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The best solar panel for Florida homeowners? Florida homeowners have a lot of sun, and with the sun comes heat. Heat is an issue in the performance of solar panels. The STC rating is the first thing you will see when comparing solar panels. The STC rating (Standard Test Conditions) is the panel's wattage. For my comparisons, I used: 1. Axitec 400-Watt Bifacial solar panel- German-made panel. 2. REC 405-Watt – Singapore-made panel. 3. Silfab 400-Watt – Canadian-made panel. 4. Qcell 400-Watt – South Korean-made panel. 5. Tesla 425-Watt- It's the Q-Cell Solar panel. The panels I chose to compare are the most often offered based on price and availability in my home state of Florida. The STC rating considers the efficiency of the panel's cells and heat degradation under perfect weather conditions. The STC is unimportant to Florida homeowners as we need actual weather testing results or NOCT (Nominal Operating Cell Temperature). This is the information that gives you real-world results on your rooftop. 1. Axitec Bifacial 400-Watt = 372-Watts- This is the usable energy from the panel in real-world conditions. 2. REC 405-Watt = 309-Watts This is the usable energy from the panel in real-world conditions. 3. Silfab 400-Watt =298-Watts - This is the usable energy from the panel in real-world conditions. 4. Qcell 400-Watt =300.10-Watts - This is the usable energy from the panel in real-world conditions. 5. Tesla 425-Watt- 325.20- watts - This is the usable energy from the panel in real-world conditions. As you can see, even though they are all rated at or near 400 watts, they are very different in real-world weather conditions, and some of these panels lose a considerable amount of energy vs. the STC rating they were given at the factory. We need to look at the factory warranties next. The warranty is divided into three parts. 1. Product Warranty 2. Power Warranty 3. Labor Warranty Product warranty. Also known as a material warranty, a solar panel manufacturer's product warranty covers the integrity of the equipment itself. If your solar panels have a defect or mechanical issue or experience unreasonable wear and tear, that should be covered by your product warranty. If there's a defect with your solar panel, it's typically apparent "out-of-the-box." In other words, you or your installer should be able to tell that something is amiss and fix the problem immediately–often before the panel even makes it to your roof. Regardless, it's good to consider products with longer warranties for the peace of mind it provides. 1. Axitec 400-Watt = 25-year material and workmanship 2. REC 405-Watt = 20-year material and workmanship 3. Silfab 400-Watt = 12-year material and workmanship 4. Qcell 400-Watt = 25-year material and workmanship 5. Tesla 425-Watt = 25-year material and workmanship Power warranty. Like every other type of electronic, the performance of your solar panels will degrade over time: fortunately, solar panel manufacturers offer a power (or performance) warranty for their products. Power warranties help protect you against atypical degradation of your solar panels, ensuring that the output of your panels won't fall below a certain level after a set period. Different types of solar panel technologies degrade at different rates. Generally speaking, the highest quality solar panels offer long power warranties (25 years or more) that guarantee at least 80 percent of the original output by the end of the warranty term. 1. Axitec 400-Watt = 25-year linear performance 2. REC 405-Watt = 30-year performance guarantee 3. Silfab 400-Watt = 30-year performance guarantee 4. Qcell 400-Watt = 25-year linear performance 5. Tesla-425-Watt = 25-year linear performance Labor warranty. More often than not, solar installers are the sole party responsible for providing a solar installation. However, some manufacturers offer additional protection by tacking on their own labor warranty for a limited number of certified installers in their network. 1. Axitec 400-Watt = 250.00 labor per panel replacement. 2. REC 405-Watt = No labor per panel replacement. The installer charges the customer. 3. Silfab 400-Watt = No labor per panel replacement. The installer charges the customer. 4. Qcell 400-Watt = No labor per panel replacement. The installer charges the customer. 5. Tesla 425-watt = No labor per panel replacement. The installer charges the customer. The other factors you may consider when choosing the correct solar panels for your FLORIDA home. 1. Less is more- The more (NOCT) production you get from the solar panels, the fewer solar panels you need. Meaning you need less rail to mount them and fewer microinverters. Not to mention that fewer panels and fewer micros equals fewer fault points or better odds of not having a problem, to begin with. 2. Fewer panels means faster ROI (Return on Investment) and less total cost for the system. 3. Bifacial solar cells may produce more output energy than mono-facial solar cells because both sides of the cell, front and rear, can absorb solar radiation. Extra energy production can range from 10-30%, depending on the climate. I did not assume any extra radiation for this comparison. 4. Tesla Solar, the installation practices are standard throughout the country, and this is not a great decision for Floria homeowners. Florida homes need the airflow under the panels to cool the panel during the summer. Tesla has a great-looking panel, but the heat reduces the production in Florida. I hope this information is helpful to you and you can install the right system on your FLORIDA home. This is where all my information came from NOCT and warranty information were found online in spec sheets. 405 REC Panels https://sunwatts.com/405-watt-rec-mono-all-black-solar-panel/ 400 Silfab Panels https://sunwatts.com/400-watt-silfab-mono-all-black-solar-panel/ 400 Q-Cell Panels https://sunwatts.com/400-watt-q-cells-mono-all-black-solar-panel-1/ 425 Tesla Panels https://sunwatts.com/400-watt-q-cells-mono-all-black-solar-panel-1/ Axitec 400-Watt Bifacial Axitec spec sheet - 400-watt panel bifacial.pdf For Axitec, I had to call the manufacturer and get the information. It was not online anywhere. Here is what he said: Thank you for our recent call. To summarize, the NOCT (Nominal Operating Cell Temperature) for the 400W module is 372 Watts, while the STC (Standard Test Conditions) rating is 400 Watts. If you have any more questions, you can use the following formula to calculate these values for any panel, given the Temperature Coefficients and nominal operating temperature: Power rating (STC): 400W NOCT temperature: 45°C +/-2K To calculate the power output under NOCT conditions, we can use the power temperature coefficient for output power (Pmpp), which is -0.35%/K. 1. Determine the temperature difference from STC to NOCT: NOCT temperature = 45°C +/-2K Temperature difference = NOCT temperature - STC temperature = 45°C - 25°C = 20°C 2. Calculate the power adjustment based on the temperature coefficient: Power adjustment = Temperature difference * Power temperature coefficient Power adjustment = 20°C * (-0.35%/K) Power adjustment = -7% 3. Calculate the power output under NOCT conditions: Power output under NOCT = Power rating (STC) + (Power rating (STC) * Power adjustment) Power output under NOCT = 400W + (400W * (-7%)) Power output under NOCT ≈ 372W Thank you for your attention. Best regards,
Great product and warranty, love the design!
These panels perform very well and they also look great! Very sleek black on black look. Efficient panel with strong production warranty!
Axitec is amazing and looks great! Best panel on the market!!
We have had good success with these modules. Great production numbers and solid warranty.
I've been installing solar PV for nearly 5 years and have used Axitec PV modules on over 100 homes. The German-engineered solar panels offer great performance at a very competitive price. With over 2000 individual panels installed, I have not had single unit that was non-functional.
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- Residential
- Solar PV
- 3.3 kW
Zephyrhills Solar PV -
- Commercial
- Solar PV
- 22 kW
The Legal Connection Inc.
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United States510 PEDRICKTOWN ROAD SUITE A
LOGAN TOWNSHIP, NJ 08085
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