to make those available.

[Graham Davis]

Are these from a "person/company" based in West Wales?

[peterboat]

Mine were 300 watts monos at 80 squids each some years ago all ok apart from a diode that blew in one of them down the line.

Recently I have bought 330 watts Monos at 90 squids ish, bought a lot though 

[petejj1104]

Thanks everyone for the comments.  I think I will wait and go for a new set up.  Am getting her next week so I'll know what the electric set up is like (currently) 😀

[cheesegas]

19 hours ago, MtB said:

Sounds vaguely fishy to me. No-one uses panels that small on a solar farm, I wouldn't have thought.

 

Nor do people decommission and get rid of solar farms!

Solar panels reduce in efficiency with age - generally, the panels are replaced every 20 years or so. There was a big boom in building farms in the early 2000s, meaning there's now stacks of panels appearing on the second hand market for not much money. I don't have the numbers to hand, but I seem to remember that by the end of their 20 year cycle, they've lost 20% of their original efficiency. When there's thousands of panels that's a lot of power!

Anyway, I'd say they'd be fine for an installation when you don't need to squeeze as much power out of the sun as possible; might be good on a boat that's on shore power over winter, and cruises during summer, or a panel to keep the batteries topped up over winter when no-one's living on it with no shore power. Less good for a liveaboard all year round, when in winter you need all the efficiency possible!