diy solar

diy solar

Unintended consequences of Solar that we see

I picked up 6.6 kW of 275 W panels, with all the racking and clamps suitable for our roof, cabling, disconnects etc for ~US$650. 5 years old. Same spec and age as what I have already and in great condition. Owner upgraded his system to a much larger one, as it was cheaper to replace than attempt to extend. He even delivered them to me and helped me unload and stack in the shed. The were very well packed for transport, cardboard corner protection etc.
 
Good price. Barely half what I just paid.

My latest order from Santan just arrived at freight terminal.
10x 315W Qcell, came to $1060 delivered for $0.34/W
(each order seems higher than the previous, first of 3 was closer to $0.10)

Bought because they matched others I already have, uniform appearance on roof of my new place.
But I'm not sure I can fit everything. Multiple angles, and if I exceed 33% coverage then setbacks get larger. So may end up unused, at least there.
 
upnorthandpersonal said:
The exact opposite here. The law basically says: "if you don't bother your neighbors or significantly alter the landscape, just let the municipality know you're putting it up and you're good. No permit needed." It only becomes paperwork intensive once you go over 100kW.
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That’s nice..
 
I think I got it the addicted part of it. Going over some disaster and lessons for the future (smoked two inverters working in parralell, lost panels due to weak construction that did not survived storm).
From other point a nice learning in many areas including electronics and IT.
Got grafana, nodered and influxDB working in my monitoring system (never used that before), now making automations to switch stuff on or off depends on SOC and consumption needs.|

Production monitoring (6 strings connected to 6 easun6048 chargers)



1710500341825.png


Current cells voltage and long term:
1710500431635.png

1710500476141.png

So great juney for me!
 
OffGridForGood said:
I got a pretty keen grand-daughter !
She and I built a few E-bikes together, and when she visits, she always wants to see any changes/ up-dates to the off-grid-solar since last visit.
She is only 11 years old, but pretty interested. I built her a workbench in the shop to suit her height, with all her own tools.
She gave me an Amazon gift card for Christmas with a note "so Papa can get more things for his inventions"

Maybe she will take over operation of the Solar Power Plant once I am gone.
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That sounds just terrific!
 
wattmatters said:
I picked up 6.6 kW of 275 W panels, with all the racking and clamps suitable for our roof, cabling, disconnects etc for ~US$650. 5 years old. Same spec and age as what I have already and in great condition. Owner upgraded his system to a much larger one, as it was cheaper to replace than attempt to extend. He even delivered them to me and helped me unload and stack in the shed. The were very well packed for transport, cardboard corner protection etc.
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Gotta ask, does Australian Electrical Code require the Rapid Shut Down and Arc Fault Detection we face in N.America for roof mounted PV panels?
Curious to know.
 
wattmatters said:
That's a requirement which seems unique to America.
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North America in fact, I mean Canada and USA both have these requirements.
I see a lot of very safety-minded regulations in Australian code, some such as PV panel grounding and confirmation exceed N.American grounding standards. I am surprised the RSD and AFDD are not required in Australia, I wonder if they are being considered to be added in the near future, or if the code committee have considered these requirements and determined they are not necessary to ensure safety.
 
I have a lot of people that think I can do it for them for next to nothing... I had one local that lives in an RV... A 50 amp RV with two rooftop air conditioners ask if I could get him up and running... I ran some numbers for him and he was surprised

He figured that I could set him up for less than $1,000 and that that would run everything for basically as long as he wanted it to run
 
OffGridForGood said:
Here is a topic that has been bouncing around in my head for a bit:
Most of the members here have solar PV, and have made decisions based on electrical codes, building codes, physical conditions...What are some of the unintended consequences of your solar PV system?

I will start with a few I dealt with, or see amoung the forum members on a regular basis:
Cutting trees - darn things are huge solar power HOGS and if in the line of my array, they Got To Go
Avoid roof mounting - Roof mounting comes with it, inconvenient code requirements - building a ground mount avoids the code requirements.
HOA/municipal rules - move to the country and build what I like!
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One of my neighbors has a 9kw system and his min power bill is $9.36.... I have a 16.5kw system (ie >10kw) and they charge me a demand fee for the reverse power going out. My min bill is $14 and change. Please note my numbers are a little old because I haven't checked his bill lately... so I'm trying to keep this apples and apples in the comparison.
 
ericfx1984 said:
I have a lot of people that think I can do it for them for next to nothing... I had one local that lives in an RV... A 50 amp RV with two rooftop air conditioners ask if I could get him up and running... I ran some numbers for him and he was surprised

He figured that I could set him up for less than $1,000 and that that would run everything for basically as long as he wanted it to run
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It is mind boggling what people think jobs should cost, vs what is required to stay a profitable business.
 
Shows you the expectations of people: "can I get a total solar turn-key system to run everything and A/C in my RV for a grand?"
yeah, I got that question a few times now too.
Or this other one, "I am building a new garage, can I make it totally on solar for less than the cost of running a subpanel from my house"
 
OffGridForGood said:
Shows you the expectations of people: "can I get a total solar turn-key system to run everything and A/C in my RV for a grand?"
yeah, I got that question a few times now too.
Or this other one, "I am building a new garage, can I make it totally on solar for less than the cost of running a subpanel from my house"
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Oh yeah you can do it for less than the cost of a subpanel... used and Batteryless... Lol 😂
 
OffGridForGood said:
Shows you the expectations of people: "can I get a total solar turn-key system to run everything and A/C in my RV for a grand?"
yeah, I got that question a few times now too.
Or this other one, "I am building a new garage, can I make it totally on solar for less than the cost of running a subpanel from my house"
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Sure.
You only want a shoplight running in here, right?
 
I feel bad for those that have to deal with the public's unrealistic views on what things should cost, as noted by several here. My wife and I each run separate businesses. She deals with the public (consumers) and my businesses are B2B only. I have to deal with procurement departments and such, but once you get an agreement in place with them, you're good for years in most cases, and then the only real question is whether the person making the buying decision has the budget to cover what they want. She, on the other hand, has to deal with individual cheapos with unrealistic (and sometimes bizarre) expectations, on a daily basis. You couldn't pay me enough to do that. I had a young person ask me for business advice recently. I told them to be honest and ethical, offer niche products/services with few competitors, that require unique skills or IP, and to never, ever, set up a business that requires the buyer to spend their own money, as opposed to someone else's.
 
Supervstech said:
Sure.
You only want a shoplight running in here, right?
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yeah, a 5v LED mini and an i-phone charger.
Funny thing, people I don't know hear about the solar from people I do know, and ask questions. It shows there is great interest, but the average discussion is about 3 minutes "- oh it costs that much?! , RSD/AFDD, UL1741, oh lots of regulations?! , Oh I need to know how it works and check on it once in a while ?!, Oh November to early January it doesn't get much solar every day?!!
Thanks for talking, gotta go...."
Another one of those Unintended Consequences, educating people about solar!
 
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