50,000 FREE Solar Panels

[GreyCoyote]

Mods: I'm putting this here in Power & Electronics as an apparent best fit. Move it as you see best, and for best exposure.

To the chase: if you are a "maker", this is the gift of a lifetime. FIFTY THOUSAND solar panels are being gifted to whoever wants them. Ask and you will receive.

The catch? These are "solar shingles", and were apparently the result of a class-action lawsuit or something where a couple of houses had problems, so several hundred homes got bought-back by the manufacturer. The resultant panels that were removed are now up for grabs. The lawyers wanted to bury them, but a very motivated soul in Florida (who has the heart of a Burner, even if he has never been to, or heard of, Burningman) diverted them lawfully for gifting.

Wow. Just. Fooking. WOW!

The specs: each panel (shingle, really) is 6 volt output at about 35 watts. They look like shingles, NOT LIKE STANDARD PV PANELS. They have MC3 connectors (not MC4), and about 1 in 4 or 5 are BAD. (My understanding is the "bad" ones were damaged during removal. Actual in-service failures were apparently very rare). These units are between 3 and 5 years old and are in "as-removed" condition.

The smallest quantity that can be shipped is 100, (a full pallet) but this may change. Shipping is at actual cost, or you are free to pickup. I believe these panels are located in Miami, Phoenix, and Los Angeles.

If you want contact info for the "seller", PM me. I have not received permission (yet) to publically release the name/phone, but I am working on it.

Also: if anyone has the ear of someone high-up in Black Rock Solar, please have them contact me. My attempts to contact them have not borne fruit up to this point, but then again, its only been a few hours, so its early, and they are busy, and...

Disclaimer: I have no financial/legal/moral/sexual/political interest in this matter. If you choose to engage in this, your success or failure is no business of mine. I'm just passing along the info. Dont shoot the messenger (but demonstrations of "hey! Look what I made with this" at Fish Out Of Water Camp in 2017 would be really appreciated!)

Final point: if you partake, make a firm commitment to represent the Burner community in a very positive light. Dont be a pest or an asshole. Say "thanks" and "please" and maybe support the efforts of the person gifting this. The Universe is smiling. Dont shit on it.

Grey

[ygmir]

very nice offer, thank you for sharing!

[BBadger]

Dayyum, that's nice stuff! Not some tiny 1-3W panels, but 35W! Some 35W panels on Amazon go for like $60 ea. I wish I had the space and time for acquiring and using some of them!

[some seeing eye]

Thanks for posting this.

I'm more used to microinverters. How were these intended to be used - in strings of x volts, in parallel, or a mix, depending on number of shingles?

Black Rock Solar is easy to get in touch via BMHQ. http://ae-zone.org/ might be interested too. Florida regionals?

[Traveller in Time]

I wish I had the time, space and location to collect the 'defective' panels.
Most likely the defects can be repaired, more or less.

One defective would be near useless though many will even give the chance to use trial and error for repair.

[GreyCoyote]

SSE: it appears these were made with the idea of customization in mind as to string length, power, etc. I cant find any references to pre-configured systems so apparently each installation was done on a semi-custom basis, likely with the panels wired in series-parallel, with higher voltages to a central string-type inverter. But thats a guess.

No response from BRS. But I will reach out to the folks at AE Zone. Thats a good idea.

I'm waiting for someone to slap three or four of these on a yurt with a bucket cooler and a deep cycle and call it "home" on the playa. These would be perfect for that...

[Patsh]

This is an amazing and most generous offer!

Thanks for sharing it here!!

[some seeing eye]

I would speculate Black Rock Solar desires long life warranty panels, inverters and warranty installation. May not fit with this DIY project.

[GreyCoyote]

SSE: that is my guess as well. But I gave a shout out to them anyway. Ya never know...

[Foxfur]

Any word?

[GreyCoyote]

Any word?

No response from BRS or AEZone. But a bunch of the crew here on eplaya have shown an interest.

Btw: now there are 2500-4500 watt grid-tied inverters available for $99.

[GreyCoyote]

Got some feedback from a friend on the panels and inverters.

Inverters: worked perfectly. Manual available on the internet. Anyone with a brain can wire them. Scratches, a few dings, and the occasional missing screw. Other than that, perfect. However, reverse polarity on the input may result in catastrophic failures (no big news there. Hehehe).

Panels: failure rate is dramatically lower than stated. Out of 60, three were bad. One was dropped (hard), and may not have survived this abuse. Voltage/current were basically within spec. There is a question about using them on a Texas structure in the 120 mph coastal areas because they only support 4 anchor points, and TWIA requires six, but then again they are not technically a shingle, so this may not apply. I reached-out to the code folks and should have an answer in the new year. If you are inland, you are definitely good to go.

Hey: Somebody poke Figjam. Seems like you could slap a trio of these on a yurt and stick a bucket cooler on them and I bet cold air would seriously happen.

[Perpetual Burn]

OMG this is one of the coolest threads ever... thanks for sharing!

Solar has bee. The way to go since the Sun was invented!

PM on the way...

[cactussam85]

I'd understand if I was too late to the party at this point, but if they are still available, I'd happily take a pallet