215 watt panels for only 78 cents per watt!

[gregersonke]

Good luck with the Evergreen, I'd make sure to keep a few around for replacements as warrantying them is a pain. Also, make sure whatever installer you use does a Site Audit first and gives you all the construction plans before installing on roof this way if you decide to upgrade later you have a set of plans that details out your previous construction and makes it a lot easier to repair when your inverter takes a dive (which it will). There are some that are better than others but even the best have tendencies to fail. We have a lot of data on this from the last 5 years.

Thanks Greg - good advice.

I got my first Evergreen panels about 10 years ago from Sunelec. Sunelec continues to have fantastic service, and the Evergreens are still at near rated power. I have zero concerns about either of these companies.

I have plans/diagrams already as I'm designing the system and will be installing it when I build the house. The central Outback inverter has an excellent track record and won't require moving any panels if it fails. This will be a passive solar/off grid building so the energy needs are very low, and each room will have a DC feed, so the house will still operate if the inverter goes down.

Nice thing about SolarCity is that they are in a better position to upgrade the panels and inverters later when new tech comes out. They'll have the site audit information already in the system which cuts down the engineering time needed to upgrade your system cleanly.

I'm glad you're happy with the company you work for! I'm pretty happy with my installer as well. :lol:

Also a good idea to keep the blueprints and design to the system in an easy to access place for future homeowners. I've had a few customers who've purchased homes with solar on them that was broken and they hired several people to check it out only to find that none of them could fix it because it was too complicated. With the designs easily accessible, it makes repairing the system a lot easier in the future.

I can't say anything to the experience of Sunelec warrantying products as I've never personally or known someone who's dealt with them.

 

[GeekEV]

I can't say anything to the experience of Sunelec warrantying products as I've never personally or known someone who's dealt with them.

FWIW, I've taken advantage of this great opportunity and am eagerly awaiting my shipment. My local installer said he's dealt with Sun Electronics for another customer before and confirmed they were good to work with. My experience so far, however, has been less than stellar - BUT there's perfectly rational explanations why. This promotion had absolutely slammed them with phone calls, so just getting ahold of anyone was a nightmare. Trying to follow up with my sales engineer post sale has been hampered by him being out on vacation for Thanksgiving and then being out sick the week after that. So, it's really hard to fault them for any of those things... In any case, I am trying to wait patiently and can't wait to get hooked up! :lol:

 

[AndyH]

This wait is too much like, well, Christmas. :lol:

All 77 Containers Were Shipped Dec 4! Only 10 More Days Until It Arrives In The Port Of Miami.

 

[AndyH]

we sold the 31,000 modules in 4 days to over 650 separate folks

All 31,000 Panels Arrived At The Port Of Miami Dec 21
Shipping Will Start On Dec 22 & 23
No Shipping Companies Operating On Dec 24, 25, 26

Yup - just like Christmas. :lol:

 

[GeekEV]

Woot, woot! I can't wait...

 

[lipower]

Anyone accepted a delivery yet?

 

[GeekEV]

It seems to be taking longer than we all hoped for them to have them offloaded, moved to their warehouse, etc., but they did start shipping order mid-this-week. I called them for a status update today and was told my order would likely ship by Tuesday.

 

[lipower]

I just hope their phones still work on Monday. I can only imagine how much money they have collected in the past 2 months. I'm sure it was enough to live comfortably for a few decades in a far away land...

 

[GeekEV]

FWIW, my local installer indicated he'd actually worked with this place before and they were pretty good to deal with. I don't think there's anything to worry about...

 

[lipower]

I gambled on the fact they are going to fulfill their their part. I'm just a little worried that I was required to wire the invoice total even though the panels were in their warehouse. I understood their requirement for the advanced payment back in Oct. but requiring it now? Put me on edge a bit. I'm sure there were a few futures traders pretty happy with MF Global a few months ago also.

 

[GeekEV]

We'll find out soon enough!

 

[AndyH]

I just hope their phones still work on Monday. I can only imagine how much money they have collected in the past 2 months. I'm sure it was enough to live comfortably for a few decades in a far away land...

Try ordering from Amazon and see of they'll ship before you pay. :lol:

 

[AndyH]

It seems to be taking longer than we all hoped for them to have them offloaded, moved to their warehouse, etc., but they did start shipping order mid-this-week. I called them for a status update today and was told my order would likely ship by Tuesday.

Glad you called - the info sounds in line with what they've been blogging. They did say they would ship the full container loads first and work down to the smaller orders.

As for faith in the company? My first order from Sun was nearly 10 years ago, and this is my fourth order from them. One order was for a canceled project and were returned. All of my orders have been filled as promised. I'm not surprised, since the boss has been in the solar business for about 37 years.

The sad part is that this current batch of budget-priced panels is due to a bankruptcy -- and there are more companies failing all over the world.

 

[GeekEV]

From the tone and word choices in his blog posts, John sounds like quite the character. I could see where that might scare some people...

 

[GeekEV]

I called them for a status update today and was told my order would likely ship by Tuesday.

Well that obviously didn't happen. :x Today they said "maybe today or tomorrow". They also indicated that they have a girl who's responsible for calling all the orders as they ship and giving them their tracking number. It's so hard to be patient...

 

[AndyH]

I just got a call from Sun Electronics wth my tracking number - my panels shipped on the 3rd. I called the carrier and learned the panels will be in town on Friday the 6th. I ordered 10 panels so that's getting in to the smaller orders that were to be saved for later in the shipping process.

Ok - so it's just like Orthodox Christmas. :lol:

 

[GeekEV]

Nice! Now if they'd just ship mine I'd be thrilled. So it sounds like it's possible they already HAVE shipped but they just haven't called me yet?

 

[GeekEV]

Yay! I just got notified my panels shipped yesterday...

 

[lipower]

Awesome. Great news that this is all working out. Patience is a virtue, especially when getting a great deal

NOW WHERE ARE MINE!

 

[GeekEV]

I just took delivery of my panels! Boy are they pretty. It's weird though, the shipping manifest indicated the 1st palette was a different kind of panels (but they were actually what I ordered) and the 2nd palette was mounting rails (when it was 4 more panels). But the order is correct, shipping manifest be damned. I just thought it was funny.