Biggest Solar Panels...

[GreenWave]

My 100/50 which is currently mounted on the front of a cabinet door, does not get hot at all. This is much better than the Blue Sky system I had before. Granted that one only dissipated heat via its front panel which would get very warm.

[fxykty]

We’ve got two VE 250/60 and a 150/100 and all three get very warm even sending through in wintertime only half the rated power of the panels. They were originally mounted in the same compartment as the battery but they got moved to another cabinet where their radiated heat won’t matter.

[s/v Jedi]

If your Victron mppt doesn’t get hot then something is wrong. All the efficiency losses are converted to heat and dissipated by a passive heatsink which is part of the housing. If that doesn’t get hot, only a little power is passing through.

The passive heatsink is a feature because forced air leads to failures as the fan blades or air passages get clogged up with dust. Mount the unit on a vertical surface in a ventilated space. Don’t try to add external fans because that defeats the purpose. If you need more power to go through then adding a unit is much better than adding cooling.

[Pete7]

We have 2 x 300w panel going into a 100/50 without any problems, might get a little bit warm but that's it. Completely different from the Victron DC>DC which are hotter than the sun. MPPT is mounted under the saloon seat which is still in the bilge. So lots of space and cool air around it. Same place as the LFP batteries and inverter. It's a yacht with a dry bilge

Yes its a $200 upgrade but whatever happens to solar panels in the future you have some spare capacity. Also in the event of one MPPT failing, you can run both panels either in series or or parallel and still generate a large amount of power. This redundancy option would sell the extra cost for me.

Which bi-facial panels have you chosen btw?

Pete

[sailingharry]

I'm really waffling on the 100/30 or the 100/50. On even days, I'm on the 50, on odd days I'm convinced the 30 will do. Unfortunately, while I have to do a lot of prep work now while the arch is being built, the final wiring gets done this winter. Which means I get to choose, and re-choose, about 100 times before I actually place the order. LOL

The solar panels are much more pressing. The arch is being built this month, and while the solar mounts are the very last thing, I can't wait forever. Finding solar panels that will physically fit, are less than $1.50/W, are available in quantities of two, and don't have a few hundred dollars in shipping costs has been a nightmare. And that was without insisting on bifacial.

I finally found these. While I have never heard of the company, and neither has Dr Google, they seem to hit an awful lot of validation points.
* Just under $1/W. This passes the reality check. More than a few were under 20 cents / watt, complete bs.
* 202 watts per square meter, almost perfectly hitting the rule of thumb of 200 w/m2. Some were half that size for the same wattage!
* Appropriate specific weight. I can't remember the numbers, but I looked up a few competing panels (all monofacial)and calculated pounds per watt, and this was right in the ballpark. That means that it has an appropriate frame and glass. Although the back side lens is plastic, not sure if that is normal in bifacial panels.

$680 for 800 watts of bifacial for a realistic price. Certainly does not seem "too good to be true." Except of course for the fact that it hits my requirements! LOL
https://www.amazon.com/JJN-Bifacial-...4C9/ref=sr_1_3