acer008
New Member
Hi all,
Long time lurker finally ready to make moves towards getting solar on my house. Have a few questions I haven't been able to answer myself by searching here and elsewhere, and will also share what I learn along the way. Any help is truly appreciated.
My roof set up:
I see tons of examples of nice looking ballast systems for commercial roofs all over the place, but have seen very few residential. The simple nature of a ballast system install also appeals to me in considering a DIY route.
Question 1: Does anyone have examples here or elsewhere of a roof ballast-mounted residential system? Or reasons not to use them? I would love to learn from others experiences but have come up empty. Specifically looking at using Unirac RM-10 EVO or the IronRidge BX Chassis, open to other suggestions too.
Question 2: Who do you recommend for a system design and plan set? I have looked at Greenlancer and Sunwatts so far. I would like to have the ability to ask questions and get some basic design guidance which I know may not happen if I just order a low-cost permitting set. I am OK to spend some money here since I am newer to the solar world and know experience doesn't come free, and would like to be able to bounce questions off of a trusted source as they come up when I am finalizing choices like racking, panel layouts, inverter type etc.
Thanks for reading this far, and really love all the amazing projects and inspiring stuff I have seen on this forum.
Long time lurker finally ready to make moves towards getting solar on my house. Have a few questions I haven't been able to answer myself by searching here and elsewhere, and will also share what I learn along the way. Any help is truly appreciated.
My roof set up:
- I have a south facing home with a separate accessory dwelling unit (carriage house) off the back of the driveway. Both have nice unshaded exposure (photo taken from south).
- I have two meters, one for each building. They are at the front of the driveway (approx. location shown in photo).
- I charge an EV off of a 240V 30amp connection from the carriage house.
- The carriage house was built about 10 years ago by a previous owner, the main house was built early 20th century as far as I can tell.
I see tons of examples of nice looking ballast systems for commercial roofs all over the place, but have seen very few residential. The simple nature of a ballast system install also appeals to me in considering a DIY route.
Question 1: Does anyone have examples here or elsewhere of a roof ballast-mounted residential system? Or reasons not to use them? I would love to learn from others experiences but have come up empty. Specifically looking at using Unirac RM-10 EVO or the IronRidge BX Chassis, open to other suggestions too.
Question 2: Who do you recommend for a system design and plan set? I have looked at Greenlancer and Sunwatts so far. I would like to have the ability to ask questions and get some basic design guidance which I know may not happen if I just order a low-cost permitting set. I am OK to spend some money here since I am newer to the solar world and know experience doesn't come free, and would like to be able to bounce questions off of a trusted source as they come up when I am finalizing choices like racking, panel layouts, inverter type etc.
Thanks for reading this far, and really love all the amazing projects and inspiring stuff I have seen on this forum.