Recent content by fester

Thanks for the Link. I have a different application for it though, my Brultech GEM power monitor has a serial output and I should be able to run an Ethernet cable instead of a relatively long serial cable run.

As a non-programmer, I'd be happy if Sol-Ark could give us an app that can read data from Wi-Fi or Ethernet that refreshes often. My current method is to just look a the Web Page for the Plant and refresh it when I want to see what the status is. Same for the PV app.

I set my Sol-Ark 8K to charge the battery first. Can't speak to the daily weather at all locations, but here it usually clouds up in the afternoon (if its in the forecast to do so), that way the battery will have charge available should an grid outage occur.

I word...Don't. Residential solar panels are usually designed for "one sun" operation. Fresnel lenses or mirrors to exceed that will produce way to much heat and may degrade the "EVA" Ethylene Vinyl Acetate used to bond the cells to the front glass. EVA is also the same stuff between the two...

I've seen this news on impending California changes, but as I've said in other threads, nationwide the power companies are doing all they can to discourage "grid-tie" that's why I went the Sol-Ark and set it up for "Zero-Export" which it does well.

Based on about 20 years or so of experience with Solar and the changing policy of the power companies over the years, I'd advise not try to "grid_tie" (sellback). Most power companies, although "net metering is legal now in most states, most companies are now going out of their way to discourage...

I looked them up along with the specs. Information on them and the limited reviews I've seen are sketchy at best. Reliability seems in considerable doubt, and looking the the manufacturers specs you're limited to 90vdc panel input, so if you have a larger series string of PV you would have to...

My Local power company AEP here does not have time of day pricing differences, but my goal was the same as yours...use as little as possible from the local grid. The answer is yes for what you want, but "it ain't cheap". Did a lot of researching for a newer "Hybrid" inverter that would do what I...

Just as an FYI, here's a link to Market Watch steel price index... https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/steel?countrycode=xx

Planning on using the Iron Ridge 100 rails this coming spring to mount a total of 12 Panasonic HIT Panels (about 4kw), I had planned to do so this fall, until I noticed steel prices. A 10' piece of 2" heavy wall threaded conduit is about $100.00 a piece now, doubled from last year. The panels...