Jumbo panel availability

[Stinsy]

I was just about to pull the trigger on a couple of mahoosive 2200x1100 mm 540W Canadian Solar panels from Bimble but they're now sold out...

Does anyone know where I might source similar panels? I've seen a lot of articles various PV industry press going back years about 500-600W or more jiant-sized panels. But can I find any for sale? Nope!

Even the 495W JA Solar panels I was looking at before seem to be "sold out" everywhere! I'd be happy to order more/smaller panels if the £/W was good enough bit I cannot find anything that's fit on a 2400x2400mm roof even with a bit of overhang.

Any help would be very much appreciated...

[Joeboy]

Facebook marketplace or gumtree? Unlucky on hitting this stumbling block.

[Bugtownboy]

Sounds like there’s a solar arms race north of the border

[Andy]

Frustrating as I'm about to pull the pin on 24 panels. I might be pulling it slowly.Oh well, not missing much in the winter.

[AlBargey]

I have some JA Solar 490W panels, and will probably squeeze another four on in the next few weeks, It looks like Segen have more stock in tomorrow, but you need to set up a trade account if that's possible? No 495W panels though, and just noticed they're all silver framed - (No connection, but I set up an account for the odd boat project, other suppliers probably also available)

[Joeboy]

Just had a look on trade sparky and largely sold out. Must be a combo of supply squeeze from China and reaction in UK to the power price surge? Trade sparky were the best price I found, maybe worth contacting direct and request a preorder and timeline?

Grant at Bimble was extremely helpful and would be worth contacting if you don't get a result at Segen?

grant@bimblesolar.com

The lesson here is jump on them and get that order in when you get the chance and know the timeline. With luck its a short term issue between boats. Strange times.

[Joeboy]

https://www.tradesparky.com/solarsparky ... anel-black

Just a thought, 3 vertical with an overhang? They have various in around this size between 320W to 370W?

[Stinsy]

Update.

Didn't have the greatest customer service experience with Bimble. Sent an Email, 3 days no reply so called. Person promised to look into it and call me back. didn't. I called again, promised to call me back again, didn't. I sent a stroppy email, got a response saying the panels I want are out of stock they'll have more 495W in a few months and another super-mega panel at some point but don't know what don't know when.

Time is against me. I've brought the project forward because of the unseasonably warm weather but that won't last forever, so I need to crack on.

Ordered 3x 380W Ja Solar panels from ITS last night. I'll arrange them with 2x portrait next to eachother and one on the top overhanging the front of the shed. This gives me 1140Wp which is more power than even the 540W panels but comes with a few downsides: 1) There'll be an overhang. 2) The panels won't be in one continuous array so mounting them will be more of a pita.

I have already sourced 50m of 6mm and a 2nd hand charge controller ( ) so that is the big-ticket items accounted for. I'm gonna go cheap on the rest of the project...

[Joeboy]

Sorry to hear you didn't get the user experience at Bimble. TBH, I price them all off and go with best at the time. Don't do vol so no chance of discounts.

What's your thoughts on rail system? As you are going unorthodox on lay out you might be able to chop a couple of rails and make them go further. You could also look at timber mounts... not sure of the price difference between ally rails and timber though. Could be close. The beauty of 3 panels and timber is that u can if you want upgrade to full ally rails later as the panels will be handle able compared to two massive one's, Got any creosote?

I cheated and used multiple Hellerman cable ties to fix the last set of ground mount panels in place. Not saying you should do that as up in the air but Hellerman are brilliant, take a huge load and don't degrade in UV much at all.

[Stinsy]

The spare wood storage area has a few lengths of pressure treated 4x2. I'm going to go with that and some flangehead screws.

I'm not fully there yet on the design, whatever I go with will be a compromise. I have some cuprinol wood preserver left over from when I painted the shed a few years back, I'll give the timber a few coats of that after it is cut and before it goes up.