REC vs QCell vs Canadian Solar Panels

foreign [Music] professional I've been doing solar panels since 2009 and batteries for the last three years I've seen many thousands of solar panel systems being installed in this video I'm going to compare three of the most popular solar panels in the US market today the rec 400 Alpha panels the Q cell 400 watt panels and the Canadian Solar 390 watt panels these three panels straddle the super premium premium and value categories and they are Market leaders in each of their categories I compare these three solar panels across seven categories and please don't be surprised if you see my two dogs Lola Sadie in the frame now and then let's start with the size of the panels the rec 400 watt Alpha panels at 72 inches by 40 are the smallest of the lot number two is the Q cell panels 74 into 41 inches third is the Canadian Solar at 76 inches into 41 inches why does size matter it matters if you have limited roof area smaller panel sizes like the rec Alpha will get you more watts on your roof than the other larger panels but the difference is marginal as you can see next we're going to look at the efficiencies of these panels now what exactly is efficiency it refers to how much of the sunlight actually gets converted into electrical power or electrical energy a hundred percent of the energy that hits your solar panels are barely at 20 of it gets converted into actual electrical energy and if you look at the three panels the efficiencies of the three panels 21.6 for the for the rec Alpha 20.4 percent for the Q cell at 19.2 percent for the Canadian solar panel so over 80 percent of the energy from the sun gets wasted we don't even convert it into electrical energy but that's where we are today and it's taken us 50 years to reach this when the first panel solar panels came out in 1950 their efficiencies were in the region of four to five percent so it's been a long journey but it's slow Journey now an important factor when you evaluate solar panels is how they're going to do over time and what we look at is something known as power degradation every year your panels lose a little bit of energy production capacity it's usually in the region of 0.5 for most panels but for the RDC Alpha panel they have a load degradation Factor at just 0.3 percent what this translates to is that even after 25 years of producing energy the rec panel will still produce 92 percent of its original rated energy after 25 years compare this with the 86 percent of the Canadian Solar and the Q cell panels the Canadian Solar and the Q cell are no slouches but the rec Alpha is shaped better if you're looking for solar panels don't forget to write to me John at mysolarhome.us for a free code another Factor we look at while comparing panels is the temperature coefficient this basically refers to your loss in the power output of your solar panels as the panels get warmer that's right the hotter it gets the worse your solar panels perform now in real life terms what this means is if it is really cold a 400 watt panel like the RS see Alpha is probably going to be producing 300 to 320 watts of energy that's right the rated capacity of these panels of 400 watts we were never going to see that in real life conditions that is the rated capacity at standard operating conditions which is like 25 degrees Celsius or 77 degree Fahrenheit with 1000 watts of sunlight on the panels and no shade whatsoever and also at at sea level those are conditions which are almost never met in real life in real life a 400 watt panel if it does 300 or 320 watts of energy production that's it's doing really really well now as it gets hotter for example the day hits a hundred your production could go down from 300 to 320 watts to 290 Watts so yes there is a degradation but the difference between the three panels is 0.26 to 0.35 means that it's not such a big difference the rec might be at 295 panels versus the 290 for the other two panels it is a difference it does better but it is not hugely different in in the U.S the temperature coefficient doesn't matter too much because it doesn't get very hot here warranties are pretty standard across solar panels but the rec Alpha brings you an extended warranty in terms of a 25-year warranty not only on the product and workmanship but also on the labor so if the guys who installed your solar panels go out of business RAC takes it upon themselves to replace the panels and give you a warranty service without any cost to you which is a significant Advantage compared to all the other panels like Q7 and Canadian solid they have a regular 25-year warranty anything goes wrong they'll replace the panel but you will have to depend on your solar installer in terms of in terms of where these panels are made the rec panels are normally made in Norway the Q sales and the Canadian solars are both made in the United States in terms of pricing the RAC Alpha has a slight premium compared to the other two panels the price difference between the Q cell and the Canadian Solar is marginal five percent or so and bringing it all together in terms of size as you can see the rec Alpha is slightly smaller than the qcl400 in the Canadian Solar 390s its efficiency is also higher the Q cell is slightly more efficient from than the Canadian solo 390 at 20.4 percent compared to 19.2 percent in terms of power degradation the rec Alpha after 25 years still gives you 92 percent of its rated energy compared to the 86 for both the Q cell and the Canadian Solar temperature coefficient is minus 0.26 for the rec Alpha which is better than the 0.34 and 0.35 for the Q cell and the Canadian Solar the warranty for the rec Alpha is again Superior as they have a 25-year labor warranty in addition to the regular product and workmanship warranty that the Q cell in the Canadian Solar offer you Rec panels are made in Norway both the Q7 Canadian Solar in the U.S and in terms of pricing the RSC Alpha enjoys a slight premium over the Q cell in the Canadian Solar which have marginal difference in pricing do like and subscribe I hope you enjoyed this video and thank you for watching [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: MySolarHome

Views: 4,263

Keywords: solar, solar panels, qcells, rec alpha, rec 400, canadian solar, home solar, solar panel installation, solar installation, solar power, solar energy

Id: MApdTth60A8

Length: 6min 54sec (414 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 20 2022