DIY Solar A-Z beginner

[Platinummatt]

Been watching Will and educating about solar power for a month now. I have a lot of experience with Car/ marine wiring amplifiers stereos but I would like to start purchasing the best equipment that I can start my solar project. Goal is to buy and build a small array but purchase good equipment that I can add to and potentially run a majority of my house. Before I go nuts I would love advice on where to start. Have garbage and easy accessible roof. Buy batteries first? I do have a 4,000 inverter but that’s a cheap one from Harbor Frieght. Since I want to make sure I will get into it and have time to enjoy building any advice where to start would be great!

 

[RickP]

This was also my idea when I started the journey. The water looked inviting, but diving into the nice swimming area instead of the shark pool takes a lot of searching... the water all looks the same from the top!

A good place to start is knowing how much energy you need. Folks here usually call that an energy audit, and searching that will get you a lot of reading on determining what a “majority of my house” actually involves. I was shocked to learn how large of a system it would take to replace most of my grid supply, but your scenario may be more modest. Knowledge is power, no pun intended.

I applaud your looking for quality components. It says a lot about your intention, whether you go with off the shelf gear, DIY/home made parts, or a combination. You’ll begin to get a grasp on forum favorites with a little reading. I am a firm believer in the “buy once, cry once” concept. Buy quality and it only hurts once.

And welcome to the forum!

 

[Ampster]

I got into it by installing a grid tie inverter. In the meantime I had accumulated some experience with LFP batteries converting a VW to electric. The next step was use some of those batteries on an Outback Radian for load shifting.
The best place to start would be a grid tie inverter. Does your local electrical provider offer net metering?

Batteries are the most expensive part of the process. I had extras from the EV conversion so that was easy. I found it helpful to have experience with batteries. I had also built an ebike and used Headways before the EV conversion. If you make a mistake with a Headway battery it only cost $20.

 

[Forester]

Before I go nuts I would love advice on where to start.

If you mean sizing the whole thing, this helped me to understand how it's done and why. It's from a thread on this forum.

The process is:

1. determine the number of what-hours the equipment consumes in a day (say 800 wh/d).
2. Divide that number by .8 for losses (800 / .8 = 1000 wh/d)
3. Divide that value by .5 to get the base battery size if lead acid or .9 if LiFePO4 batteries (100 / .5 = 2000 wh/d). Divide by system voltage to get battery amp-hours (e.g., a 12V system would be 2000 / 12 = 166 Ah battery).
4. Multiply the watts in step 3 by the number of days of backup (e.g., 3 days is 3x2000=6000 wh, or 500 Ah).
5. Get the value from an insolation map for your location that represents hours-of-sun-at-100%-output (say 4).
6. Divide step 3 by the value from step 5 and again by .8 for losses (2000 / 4 / .8 = 625 watts) to get the minimum number of watts the panels must supply to meet your needs (minimum as clouds/shade will reduce output). If you expect 50% clouds, double the panel wattage. Keep in mind that in winter the cold weather will negatively impact the battery and solar output, see the battery FAQ for more information. If you get a larger inverter than you'll think you need (or use microinverters) you'll be able to add more panels later if needed.