New gadgets

[Noobie]

http://solpad.com

Interesting to see how dynamic the PV market is

[SilverNodashi]

On 2/9/2017 at 7:08 AM, Noobie said:

http://solpad.com

Interesting to see how dynamic the PV market is

That's nice, but super expensive! $1395 for "72-watt solar panel with an integrated 600 Watt-hour ".

[___]

7 hours ago, SilverNodashi said:

That's nice, but super expensive! $1395 for "72-watt solar panel with an integrated 600 Watt-hour ".

That's the Solpad mobile. Still rather expensive, absolutely agreed.

It seems what they have is a PV panel with integrated inverter and Lithium Ion battery. The idea seems to be that if you bundle it into one smart product and make it pretty, you can do the Apple/Tesla thing and charge lots of money for it.

I just can't see how it is a good idea to have the battery integrated into the module, simply because that module will get hot out in the sun and we know batteries don't like that. Similarly, it costs a lot more to use components that can take the heat. We're already having that conversation with Micro inverters vs String Inverters. The Micro-inverter sits below the hot panel, the string inverter sits in the cool room downstairs. Even the optimiser (aka Solar Edge) setups brag about how they don't put all the electronics up on the roof where it has a much rougher life.

And then there is the additional features, the integrated wifi hotspot. Come one... now you're trying too hard. The PV bit has a 25 year life and the battery 10 years, but in my experience cheap networking equipment don't make it much past 3. Seriously, this hardware is less than 100USD nowadays... this solves a problem nobody even had to start with.

[SilverNodashi]

6 hours ago, plonkster said:

That's the Solpad mobile. Still rather expensive, absolutely agreed.

It seems what they have is a PV panel with integrated inverter and Lithium Ion battery. The idea seems to be that if you bundle it into one smart product and make it pretty, you can do the Apple/Tesla thing and charge lots of money for it.

I just can't see how it is a good idea to have the battery integrated into the module, simply because that module will get hot out in the sun and we know batteries don't like that. Similarly, it costs a lot more to use components that can take the heat. We're already having that conversation with Micro inverters vs String Inverters. The Micro-inverter sits below the hot panel, the string inverter sits in the cool room downstairs. Even the optimiser (aka Solar Edge) setups brag about how they don't put all the electronics up on the roof where it has a much rougher life.

And then there is the additional features, the integrated wifi hotspot. Come one... now you're trying too hard. The PV bit has a 25 year life and the battery 10 years, but in my experience cheap networking equipment don't make it much past 3. Seriously, this hardware is less than 100USD nowadays... this solves a problem nobody even had to start with.

I kinda had similar thoughts on this as well. They're trying to beat Tesla on the design, and it seems on the costing as well. Problem is, it's too expensive and too "fancy". My thoughts about the battery: 1. They'll cook in the sun (Lithium doesn't like the heat) and 2. They're tool small for the average person's night time usage. Solution: Buy more panels with batteries. 

And then, some of the comments at the end: "It brings the internet to the people" - that one just wowed me right away. I realize the american folk are illiterate (can't find a word that doesn't belittle them...  ) so this is probably where these guys came into play - banking on the fact that their clientele don't know much about much?