Recommendations for solar panel?

[thinwater]

Northern climes ..... I live at 57.5 N ..... and have a 13.4 KW Solar array for my house ...

On a sunny day - I can see over 11KW being produced over the middle day .... with 1 - 2KW at breakfast time .. and early evening.
On a full cloudy day - I can see anything from 1 - 5KW ....

Just posting to show that just because its high latitude - does not mean low outputs.

I assume this is roof array, angled to roughly match the average inclination of the sun? It would be foolish not to for a home. But then the math is very different from this discussion. An interesting topic, including vertical 2-saided panels as an option, but it would need a separate thread.

 

[thinwater]

I'm also looking for a panel that I can mount when not sailing, limited size on a 30' boat. What amazes me is the huge range of prices- for a 80w flexible panel from £60 to £300. I guess they're all made in China and I read somewhere that there is massive overcapacity so prices are collapsing. But how to decide which one to buy?

Regarding movable panels.

• Fragile. My F-24 came with one. It had died from the rigors of being moved. They are easy to damamge. If you read the instructions, most state that although they can be flexed ONE TIME, they must be supported on a rigid surface. Even panels mounted on biminis frequently die young due to microfratures in the waffers. Google it. The silicon waffers do NOT like flexing, not even a little. Compounding a semi-flex panel can ruin it for the same reason. They don't seem fragile, but gone is the rigid frame and glass to protect the cells. They were done that way for a reason.
• Hours. A fixed panel is always generating. A movable panel only when you put it out. First, rigging it is one more thing to do, and second, for many hours it won't do anything. A fixed panel can probably be half the size and match the real world output of a panel you have to rig. Plus a fixed panel charges when you are away, avoiding the need to plug in (no more stray current worries--I have not plugged in in 25 years, unless I'm running AC).

I had an extra panel I could rig; it was pointless, IMO, so I moved it to my F-24 and installed it permanently. Much better.