I seem to be one of the rare unluckies that received bad KC-80 panels mimicking the same failure as this forum's post for the KC-120 panels (see http://www.solar-guppy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=233 for more details). Out of 38 panels, seven have failed outright and another handful have low voltage a couple/few volts below the typical. Kyocera shipped me 38 new ones, which initially pleased me, but after I found that they changed the dimensions of the panel which meant lots of extra retrofit work on the roof, I was a little less happy (OK - I wasn't happy at all). The reason behind the panel failures stems from Kyocera changing to a lead-less solder process in their manufacturing facility. Even though Kyocera was a pioneer in the 90s for lead-less mfg process, they still mess up sometimes. If you fall into the unlucky KC-80 category, be prepared for a lot of work, since Kyocera was mum on whether they would pay for the labor involved as well. Some more info :

- Bad Date Code : 2001.2
- Old KC80 dimensions : 976mm x 652mm (38.4" x 25.7")
- Replacement KC80-01 dimens : 1007mm x 652mm (39.6" x 25.7")
- Increase in power generated : 27%
- Kyocera contact : Megan Mullett, (800) 544-6466 x7726 (unfortunately. Michelle Rabieh no longer works for Kyocera - she is sadly missed)

Part of the problem is that Kyocera replaces KC80s with the KC80-1 model. If you have KC80s installed around that time frame - good luck to you.

Larry H

I seem to have been a little premature in my calculations on the power generated with the new KC80-01 based array.

The power generation value is a minimum 40% increase from the old array. Keep in mind that the post-KC80-01 days are a little shorter than the pre-KC80-01 days.

BTW - It appears that Kyocera customer support is completely mum when responding to a request for labor compensation. I suspect that Kyocera has adopted a "mum's the word" replacement stance that only affects owners of systems that suspect and have hard degenerative data and confronts Kyocera with the data. I surmised this position after not locating any information whatsoever on a product recall or even a fine print notice from the company concerning this issue.