How is /g/'s experience with solar power?

Come on, anybody?

>>59275492
No one talks about anything interesting here

Might want to ask on /diy/.

>>59275243
>/g/
>sunlight

>>59275243
Been living on a tropical island and went with solar. Just so happens I am on the rain shadow side of the island so I get a ton of sunlight most of the year. The plus is I get credit from the power company. I run AC at night and arent running batteries. Too expensive. Overall its great.

Now what to watch out for. Usually most people around here that install solar panels do so based on a certain power usage in mind based on average usage. If you have the land for it go somewhat over the amount you use. Compensates if you want to get appliances that may use more power in the future and credits due to contributing to the grid may be higher.

>>59275866
Just because you don't go into the sunlight, doesn't mean you can't benefit from sunlight.

>>59275797
That's no reason to try.

>>59276106
So, go a little over the wattage I need?

Quick question: if I have a, say, 5000 W system, will that blow out my 12V circuits? Does the wattage of the panels matter?

>>59275827
I just might.

I should have used a pic of a sexy sun goddess. Might have drawn more attention. Of course, that might have backfired, with everyone talking about the sexy sun goddess instead of solar panels.

Wanted to invest on it to power up my PCs but after some research I found out it would take me DECADES to make up for the initial price in power savings and the equipment would most likely fail and need to be replaced before that would happen anyways.


That was years ago I don't know how is it with today's modern panels.

I did invested in a solar water heater though, it's great.

>>59276209
No, your panels are hooked into an inverter first

>>59277013
How much do you save with the heater?

Solar water heaters aren't typically as cost effective as solar electricity. At least this was the case 3 years ago and at that time the gap was getting even bigger.

>>59277013
Most modern panels will return their investment in around 3-5 years depending on the price of electricity in your area
Its best to have them on top of general electricity saving habits in order to quickly make back the money you spent on them
If you don't also want to invest in a battery for the night then you could just have the panels sell the excess electricity back to the company during the day

>>59277145
This is correct, an off grid system with batteries adds incredible cost.

>>59277101
Thanks. So, do I need special cable to connect my inverters to the grid? Or just normal cable?

And I'm supposed to connect the inverter(s) to my breaker, right?

(Sorry, I'm a newb. )

>>59277163
Thanks. I read that batteries need a lot of upkeep.

>>59275243
where do you live?
it's illegal to get power from 3rd party in florida. yes including solar.
not even joking.

>>59277237
Daily reminder Florida is a third world country

>>59277237
New York. Is gridtied solar (meaning still using the electrical grid) illegal in Florida?

>>59277198
Microinverters will probably have a special connector but regular (cheaper) inverters just take correctly sized copy wire you can buy anywhere. And yes you can tie into your breaker box with the right sized breaker. Definitely don't do that though until you fill out all the paperwork with your electric provider. You'll also need a shutoff so it doesn't back feed into the grid if the power goes off.

>>59277281
Is there any other option besides tying into the breaker?

>>59277307
Line side tap between your meter and breaker box but you have to pull the meter to do that.

File: PEH1tQJ.jpg (226KB, 1242x2208px) Image search: [Google]

226KB, 1242x2208px

>>59277250
Kek

>>59277102
In my case not much really, it takes until around 10am for it to get hot so people who need to shower early in the morning still use the gas heater which is almost every member of my family.

It's great if you want to shower after 10am though once it starts to get hot it gets hot fast, in the summer it even keep the water scalding hot at 3am, I don't even bother turning on the gas heater unless really needed like in the mornings.


It's a good addition but not a replacement for the gas heater.

>>59277332
Hmm. Well at least it's still worth it.

I was looking at this product: https://www.amazon.com/SUNGOLDPOWER-Inverter-Converter-10-5V-28V-Quality/dp/B00PDBXR88

It says 1000W inverter? Does that mean that the maximum you can produce is 1000W, or does that mean no matter how many panels you use, it will always produce 1000 W?

>>59277603
That means its rated for 1000W or less. So yeah it could only output 1000W

>>59277712
So if I connected 3 100W panels to it, I would only get 300W of output, correct.

>>59277790
Correct

>>59277327
...That's not real, right?

>>59277320
So you can't just plug it into an outlet or something, right?

>>59277906
About how many watts can I expect per panel?

>>59277327
Wew lad

I think from an economic point of view it's worth waiting a few more years and saving money before going solar.

I saw an article talking about a solar setup with a Tesla power wall battery shaving like %95 of an electricity bill.

The payback time was like 8 years. After 1 year the Powerwall 2 came out with twice the capacity and a payback time of like 6 years with a solar setup. So even with the low cost of solar, the payback time is falling faster. Also you have to consider the ability to buy more panels and to invest the money over the waiting period. And the further reduction in the panel prices (they went down like %50 in 3-6 months last year).

Also there are peskovite solar panels coming that are much cheaper, more efficient, easier to make, use common materials, and use less energy in their construction. As well as the Tesla giga factory and whatever other breakthroughs in energy storage happen. Graphene production is starting to reach industrial scale allowing for super-capacitors with more storage that Li-ion for example that should be cheaper, safer, etc... China ramping up production. Tesla solar roofs.

Actually from a totally hippie environmental view it might still be worth waiting, since you can buy more solar panels/battery capacity and sell back to the grid (even at shitty prices).

Another example of this is that electric cars use like %50 of the energy (or CO2 savings or whatever) in their construction, so it might be worth driving a petrol powered car around longer since it actually results in less CO2 overall.

Actually electric cars might need to be consider for the overall setup since you can use the solar to power the car (and even the cars battery to power the house). So the ROI of your solar panel system also could depend on the cost of your fuel and the electric car itself.

>>59279810
Thanks.

I have a 15w panel,Small 12v SLA battery and cheap charge controller.

It works fine for how big it is, I mostly just use it for when the power goes out and I want to keep using the internet.
I also use it for my bluetooth speaker and led strips.

Its good to learn how a solar system works, and you can always upgrade the panel/battery when you like as long as the controller can take the extra amps.

>>59279994
Does it help you save on your bill? How much did it cost, if you're willing to share?

>>59280355
15w is nothing, the panel is the size of an a4 paper.

Its more of a project and a safety net if the power goes out for an hour.

I think the costs were something like this:
Panel $30
Battery $20
Controller $15

Now days you should be able to get something similar for cheaper, I would do this for a shed setup with a 200w panel and a bigger battery, maybe even an inverter for 240v.

Something like this would probably cost $200-300 depending on where you live.

If you want to make your own battery, alot of people are getting cheap laptop batteries for 18650 cells and making their own li-io battery, if you do something similar you need the right controller for lithium.