Aiko have taken the market by storm.
Everyone has been asking us for Aiko panels.
The 475W Aiko Neostar 2P is easily the hottest solar product, apart from Sigenergy and their inverters and batteries.

I'm quite impressed with them.
The way water beads and runs off the somewhat unusually coated front glass is great.
They seem to be very well built.
Our install crews say they like them.
There's no denying that they pack 475W into the same size frame as a normal 440W panel.
Higher efficiency for about $25 a panel more cost.
But do they work better in shade than a regular panel?
That's Aiko's big marketing claim.
I've seen their impressive trade show demos and frankly, I am a bit sceptical.
I've watched their videos too and am equally sceptical.
Aiko on YouTube.

"The test is bit contrived" is what comes to my mind.

"Maybe they work better in shade" is my observation from about 30 Aiko system installs so far.
But if they are better, it's definitely not a whole heck of a lot better.

The standard defence against shade in a typical half-cell solar panel are its diodes.
A pair of strings of cells inside the panel are each connected to a diode.
There are 6 strings and 3 diodes per panel.
If the shade on those cells becomes too much, the diode activates to shut down those cells.
This protects the current flow of the rest of the panel, and also the rest of the other panels on that string.

Aiko say that their panels can tolerate shading of 3 cells per string before activating the diode.
So a really small amount of localised shading.
I'm really not sure how that differs so much from other panels.

I think the advantages of Aiko 2P panels are:-

(1) 23.8% efficient for the 475W panel with 24.3% coming soon with their 485W model.
Compare that to a JinKo 440W at 22.02% or a Risen 440W at 22.5%

(2) A better than average build quality from our installation team's viewpoint.

(3) What seems to be an unusual glass coating that repels water exceptionally well.

(4) Possibly a very small advantage in very minor shading situations.
Shading is a regular thing for every solar installation. Clouds cause shade.
You don't need to have a huge gum tree out the back to have shade on your panels.

The all-black Aiko 2S is available as 455W.
Datasheet here.

The black-framed Aiko 2P is available as 470W and 475W.
470W datasheet here.
475W datasheet here.

Those who have read my worries about selling 'unique' panels may be surprised that I'm not shying away from Aiko.
I am not a fan of panels that have totally unique electrical characteristics like Sunpower Maxeon, REC Alpha.
There's no certainty those brands will survive in the long term and if they fail and we get a panel failure....
...what can I replace the faulty panel with? Answer, nothing. They are unique electrically speaking.

The Aiko panels however, whilst using 'abc technology' actually have very normal electrical characteristics.
So if the worst happened in years to come, we can swap it out with pretty much anything.
It's possible that Aiko's remarkable immediate success may mean we start seeing a lot more of this 'abc tech'.
No such thing as patents, apparently, in Chinese solar.

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This review was written by Andrew MacKeith, Solar4Ever service manager since 2011.
Solar4Ever is located in Morley (Perth), WA 6062