continued from (Dont know what part of Tn you are)= 750 x 30 days= 22500 \ 1000 to give kw=22.500 \ .22 is roughly $4.95 a month if figuires agerage out to 750 per day by 30 days. If you were buying the kwh from them, wouldve costed $2.25. so basicly you wouldve made $2.70 on the 22.5 kwh you used. If my thinking is wrong on this then someone please correct me. Ive been studying on this for abit now and am working on a small but growing system myself too. I am not contracted w Tva yet either.
@foresaken5000 Setting up the second meter is net metering. Your math is correct if I were to be participating in the TVA program. I pay .81 cents per kW/hr but because I don’t have this hardwired into my home I’m not eligible to participate. Also, those values were for summer… Tennessee winters are just dull some sun every 5 days. That $2.70 I would have made gets applied to the retail price of the panel $600 plus the inverter, etc… during winter I may only be able to apply $.50
Dont know what part of Tn you are from friend but east Tn doesnt net meter. You enter into a 10 yr contract that would be in your favor through the TVA. Also must buy a second meter (this sounds bad but its realy not. You would sell everything you made not just above what you use. They pay .22 cents per killawatt hour and we pay just under 10 cents per kwh from the main meter.) With just that one panel making between 600 to 900 per day an average of 750 per day x 30 days would give you.continued
Dont know what part of Tn you are from friend but east Tn doesnt net meter. You enter into a 10 yr contract that would be in your favor through the TVA. Also must buy a second meter (this sounds bad but its realy not. You would sell everything you made not just above what you use. They pay .22 cents per killawatt hour and we pay just under 10 cents per kwh from the main meter.) With just that one panel making between 600 to 900 per day an average of 750 per day x 30 days would give you.continued
@mgyabes1985 No, it isn’t relevant. Doubtful you will ever produce enough electricity to make any difference. If you do, you will get better inverters and install them according to the electric company’s standards. But with their knowledge you will get paid by the electric company to do so. My electric company will pay me triple what I pay to use their electricity. Something this small is already used before it ever makes it to the grid.
@mgyabes1985 United Laboratories test all sorts of products for safety not just limited to electronics. They make sure the product does what it states it is designed. Not everything I own is UL listed. That doesn’t change the legality of it. Using something that isn’t UL listed doesn’t make it illegal. Keep in mind, these are cheap and will not last. I have already replaced parts in mine but I have the luxury of knowing electronics and replacing parts that break.
Are the plug and play grid tie inverters legal? I have the old dial meter still. Will the power company able to find out if your using a gride tie inverter?
@mgyabes1985 I can’t imagine how they could be illegal. They are safe and will shut down if AC power disconnected. I’m using every bit of power I generate. I would have to shut off everything in the house to watch my meter run backwards, and it does. If I were to generate more than I use than I would certainly call them so they would NET meter me and I would get paid for my energy production.
@snathanmax Very true… it is less expensive to build your own. But what is a 25 year warranty worth to you? I mean, these things are in the elements and you will have to provide a solid weatherproof enclosure or you will spend more time repairing your panels. How many people drive cars 25 years old? I personally rather let the engineers manufacture a panel that holds up to the heat, rain, hail, etc…
I'm in UK and have been looking at installing my own panels the prices in Uk is just too high. it would take 12-15 years juat get the money back from if installed!
We have 240 volts ac fromthe grid what inverter and panle size are best?
@mkmanir This inverter will do either 120 or 240. These inverters sold to the UK just come with a different plug. Just get what you can, I'm sure the overcast days will make the payoff longer but give it a try.
I guess you measured the input voltage and current and compared with output power when you calculated the efficiency.
Your solar panel cable is probably not tick enough not sure the distance to solar panel and the cables are expensive so the best option is to mount the inverter as close as possible to the solar panel under 10 feet must be possible in your case and then run the 120V cable as long as you like since the power loss will be may times lover.
@electrodacus Cable is only 25ft to the inverter. The voltage drop over that distance isn’t large enough to measure. As I mentioned the gauge is large and was hard to find. I have already done the math and the voltage at the panels is the same as at the inverter. The problem is the moisture in the air… I lose a lot of energy from the sun as it travels through all the water vapor in the air.
@HamrickCE 25feet is not that much but if you will get more panel can be.
Anyway I was saying that with the exact same cable length and gauge when you transport 200W the losses will be an order of magnitude higher on 120V than on 12V.
Example AWG 10 cable has 1 ohm / 1000feet so 25 feet cable x 2 since there are 2 conductors is 50 feet = 0.05 ohm 200W at 12V is ~16A Voltage drop is 16 X 0.05 = 0.8V that is close to 7% loss.
200W at 120V is 1.7A voltage drop 0.085V that is 0.07% loss 100x less.
@electrodacus Physics is great stuff. If I know the conductance of copper and the cross sectional area then I can measure the coulombs / time. In the real world everything is different. When I set this up the inverter was on the roof with the panels and I added the wire and there was no change to what I collected. I have a minor in electronics... Again, loss on the wire and length I chose is negligible. When I started the inverter was on the roof with the panel. I would have noticed a 7% loss.
@HamrickCE My example was with AWG 10 wire not sure what cable you have also I was using 12V and you probably have 17 or 18V so your loses may be at about 3% that will be hard to notice and as long as you are under 3% is not important.
And if I have all the data I promise that the real world will be exactly the same with the calculation.
@electrodacus You spoke like someone with an electrical engineering degree. I speak like a technician. What I mean by that is I recognize there are many more variables than just how many amps my 12 gauge wire can handle. As we are coming upon winter I increased the panel by 20 degrees and got about 15 more watts for the morning hours. Humidity is another huge factor, very dry days I have seen 175 watts. The panel was $200.
@HamrickCE 200$ was a really good price. Where did you found the panel ?
Cold weather will help the cable since will decrease the resistance. Also even if the cable is AWG 12 you will probably have more than the 12V in my calculation also the power as you say is not 200W.
I guess the losses are between 5 and 8% and if you are happy with that then there is no problem. Most use about 3% loss on cable to have a good rapport between cost of the cable and loss of power.
@electrodacus Craig’s List. $1 is an amazing price and it was exactly what I wanted. The man I bought it from became disabled and couldn't manage this 3x5ft. panel.I have been watching Evergreen for several years now. Here are all the current numbers. 12AWG stranded copper wire. Resistance is 0.1 Ohm. Voltage (open) on the panel is 20.64V and voltage at the end of the cable is 20.59V. During those measurements the AC wattage was 126W.
@HamrickCE AWG 12 should be 1.6 ohm / 1000 ft and if you have 25 ft x 2 = 50ft resistance must be 0.08 ohm but is quite close with your measurement.
Open voltage measurement are not useful for power loss. Not sure when is connected to inverter what is the voltage must be more than 12V and less than 18V but not sure how the inverter works. Solar panel has probably a max power peek voltage of 17V to 18V
@electrodacus A little earlier I was getting 130W AC, with the meter inline I lost 7 watts on the AC side. With 123W AC my voltage was 14.69V and current was 9.97A. I calculated 146 Watts DC and 123 Watts AC. Rated peak efficiency of this inverter is 92%.
@HamrickCE 84% efficiency is probably fine. I do not think you will ever see 92%.
When measuring current is normal to have a voltage drop especially at 10A and most of it on the measuring leads.
So 14.69V at 9.97A with 25ft of AWG 12 (0.08ohm) the voltage drop will be 9.97 x 0.08 = about 0.8V that is about 5% loss on the cable that is not that much. If you will add another AWG 12 cable in parallel with this the losses will go down to 2.5% but maybe is not worth the difference in price.
@electrodacus The efficiency increases the more power the panels produce. For this video I only used the one 210 watt panel. I have three 15 watt panels also attached to the inverter. I have seen the entire system up to 180 watts on the AC side. The 12AWG is what I have for now. I also survived the entire summer using very little A/C and heating my water with a solar water heater. The next one will be inside a box with copper tubing.
@LoveMyDogy I was trained by the Marine Corps to troubleshoot to the component. I have been an electronics technician for 15 years. One thing I have kept up with is the advances in electric automobiles. What works and what doesn’t. Tesla uses Li-ion, which is a great battery, but not forgiving when it comes to solar.
@LoveMyDogy Lithium ion batteries hold 4x the charge per weight as a lead acid battery but are not suitable for solar due to inconsistent power. Stick with flooded or absorbed glass mat batteries for solar.
@LoveMyDogy Best for solar applications will be flooded or AGM. Some praise Gel but they don’t hold up as well over time because solar power is inconsistent. AGM will last longer than flooded lead acid batteries but flooded is much less expensive and requires maintenance. Golf cart batteries are 6v so you will need 2. Check places that sell RVs or a Batteries Plus.
@LoveMyDogy Marine batteries are not true deep cycle batteries. I used to get marine batteries free from tornado sirens and they would run my server for 90 min, the same as a 7 Ah battery. I replaced them with batteries the same physical size and quit the experiment after 8 hours. Marine batteries are still rated in CCA, you need to find batteries rated in Ah (Amp hours).
@LoveMyDogy I’m not insulting your craftsmanship… I’m insulting mine. I have a minor in electronics so I know the electrical side of things. Keeping the cells safe for 30 years is up to the factory for me. Many inverters use 24 – 600 volts. Panels are placed in series to get those voltages. Not many manufactures make a “12 volt” panel any longer. This inverter needs at least 14 volts to run efficiently. I found it special for my 12v systems for testing.
@LoveMyDogy They have an open voltage and a load voltage. Your 12v panels usually run 18-22 volts. On a load they provide 14-15 to the inverter. Your 12v battery needs 14.2 volts to charge and floats at 13.2 volts. Under load at full charge should read 12.6v and when dead will be 10.5v. I personally wouldn’t build solar panels from cells. From the factory they have a 25 year warranty and are built solid.
@LoveMyDogy That was a cicada landing on my face, we had an outbreak here in Tennessee during that time. 18-22v open. It is considered a 12v panel. To your previous comment, I didn’t do this to save money, I had already done the math and found solar to be useless… unless one conserves energy. That is where the solar water experiment came into play. Plan is to live in a cabin one day.
@LoveMyDogy I have batteries as well for power. However, power loss is few and far between. There would be a lot of energy loss if I didn’t try and use these panels all the time. Currently I only collect an average of $2 per month here. Most systems I have seen also have a dummy load to switch to when the batteries are full.
@davettalashley Changing how the energy is used doesn’t change how much energy is collected. That’s like harvesting more corn because you have a newer tractor. There will be energy loss when doing any conversion to an inverter or battery. Changing to an MPPT charge controller only helps lengthen the life of the battery.
@giftsfromtheholyland Depending on the amount of electricity you consume each month and how efficient you can be, perhaps heating your water directly with solar and only using the panels for electrical equipment... assuming gas for cooking and heating as well I would suspect $60,000 worth of panels. It would take 3 of these panels to run my fridge and they cost $500 each. My fridge's electrical consumption is between $3-$4 monthly @ $0.081 kWh.
@fightttttt What you have seen I have done myself. The panel isn't really installed, mostly just resting on my roof. The inverter is plug-n-play. I have not priced the actual hardwear to mound to my roof. I'm not really interested in doing so at this time.
I like what you doing and i am asking if you could help me set up my own panels I do live in Las Vegas but I dont know much about solar can you give me hand with info what do I need parts and so on?
I got 3 50w panels and 2 inverters one 150w and one 450w what else as parts do I need
@giftsfromtheholyland I suspect the inverters you have are standalone and not grid tie. These inverters are producing a modified sine wave that is not compatible with grid power. You can use the panels to charge a battery and use the battery to power your electronics. If you want your solar power to be fed directly into the house you will need to find a “grid tie” inverter.
Angle is around 20. Summer angle is minus 15 degrees of latitude. I like to tinker around and have the real numbers in front of me. I attend a liberal arts college and hippies are very abundant. They whine about what we need to do... and I hate the planet but I am doing more. Gives me a solid argument. I also think we have some hard times ahead of us. The more I can do to become self reliant and maintain my quality of life the more comfortable I will be in whatever future we have.
Nice video its always fun to see other people fiddle with these stuff.
The info about the performance you've got is normal, i've got 2 monocrystaline panels. And on a good day i get 300watts. So your 150watts+ is not bad. At what angle lies the panel? should be 30. So not bad figures althou monocrystaline generate a bit more the panel operates fine. The lab only generates absolute max values.
getto fabulus
ambrose361 6 days ago
continued from (Dont know what part of Tn you are)= 750 x 30 days= 22500 \ 1000 to give kw=22.500 \ .22 is roughly $4.95 a month if figuires agerage out to 750 per day by 30 days. If you were buying the kwh from them, wouldve costed $2.25. so basicly you wouldve made $2.70 on the 22.5 kwh you used. If my thinking is wrong on this then someone please correct me. Ive been studying on this for abit now and am working on a small but growing system myself too. I am not contracted w Tva yet either.
foresaken5000 3 weeks ago
@foresaken5000 Setting up the second meter is net metering. Your math is correct if I were to be participating in the TVA program. I pay .81 cents per kW/hr but because I don’t have this hardwired into my home I’m not eligible to participate. Also, those values were for summer… Tennessee winters are just dull some sun every 5 days. That $2.70 I would have made gets applied to the retail price of the panel $600 plus the inverter, etc… during winter I may only be able to apply $.50
HamrickCE 3 weeks ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Dont know what part of Tn you are from friend but east Tn doesnt net meter. You enter into a 10 yr contract that would be in your favor through the TVA. Also must buy a second meter (this sounds bad but its realy not. You would sell everything you made not just above what you use. They pay .22 cents per killawatt hour and we pay just under 10 cents per kwh from the main meter.) With just that one panel making between 600 to 900 per day an average of 750 per day x 30 days would give you.continued
foresaken5000 3 weeks ago
Dont know what part of Tn you are from friend but east Tn doesnt net meter. You enter into a 10 yr contract that would be in your favor through the TVA. Also must buy a second meter (this sounds bad but its realy not. You would sell everything you made not just above what you use. They pay .22 cents per killawatt hour and we pay just under 10 cents per kwh from the main meter.) With just that one panel making between 600 to 900 per day an average of 750 per day x 30 days would give you.continued
foresaken5000 3 weeks ago
Do you have to notify the electric company if you hook up one of this inverters?
mgyabes1985 3 weeks ago
@mgyabes1985 No, it isn’t relevant. Doubtful you will ever produce enough electricity to make any difference. If you do, you will get better inverters and install them according to the electric company’s standards. But with their knowledge you will get paid by the electric company to do so. My electric company will pay me triple what I pay to use their electricity. Something this small is already used before it ever makes it to the grid.
HamrickCE 3 weeks ago
I was told that they are not UL APPROVED.
mgyabes1985 4 weeks ago
@mgyabes1985 United Laboratories test all sorts of products for safety not just limited to electronics. They make sure the product does what it states it is designed. Not everything I own is UL listed. That doesn’t change the legality of it. Using something that isn’t UL listed doesn’t make it illegal. Keep in mind, these are cheap and will not last. I have already replaced parts in mine but I have the luxury of knowing electronics and replacing parts that break.
HamrickCE 3 weeks ago
Are the plug and play grid tie inverters legal? I have the old dial meter still. Will the power company able to find out if your using a gride tie inverter?
mgyabes1985 4 weeks ago
@mgyabes1985 I can’t imagine how they could be illegal. They are safe and will shut down if AC power disconnected. I’m using every bit of power I generate. I would have to shut off everything in the house to watch my meter run backwards, and it does. If I were to generate more than I use than I would certainly call them so they would NET meter me and I would get paid for my energy production.
HamrickCE 4 weeks ago
Great Video - thank you for sharing
It is just that Commercial Solar Panels are just too expensive!
The Only Option in my opinion is to Build You own Solar Panels
There is an Engineer from Chicago that explains it All
You can find his web site by Searching Google for...
"Top DIY Solar Panels"
Click the First Result (and just Skip The Advertisements on Google)
snathanmax 1 month ago 2
@snathanmax Very true… it is less expensive to build your own. But what is a 25 year warranty worth to you? I mean, these things are in the elements and you will have to provide a solid weatherproof enclosure or you will spend more time repairing your panels. How many people drive cars 25 years old? I personally rather let the engineers manufacture a panel that holds up to the heat, rain, hail, etc…
HamrickCE 1 month ago
Great video mate, well spoken.
Sethjxl 4 months ago
Hi,
I'm in UK and have been looking at installing my own panels the prices in Uk is just too high. it would take 12-15 years juat get the money back from if installed!
We have 240 volts ac fromthe grid what inverter and panle size are best?
regards
mm
mkmanir 4 months ago
@mkmanir This inverter will do either 120 or 240. These inverters sold to the UK just come with a different plug. Just get what you can, I'm sure the overcast days will make the payoff longer but give it a try.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
you will get a lot more power frim your panel if you increase the size of the wire. the wire you have now is way to small.
DIYPV 4 months ago
I guess you measured the input voltage and current and compared with output power when you calculated the efficiency.
Your solar panel cable is probably not tick enough not sure the distance to solar panel and the cables are expensive so the best option is to mount the inverter as close as possible to the solar panel under 10 feet must be possible in your case and then run the 120V cable as long as you like since the power loss will be may times lover.
electrodacus 4 months ago
@electrodacus Cable is only 25ft to the inverter. The voltage drop over that distance isn’t large enough to measure. As I mentioned the gauge is large and was hard to find. I have already done the math and the voltage at the panels is the same as at the inverter. The problem is the moisture in the air… I lose a lot of energy from the sun as it travels through all the water vapor in the air.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@HamrickCE 25feet is not that much but if you will get more panel can be.
Anyway I was saying that with the exact same cable length and gauge when you transport 200W the losses will be an order of magnitude higher on 120V than on 12V.
Example AWG 10 cable has 1 ohm / 1000feet so 25 feet cable x 2 since there are 2 conductors is 50 feet = 0.05 ohm 200W at 12V is ~16A Voltage drop is 16 X 0.05 = 0.8V that is close to 7% loss.
200W at 120V is 1.7A voltage drop 0.085V that is 0.07% loss 100x less.
electrodacus 4 months ago
@electrodacus Physics is great stuff. If I know the conductance of copper and the cross sectional area then I can measure the coulombs / time. In the real world everything is different. When I set this up the inverter was on the roof with the panels and I added the wire and there was no change to what I collected. I have a minor in electronics... Again, loss on the wire and length I chose is negligible. When I started the inverter was on the roof with the panel. I would have noticed a 7% loss.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@HamrickCE My example was with AWG 10 wire not sure what cable you have also I was using 12V and you probably have 17 or 18V so your loses may be at about 3% that will be hard to notice and as long as you are under 3% is not important.
And if I have all the data I promise that the real world will be exactly the same with the calculation.
I also have an electrical engineering degree :)
How much was the panel ?
electrodacus 4 months ago
@electrodacus You spoke like someone with an electrical engineering degree. I speak like a technician. What I mean by that is I recognize there are many more variables than just how many amps my 12 gauge wire can handle. As we are coming upon winter I increased the panel by 20 degrees and got about 15 more watts for the morning hours. Humidity is another huge factor, very dry days I have seen 175 watts. The panel was $200.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@HamrickCE 200$ was a really good price. Where did you found the panel ?
Cold weather will help the cable since will decrease the resistance. Also even if the cable is AWG 12 you will probably have more than the 12V in my calculation also the power as you say is not 200W.
I guess the losses are between 5 and 8% and if you are happy with that then there is no problem. Most use about 3% loss on cable to have a good rapport between cost of the cable and loss of power.
electrodacus 4 months ago
@electrodacus Craig’s List. $1 is an amazing price and it was exactly what I wanted. The man I bought it from became disabled and couldn't manage this 3x5ft. panel.I have been watching Evergreen for several years now. Here are all the current numbers. 12AWG stranded copper wire. Resistance is 0.1 Ohm. Voltage (open) on the panel is 20.64V and voltage at the end of the cable is 20.59V. During those measurements the AC wattage was 126W.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@HamrickCE AWG 12 should be 1.6 ohm / 1000 ft and if you have 25 ft x 2 = 50ft resistance must be 0.08 ohm but is quite close with your measurement.
Open voltage measurement are not useful for power loss. Not sure when is connected to inverter what is the voltage must be more than 12V and less than 18V but not sure how the inverter works. Solar panel has probably a max power peek voltage of 17V to 18V
electrodacus 4 months ago
@electrodacus A little earlier I was getting 130W AC, with the meter inline I lost 7 watts on the AC side. With 123W AC my voltage was 14.69V and current was 9.97A. I calculated 146 Watts DC and 123 Watts AC. Rated peak efficiency of this inverter is 92%.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@HamrickCE 84% efficiency is probably fine. I do not think you will ever see 92%.
When measuring current is normal to have a voltage drop especially at 10A and most of it on the measuring leads.
So 14.69V at 9.97A with 25ft of AWG 12 (0.08ohm) the voltage drop will be 9.97 x 0.08 = about 0.8V that is about 5% loss on the cable that is not that much. If you will add another AWG 12 cable in parallel with this the losses will go down to 2.5% but maybe is not worth the difference in price.
electrodacus 4 months ago
@electrodacus The efficiency increases the more power the panels produce. For this video I only used the one 210 watt panel. I have three 15 watt panels also attached to the inverter. I have seen the entire system up to 180 watts on the AC side. The 12AWG is what I have for now. I also survived the entire summer using very little A/C and heating my water with a solar water heater. The next one will be inside a box with copper tubing.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@HamrickCE The recommended voltage loss on power transmission cable is 3% so normally in your case recommended will be AWG10.
electrodacus 4 months ago
@LoveMyDogy I was trained by the Marine Corps to troubleshoot to the component. I have been an electronics technician for 15 years. One thing I have kept up with is the advances in electric automobiles. What works and what doesn’t. Tesla uses Li-ion, which is a great battery, but not forgiving when it comes to solar.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@LoveMyDogy Lithium ion batteries hold 4x the charge per weight as a lead acid battery but are not suitable for solar due to inconsistent power. Stick with flooded or absorbed glass mat batteries for solar.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@LoveMyDogy Best for solar applications will be flooded or AGM. Some praise Gel but they don’t hold up as well over time because solar power is inconsistent. AGM will last longer than flooded lead acid batteries but flooded is much less expensive and requires maintenance. Golf cart batteries are 6v so you will need 2. Check places that sell RVs or a Batteries Plus.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@LoveMyDogy Marine batteries are not true deep cycle batteries. I used to get marine batteries free from tornado sirens and they would run my server for 90 min, the same as a 7 Ah battery. I replaced them with batteries the same physical size and quit the experiment after 8 hours. Marine batteries are still rated in CCA, you need to find batteries rated in Ah (Amp hours).
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@LoveMyDogy I’m not insulting your craftsmanship… I’m insulting mine. I have a minor in electronics so I know the electrical side of things. Keeping the cells safe for 30 years is up to the factory for me. Many inverters use 24 – 600 volts. Panels are placed in series to get those voltages. Not many manufactures make a “12 volt” panel any longer. This inverter needs at least 14 volts to run efficiently. I found it special for my 12v systems for testing.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@LoveMyDogy They have an open voltage and a load voltage. Your 12v panels usually run 18-22 volts. On a load they provide 14-15 to the inverter. Your 12v battery needs 14.2 volts to charge and floats at 13.2 volts. Under load at full charge should read 12.6v and when dead will be 10.5v. I personally wouldn’t build solar panels from cells. From the factory they have a 25 year warranty and are built solid.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@LoveMyDogy That was a cicada landing on my face, we had an outbreak here in Tennessee during that time. 18-22v open. It is considered a 12v panel. To your previous comment, I didn’t do this to save money, I had already done the math and found solar to be useless… unless one conserves energy. That is where the solar water experiment came into play. Plan is to live in a cabin one day.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@LoveMyDogy I have batteries as well for power. However, power loss is few and far between. There would be a lot of energy loss if I didn’t try and use these panels all the time. Currently I only collect an average of $2 per month here. Most systems I have seen also have a dummy load to switch to when the batteries are full.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
@davettalashley Changing how the energy is used doesn’t change how much energy is collected. That’s like harvesting more corn because you have a newer tractor. There will be energy loss when doing any conversion to an inverter or battery. Changing to an MPPT charge controller only helps lengthen the life of the battery.
HamrickCE 4 months ago
how must did you pay for this evergreen solarpanel?
myNerdStuff 5 months ago
@myNerdStuff $200, just the panel.
HamrickCE 5 months ago
if you are not getting the full amount of power that its rated for, slap a mirror next to it to give it a cheap boost!
gaypotter 5 months ago
thank you for the reply who big needs to be the inverter and if I want to go off grid? and use only batteries how many pans do I need !!!
giftsfromtheholyland 6 months ago
@giftsfromtheholyland Depending on the amount of electricity you consume each month and how efficient you can be, perhaps heating your water directly with solar and only using the panels for electrical equipment... assuming gas for cooking and heating as well I would suspect $60,000 worth of panels. It would take 3 of these panels to run my fridge and they cost $500 each. My fridge's electrical consumption is between $3-$4 monthly @ $0.081 kWh.
HamrickCE 6 months ago
@HamrickCE How much do you think it would cost to have somone install this pannel? did you do it yourself? how hard was it
fightttttt 5 months ago
@fightttttt What you have seen I have done myself. The panel isn't really installed, mostly just resting on my roof. The inverter is plug-n-play. I have not priced the actual hardwear to mound to my roof. I'm not really interested in doing so at this time.
HamrickCE 5 months ago
hello brother
I like what you doing and i am asking if you could help me set up my own panels I do live in Las Vegas but I dont know much about solar can you give me hand with info what do I need parts and so on?
I got 3 50w panels and 2 inverters one 150w and one 450w what else as parts do I need
please you can e-mail or call 714 884 8354
giftsfromtheholyland 6 months ago
@giftsfromtheholyland I suspect the inverters you have are standalone and not grid tie. These inverters are producing a modified sine wave that is not compatible with grid power. You can use the panels to charge a battery and use the battery to power your electronics. If you want your solar power to be fed directly into the house you will need to find a “grid tie” inverter.
HamrickCE 6 months ago
good luck with your solar system..
katz217 7 months ago
Angle is around 20. Summer angle is minus 15 degrees of latitude. I like to tinker around and have the real numbers in front of me. I attend a liberal arts college and hippies are very abundant. They whine about what we need to do... and I hate the planet but I am doing more. Gives me a solid argument. I also think we have some hard times ahead of us. The more I can do to become self reliant and maintain my quality of life the more comfortable I will be in whatever future we have.
HamrickCE 7 months ago
Sorry forgot to mention, i've got 2x185 WP(monocrystaline panels)
yisrael48 7 months ago
Nice video its always fun to see other people fiddle with these stuff.
The info about the performance you've got is normal, i've got 2 monocrystaline panels. And on a good day i get 300watts. So your 150watts+ is not bad. At what angle lies the panel? should be 30. So not bad figures althou monocrystaline generate a bit more the panel operates fine. The lab only generates absolute max values.
yisrael48 7 months ago