diy solar

diy solar

Need help designing my system

MichaelK said:
I can't believe there is anywhere in the US, no matter how remote, that would allow a grid-tie without inspections. Do you understand what a "grid-tie" means?
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Funny you should say this, when I was looking to get grid power, I spoke with the engineer from my power company. He basically told me once the meter poll drops, they could care less what I do with it. I didn't ask about feeding power back.

Then the next day I drove down a road and saw an older power meter pole with what looked like good old romex going from the bottom of the meter strait into the ground. No conduit or anything. Wasn't even direct burial.

There are allot of places still in America where people really don't care what you do. Most people don't want to live in these places cause most people are poor and there is not much going on.

I'm an hour from anything where I live and I am not that remote. I have neighbors but there is not much going on our here.
 
MichaelK said:
Well, let's see.....

1) I'm building my system with 100w ecoworthy panels i'll buy one every 3 weeks The power company is going to laugh at you for attempting to connect a grid-tie starting with a single 100W panel.

2) I'm having the hardest time try to pick out an inverter. I will have budgeted 300 to 500 dollars for this The cheapest UL listed grid-tie inverter I see on the market is about 1400$, far higher then the 300-500$ you think you are going to spend.

3)I'm wanting to scale over time have about 3000w in total At 100W every three weeks, that would take about 90 weeks total. I've installed that many watts in one day.
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...He said installed that many watts in one day.. I literally shot coca-cola out of my noise ??
 
sunsurfer said:
Funny you should say this, when I was looking to get grid power, I spoke with the engineer from my power company. He basically told me once the meter poll drops, they could care less what I do with it. I didn't ask about feeding power back.

Then the next day I drove down a road and saw an older power meter pole with what looked like good old romex going from the bottom of the meter strait into the ground. No conduit or anything. Wasn't even direct burial.

There are allot of places still in America where people really don't care what you do. Most people don't want to live in these places cause most people are poor and there is not much going on.

I'm an hour from anything where I live and I am not that remote. I have neighbors but there is not much going on our here.
Click to expand...
sunsurfer said:
Funny you should say this, when I was looking to get grid power, I spoke with the engineer from my power company. He basically told me once the meter poll drops, they could care less what I do with it. I didn't ask about feeding power back.

Then the next day I drove down a road and saw an older power meter pole with what looked like good old romex going from the bottom of the meter strait into the ground. No conduit or anything. Wasn't even direct burial.

There are allot of places still in America where people really don't care what you do. Most people don't want to live in these places cause most people are poor and there is not much going on.

I'm an hour from anything where I live and I am not that remote. I have neighbors but there is not much going on our here.
Click to expand...
From what I've came up the meter would only charge me for pushing into the grid. I'm only trying to offset my electric bill I've seen inverters with power limiters to prevent pushing onto the grid. I'm just getting my feet wet on solar and would like to thank you for being cordial.
I do everything myself can't afford to have someone else do it. That's a luxury for the wealthy. I've done a lot of electrical work on my house. I'm an automotive technician who specializes in electronic systems. I try to research code and always make sure I'm doing this safe.
 
If there is anyone who could give me some advice on these Inexpensive inverters without using it as a way to boost there ego I'd would thank you. I'm not a smart a$$ I'm just not a punk.
 
Please Just Recognize That Backfeeding The Grid Incorrectly Can Harm Or Kill Linespeople And The Conversation Might Be Able To Productively Go Forward

not all regulations or rules are made by fools. many are.

knowingly backfeeding grid and harming someone working on your grid is something lots of Friendly Helpful people here will draw the line at.

good luck with this project and may you enjoy plenty of safe affordable solar power.
 
curiouscarbon said:
Please Just Recognize That Backfeeding The Grid Incorrectly Can Harm Or Kill Linespeople And The Conversation Might Be Able To Productively Go Forward

not all regulations or rules are made by fools. many are.

knowingly backfeeding grid and harming someone working on your grid is something lots of Friendly Helpful people here will draw the line at.

good luck with this project and may you enjoy plenty of safe affordable solar power.
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To my understanding most grid tie inverters have anti islanding capabilities so if grid power is not detected the inverter shuts down.
 
MichaelK said:
I think you will be far better off building yourself a small 12V starter system, and powering some small items off-grid. Even that will have a learning curve.
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this.

without approval for grid tie, you wont even get paid for the power made. that is throwing money out the window.

simply having a battery and inverter and panels would provide the utility and also not endanger the people working on the grid.
 
derriakadean said:
To my understanding most grid tie inverters have anti islanding capabilities so if grid power is not detected the inverter shuts down.
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Indeed.

In theory, anti-islanding should prevent backfeed.

I have no experience first hand with grid tie, but have gathered from reading other people's experiences that it can be more complicated than simply trusting anti islanding being claimed as a feature on the box.
 
derriakadean said:
From what I've came up the meter would only charge me for pushing into the grid. I'm only trying to offset my electric bill I've seen inverters with power limiters to prevent pushing onto the grid. I'm just getting my feet wet on solar and would like to thank you for being cordial.
I do everything myself can't afford to have someone else do it. That's a luxury for the wealthy. I've done a lot of electrical work on my house. I'm an automotive technician who specializes in electronic systems. I try to research code and always make sure I'm doing this safe.
Click to expand...
Came up with.. sorry need to proof read
 
I don’t think much discussion on this site would give advice for connecting a grid tie without permits.

How are you expecting to offset your bill without meter reversal?

I suppose if you matched your daily draw during solar hours the inverter could feed only what you use… it would be illegal, but might work… save a few cents a day.

Where is Kentucky if not in the U.S.?
 
I don't understand how some are saying grid tied inverters cost over $1400 as I paid £75 for a 1kw grid-tied inverter, and I know many UK based solar installers, install inverters that have to be EC (UL) marked and up to code, and only cost around £300, like the "Power-One Aurora PVI 3.0" or the "SOLIS 1P3K-4G, of buy something used like an "Solar Edge SE3500" if you are comfortable working with high voltage DC, as they can be had for under £200.
Then you have grid tied micro inverters which are cheap and up to code which start at £40 for a 300w and up to £100 for a 700w, YouTubes EEVbloge David Jones has many videos on grid tied micro inverters, also jehugeria has made many videos testing cheap $50 to $100 grid tied inverters.

But If I understand what the OP is trying to achieve, why not instead use an UPS based inverter like what Renogy sell, there PSW 3kw UPS inverter is £300 over here, and you can use the power you generate and use the grid when you need more or at night etc, you do have a battery bank?
Next, I would only buy full sized panels as they work out around 1/3 of the price, I brought some new 400w half cut cells panels for £135 each, and If you can travel you can find full sized used panels super cheap, around where I live 330w used panels are sold on ebay for £50 each which is by far the cheapest way to build a system.

 
derriakadean said:
I'm try to build a grid tie only system. I'm building my system with 100w ecoworthy panels ill buy one every 3 weeks. I'm having the hardest time try to pick out an inverter. I will have budgeted 300 to 500 dollars for this. I see some hybrid inverters at this price point. Not sure if these can be used without batteries and only use the grid tie function. I'm wanting to scale over time have about 3000w in total and would be happy stacking inverters. I don't want to buy a piece of junk. But I won't a good value. Does anyone have any suggestions.
Click to expand...

Your plan is folly. Time/money best spent in education. You're looking for a hybrid inverter with a zero export option. It is almost certain that your local codes and power company do not permit what you plan, but it does happen. It has even been demonstrated on this forum.

Rather than piecemeal it with shoddy components and poor choices, learn the concepts, target the equipment and SAVE until you can afford it. Also know that your payback period is going to measure in YEARS before you recover what you spend.

The way to design a proper system is to first define what you need it to do, spec out a system that meets those needs and then figure out how to piecemeal it and budget for it.
 
Hardergamer1 said:
I don't understand how some are saying grid tied inverters cost over $1400 as I paid £75 for a 1kw grid-tied inverter, and I know many UK based solar installers, install inverters that have to be EC (UL) marked and up to code, and only cost around £300, like the "Power-One Aurora PVI 3.0" or the "SOLIS 1P3K-4G, of buy something used like an "Solar Edge SE3500" if you are comfortable working with high voltage DC, as they can be had for under £200.
Then you have grid tied micro inverters which are cheap and up to code which start at £40 for a 300w and up to £100 for a 700w, YouTubes EEVbloge David Jones has many videos on grid tied micro inverters, also jehugeria has made many videos testing cheap $50 to $100 grid tied inverters.

But If I understand what the OP is trying to achieve, why not instead use an UPS based inverter like what Renogy sell, there PSW 3kw UPS inverter is £300 over here, and you can use the power you generate and use the grid when you need more or at night etc, you do have a battery bank?
Next, I would only buy full sized panels as they work out around 1/3 of the price, I brought some new 400w half cut cells panels for £135 each, and If you can travel you can find full sized used panels super cheap, around where I live 330w used panels are sold on ebay for £50 each which is by far the cheapest way to build a system.

Click to expand...
Thank you sir for actually addressing my question without reminding me how ignorant I am of the subject.
I find the full size panels hard to source everything thing seen they either have to be bought in bulk or be bought through a dealer who only want to sell you an entire system. Maybe I'm missing something though I'm just starting this journey. I should be able to use these panels series parallel to achieve similar results I'm not mistaken. I am comfortable with how about these DC. Regularly do this in my profession working on hybrid and EV vehicles
 
sunshine_eggo said:
Your plan is folly. Time/money best spent in education. You're looking for a hybrid inverter with a zero export option. It is almost certain that your local codes and power company do not permit what you plan, but it does happen. It has even been demonstrated on this forum.

Rather than piecemeal it with shoddy components and poor choices, learn the concepts, target the equipment and SAVE until you can afford it. Also know that your payback period is going to measure in YEARS before you recover what you spend.

The way to design a proper system is to first define what you need it to do, spec out a system that meets those needs and then figure out how to piecemeal it and budget for it.
Click to expand...
Yeah... that's kinda what I'm doing here right..
 
for what it is worth, a few years back i sourced two 300 watt grape solar panels from home depot. scheduled freight delivery with ups i think. it was not particularly inexpensive but they work like a charm. bottom line home depot delivered two 300w panels no issues.

series connecting even 100w panels can build up to significant power of course.

given a funding constraint, building up a series string of 100W panels makes sense to me as long as the inverter/charger voltage range is satisfied.
 
mildly off topic and in the spirit of ice breaking, i don't hear the phrase here, but it would make me chuckle to hear someone say "i'm not in the US, i'm in california" ?

wishing good luck to this project.
 
Supervstech said:
I don’t think much discussion on this site would give advice for connecting a grid tie without permits.

How are you expecting to offset your bill without meter reversal?

I suppose if you matched your daily draw during solar hours the inverter could feed only what you use… it would be illegal, but might work… save a few cents a day.

Where is Kentucky if not in the U.S.?
Click to expand...
Kentucky is in the u.s. I was being sarcastic.
 
curiouscarbon said:
for what it is worth, a few years back i sourced two 300 watt grape solar panels from home depot. scheduled freight delivery with ups i think. it was not particularly inexpensive but they work like a charm. bottom line home depot delivered two 300w panels no issues.

series connecting even 100w panels can build up to significant power of course.

given a funding constraint, building up a series string of 100W panels makes sense to me as long as the inverter/charger voltage range is satisfied.
Click to expand...
I had no idea you could source panels from home Depot
 

Solar Panels - Renewable Energy - The Home Depot

Get free shipping on qualified Solar Panels products or Buy Online Pick Up in Store today in the Electrical Department.
www.homedepot.com

for easy access.

in past, sourced a single 300W renogy panel for 310usd shipped, and also separate order for two 300w grape solar panels, about 650 shipped (can't find record)

all of them arrived undamaged in my personal case.

i would link either of the listings but both are no longer on the site. kind regards
 
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