Best DIY way to supplement my electricity please!

[LosFelizGirl]

I am a total newbie so please if you reply to me, talk to me like I am a child!

I live in the desert, my electricity bill was $641 this month. I have no interest in leasing a big solar system, or buying a system from the loan sharks!
However, I am interested in taking advantage of the sun and the extra space I have to put some solar panels, if I can get the energy back into my home without having pull permits. Is this possible? Anything is possible, right?

I did a little Googling and You-tubing, but it kind of confused me more! Any ideas for me? Thanks!

 

[Supervstech]

$640 power bills means AC...
And ac needs big solar.
Diy is possible, but pricy...

 

[Cyanlite]

Buy lots of panels. Buy lots of inverters. Set it up for 240v split phase.

Want some videos to watch? Guy named "DIY Solar with Pappa" has a ton of stuff like that to run his A/C units in the Southwest. And of course I assume Will Prowse videos already brought you here. His beginner stuff is very good.

 

[Samsonite801]

I am a total newbie so please if you reply to me, talk to me like I am a child!

Have you heard of an energy audit yet? How much power do you use in a day, how much of that are you looking to replace?

What kind of money do you have you can spend on a project of this caliber? Can we roll it out in stages or all at once?

If you built a scaleable system (parallel stackable inverter setup), you could roll it out in phases as money comes in, that could ease the pain... Eventually getting to the goal.

Or you could roll it all out at once if money was no object... But for sure you don't want to box yourself into a corner, so you should look at building a scalable system at any rate...

 

[RV10flyer]

I am a total newbie so please if you reply to me, talk to me like I am a child!

I live in the desert, my electricity bill was $641 this month. I have no interest in leasing a big solar system, or buying a system from the loan sharks!
However, I am interested in taking advantage of the sun and the extra space I have to put some solar panels, if I can get the energy back into my home without having pull permits. Is this possible? Anything is possible, right?

I did a little Googling and You-tubing, but it kind of confused me more! Any ideas for me? Thanks!

Make your home, HVAC and water heater efficiency top priority first. Downsize where you can. My power bill was $200-$300 a month. I consumed 1600 to 2600 kWh every single month. You can see below on my signature what I have installed. It is still insufficient during those long cold dark days of December January February, hence the generator. I'm also still working on more efficient water/space heating for the winter. Total DIY cost can reach $80K easily. I just skipped the new trucks?.

 

[Risky Rob]

Have you ever tried an evaporative cooler? I like them better than a/c, and they use a tiny fraction of the power.

 

[Supervstech]

Post up your power bill so we can get a feel for how large a system you will need to cut your bill in half

 

[mmmnnn]

what state?

 

[LosFelizGirl]

HI everybody. I am just looking to lower my bill in the hot summer months. I'm in Palm Springs, CA. I don't want to generate power back into the grid because I don't want have to get permits. My total sage 2,006 kWh for July.
I saw this video and was looking to do something like this but was wondering if I should get a few more panels?? -

 

[LosFelizGirl]

what state?

Palm Springs, CA

 

[LosFelizGirl]

Post up your power bill so we can get a feel for how large a system you will need to cut your bill in half

I used a toal of 2,006 kWh in July. That's because of AC. I'm in Palm Springs, CA. I don't want to send energy back to the grid because I don't want to deal with getting permits n stuff. Just looking for a little help against the man!

 

[LosFelizGirl]

Have you ever tried an evaporative cooler? I like them better than a/c, and they use a tiny fraction of the power.

Believe it or not, it's too humid in the summer in Palm Springs, CA. Because of the monsoon flow our dew point is up around 55 degrees, and sometimes as high as 70!

 

[LosFelizGirl]

Buy lots of panels. Buy lots of inverters. Set it up for 240v split phase.

Want some videos to watch? Guy named "DIY Solar with Pappa" has a ton of stuff like that to run his A/C units in the Southwest. And of course I assume Will Prowse videos already brought you here. His beginner stuff is very good.

Cool, thanks so much. Will check the vids out for sure. I saw this video

I'm just looking to do something like this but thought maybe i needed more panels. I used 2006 kWh for the month of July.

 

[LosFelizGirl]

Post up your power bill so we can get a feel for how large a system you will need to cut your bill in half

I used 2006 kWh in July. I'm in Palm Springs, CA. Tons of sun. I don't want to send energy back to the grid. Just looking to reduce the bill a little. Do you need any more info from my bill? Thanks for your help! oh.... I saw this vid

I was thinking something like this but are there enough panels for me?

 

[LosFelizGirl]

$640 power bills means AC...
And ac needs big solar.
Diy is possible, but pricy...

I used 2006 kWh in the month of July. I'm just looking lower my bill a little. I saw this vid:

I was wondering if I might need more panels? I don't want send back to the grid, I don't want to have get permits.

 

[Hedges]

I used 2006 kWh for the month of July.

2006 kWh per month / 30 days per month / 6 hours effective sun per day = 11 kW system, 11000W

GT PV hardware should cost about $1/watt, so $11,000 not $300

11000W / 200W per m^2 = 55 m^2 aimed at Noon or afternoon sun.

A permitted grid-tie system with net metering is preferred.

A zero-export system could be done and you might get away with it without utility shutting off your power. But it will curtail production exceeding load during middle of day, and not produce enough when sun is at an angle. Just a guess, add 50% to system size and cost? Or maybe, some panels aimed at 10:00 AM sun and some at 3:00 PM will flatten it enough.

 

[Wet1]

If i were looking for a cheap under the radar grid tie system, I'd probably consider one or more of the SUN zero export 240V 2000W grid tie inverters with the built in limiter. You can find them all over ebay. From what I understand, if they are kept to about 75% (or less) of their max output, I hear they are pretty reliable too. They arent very expensive and you can add as many as you want. Obviously you'd need about 1500W-1800W of propperly wired/matched panels per inverter.
Beyond that, you're looking at a more significant system/investment. If the budget allows, SolArk makes some nice grid tie inverters that have zero export. As Hedges stated, you'd ideally want a 10kW or larger system to really put a major dent in your monthly bill... But now youre talking about a more significant investment and it might be more obvious to "the man".

 

[Samsonite801]

I used a toal of 2,006 kWh in July. That's because of AC. I'm in Palm Springs, CA. I don't want to send energy back to the grid because I don't want to deal with getting permits n stuff. Just looking for a little help against the man!

You may want to also check into your home's insulation, windows quality, awnings angles, ways of making the house more efficient at Summer Sun angles, and check into possibly of converting to mini-split AC systems. Cutting down on the actual energy you need to cool and maintain temperature is just as valuable as adding solar and batteries.

Collecting energy from the Sun into panels and converting to air conditioning, when you can prevent the Sun from heating the house as much in the first place might prove to have significant value as well... If you check into the 'Passive home' strategies, you can get some ideas there.

 

[Hedges]

I have about that large a system. Overkill, but inefficient appliances and poor insulation.

you could probably air condition a small, well insulated room much cheaper than the entire house.

$600 summer bill is probably the norm these days, in hot locations.

Have anything like a swimming pool to dump heat into, rather than the air? (water source heat pump/air conditioner.)

If you go with zero export, ideally the A/C would be variable speed compressor, make cool when the sun shines.

 

[Mattb4]

I am a total newbie so please if you reply to me, talk to me like I am a child!

I live in the desert, my electricity bill was $641 this month. I have no interest in leasing a big solar system, or buying a system from the loan sharks!
However, I am interested in taking advantage of the sun and the extra space I have to put some solar panels, if I can get the energy back into my home without having pull permits. Is this possible? Anything is possible, right?

I did a little Googling and You-tubing, but it kind of confused me more! Any ideas for me? Thanks!

Your first and most effective way to reduce your electric bill is find every device that consumes electricity in you home and decide if you really need it plugged in. There are a lot of low draw items that over the space of the day can add up to a lot of electricity usage. Bit like having a leaking faucet adds up to a lot of gallons of water wasted. The neat thing about reducing your electric demand is it produces immediate savings.

Trying to go alternative energy is enhanced if you only need a little to get by.

 

[LosFelizGirl]

2006 kWh per month / 30 days per month / 6 hours effective sun per day = 11 kW system, 11000W

GT PV hardware should cost about $1/watt, so $11,000 not $300

11000W / 200W per m^2 = 55 m^2 aimed at Noon or afternoon sun.

A permitted grid-tie system with net metering is preferred.

A zero-export system could be done and you might get away with it without utility shutting off your power. But it will curtail production exceeding load during middle of day, and not produce enough when sun is at an angle. Just a guess, add 50% to system size and cost? Or maybe, some panels aimed at 10:00 AM sun and some at 3:00 PM will flatten it enough.

HI Heges, you are not talking to me like a child . I have absolutely NO idea what "11000W / 200W per m^2 = 55 m^2" means, and what your last paragraph means either. Literal newbie.

 

[Samsonite801]

HI Hedges, you are not talking to me like a child . I have absolutely NO idea what "11000W / 200W per m^2 = 55 m^2" means, and what your last paragraph means either. Literal newbie.

Did you already say how large is your house in square feet (how much area to manage temperature)? And what does your roof look like? As in areas where solar panels can face East, South, or West, etc...

Are you more a DIY type, or are you looking more towards having an installer put in a system for you?

 

[Quattrohead]

Take a picture of the information plate of your outside unit, that will tell us how large it is.
Yes with 20-30 panels and an inverter you will be able to run your AC totally separate from your electric company.
It can be wired so that it can fall back to the utility at night and when there is not enough sun.
You can add a battery bank for more independence.

 

[Ampster]

Trying to go alternative energy is enhanced if you only need a little to get by.

As mentioned by @Samsonite801 I agree that additional insulation can also have big paybacks. The OP already mentioned expensive bills for cooling,

 

[Hedges]

HI Heges, you are not talking to me like a child . I have absolutely NO idea what "11000W / 200W per m^2 = 55 m^2" means, and what your last paragraph means either. Literal newbie.

Hi Los(t) Girl,

You said you need 2006 kWh/month, from which I estimated 11000W (11kW) PV system.

One full sun is 1000W per square meter. Decent panels are 20% efficient, 200W per square meter.

I calculated that producing 11000W from panels producing 200W per square meter would require 55 square meters.
If your roof has a surface that big facing South or South West, could be a good place for the panels.

Actually, 200W/m^2 is under standard test conditions (25 degrees C panel) which doesn't happen often in real sun. Might get 75% to 85% of that, so array would have to be up to 33% larger.

Net metering is ideal because you can produce excess power some hours of the day, export it to grid, take it back later.
But to do this without dealing with the utility, you need "zero export". Either use the power when it is made or let it go to waste, not be harvested.