Anyone done DIY solar? Tips / Suggestions / Resources?

[Billy Golightly]

Can anyone recommend first hand a good book, program, website, whatever that you used to help setup a panel/battery/inverter setup? I know the technology has gotten a helluva lot cheaper in the last few years, its something I'd really like to explore and check out a bit further.

[oldskool83]

Well harbor freight sells a kit now...and I am going to put some on the back of my house's exposed foundation. My buddy knows a lot about wiring so maybe in a few months I can be more help. I think they were $150 and under at HF. Nothing crazy big either.

[atc007]

Where I am you have to be off grid unless you're putting up 25,000 + kwh,but I am not the norm ;). Payoff for backfeed was 2.7 cents a kwh,,, screw that!!!! I get it, we're capitalists,but I aint being on the bottom for this ride.. The tech is there,but big oil /government won't let us have it until they have every avenue of the revenue figured out to filter through their pockets.... THEN,and only then, it will be the cats ass. My buddy put in a nice system in his small garage 12+? years ago. 2 batteries. Did ok. His inverter alone could NEVER ever be break even. But he wanted to do it... I was close to pulling the trigger on a whole farm system,but pay off was nowhere near where it needed to be,nor were all the "tax perks" I would have been entitled too. If one is willing to do the time investment,,,say,,like building a set of panels instead of a 3 wheeler ;)... You can make panels as good as if not stronger than what you can buy. Lots of videos out there.

[ironchop]

Here, you are now required to have a licensed solar contractor install your system. Fack that noise. It has turned 25K in equipment into a 50k investment.... because "contractor".

They sure make damn sure that one must be independently wealthy to get off grid. Its pretty obvious the goal is to discourage solar installs as it competes with the local electric co-op.

I've been mulling over building my own panels from scratch as feebay and others sell the copper tape, solder, and individual cells to do your own. Buy extra cells because usually some get broke in shipping I've been told by a vendor.

Does anyone know how long the system lasts? I had read somewhere that panels would need rehabbed or replaced after 20-25 yrs and that batteries might need replaced. That seems ridiculous to me but maybe someone else knows the facts?

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[atc007]

Yes,yes and yes :)

[cobradude]

Read somewhere about a guy that did his house, but didn't go off grid, didn't put any back in the grid either.

He kept his 220 stuff (AC unit, hot water heater, electric heater, fridge, etc.) on the power company. But, all of his wall plugs & lights ran off his solar system, with a battery bank to get him through the night. I personally think this is the way to go

[Bren_downe]

When my folks built their off the grid home they used this company;
http://www.newenglandsolar.com/index.htm
I know it's way off from your location but you may find some useful info there.

[Billy Golightly]

I'm interested in more of a sustainable system rather than selling back to the grid. DIY is cool. I just don't know enough about it to even really know what to search for. I have looked on ebay before at the un soldered cells and watched a few Youtube videos about building panels, but I don't know much about the battery, load balancers (how does a system know when to draw from batteries or grid?) and inverter systems as an example. I know typical lead cell batteries are kind of a waste, and that nickle cell (old school edison design) are a lot more preferable for how the solar is always charging basically. And then I've heard a little bit about the new Tesla battery banks coming out as well.

I'm pretty handy obviously - so I wouldn't mind building a system from (relatively) scratch, even doing it piecemeal and a little bit at a time.


I don't expect I'd ever have a system to run shop equipment that is 220v, but that'd be neat...

[ironchop]

We have an entire new elementary school run on solar panels that sells back to.the power company for a substantial amount of money.

http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/net-zero-school-pays-off/article_b09f982e-4cae-11e2-82cd-001a4bcf887a.html

This is what got the local solar sharks motivated to institute more regulations for solar installs even in off grid apps. Warren county is remarkably affluent so most ppl weren't too upset. Money spent is your social status in this town.

We plan to move to an adjoining county as most have little or no building restrictions for private property with the exception of zoning in some cases. Its illegal (yes, you read that right)....illegal to install your own water heater here. It must be performed by a licensed contractor. You can't buy one in the Lowes store either unless you are a licensed plumber. This is why I-65 between BG and Nashville is typically populated with pickups hauling new water heaters we drove into Tennessee to buy legally.

But I digress...I want to learn to build a system that will run my lights and light appliances but the industrial equipment and large appliances would still be on grid. My reasons have nothing to do with the money really. A purchased solar system would likely never pay for itself as long as I live because my power bill averages $100-$120 a month for all twelve months and we are total electric. The investment I would have to make would equal to over twenty years of power bills at current rate and by that time, I would need to reinvest in repairing or rebuilding my twenty year old system.

Honestly, I just want to be self sufficient and not beholden to some shareholders. I grew up on a farm where we lived, worked, and fed ourselves with what we grew on site and now I can't stand living the way I do now where I'm reliant on a tenuous system and wage slavery which is due to collapse any time now for almost all of our food and shelter. This needs to change.

Plus, I like the challenge of learning something new and building stuff. If I can run a small TV and the light bulbs in the camper with what I built, I'll be happy.



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[El Camexican]

I can't tell you a thing Billy, but I can add a little to the complains about them.

As far as making them in the USA I was told the byproducts of making the panels are extremely toxic and environmental unfriendly. :welcome: to China.

We had a bunch of companies pop up in Mexico a couple years back selling systems. The government has since squeezed all but the larger ones out and the CFE (our government owned power supplier) only allows a small amount of power to be put back into the grid, so you're basically doing it for free unless you get the batteries which add a ton to the cost. I have the perfect roof for a system, but I'd need to live a long time to see it pay back.

These guys explain how this works better than I can, just change the phrase "cell phone" to "solar panels"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk8NlRIZPIo

[El Camexican]

What if i told you electricity is obsolete ......and so is the garbage that runs off it ? What if your gov. & NASA have been hiding this from you for many years ? What if these are the lamest years in the history of mankind ? What if cell phones gave way to telepathy ? What if we were honest and helped each other prosper and excel .......oh no not in this lifetime ! :lol::lol::lol:

I don't doubt any of it. We still have a long way to evolve, but I doubt we'll live long enough to reach our combined potential. It's hard to advance when innovation begets taxation.

[Billy Golightly]

What if i told you electricity is obsolete ......and so is the garbage that runs off it ? What if your gov. & NASA have been hiding this from you for many years ? What if these are the lamest years in the history of mankind ? What if cell phones gave way to telepathy ? What if we were honest and helped each other prosper and excel .......oh no not in this lifetime ! :lol::lol::lol:

I don't doubt it, and I have these conversations with friends pretty frequently. I always answer back with "yes, in an ideal world, I agree, but unfortunately I still live here in the dark clouds, cold and windy trailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro hole of a planet in the time we call 2016, so I'm looking at alternatives in the interim...:lol:"

[ironchop]

I don't doubt any of it. We still have a long way to evolve, but I doubt we'll live long enough to reach our combined potential. It's hard to advance when innovation requires capital investment and our Socialist-leaning global leadership discourages such investments and economic models.

Fixed that for ya!

Hahaha bounce bounce smily meme gif

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