10 year old BP280 (80 watt solar panel?)

A simple google search finds for example : Site Link

Quote in part: "20 year product warranty".

Any possible degradation is easily measured.

I don't think you will have any problems.

some of our panels are 10 years and still delivering full amps....cant see any problems whatsoever if in good condition as obviously the one you are considering must be

Chris,
Most solar panels I have looked at have performance figures printed / labled on the rear. The are Ioc and Voc - Current and Voltage Open Circuit.
You can point your clean panel at the sun around midday and measure the panels output (open circuit current and voltage) with your multimeter.
I'd expect summer would give you better results compared to now.
Have changed line of work so cant tell you how some of the older panels I've installed are going.
Paul.

Chris as you say "has never been used" I can only assume it's never been in the sun, and probably therefore still in it's original cardboard box - so it's still BRAND NEW

buy it .... only if you need an 80 watt panel

However if you need 100 or 120 watts forget it, unless it's cheap, as you will have to buy a second panel to make up the short fall in amperage supplied by the 80watt BP panel (~4.8A)

questions you have to ask yourself-
will 1 x panel be better than 2 x panels?
how will you mount or carry 2 x panels?

Never been used ? so has never even come out of its box and seen the sun ? means it will NOT do as the sticker on the back says it will , it will do BETTER for the 1st month or 2 then settle down to specification with a slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww decrease in output over the next 25+ yrs ..............

Some solar panels do reduce their output, some do not. It depends on the materials that make up the panel. It's been a while since I looked into it, but there are two types of panels. It has been a while since I looked into them but generally the BP panels are based around a polycrystaline structure while others are a cheaper amorphous type panels where performance degrades over time.

This is why some of the BP panels come with a 20 year warranty but are more expensive than others that come with a 2 year warranty.