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Old 03-08-10, 08:58 AM   #44
bennelson
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A couple of people were asking about the overall feel of quality to these Kaneka 60 watt panels.

I am not an expert, as I don't have all that much experience with solar panels, but here are my general thoughts..

The frame is extruded aluminum. It seems solid-enough without being overly heavy. The panel is 38" x 39" and weighs about 30 lbs. It is not so big or heavy that one person can't fairly easily move it around, although I wouldn't want to be on a roof with it by myself on a windy day.



The corners are held together by two screws. I assume these to be stainless.


The power connectors and cables feel solid. This uses "MC3" connectors, which have a nice rubber boot on them, and feel like they seal up nice. Apparently, this is the older style connector and the industry is going to MC4 connectors now. The wire inside the cable feels very solid.

One the panel, one lead is a male connection, and the other is female. To connect panels in series, you simply have to plug one panel into the next, into the next....
Running in parallel means you are going to have to buy a bunch of MC3 cables, which can get expensive fast.

The power lead cover is plastic, and it caulked in - appears to be some sort of silicone caulk?


Here's the specs on the back of the panel.


The side rail extrusion folds to the inside, so any bolts that go through it are hidden. I am not sure what the best way to mount using those side-rail holes would be. The shape of the top and bottom rails would be easy to use some sort of "clip-on/clamp-on" fastener.
Just to test this thing out by having it leaned against my garage, I just ran one bolt through the panel to an angle bracket and a screw going into the wall.

(No that is NOT how I am permanently mounting these...)
Here is some video showing the panel.


Hope that helps answer any questions anyone had about these panels.
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Last edited by bennelson; 03-08-10 at 10:24 AM..
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