Hello, new guy with questions

[Ntrain2k]

Hello everyone!

New guy here but dabbled in small solar a while back.

I recently installed a smallish system. 8 100 watt panels with one of the little plug in grid tie boxes.

I would like to do a hybrid setup, giving priority to battery(s) and then switching over to the grid tie box when charged.

Any recommendations? I'm looking for the "cheapest" way to do this.

Thanks in advance!

 

[MichaelK]

I'd recommend to stop buying 100W panels. Grid-tie panels are far cheaper per watt than 12V panels and you get far more bang for your buck then 12V.

I don't know if only 800W will be economically viable, assuming you have connection fees, and other charges. Assuming you get 5sunhours per day, 0.8kW X 5SH = 4kWh per day. At 5 cents per kWh, that's 20 cents.

 

[Ntrain2k]

I got the panels at a smoking deal and honestly I'm just doing the grid tie portion with it because I can.

My electricity is 0.11 kWh currently.

As I said in my post though, I am looking at doing a hybrid off grid/on grid setup. Any advice?