Trying to get started but completely clueless

[Busy-B-Ridge]

Disclaimer - I'm every bit of 100% clueless when it comes to PV solar anything as of the moment of this post. Maybe that will change in time, but in the meantime, your patience in dealing with my idiocy is greatly appreciated.

Having given that disclaimer, I'm looking to get my feet wet on putting in some PV solar to reduce our use of power from the grid. I'm not expecting to jump in to the point of eliminating our use of grid supplied power right away, though at some point down the road we may be in a better position to look at doing that. I did get a quote from one of those companies that installs whole-home solar PV grid-tie with battery backup systems but they want over $100k to install theirs which is kind of ridiculously non-economical where we live (TN, USA which basically offers no incentives for going solar). So instead we're considering something like more of a DIY system that would just replace some of power we currently use and wouldn't have any batteries or bells and whistles. It's kind of daunting for someone with zero experience though and I'm getting to a point where I'm really just wondering if there's just a plug-n-play all-in-one kit out there that's reasonably priced and designed for dummies. Or, do I really need to learn what I'm doing first?

I was also looking at these 1000W grid tie inverters on Amazon. Are they really as simple as just wiring ten 100w panels to the inverter and plugging the inverter into a wall-socket or is there a lot more to it than that?

 

[GLC]

Get on Youtube and look at all the Will Prowse videos. You will learn a lot quick. Other than that, welcome to the addiction. I started out with one small system and now I am producing over 80 percent of my daily 110 needs. You can do a little at a time but you want to be wise to buy things that you will grow into instead of replacing all your buys in the future. Your most expensive buys will be your batteries. First sit down and see what you want to reasonably accomplish. Next figure out your starting budget. Thy may not equal out but it will get you started.

 

[Busy-B-Ridge]

Get on Youtube and look at all the Will Prowse videos.

Thanks for the tip. YouTube has become a bit of an obsession for us since last year when we cut off our cable-tv and just got internet-only and used streaming for everything on our TV's (best thing we ever did by the way). I'll definitely watch all his videos.

Your most expensive buys will be your batteries.

Exactly why I want to get started with a system that doesn't use them, that and it seems like if you use batteries then it makes it so that the whole setup has to be more complicated. That's probably just my cluelessness causing it to feel overwhelming.

 

[BMcL]

Disclaimer - I'm every bit of 100% clueless when it comes to PV solar anything as of the moment of this post. Maybe that will change in time, but in the meantime, your patience in dealing with my idiocy is greatly appreciated.

Having given that disclaimer, I'm looking to get my feet wet on putting in some PV solar to reduce our use of power from the grid. I'm not expecting to jump in to the point of eliminating our use of grid supplied power right away, though at some point down the road we may be in a better position to look at doing that. I did get a quote from one of those companies that installs whole-home solar PV grid-tie with battery backup systems but they want over $100k to install theirs which is kind of ridiculously non-economical where we live (TN, USA which basically offers no incentives for going solar). So instead we're considering something like more of a DIY system that would just replace some of power we currently use and wouldn't have any batteries or bells and whistles. It's kind of daunting for someone with zero experience though and I'm getting to a point where I'm really just wondering if there's just a plug-n-play all-in-one kit out there that's reasonably priced and designed for dummies. Or, do I really need to learn what I'm doing first?

I was also looking at these 1000W grid tie inverters on Amazon. Are they really as simple as just wiring ten 100w panels to the inverter and plugging the inverter into a wall-socket or is there a lot more to it than that?

Hey man, another tennessean here !
Be patient if you want to build your own system, and I think that's the only way to go.
I got a $40,000 bid to build a small grid-tie system of about 5kw.
I'm building a 10kw system off-grid that's expandable to 15-18kw for $20,000.
The amount of batteries you buy will determine the total cost; right now I have spent $7500 on LifeP04 batteries (3 sets of 16S-280AH).
You need batteries to run stuff after the sun goes down
One of the best Will Prowse videos is his system build for charging his Tesla

 

[GLC]

Thanks for the tip. YouTube has become a bit of an obsession for us since last year when we cut off our cable-tv and just got internet-only and used streaming for everything on our TV's (best thing we ever did by the way). I'll definitely watch all his videos.



Exactly why I want to get started with a system that doesn't use them, that and it seems like if you use batteries then it makes it so that the whole setup has to be more complicated. That's probably just my cluelessness causing it to feel overwhelming.

Without batteries you really cannot do anything. panels+controller+batteries+inverter = 110/220 ac power.

 

[Bluedog225]

The most expensive stuff will be the stuff you buy before you have a plan.

May be good to read posts for a couple of months. You will pick up a lot of info.

 

[wiseacre]

Forget "Grid Tied", that's beyond a starter system. To do it "off grid" would take some doing, I haven't paid attention to that approach but believe there are some discussions but the component costs I believe are beyond what you'd want to pay. Real Grid Tied, where your system is directly connected and feeds the power company's lines isn't going to fly with the power company with a "starter system".

Grid Assist is a much better option. The system is connected to the grid only to draw power from when your system doesn't provide enough.
There's no way around having a battery with a typical off grid system.

There are AIO unit (all in one) - Inverter, charge controller and ATS (automatic transfer switch) or use separate components (my approach)
You get to use as much power as your PV array can produce and when the system can't keep up with usage it will switch automatically to use power from the grid. The switching is based on the battery voltage in my case- settings include, a low voltage - switch to grid and a higher voltage setting to switch back to the solar/battery.

While it's great to have a huge capacity battery bank it's not absolutely necessary to get started. A small battery with a large PV array can provide a lot of usable power when the sun do shine. That was my case for a while. A piddly 100Ah Gel (usable 40/50Ah) with 1560w of PV. What the battery does is "buffer" the load while the PV supplies the power. I could run a 6000w air conditioner all day as long as the sun was out. Needless to say, without a good sunny day the battery wouldn't last long and the ATS would switch to grid.

As others have said, keep reading.
plan ahead, you'll need a fairly accurate estimate of your power needs.

My system is basically a grid down backup. I use some power but now that I have a decent battery bank I can reserve enough power to last days with just keeping the basics (fridge, freezer, internet and lights) Right now I can go days without switching back to solar, the dark days of winter really hurts production.

 

[Busy-B-Ridge]

The most expensive stuff will be the stuff you buy before you have a plan.

Too true, and boy have I ever paid tuition to learn through failures before. Hoping to avoid that with this.

May be good to read posts for a couple of months. You will pick up a lot of info.

That sounds like a good plan, especially since the next few months will be the few months of the year that have the least sunlight here.

 

[A.Justice]

Tennessee here too! I wouldn't mind helping out. I'm near Centerville. Let me know if you are interested!

 

[Busy-B-Ridge]

Hey man, another tennessean here !

I love the state, but I do wish they'd let us do net metering, and cover more than a 10kw system in the homeowners policies.

Be patient if you want to build your own system, and I think that's the only way to go.
I got a $40,000 bid to build a small grid-tie system of about 5kw.
I'm building a 10kw system off-grid that's expandable to 15-18kw for $20,000.
The amount of batteries you buy will determine the total cost; right now I have spent $7500 on LifeP04 batteries (3 sets of 16S-280AH).
You need batteries to run stuff after the sun goes down

My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong, which I totally could be) is that here in Knox County, once a home is connected to the grid, it can't ever be disconnected legally, which is part of why I'm looking at having to do a grid tie system instead of an off-grid system.

 

[Busy-B-Ridge]

Hey man, another tennessean here !

I love the state, but I do wish they'd let us do net metering, and cover more than a 10kw system in the homeowners policies.

Be patient if you want to build your own system, and I think that's the only way to go.
I got a $40,000 bid to build a small grid-tie system of about 5kw.
I'm building a 10kw system off-grid that's expandable to 15-18kw for $20,000.
The amount of batteries you buy will determine the total cost; right now I have spent $7500 on LifeP04 batteries (3 sets of 16S-280AH).
You need batteries to run stuff after the sun goes down

My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong, which I totally could be) is that here in Knox County, once a home is connected to the grid, it can't ever be disconnected legally, which is part of why I'm looking at having to do a grid tie system instead of an off-grid system.

Also, would you mind providing a parts list for the 10kw system you're building? That size would be the dream here, but I'm really thinking about just trying to start out with around 1 to 1.5kw just to offset some of our usage, but I would love to build it in a way that allowed for expansion.