Testing modules (was tolerating 10% tolerance?) [RE-wrenches]

Joel Davidson joeldavidson at earthlink.net
Wed Apr 6 13:22:20 PDT 2005


Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sign up today for a No Annual Fee Discover® Platinum Card and get

0% Intro APR on Purchases & Balance Transfers for 8 Months, Up to 
2% Cashback Bonus® reward on your purchases & 100% fraud 
protection.
http://click.topica.com/caadlRMbz8Qcsbz9JC9a/DiscoverCard
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Reward module manufacturers that give honest ratings with your money and punish those who pump the numbers by taking your business elsewhere.

Honest ratings sell modules. Sales boomed after 1994 when Solec started rating its modules more honestly.

Execellent modules command excellent prices. The last year that Hoxan made 48 watt modules, they were all 49.5 watts and above and sold at a premium. Interestingly, H4048s were in such demand that one U.S. company private labelled them as 50 watt modules.

Question - Hardly anyone can afford a $20k IV curve tracer. When your customer says his or her 3 or 5 year old PV system isn't putting out like it use to, how do you test for low output modules?

Joel Davidson

-----Original Message-----
From: "Bob Maynard, Energy Outfitters" <bob at energyoutfitters.com>
Sent: Apr 6, 2005 10:46 AM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: RE: tolerating 10% tolerance? [RE-wrenches]

Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Click Here for the #1 Investigative tool on the Net!
http://click.topica.com/caadlCpbz8Qcsbc0WJAa/Web Detective
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill,

Rather than blaming the rebate programs, I should have said rebate
programs are doing nothing to reward truth in ratings of modules.  If
they could, I think the manufacturers would step right up and clean up
their numbers.  If we had to pay more per watt for the real watts
received, so be it.

Regards,
Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Brooks [mailto:bill at brooksolar.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2005 8:56 AM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: RE: tolerating 10% tolerance? [RE-wrenches]

Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Get both the MiFi XM Satellite Radio and an Apple iPod for Free! 
http://click.topica.com/caadlVDbz8QcsbAjHnza/ProductTestPanel 
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Bob,

It's not the government rebates that are at fault. This is a good case
(has
happened many times with several manufacturers) where a manufacture has
tried to do what Joel said and be more honest in their ratings, but all
it
did was hurt profits--it did not improve sales (because $/STC Watt
reported
by the manufacturere is still king--the CEC rating is simply an
adjustment
made on the manufacturers STC data). It has become painfully obvious
that if
you want the truth about module ratings, this will require an outside
influence to force the issue--all attempts by individual manufacturers
over
the past 25 years have failed miserably. I'm not a big fan of government
regulation, but I am a big fan of truth--if it requires some regulation
to
force truth I say bring it on. And all the neophytes out their that
don't
know all the nuances of our crazy rating system will be better off--but
so
will everyone else in the process.

Bill.


-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Maynard, Energy Outfitters [mailto:bob at energyoutfitters.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2005 8:42 AM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: RE: tolerating 10% tolerance? [RE-wrenches]

Todd,

In all fairness to BP, they tried to take the US PV industry to a truth
in
rating with their 160's but rebate programs penalized them for it and
rewarded those that stayed with higher ratings with wider tolerances.
Another fine example of how government rebates can keep this industry
from
getting to where we need to be.  I didn't expect to see PV get this far
in
my lifetime, I wonder now if I might see wide spread production
incentives!

Regards,
Bob Maynard
Energy Outfitters


***snip

Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Erase wrinkles without painful injections with Nexiderm SP.
Nexiderm SP is clinically proven to reduce wrinkles by 68% Start 
your free 14-day trial today!
http://click.topica.com/caadmZ2bz8QcsbAjHnzf/Nexiderm
-------------------------------------------------------------------

- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages:
http://lists.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/read

List rules & etiquette: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquette.php

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com

Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sign up today for a No Annual Fee Discover® Platinum Card and get

0% Intro APR on Purchases & Balance Transfers for 8 Months, Up to 
2% Cashback Bonus® reward on your purchases & 100% fraud 
protection.
http://click.topica.com/caadlRMbz8Qcsbc0WJAf/DiscoverCard
-------------------------------------------------------------------

- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages: http://lists.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/read

List rules & etiquette: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquette.php

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com

Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Erase wrinkles without painful injections with Nexiderm SP.
Nexiderm SP is clinically proven to reduce wrinkles by 68% Start 
your free 14-day trial today!
http://click.topica.com/caadmZ2bz8Qcsbz9JC9f/Nexiderm
-------------------------------------------------------------------

- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages: http://lists.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/read

List rules & etiquette: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquette.php

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com
--^----------------------------------------------------------------
This email was sent to: michael.welch at homepower.com

EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bz8Qcs.bz9JC9.bWljaGFl
Or send an email to: RE-wrenches-unsubscribe at topica.com

For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit:
http://www.topica.com/?p=TEXFOOTER
--^----------------------------------------------------------------










More information about the RE-wrenches mailing list