Portable Solar Panels - why are they so expensive?

ljuk67

Hi,

I've been reading about solar panels and different approaches - buy ready made, make your own etc and there's one question I'm not able to answer or find an answer to - why are the ready made ones so expensive (smallest from £800)?

For example:

you can get 36 solar panel pv cells for around £40 on Ebay.
That's about as many as you get on a standard ready made panel.

next thing you need is a battery to store the power. If I'm looking at the right thing, then the prices start around £50 for a 12V battery.

then there's some wires, a skeleton / rack to hold the panel and some circuitry.

My guess is that most of these things are made in Asia for a fragment of the cost they are sold for, so how does the final price amount to £800 and more? Fat margin? Freight costs?

if anyone can answer this, that would be of great help.


The £800 ready made set I'm referring to is the 60W one available at solargadgetstore.
It's DIY, so no labour in the price, it's pretty much only the parts I described.

Thanks!