Earth4Energy, Citizenre, and other Misleading Solar Energy Scam Info

[Sunking]

Well here is the deal with SCAMS like Earth For Energy, It is all profit junk that you can get for free. Anyone with a PC can sell the junk to you. IT IS ALL DONE WITH CLICK BANK.

I give you a link to purchase it, you click the link that is encoded with my ID information, and I receive a 75% commission on the sale. SUCKER!

[russ]

That is why some people are always trying to include a link to one of those sites with their posts - hoping no one will notice or realize what they are doing.

[wjgrisham]

Well here is the deal with SCAMS like Earth For Energy, It is all profit junk that you can get for free. Anyone with a PC can sell the junk to you. IT IS ALL DONE WITH CLICK BANK.

I give you a link to purchase it, you click the link that is encoded with my ID information, and I receive a 75% commission on the sale. SUCKER!

Yep, you are so right! But a least one thing good came out of this is I found this wed sit and learned real fast with only a lose of $27.00.
Thank you,.Bill

[wjgrisham]

That is why some people are always trying to include a link to one of those sites with their posts - hoping no one will notice or realize what they are doing.

It sure did not take me long to find out.
Thank you,Bill

[MarineLiner]

But a least one thing good came out of this is I found this wed sit and learned real fast with only a lose of $27.00.

[photovoltaik]

Nice post...Thank you very much!!......

[john p]

I think you all have missed the enjoyment you can get from reading all those books, Here at work we have by various means obtained just about all of them. They can really give you many happy times and good laughs reading them if you feeling a bit down and depressed as some major test you have done has just failed

[millenia]

Solar costs

I believe that the advertised $200 cost is just per solar panel and not the system. The panel is just the begining and the method of construction shown in some of these videos dont seem to be rugged enough to withstand the weather. I just got bit by the bug to build my own system and my biggest concern so far just with the panel is the cost of the encapsulant and/or the laminates like EVA.

[russ]

Hi millenia - Welcome to Solar Panel Talk!

The 200$ is advertised by many with the indication being that it is for the system.

How do you build even a panel for that?

As they can not be grid connected the system must include batteries etc -

Building your own can be great fun for those so inclined and with the necessary skills.

Russ

[millenia]

Solar panel for $200

I think that there is plenty of misinformation and they sucker people into thinking that
all there is to solar power is what you see on the rooftops, as solar panels.
I spent a bit of time trying to figure out what the components would cost and at the begining made a bunch of mistakes as well. Btw I am still learning, and am glad I found this site. I also did some early tradeoffs between cost per watt on various sizes of solar cells and frames to get a feel for what would make sense to build. The high efficiency larger cells worked out cheaper. It started out to be an experiment with big hopes to do more, but its begining to look like just an expensive experiment again.
Solar cells 6x6" $ 66.66 (108 pc $200.00)
EVA $ 26.00 (1m x 8m $ 56.55 )
Sheet glass 1/4" 33-5/8x39-7/8 $ 25.00
1.25x1.25x1/8"ALU $ 41.00 (if you cut it yourself its 1/2 price)
I am still trying to find the TPT backing without buying much more than I need.
I wonder if I should have just used Sylgard?

Then the further you get into this the more it costs from batteries, charge controller, inverter and so on and all the other "small" items. My plan was to design my own electronics and play with it and optimize it. So its a plaything and a learning tool. Just hope I dont burn down the house in the process. Its better to keep it off the roof, for insurance liabilities and mount it perhaps on a fence or a pole.



The final panels are not going to be optimum, in comparison to commercial panels.

[RifRaf]

millenia, would have to agree, making even a panel for $200 is hard for a decent size, seems to be 4 main costs, the cells, the encapsulation, the toughened glass, and the frame/wiring/junction box, all about equal cost to get decent stuff, and finishes about 50% of the cost of a regular panel plus time, and if you don't do it right you can blow all your dough. you can save on various parts as well depending on whats available locally, got nice doors with good glass and frames for nothing really so spent the savings on the two part silicone sealers instead and ended up with the same thing

but would encourage you to at least try and finish the panel if you have the stuff, with the eva i am not sure cause have not tried it, the thought of sealing it all with a heatgun due to not having a proper large vacuum sealer was scary. but please show some photos if you try, hard to find

[millenia]

$200 panel


To RiffRaf
Since I have the parts and also since I am quite motivated to try, regardless of the difficulties, I intend to finish the panels. I will need a few extra cells for 3 panels.
However I was surprised to find how much power these panels can loose due to glass, sealant and the other obstacles. I did intend that this will be a teaching experiencefor the technical problems with solar power. Efficiency improvement is probably more important and that could be another project in itself. However power outage backup is good to have, even if its limited to a few loads.

I am also looking forward to building the electronics and will probably try the various types of chargers and AC power inverters, since I am an EE-although not in this area. If it works out I could share that info although the regulations will probably limit their applications. As I said I have not found a decent price at low quantity for the TPT? backing and may need to have only the EVA on the back, perhaps with some plastic sheet added afterwards just to toughen the back hide of it.

[MarineLiner]

I am an affiliate marketer and I promote earth4energy as one of my products and yes I do it for the money "But" I am a very honest person and did check eart4energy out before I decided to promote it.
.....
I come into these forums to do research and hopefully to interact ...

[john p]

You did check it and did follow the instruction ?
How much do you spend for making the whole system ?
Did the system really saving money for the bill ? ITvery very very unlikely she has ever made anything from the instructions from those books. If she attempted it she would soon stop promoting them as she would find either its close to impossible or far far more expensive then they tell you

[millenia]

difficulty of building a panel

I decided to build everything myself, from ALU frame, wiring the cells, encapsulation and so on including my own inverter and charge controller. Its not easy for just anyone, but that doesnt mean its impossible for everyone either. It takes some mechanical capability, which is not uncommon. The wiring should also not be that hard. The worst part was geting the cells and separating them without breaking a few. Too bad they dont add something to separate them. Perhaps this is to keep more of the air out of the package??