Solar panel lifespan...

time2roll wrote:

Johnny G1 wrote:
15 yr. old 120 watt Keyocera,s still putting out the same, 4 of them have been under a carport roof since new and 2 out in all weather, checked 1 on the fw yesterday in the shade, over 17 - 18 volts to check a meter that was going bad, broken cable.

Do you remember what was paid back then for the 480 watts of solar?

Yes I remember quite well, $620.00 a panel and that was in Arizona in 2004.

Johnny G1 wrote:
15 yr. old 120 watt Keyocera,s still putting out the same, 4 of them have been under a carport roof since new and 2 out in all weather, checked 1 on the fw yesterday in the shade, over 17 - 18 volts to check a meter that was going bad, broken cable.

Do you remember what was paid back then for the 480 watts of solar?

Have the Renogy 100 watt suitcase. Supplements our generator runs and sometimes don’t need to run the generator. More efficient than flat mounted roof panels with the suitcase tilt and can track the sun. We usually park in the shade so have mc4 long cable extensions to reach the sun.
The best we have seen was 25Ah in a day but that was not optimal conditions. That was enough charge to not run the generator that day since we are not heavy energy users.
Have not used it long enough to notice degradation.

Johnny G1 wrote:
15 yr. old 120 watt Keyocera,s still putting out the same, 4 of them have been under a carport roof since new and 2 out in all weather, checked 1 on the fw yesterday in the shade, over 17 - 18 volts to check a meter that was going bad, broken cable.

Now that.. IS a very useful answer.. I do not (yet) have solar and I really do not have "room" for it (Overweight as it is) so...

But if I ever park for good. I'm going solar. NOt so much for "Green" but.. Well.. the older I get the flakier the power companies are and if I'm going to have to pay for a back up power system... SOLAR.

15 yr. old 120 watt Keyocera,s still putting out the same, 4 of them have been under a carport roof since new and 2 out in all weather, checked 1 on the fw yesterday in the shade, over 17 - 18 volts to check a meter that was going bad, broken cable.

Thank you all for the replies. Several good points were made. I know 100 watts isn’t much but I’m really just looking to offset my daily drawdown. I’ll keep my Honda generator handy but have come to realize I really don’t like running it all that much especially if it's
mostly to charge my batteries. Thanks again...

I believe solar panels will degrade slower when out of the direct sun.
However by the time it matters the panels will probably be obsolete and new panels half the cost.

Answer depends. Everything degrades just due to time, the entropy of the universe at work and all. I doubt solar panels would degrade as fast in the dark as in sunlight, but know of no studies on that.

For what it is worth, Renogy seems to have a good reputation. But 100 watts is likely going to prove too little for as much battery as the OP has. If he has more battery than he actually uses, it might be plenty. If he routinely draws his batteries down maximally, he’d do better with 400 watts or so.

I'm not sure it matters since panels like mine have a 25 year performance guarantee and because they will likely be obsolete due to advancing technology.

In 2014 24V panel production ramped up for homes, business, etc and they became half the price of 12V panels with less footprint. My 2014 cost with an expensive MPPT controller was only $100 more than the equivalent 12V panel watts. For me the choice was a no brainer. Since then there are many more lower cost MPPT controllers.

But I'd guess that if your garage isn't destroyed by fire or earthquakes they will last longer especially if you never use them!

The point being 10 years from now current panels will work and be obsolete and statistics indicate I won't be around when my panels are 25 years old.

I can't directly address the shade v. sun issue. I can tell you I've had one panel 'burn out', that is, develop hot spots in the foil and burn through. I've had another lose about 50% capacity for reasons unknown. This was at about 8 years and 15 years, respectively. BP lived up to its guarantee and replaced panel 1. Just let the other one go. My panels were hardly ever in shade.

100 watts isn't really much solar if you do any serious power use.