Noob! Noob! Noob! - regarding the Grail - Where's the best deal on Cells please?

[Solaron]

Where to purchase solar cells

I use ML Solar Inc. Least expensive I've found so far and they offer both 6x6 and 3x6, A and B grade. If you buy the B Grade slightly chipped specials then you should save a bit of cash and they work just fine. They usually provide extras too. They specialize in all soalr equipment as well not just DIY solar cells. Check'em out and let me know what you think. I'm starting my 7th solar project useing their cells.

In another forum someone I assume is an old hand at all this disparaged both the quality and price of Cells offered on eBay. This while I'm sweating out a $250 bid for 255 Sharp 6x6 cells in what for all the world look like the same import boxes I'd expect to see at any panel manufacturer's shipping dock. If there's another source for them, aside from Amazon, I would dearly love to hear about it. The criticism was loud and clear, if the alternative isn't a well kept secret or non-professionals aren't excluded would someone mind sharing?

Caliban
AKA Tim Darraugh
Aboard Chili Pepper
Alameda or Thereabout

[inetdog]

In another forum someone I assume is an old hand at all this disparaged both the quality and price of Cells offered on eBay. This while I'm sweating out a $250 bid for 255 Sharp 6x6 cells in what for all the world look like the same import boxes I'd expect to see at any panel manufacturer's shipping dock. If there's another source for them, aside from Amazon, I would dearly love to hear about it. The criticism was loud and clear, if the alternative isn't a well kept secret or non-professionals aren't excluded would someone mind sharing?

Caliban
AKA Tim Darraugh
Aboard Chili Pepper
Alameda or Thereabout

Hello Caliban, etc.
I don't think you will be lucky enough to get a recommendation on where to buy cells, just where to by good panels, since that will cost less in the short and long run.
The boxes may come directly from the cell manufacturer, just like the ones they send to the panel makers, but what is in the box may be quite different. The cell manufacturers have to get what they can from the cells that do not meet the Grade A specs that the panel makers are willing to use. If they are still in the factory boxes, you can be reasonably confident that they are not broken in half or shorted, but not much more.

Think of it this way: If an LED manufacturer sorted his output into LEDs and DEDs (Dark Emitting Diodes) his yield from the production line would be 100%. All he has to do now is find a customer for the DEDs.
(They make perfect readout devices for Write-Only-Memory.)

[Caliban]

In another forum someone I assume is an old hand at all this disparaged both the quality and price of Cells offered on eBay. This while I'm sweating out a $250 bid for 255 Sharp 6x6 cells in what for all the world look like the same import boxes I'd expect to see at any panel manufacturer's shipping dock. If there's another source for them, aside from Amazon, I would dearly love to hear about it. The criticism was loud and clear, if the alternative isn't a well kept secret or non-professionals aren't excluded would someone mind sharing?

Caliban
AKA Tim Darraugh
Aboard Chili Pepper
Alameda or Thereabout