The new Renogy 450W bifacial panels arrived!

[s/v Jedi]

I think I’m the first one posting these online as we pre-ordered and earlier today received them by freight truck.

The shipment from Renogy arrived without any transport damage instead of a pallet, they arrived in two boxes of two panels each, very securely held in foam corners and side rails.

First two pictures are the boxes and the back of the panel, showing off it’s bifacial feature. When the backside gets reflected light, from the deck, dinghy or even the water surface, it can boost output to 30% extra on top of the 450W (theoretical 585W, I’ll be happy seeing 500W). So for this array of four panels, we hope to see 2kW!

The third picture is the front side. These are the new half-cut cells that increase performance with partial shading. The frame is silver anodized and looks very good. The cables are nice and short and there’s a third connector box in the center, which I think holds just a bypass diode. It feels like they can be opened, we’ll find out when we test them.

The last picture is for the labels. The sizing is as we expected: 1.90 meters long by 1.13 meters wide. The old panels (LG 375W) were 1.70 meters by 1.01 meters and we had three in a row. This time it’s four in a row but the outer two can slide in to make it more compact than the old panels in “stored” mode.

[shrspeedblade]

I hope to go the bifacial panel route for my first setup some day in the not-too-distant future and look forward to hearing your results!

[kmacdonald]

Do they have to be mounted without bottom obstructions shading the underside? I look forward to seeing the results. A 30% increase in output for the same area would be great.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

Do they have to be mounted without bottom obstructions shading the underside? I look forward to seeing the results. A 30% increase in output for the same area would be great.

You always have shading from the structure that you mount it on but I don’t think it’s of much use for panels mounted on a bimini or deck: these will be mounted on an arch on the stern so clear underneath. Friends report better production with the dinghy hoisted underneath because of better reflection and it seems many are experimenting with reflectors.

I did have an 1,125W array here but it was destroyed by hurricane Ian. I have another thread on the forum where I am building the carbon fiber beams that hold the cassettes for these new panels. Two will be fixed and two will slide in/out from under the fixed panels. So in stored mode, those panels only get illuminated from below… interesting to see if they output anything

[Bellinghamster]

Thanks for enlightening me on the existence of bifacial solar panels! No room on my ketch for a stern arch, but I think I can manage to hang 220W panels (30" x 61") off the (yet to be added) hard top rail aft of the midship gate. That'd be big boost from the 80W panels I'd mounted the same way on our previous boat (20 years ago they were cutting edge efficiency!). Looking forward to you performance report!

[Ryban]

I'm curious to see how these perform -- will they be mounted over the water, or over the boat?

[Chotu]

2kw! Wow! Lots of power. Like having a little Honda generator running all day, every day to put that into perspective.


Might even be challenging to use all that power ha ha Electric hot water?

[Ryban]

Honestly if he has space for it, he might as well. Solar is just so cheap, easy, and reliable. I'm trying to shove maybe 1kW onto a boat that is less than half the length of Jedi's, but presumably our energy demands are also proportionally different.

SailLife put out a video recently on their experience with 1600W of solar on the boat, and I was sort of surprised that his conclusion was basically "we could use more" (video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGPKv01K3JQ

). However, they're energy demands are extremely high as they have luxuries that some of us would forego.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Ryban

Honestly if he has space for it, he might as well. Solar is just so cheap, easy, and reliable. I'm trying to shove maybe 1kW onto a boat that is less than half the length of Jedi's, but presumably our energy demands are also proportionally different.

SailLife put out a video recently on their experience with 1600W of solar on the boat, and I was sort of surprised that his conclusion was basically "we could use more" (video:

). However, they're energy demands are extremely high as they have luxuries that some of us would forego.

He definitely should!

You can never have too much solar.

I have 1500 watts with only half hooked up and have no idea what to do with all the extra power as it is. Running refrigerator, chest freezer, all lights, all nav, autopilot, all tools, all personal electronics - off only half my panels.

But the days grow shorter. The cloudy days increase.

You can never have too much. They idle nicely when you don’t need them, but when you do, it’s sure nice!

[rslifkin]

For the most part, until you get to catamarans or 50+ foot boats, it's pretty hard to have more solar than you can make use of. Especially once you factor in cloudy days.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Chotu

2kw! Wow! Lots of power. Like having a little Honda generator running all day, every day to put that into perspective.

Might even be challenging to use all that power ha ha Electric hot water?

Actually, I have another 750W array as well so that makes 2,500-3,000W total in the summer

Once you switch to electric, everything changes and you need time to really get that lined up in your head. Example: it took me two years before I realized I should switch from my gas powered Brownie’s third lung scuba compressor to their electric version. Now, when I’m scraping the bottom, I’m breathing on solar power hahaha

It’s not just the galley but yes electric hot water too. Add the watermaker to that. Buth with the 1,875W solar we had before, we could already run the A/C now and then, so with the new array we expect to run A/C all night when it’s too hot. All from solar I mean, no genset.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Actually, I have another 750W array as well so that makes 2,500-3,000W total in the summer

Once you switch to electric, everything changes and you need time to really get that lined up in your head. Example: it took me two years before I realized I should switch from my gas powered Brownie’s third lung scuba compressor to their electric version. Now, when I’m scraping the bottom, I’m breathing on solar power hahaha

It’s not just the galley but yes electric hot water too. Add the watermaker to that. Buth with the 1,875W solar we had before, we could already run the A/C now and then, so with the new array we expect to run A/C all night when it’s too hot. All from solar I mean, no genset.

Wonderful!!

Maybe some electric scooters or electric bicycles as well.

Very exciting stuff

Breathing the sunshine and A/C all night with no noise is priceless

[GreenWave]

How much were those?$$$

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Ryban

Honestly if he has space for it, he might as well. Solar is just so cheap, easy, and reliable. I'm trying to shove maybe 1kW onto a boat that is less than half the length of Jedi's, but presumably our energy demands are also proportionally different.

SailLife put out a video recently on their experience with 1600W of solar on the boat, and I was sort of surprised that his conclusion was basically "we could use more" (video:

). However, they're energy demands are extremely high as they have luxuries that some of us would forego.

The thumbnail of the video also shows his sliding panels setup. We do something similar and you should be able to get 2kW as well because SailLife has a similar sized boat as you, right?

The extra power we use? Not because of a larger boat, we have the same induction cooktop as everyone else, but we do like full self reliance so we make everything ourselves incl. water, baking bread, fermenting yogurt etc. With an electric oven as well as bread machine, this adds to your energy needs.

The only fuel we useis a little diesel to get in/out of marinas and anchorages and a little gasoline for our super efficient EFI outboard motor.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by GreenWave

How much were those?$$$

Here are their current deals: https://www.renogy.com/solar-panels/...-solar-panels/

I pre-ordered mine and had a coupon so I paid a bit less, but I also had to oay something like $400 for shipping and insurance. These panels are huge and came by freight truck from California.

I think the 220W ones can go outside the railings?