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by guerrilla 1291 days ago
> If solar panels are cheaper than the mounting hardware (wow)

I'm surprised this surprises people... Every electronics hobbyist knows that electronics are cheap as dirt while any kind of box, mount, rail or whatever is BY REALLY FAR the most expensive part of a project, even when buying massivly mass produced cheap Chinese junk.

2 comments

The electronics you're talking about are rice grain sized little things, while the solar panels are big sheets of silicon inside of glass, etc.
Those grain sized things have pretty high packaging costs in relation to what you are actually buying.
Economies of scale make that irrelevant.
You are surprised that this surprised people because electronic hobbyists know this? Most people are not electronic hobbyists so this should probably not surprise you
I just find it interesting, the difference different perspectives can make, especially on a website where people are often bikeshedding things they have no experience with.