Minnesota Sizzling Solar Panels on a Hot Day

[russmanjones]

I have the digital drive by meters mentioned below. I was getting interested in the solar hobby from the videos. I cant afford to break the law. I would lose my job most likely. How much have you spent on your system? Have you got the return on your cost yet? I am in Engineering field and these kinds of things always naturally interest me. It appears a professional system takes way too long to pay for itself. Was wondering if the DIY PVs and GTIs was worth the time and cost?

[Fearlessthinker]

@russmanjones It can't be justified from a return on investment standpoint as far as lower electric bills goes. It's a hobby. This experience however has brought me significant consulting business.

[russmanjones]

Its illegal to use a DIY PV with GTI ? How much power have you created so far? How much do you have in your system?

[Fearlessthinker]

@russmanjones I don't know about the illegal part. I've read articled both ways. On a monthly basis I produce 50kWh which is about 1/3rd of our usage. We have 670w worth of panels and they produce about 500w to the grid when the sun is working well, or about 3kWh/day.

[TomT342]

Some people have time of day meters. Let the meter go backwards during peak or at least offset consumption. Then use power during off peak.

[Xringer]

LOL! putting 190w on the grid means that you are going to have to pay for those 190w with most modern LCD meters.. If you had that old spinning disc meter, you would be all set.. :)

One of the features of my RF-readable electric meter is, it will report any back-wards flow of power, (as in illegal use of a GTI) to the meter reading software/power co.. (They do drive-by readings).

[shartne]

@Xringer put up 10,000 watts of solar panels, get a truck load of deep cycle batteries and disconnect from the electric company.

[Xringer]

@shartne Sounds like a good plan. But, I'll need more land to position the arrays for best harvest.

An old farm might be a good installation site.

I figure the total cost will be just under a million USDs. Please arrange to transfer the funds to me this month,

and I'll have the system installed before the winter.

Cheers,

Rich

[shartne]

@Xringer you could do it with 3,000 watts and you could buy one panel every month anyway you can do it if want to figure out your own plan.Proverbs 13:11 says Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.

[Xringer]

@shartne Dang, I can still install PV hardware, but I'm an old retired guy and doing more labour isn't on my bucket list.

If you can't sent me the million USDs, then a few thousand watts of PV with matching Enphase GTIs will do the trick.

I don't really have a good spot to install these.. My "hobby" arrays in the backyard only get good sun for a few hours a day.. With PV, Location is everything! So, 3kw will help some. Maybe take 25% off my bill..?.

[shartne]

@Xringer that is a lot better than I am doing I have not lowered my electric bill one dollar and I have plenty of room guess I need more panels.

[Fearlessthinker]

@Xringer No, my meter just stops rather than go backwards. I've checked.

[Xringer]

@Fearlessthinker That's cool.. Mine is a Itron C1STR3 model. It's easy to read, but people using these with DIY GTI hookups, will run up their bills, unless they match their PV output with their consumption, in real-time..