A post was merged into an existing topic: Solar and Grid Connections
Resurrecting this older topic I was perusing solarquotes.com.au to help someone on FB and discovered LG has exited the panel business! 22 years of warranty to go although they apparently built enough panels to service their 25 year warranty obligation.
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No surprise with China producing approx 70% of all panels. S Korea is a distant 3rd at approx 5%.
Whether your panels are made by a Chinese manufacturer or by LG there are lifetime warranty risks in either instance. A lot can change over 25 years. Thinking back that far, JW Howard was still in his first term as PM.
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5 years is a geological era when it comes to tech: any chance anyone has comments on currently available solar panels? I just got a quote from RACQ solar aka Gem Energy and they’re recommending Qcell panels, but I have no idea how anyone who has bought them feels about them.
this guy seems to think they’re OK:
but I’d really like to hear from other Choice subscribers about their experiences with either the QCell brand or RACQ solar.
thanks all.
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Solarquotes are the goto for most Solar info. If they recommend panels then it is a given that they are good. CHOICE uses them for info.
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I have been reading the most recent review on Solar Panels dated January 2023 and noticed Solahart are not in the review. I was curios as to why they are not in the review.
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@ChrisBarnes, other than possibly low market share and/or that they may only be offered by Solahart (is that the case?), were there other reasons Solahart panels were not included?
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Note:
‘https://www.solarquotes.com.au/panels/solahart-review.html
There are two product lines in Solahart’s solar panel portfolio - the SunCell and the Silhouette
But Solahart doesn’t manufacture these modules - they are made by China’s Astronergy(SunCell) and South Korea’s Qcells (Silhouette). That’s not a bad thing as Astronergy seem okay according to feedback we’ve seen from Australian customers and Qcells is a solid brand, but it’s handy to know. Solahart says the panels are custom-designed and built to the company’s strict quality specifications.
Does Solarhart’s final statement re custom design and quality specs differentiate the product in any way technically significant? IE from others manufactured by the two mentioned companies and supplied directly as the Manufacturer’s or other rebranded products for the Australian market.
It may be not much more than a product model number and name on the panel. Not unknown in other industries - was that a Mazda 323 or a Ford Meteor? Our Ford Meteor was a fully manufactured in Japan Model, although Ford manufactured most of their Meteors in Australia using some imported components and assemblies. Nothing new.
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There are always more brands and models on the market than we can include in any one test. Solar panel procurement is a bit more difficult than most products. We need to work with solar wholesalers and installers, and we sometimes have to go with what they can obtain. That said, we are hoping to include Solahart panels in a future test.
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