(03-16-2023, 04:06 AM)randomq Wrote: I've bought a few 100w on Amazon for special uses. We're the ones you bought at Amazon or Costco bigger than 100w?
The favorite panels I bought from Amazon were 150 watts. They were square shaped. The reason that they were my favorite is that they were easy to haul up the ladder, but not really easy meaning it was a good size to stop at. And also the size was the
perfect dimensions to match the corrugation on my roof when used with the Z brackets. And four of them were the exact wattage I needed for the charge controller / battery setup.
I never bought any panels at Costco. The first time I saw panels there, they were too big to fit into my sedan, and I didn't want to come back with the truck. The second time they had smaller 100w panels, but then I didn't need any.
The prices on Amazon fluctuate a lot, or at least they did when I was shopping for them there. One time I was shopping for a 10 watt panel to keep the little 12v battery on my generator topped off, but I found a 50 watt panel that was cheaper than any of the 10 watt panels. I wound up getting the 50 watt panel and used that and the little generator battery to power a security camera for a couple of years until the camera succumbed to the weather. The 50 watt panel (and the generator battery) are still going strong a few years after that.
When shopping for solar products Amazon, make sure to check out the "warehouse deals". They change frequently, so it's a bit of a treasure hunt. Kind of off topic, but "warehouse deals" is also a good place to search for things that Amazon normally won't ship to Hawaii. One time I wanted a server rack and it was so heavy or whatever Amazon literally would not ship anything like that to us, but then I found one on "warehouse deals" and it was delivered to our house UPS 3 days later.