New guy. Hello.

[owen69420]

I am intending to pull the trigger on a system this year, and would like to run some ideas by the folks that are actually doing this not. I would like to learn from your mistakes.

My intentions, ATM, is to put 34-36 on my south facing roof. I have a designed in space for inverters and chargers. I have much more space on my east facing roof of my accessory building.

I live in Savannah Ga, and have access to the port.

I am leaning toward China.

With those data points... please educate me.

 

[BentleyJ]

Mistakes you say!! I'm sure no one on this forum has ever made any mistakes, we were all born knowing how to do this. LOL

As DIY'er there is nothing wrong with purchasing direct from China BUT you must use caution. Do research and ask a lot of questions. Bottom line, the money you save comes at the expense of having to take responsibility for repairs on your system. Service and technical documentation after the initial sale is generally poor.

Welcome to the forum

 

[owen69420]

well, that was both a warm welcome and very ... speedy.

I live in coastal Georgia. My house is aligned to the compass rose.

I really want solar to work, as I am a prepper... but, damn that math.

This recent geopolitical stuff has made me decide to lower my threshold and become aggressive on solar. I am not doing this to be green, nor to brag. I am doing this to buffer.

My desire is to generate 7700kw. I am learning. Learning a lot. I don't know what I don't. However; I am not an idiot. I built a building with dedicated space for a battery rack system and I upgraded my electrical interface to 400w. when I say I.... I did this.

As for me... I am a fireman. Dad of 5. 4 mean sons. We break, kill, cook, build things.

 

[BentleyJ]

Ya, no one wants to live in a polluted environment but CO2 is plant food not a pollutant. "Green" is code for lets make everything scarce and jack up the prices. I'm doing solar for the same reasons, don't want to be at the mercy of rising prices and rolling blackouts.
There are quite few engineers on the forum, so no worries about the math we can get you through it.

 

[Bvillebob]

When you say "China" just remember that ordering from China means no recourse. Despite all the promises about buyer protection, this forum is full of stories of people looking for "deals" who were left with nothing after spending thousands of dollars. You may get nothing, you may get something, but not what you thought you'd get, you may get something broken and the answer is to ship it back for repair, etc.

There are plenty of US sources of gear. Santan Solar sells panels, new and. used, at great prices. I've bought 72 from them, extremely happy. There is solar gear made in the US, such as Midnite, there are big companies with US distributors and warranty, like Victron and many others.

If you're buying for an uncertain future, you want quality gear that's going to last and that has a decent chance of being repairable. I went through the same process over the last couple of years, my decision was to spend a little more money and get better quality with Midnite controllers and Samlex inverters. My lithium cells came from Docan, 48 X 304 ah Eve cells, all perfect, shipped from the US at a good price.

Just my suggestion, but look at the overall cost, which WILL end up being a lot more than you think right now by the time you add in all the odds and ends, and decide if you want to chase the bargain basement prices, and products.

 

[Hedges]

I hope you have access to water. That's one thing you need.
If you will power pumps or other big motors, that is what determines inverter requirements. Some motor types are much easier to start.

If you have roof faces other than South, SE and SW would be great, you can flatten the power curve during the day.
East and West are OK, especially in the summer, but won't help as much in the winter. PV is now the cheapest part of the system, so OK to put up a lot. Just need a system that will limit charge rate to what batteries are happy with.

 

[owen69420]

Thank you, Gents! I am amazed at the number of responses, as I certainly didn't expect this.

I am not a "tree Hugger", and I expect that the impact to the environment might be worse with PV than dino-squeezings. That is not why I am here. I am a capitalist.

Has anyone had any positive dealings with Chinese companies through Alibaba? I have gotten a couple quotes, but how do you compare products and quality? I am getting a Harbor freight tool vibe from everything. That is ok on some things, I suspect, but other things I don't want to buy twice. Hence my presence here.

If any of you all can help me avoid pitfalls, I will be in your debt.

I relish any guidance, especially that which I do not enjoy.

 

[timselectric]

The Harbor Freight analogy is spot on.

 

[owen69420]

why isn't actual moderation here?

 

[Hedges]

Because the forum is run by volunteers. Excessive spam gets noticed quickly, has happened and the member gets deleted.
It work by flagging with "Report". Quite fast.
I saw his first post, and didn't bother suggesting he put it under Corporate Corner. Looks like this is just the second,
When I see outrageous spam I flag.
You can "Report" it if you wish.

 

[owen69420]

Yet, here you are again, contributing nothing of value. Arguing with an invisible man of your own design. Go away.

 

[Supervstech]

why isn't actual moderation here?

It’s best not to make posts about junk posts, just hit report to alert us of the issues, and ignore them.
We’ll get it.

 

[owen69420]

Ok. thank you.