Scott in Cancun

Just for fun... questions in 2031... "i glued the new Stick-a-Watt solar panels in a light beige color with a faux English Brick impression on the outside walls of my house, and reflecting iridescent light blue ones on the roof on our dance deck. A small natural movement of the house caused a minor fissure in 50% of the panels and they no longer interconnect. Does anyone know of a micropatch material I can use to harmonize them again?"

Thanks GoSolar! I did notice that panels from IUSA which has a solar panel factory in Mexico ships anywhere in the country for about 100 pesos. Those panels are dirt cheap. And yes, not compatible with my Amazon ones should I plan for an expansion. Not sure about leaving the panels up in a hurricane. Maybe at Lake Chapala it's okay but here in Cancun the winds tear down walls and Oxxo stores, stuff flies in the air like missiles, and I am 400 yards from the beach.. That's another good point... the larger 300W+ panels are HUGE. Aerodynamics alone might blow them to pieces here even if the underlying framing survives. You are correct on the CFE bill. The first 800 kW in a 2 month period here are subsidized in the summer months, but in the winter it drops to 450kW or so before the price hike kicks in. (For people reading this new to Mexico... we have a tiered electrical bill... if you have a couple of fans, a few light bulbs, and a small fridge/TV you will pay peanuts for electricity. Add some air conditioners and a 2nd or 3rd fridge and your bill gets exponentially higher fast as they charge you MUCH more per kW hour as you surpass certain levels that seem to change all the time). I'm an electronics engineer with a background in physics so this solar installation technically is well within my understanding. What I don't know is where to buy framing and brackets at the moment. Amazon sells thin little solar panel brackets that might work in places other than Cancun, Tornado Alley or Florida/NC/TX/OK etc. I'm still convinced that I need some kind of aluminum or galvanized T-Slotted framing (like in a 3D printer but larger) so I can remove the panels quickly as a hurricane approaches. I'm open to ideas, suppliers of framing, etc. In a few years I suspect there will be a global standard for snap in T-Frames and brackets... so don't laugh you people of the future. We ARE the pioneers in 2021. There IS no standard in 2021 for solar panel framing. It's "wing it and guess/experiment" at this point in time. I wish I'd be around to find out... maybe you will just glue flexible panels to any outside surface in 2031 not worrying about shade etc as all the electronics and connections will be in the panel itself. I already see that coming with Micro Inverters and LiFePo4 batteries.

Thanks guys! Wish I knew some of this before I spent all that cash on Amazon. Duh!!! I just looked on Mexico Mercado Libre now and see some of the 300+ watts in the $150 range. Some of those panels are huge compared to my 100W ones. These larger 300+ Watt ones are probably easier to mount... less clips. Now I am looking for metal shops, clip suppliers, etc to build a solid base. I am 400 yards from the Caribbean Sea and we get hurricanes here. I plan to unscrew the panels and put them inside the house if a big storm is coming. Gotta come up iwth some design that makes it easy to remove them in a few hours.

All of these posts are a good source of info, but way out of date with most of them written back in 2018. With 100W solar panels on Amazon USA dropping down to the delivered in Mexico price of around $140 a panel (including IVA/Transport) I predict a surge of purchases. I am waiting for my final shipment this weekend of the last of 8 x 100W panels and associated GTI, cables, crimp tool etc. A pair of 100A Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries are en-route from Amazon MX (those were 550 bucks each). Anxious to see what happens at MX customs! I am anxious for an update from some of you of recent CFE billing/credits as I am about to apply for a bidirectional meter. If these credits have been discontinued it would make sense to buy a GTI with a "Limiter" that does not send excess power back to CFE via their meter. I typically use 900 kW in a 2 month billing period for my house in Cancun. Since in general the first 500 kW in a billing cycle are in the lower tiers of CFE billing cost it makes complete mathematical/financial sense to shave off those extra 400 kW with a few solar panels and GTI. The 2 batteries are for backup for fans/lights and a small cooler when we have a tropical storm or hurricane. For me, going totally off grid seems astronomical in price (for urban city dwellers)... the cost of batteries will kill the benefits. You would gain only the ability to run a fridge and all your lights/fans/washer etc. But at horrendous cost for what probably will be only a few days without power if bad weather hits. These seem to be the topics of interest (to me) in 2021 as costs for solar panels/GTI are attractive. Ideas? Comments? Updates?