Solar Tariffs - American Products?

[Busjamin]

US to impose tariffs of up to 3,521% on south-east Asia solar panels

Ahead of a global summit in London comes a warning that lessons on energy security have not been learnedBusiness live – latest updates

www.theguardian.com

A different thread about tariffs flew off the handle after anti-vaxxers tried to form coherent thoughts and failed, so I wanted to see if we could reset and have a more productive discussion based in reality.

Let's just not get into our opinions about the tariffs at all.

Whether we like it or not, they are having effects on our builds so we should work through it for everyone's sake.

I believe most would agree that the end goal of tariffs is to bring manufacturing and jobs back onto US soil. SO, can we talk about what options exist for American-made solar products?

I've heard of Battle-born batteries, but tbh it's been a blind spot for me bc my research so far was based on the commonly used Victron components.

 

[Rwnielsen]

Battleborn are expensive and heavily advertised. Do a little research, maybe watch a few Prouse videos. There are lots of options and configurations.

 

[Busjamin]

Battleborn are expensive and heavily advertised. Do a little research, maybe watch a few Prouse videos. There are lots of options and configurations.

I think expensive is pretty much a given for domestic products of any quality. That's fine if that money is going the right places. If they're paying their staff well, then I would be happy to support that. If it's just a dickhead trying to get rich... I'll pass.

Edit: I definitely intend to get around to the Will Prowse channel for sure. Just haven't found the time yet...we only just purchased our bus yesterday.

 

[desrtdog]

Ok … so for my build, I did watch some of the Will Prowse videos (especially regarding different batteries), and also used the electrical system tutorials and tools by faroutride (a good source to educate yourself on how to set up a system). This is my opinion on components …. bias included …

1. Victron components - definitely worth the money…high quality and great technical support (my experience, anyway)
2. Solar panels - spent a lot of time looking at the different offerings (renogy, others) that were available 4 years ago (probably much has changed since) and ended up going with residential panels (Q-cells) as they were half the price on a $/watt basis compared to the renogy offerings … again, that was 3-4 years ago… Also, from a size perspective, they fit across the roof nicely…
3. Batteries - back then, a lot fewer options…battleborn were the ones it seemed many were going with, but there were options from SOK that were highly rated (Will Prowse) and half the price … each of my 206Ah SOK batteries was the same as a 100Ah battleborn… yeah they’re Chinese made, but so what?

So that’s it…as I said my system is several years old now, so likely some changes since…

 

[Busjamin]

@Rwnielsen nice Blue Bird btw. We are literally in the middle of bringing our newly acquired CS RE 3904 home.

 

[Busjamin]

Chinese made, but so what?

So while I may agree with you on this to some extent, my intention for this thread was to focus on domestic products. Not because I insist it is necessary, but to provide some practical input that may help educate us on American-made solar products.

Edit: Asking a question like "Chinese, so what?" invites the exact kind of political debate I'd like to avoid here.

 

[desrtdog]

Fair enough - not looking to hijack this thread …
Would point out though that finding truly “American made” solar products is probably a tall order given the global economy and the fact that a lot “parts” are sourced from outside the US - Battleborn for example, while an American company sources the cells and BMS in their batteries from China …they are an American company and assembly is done domestically.

 

[TaliaDPerkins]

For what it is worth, RE tariffs, shipping, and supply chains.
Sal does seem to know his stuff.

 

[Busjamin]

Fair enough - not looking to hijack this thread …
Would point out though that finding truly “American made” solar products is probably a tall order given the global economy and the fact that a lot “parts” are sourced from outside the US - Battleborn for example, while an American company sources the cells and BMS in their batteries from China …they are an American company and assembly is done domestically.

Yeah I absolutely respect that this is a much more complex question given practically everything is multi-source.

If the answer to my basic question is, "there are not many good options," then that's the answer. We can work forward from there.

 

[nikitis]

American made solar panels:

American Made Solar Panels: List of U.S. Manufacturers

While most solar projects in the United States use imported panels, there are more U.S. solar panel manufacturers than you might think.

www.energysage.com

A simple google search will tell you much.

 

[Busjamin]

American made solar panels:

American Made Solar Panels: List of U.S. Manufacturers

While most solar projects in the United States use imported panels, there are more U.S. solar panel manufacturers than you might think.

www.energysage.com

A simple google search will tell you much.

But it can't give firsthand feedback. Google is great and all, but if it could really give us what we're looking for, we wouldn't have much use for the technical sections of the forum.

 

[nikitis]

I don't think many of us have first hand using USA products lately, most have bought in China. So we're all gonna have to start trying out American made, and hold them to the fire if the product specs don't live up to it.

Plenty of skoolie owners have used Battleborn and usually have good things to say about them.

 

[Busjamin]

I don't think many of us have first hand using USA products lately, most have bought in China. So we're all gonna have to start trying out American made, and hold them to the fire if the product specs don't live up to it.

Plenty of skoolie owners have used Battleborn and usually have good things to say about them.

I honestly like this take on it. It would be a lot more convenient for us to use the tried-and-true international options. If we want American business to excel, then of course we are the only ones who can hold them to account. I would love nothing more than to be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Cheezewhiz]

Battleborn seems to me like:

"White guy said these are good parts!" Then charges you five times more.

He ain't making them. Mining the material. Maybe at first they tested some cells, glued some stuff together. Now it's buy SEO to pump results.


I get annoyed when people are all 'I built this bike' Like what did you build? You found a frame. Bolted some wheels, sized to fit already, in it. Found a saddle that fits. Picked a set of handlebars. That were designed and fabricated by someone else to fit and work.

Same as gun hoes 'check out my AR build' that you spent $1,500 on parts other people conceived, drafted, manufactured, and tested, all to make sure it would work with your garbage ****ing platform

Did you make the legos? Or just put intentionally interchangeable parts together in a fashion you fancied?

 

[Cheezewhiz]

This is part of why I like the skoolies here, some of y'all do some wild ****, and it's cool

 

[sportyrick]

respectful conversations help sort things out and is informative for everyone

 

[Busjamin]

Like what did you build?

This is how I feel as well. "Built not bought" Which is why this whole buy-American thing isn't so simple.

Where do we draw the line? What qualifies as truly American-made? Only manufactured with materials extracted within US borders?

Doesn't seem realistic so maybe that's where we should start.

 

[nikitis]

I’ve torn my bus down to the skeleton. And I’m assembling custom parts together. Everything made starts with something, and the unique configuration you came up with makes it your build. You did build it but there is always a level of using some else’s work.

Using your bike reference, even if you bought the steel tubing and welded it together some would consider that something you built, but I could argue you didn’t mine the minerals from the earth, purified them, and rolled the pipe.

We shouldn’t be so picky about that. Just saying.

 

[Surf44]

I would suggest watching will prowse tarriff video he uploaded a couple weeks ago. Very good info and a pretty straightforward opinion on the matter.

As far as battle born, they suck! I have had multiple vans come into the shop that have battle borns die and battle born does not like to stand behind their warranty! But seriously the biggest problem with them is if they die from discharge or too large of a load 100 plus amps. They go in protection mode and the only way to wake them is jumping them with another battery or in our case we use a portable battery jump pack. That is not the case with any other battery other than some renogy batteries do it too. Battle borns are just Iphones as much as you put an American flag and designed in America it’s straight up a Chinese product.

 

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

nikits or mod plesae move this to the correct thread.?
if you buy anything american and it says USA it will say with global components and some say globally harmonized.
trust me i work on govt installations daily doing piping install and the struggle is real.
nothing is complete american made.
globaley sourced component in amaerican made work is with gloabally sourced components.
i know what thread this should be in but i am to computer stupid to make it happen.
and i dont care about politics and if whoever got shot or not. **** my wife is a traveniling lab tech.
of course she weared a mask not knowing and the bases i work around required us to follow regulation.
i dont care who voted for who
drop the politics