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Best place to buy solar?

Delta9

By Delta9
in Boat Equipment

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Delta9 Experienced

Delta9

Posted
Posted

I'm looking to buy a 100w or 125w solar panel and all the bits and bobs that I will need to connect it and fix it to my roof. They seem to vary in price a lot, so I don't want to spend too little and end up with something crap, or spend more than I need to. How much should I expect to pay for such a set up? Can anyone point me in the direction of the best place to buy a good ready to go kit of this type, or anywhere that currently has a special offer on such a kit? No e-bay as I don't use it.

 

Thanks.

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Phil Ambrose Veteran II

Phil Ambrose

Posted
Posted

To clarify, I'm looking for a kit that includes everything I need, not just panels, and I don't use e-bay.

As I said, check out Bimble Solar and as for Ebay well just to say I'm old and so is my wife but we get on alright with Ebay, bargains to be had and perfectly safe, other than that Mr Google knows a lot of stuff.

Phil

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Delta9 Experienced

Delta9

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Thanks Phil, but Bimble don't have any 100w or 120w kits except for a second hand one that isn't available until October.. I did try Googling it, thanks for that suggestion, very helpful. As I said in the OP, price varies a lot and I was hoping somebody could point me in the direction of a good special offer or recommend something that they had bought themselves.

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Kae Community Regular

Kae

Posted
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Kits are put together by retailers, not by manufacturers. Would you be willing to buy the parts individually if they were listed? You'd probably get more for your money (and you'd get even more if you were willing to look at flea-bay.)

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tillergirl Experienced

tillergirl

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We got ours from here

 

http://www.bestecoshop.com/12v-solar.html

 

kits available now apparently

 

We got two of these and all the ancillaries from either B&Q or Screwfix

 

http://www.bestecoshop.com/biard-silver-100w-solar-panel-with-750mm-solar-cable-and-mc4-connectors.html

Edited by tillergirl
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Richard10002 Veteran II

Richard10002

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We got ours from here

 

http://www.bestecoshop.com/12v-solar.html

 

kits available now apparently

 

We got two of these and all the ancillaries from either B&Q or Screwfix

 

http://www.bestecoshop.com/biard-silver-100w-solar-panel-with-750mm-solar-cable-and-mc4-connectors.html

 

The controllers look like PWM to me, and not MPPT. A 200W kit for £350 looks expensive to me.

 

I would expect to buy a 200W panel for about £100-£125.

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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted

If you can bring yourself use ebay to find the panels etc you want, I notice ebay sellers sometimes give a website address where they also sell their stuff too.

 

Is it just buying from ebay that is off the menu, or using it for market research too?

 

MtB

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Delta9 Experienced

Delta9

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I

 

If you can bring yourself use ebay to find the panels etc you want, I notice ebay sellers sometimes give a website address where they also sell their stuff too.

 

Is it just buying from ebay that is off the menu, or using it for market research too?

 

MtB

 

I had a look around on there but all the cheaper deals I was interested in either don't list a website or don't have the same deals on their websites.

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Delta9 Experienced

Delta9

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We got ours from here

 

http://www.bestecoshop.com/12v-solar.html

 

kits available now apparently

 

We got two of these and all the ancillaries from either B&Q or Screwfix

 

http://www.bestecoshop.com/biard-silver-100w-solar-panel-with-750mm-solar-cable-and-mc4-connectors.html

Thanks. That looks like the best option.

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tillergirl Experienced

tillergirl

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The controllers look like PWM to me, and not MPPT. A 200W kit for £350 looks expensive to me.

 

I would expect to buy a 200W panel for about £100-£125.

 

 

Seconded, as I said pay no more than £1-00 per watt.

Phil

Well whatever we have 2 x 100w that cost us £119.95 each plus £1.99 next day delivery/been fitted and working for a second season now on a Tristar controller and have no grumbles about them. There was no isses with ordering or delivery.

 

I was offering up a suggestion thats all.

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Phil Ambrose Veteran II

Phil Ambrose

Posted
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Well whatever we have 2 x 100w that cost us £119.95 each plus £1.99 next day delivery/been fitted and working for a second season now on a Tristar controller and have no grumbles about them. There was no isses with ordering or delivery.

 

I was offering up a suggestion thats all.

And a very good suggestion too but when he link was clicked on it came up with kits for £350 which was a bit different that which you paid, that's why we said a tad expensive.

Phil

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Richard10002 Veteran II

Richard10002

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£200 for a 100W kit, including a frame, or corners. The 100W panels seem to be around £120 or so on their own. I paid about £180 for a 100W kit a couple of years ago, so they should be much cheaper now. I would expect to buy a 200W panel for about £100-£125 today. You could buy a 20A PWM controller and a few metres of wire for about £50 from this site, leaving £50 for mounting.

 

Thus a 200W setup for £200, as against this lots 100A kit for £200.

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