Russell griffiths Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 Evening. A lad near me is selling hundreds of second hand solar panels off a solar farm,the surface of the panels are all scratched and marked, he said they are all working at about 80% capacity. Now im not thinking of the house, but can anybody think of uses around the garden, 3-4 of them on the shed 1 to trickle charge the electric fence 1 to run a pond pump come on you boffins are they of any use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alphonsox Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 More info please - What nominal power ? what make ? why are they being disposed of ? How much ? and where in Gloucestershire ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell griffiths Posted November 22, 2018 Author Share Posted November 22, 2018 I will see if I can put a link up, but I’m a bit of a Luddite when it comes to the computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell griffiths Posted November 22, 2018 Author Share Posted November 22, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan52 Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 Didn't know ozzy was big in the renewable energy market. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Davies Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 30 minutes ago, Alphonsox said: why are they being disposed of ? There seem to be a lot of panels sold from solar farms which are upgrading. Bimble Solar have been around for quite a few years selling them on like this. Not quite as cheap but usually in better condition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alphonsox Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 14 minutes ago, Declan52 said: Didn't know ozzy was big in the renewable energy market. I think the Pigeon/Dove/Bat control business dried up in the late 90's - It's good to see he's managed to diversify into sucking the light out of the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 At £20 a panel I will have about 30. Now where can I find a proper advert and contact details? and what about sticking them on a pallet for delivery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stones Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 4 minutes ago, ProDave said: At £20 a panel I will have about 30. Now where can I find a proper advert and contact details? and what about sticking them on a pallet for delivery? +1 @Russell griffiths ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alphonsox Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/272663703390135 Based in Swindon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 Argh no not face ache. I do not want to sign up to that tosh. Is there any way to contact him any other way? Anyone care to ask him for an ordinary email address and PM it to me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell griffiths Posted November 22, 2018 Author Share Posted November 22, 2018 How about I contact him and ask for a bulk purchase price. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 Think I saw someone on eBay doing the same recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 2 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said: How about I contact him and ask for a bulk purchase price. I was wondering if there was someone close to him that could do that. It's a big ask to go and make a bulk purchase and then put them on pallets for distribution (palletways for instance about £100 to get a pallet up here) But if someone is willing sign me up for 30. I would be nervous just sending money to a stranger then finding they were completely dud, someone would have to have a look and take an educated guess on the condition, perhaps take a multimeter and check open circuit voltage on a few? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Davies Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 Short-circuit current would be more indicative. Meter on the 10 amp range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Any progress on this? It seems we could use a pallet or 2 of these up here if the seller, or someone else is is willing to put them on a pallet and arrange delivery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav_P Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 I’ve just tried to message him on bookface asking for his email address... the photos show stacks of panels already on pallets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav_P Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 @ProDaveI’ve just sent you his number via PM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted November 26, 2018 Share Posted November 26, 2018 Does the seller say a minimum break qty ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted November 26, 2018 Share Posted November 26, 2018 The conversation I have had is he prefers to sell by the pallet of 27 panels and if you buy 2 pallets he will pay for the delivery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 Any thoughts on the ones from Bimble with the "degraded backing" This is their picture As I understand it, that backing material is supposed to be a continuous sheet. It appears to be cracking along either the individual panel joints, or the interconnecting tapes. They say the panels are still generating the expected power. Is it a matter of just doing something to seal it up to keep moisture out so prevent the panel degrading? If so what with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 £540 for 27 panels is tempting. Got a few for spares in that amount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 14 hours ago, ProDave said: Any thoughts on the ones from Bimble with the "degraded backing" This is their picture As I understand it, that backing material is supposed to be a continuous sheet. It appears to be cracking along either the individual panel joints, or the interconnecting tapes. They say the panels are still generating the expected power. Is it a matter of just doing something to seal it up to keep moisture out so prevent the panel degrading? If so what with? Looks easy enough to seal up. I'd have a look at seeing if the panels can be laid dead flat and then pour a thin layer of the very runny two pack polyurethane or silicone potting compound. I had a go at encapsulating some home made panels using the water-clear (expensive!) potting compound that Dow Corning make, and it runs freely over a surface and ends up as a nice thin layer, like a conformal coating. A brush-on silicone conformal coating, like the stuff used to protect circuit boards may be just as good, but that normally needs to be heat cured. You may be able to set up a rig with a radiant heat lamp to cure the stuff, though. Whenever I've coated circuit boards with the stuff I've cured it in the oven, doesn't take much in terms of temperature, but does take a while. If the price, plus the messing about to seal up the rear surfaces, is right, then I reckon they would be a good buy. I could do with some now, as I'm typing this during (another) power cut, with the house server, modem, router etc running on my back up battery system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 Well I ended up with a pallet of 25 of the Bimble solar PV panels. They had listed one on ebay and I won it for a little less than the price they are listed on their website that with transport works out at £50.8 per 250W panel, or 20.32p per watt. I was pleasantly surprised unpacking them. Most of them seem fine with no problems with the backing. One has a split in the backing about 1cm long, and 2 of the panels have the backing peeling at the top edge in one small area like this I think my "fix" will be to cover the affected areas with a bit of sticks like sh*t smoothed down with a finger. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Harris Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 Sounds like a real bargain, and great news that they aren't as bad as thought. If I had room for another 25 panels I'd have taken a punt on some, but the most I could use would be around 10, if that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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