I would have been happier if the guy wasted his time spouting off about all the details of the system. Literally all he did was take the bill, figure out the yearly use, calculated the cost over 20 years, which was 40k, then said we needed this system for 40k, and barely gave any details on the system. Showed us the roof solar exposure from nrel or google map. He didn’t leave a written quote. none in my email. basically all he said was write this down. Enphase IQ, and Q cell panels. I almost feel like the guy was trying to scam with no contract or written quote. And seriously the lack of information.
I think because they are kind of a roofing company. They picked the absolute easiest system to install with the fewest electrical permitting issues. And enphase can do remote troubleshooting, and they outsource the electrical work.
Or possibly, they just get leads and take a commission from a 3rd party installer.
there are a lot of bottom feeders in solar for sure. I hate roof installs
1)throw away 25% of your power due to overheating
2)Here anyways throw away $4000 for engineering, more expensive gear, municipal inspections
3)create a system that gets coated in snow and ice requiring cleaning and higher wear
4)make a system 10 times harder to fix down the road.
I have found that US prices seem inflated due to subsidies. I can get that system on a roof here for the same money in Canadian dollars so 25% less…
For storage the solark or the lux are probably both good choices. You would want to go lithium as both are having major issues with lead acid. Lithium is a waste for outage only but could make sense if your utility is planning on implementing time of use or peak pricing in the future…
Cheers, David
I think this would be the right topic to post in line with David’s intent of the topic, if not please tell me so I can move it to the right spot.
I bought a pallet of panels and an inverter from a local company (I know them and I already knew the prices of panels and inverters as I was planning to import them myself) and I got a good price but I was not willing to pay for the fasteners/rails as I am going to put them on a galvanized sinus metal roof because of time restraints and the roof was already there (sorry David ).
Anyway, I made my own system from used hot-dipped galvanized rails intended for hanging flat cables that I had laying around for another project. Cut them up in lengths to each sit on four of the sinus tops on the metal roof to even out panel weight plus snow load.
Then I made fasteners for the solar panels from M8 (5/16”) threaded rod A4 SS, 3mm(1/8”) sheetmetal offcut A4 SS (the offcut to size from the steel roll just before the sheets are cut) and 6mm ((1/4”) by 50mm (2”) A4 SS flat bar. All that I also had lying around (apart from M8 nyloc nuts that I bought).
To cut the thick SS flat bar perfectly straight I had to make a tool since my circular saw does not like SS and I don’t like sharpening the blades either. Made it from an old wood saw and an angle grinder.
These things will be screwed through the roof metal on the top of the sinus into the roof beams on the high side and into the roof metal,on the low side (the roof metal will be extra screwed down) The finished fasteners looks like this
Addictive free energy! Every day ( accept winter ) every year again. Here one more last pallet and the roof is completely full. Going to extend a shop with panels and diy proofiles. Cheaper then buying sandwichpanels. The rest is mounted on sandwichpanels, very easy system. I dont want them on the house, to complicated and to windy. As for efficiency and roof, David is correct but this only is a factor when there is an exces of energy anyway. I dont care about loosing these 25%. After filling the roof , wall was the next. Made some profiles and put five more. They do great in winter. So Johan, if you have a choice, almost vertical and full south. Dont let anyone talk you out of that.
Well, I must say 24 panels 275 Wp coming off and 16 540 Wp put on. And 12 for building an extra shed. Time is against me with the 12 pieces. Without those it is 25 kWp on the roof and 2 kWp on the wall. Wall is doing great in winter. All is full south. The powerloss with temp rising is very clear. During spring with cloudy cold weather there are big spikes when sun comes on the panels. Fun to watch.
Next step is a serious battery, now 25 kWh diy but that is not enough. If some day my woodgas adventure will really start, off grid would be possible .
I read a report on the net mentioning that some PV panels are so cheap that people using them to build fences around their houses. It is cheaper than common materials.
Yes they are. Around €70 for a panel 2.3 m long abd 1.15 wide, 540 Wp. Mine are glas glas bifacial. And it really does work super and cheap serre/pergola.
I read they were more efficient. but it was a study in Europe, Probably Sweden that was making the claim. They use bifacial panels and they don’t get the shading, and cool off faster.
I MAY have heard they were trying to hide their super secret woodgas operations.
Thanks Tom, much appreciated
I saved the handle from the saw too to get a good grip handle with the on/off switch in a better place. Didn’t put it on now since I needed the pieces cut, later project for a rainy day😃
It is a very handy tool, the only downside is that the disc is cutting slightly upwards so that clamp that comes with the saw is being used now just to be safe (I like many others have never used it before)
That is incredible Johan… The only possible thing I can think of is the racking uses special hardened points on the clamps to cut through the anodization of the aluminum to create a consistent bond of the whole rack for grounding. Not sure if its an issue or not. With the newer high voltage arrays they really crack down on bonding here. Incredible work, congrats!!!
David
Thank you David, I was not aware of those points in the clamps. The clamps I have looked at did not have those, it makes sense though. However these panels have grounding cable attachment holes in them and I was planning to put a cable between each panel and ground the whole shebang so that should not be a problem but another advantage to those points would be a slightly safer installation with long term slipping/sliding panels due to the thermal expansions during summers and winters.
I put those thoughts on my paranoia pile of thoughts earlier in the build.
It is not that easy to make such points on flat bar at first glance but if I did that would save me the work of the grounding cables… I need to think about this. Thanks for pointing it out David
Figured out a way to make those points, drilled a 2,5mm (3/32”) hole in one plate, used a center punch in a scrap piece of steel (tried different depths), sharpened a ss welding rod and put it through the hole in the ss piece and the point in the center punch hole, cut it to length and welded.
That would work just fine. Currently they press hardened points into the clamps. Before that we installed special washers between the rails and the panels. It is easier to do a ground wire to rails only and let the rails carry it to the panels. Before the washers we used to do grounding cables to each panel… As the systems get less expensive we have to go faster…
Here is a link to what the washers look like
We call array grounding “bonding” but internationally it’s often called “solar earthing”.
Cheers. How big will the array be? I see a lot of ads for pallets of 240 watt older panels for less than $50 Canadian… Lots of midlife panels out there.
Cheers, David Baillie
Thanks for the link David.
The array will be just shy of 15kW with 36 415W panels, $50 Canadian for those panels. That would be interesting to mess around with vertically but the prices for second hand panels are not that cheap here, people seem to think they will get just under full price
I sold mine for the same money as the new ones. Buyer is happy, panels out of production and he wants some extra. Me happy, new panels, mono instead of poly and now bifacial. And no reason to import it yourself unless you want to buy a full container. Every corner on the street offers cheap panels. And good quality of course. That comes first.
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