Is Solar Worth It? My REAL Numbers | DIY solar
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- čas přidán 6. 06. 2024
- I am really happy with how the solar production numbers and finances for my DIY solar installation have turned out! I have some solar resources below to help you get started.
FREE SOLAR QUOTES - I'm an affiliate and recommend these two:
1) ProjectSolar (They don't have sales people. For DIY and regular install) Use this link for $100 off (or code FRUGAL) → geni.us/ProjectSolarQuotes
2) Get Multiple Solar Quotes From DroneQuote (not DIY) → geni.us/BestSolarQuotes
GET the FREE Beginner's Guide to Solar → frugalrepair.com/solar-guide/
Frugal Solar facebook page → / frugalsolar
GREAT resource for looking up solar incentives → www.dsireusa.org/
What is Net Metering? → en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_met...
Tool Gifts I Recommend for Fixers → geni.us/toolgifts
Recommended Tools & CZcams Equipment → www.amazon.com/shop/frugalrepair
Behind the scenes → / frugalrepair - Jak na to + styl
Would you consider installing solar yourself?
Yep I did. Just a small inexpensive 2k baby system. But it shrank my bill about 35%.
Considering the house you live in, and the area per people living is high, you have no problems with it. Now if we try to do the same on an apartment even with the permission of all the floor residents I'd highly doubt it would be a cost-effective system.
Yes. Just discovered you, thanks!
I'd love to
Yes sir, already did two installs. One off the grid for my parents' cabin, one grid tie on the garage roof for my previous house. Those were small, the next one's gonna be big and on the ground. Can't wait to get that puppy up and running.
thanks for going over the numbers, it was the only thing missing from the first vid
Thanks for watching!
bro you're seriously my hero. You did so much research, and knew when you were above your pay grade and hired a pro to do the final electric part. Nice to see all the numbers put together like this!
Thanks for your kind words and for watching!
This panel can put out close to 100 watts czcams.com/users/postUgkxOqI2yqX0XVrhR2BMJciTWrHJpG8FhJyg when positioned in the appropriate southernly direction, tilted to the optimal angle for your latitude/date, and connected to a higher capacity device than a 500. The built in kickstand angle is a fixed at 50 degrees. Up to 20% more power can be output by selecting the actual date and latitude optimal angle.The 500 will only input 3.5A maximum at 18 volts for 63 watts. Some of the excess power from the panel can be fed into a USB battery bank, charged directly from the panel while also charging a 500. This will allow you to harvest as much as 63 + 15 = 78 watts.If this panel is used to charge a larger device, such as the power station, then its full output potential can be realized.
I LOVE that you built this yourself, however I would have done 2 things differently (I manage one of largest solar company in the Midwest and have installed over 1,500 residential jobs).
1. I would have used a cheaper panel. I don't find paying 80-90 cents a watt for panels that aren't more efficient to be worth it. The one nice thing about Panasonic is the warranty, but from experience, panels don't break often enough to justify the 300% increase in cost over similar models. A Trina, Hanwha, or Canadian Solar panel would have offered similar performance at 1/3rd the cost.
2. I would have used Enphase Microinverters. From experience, SolarEdge has a much higher failure rate than Enphase and they cost about the same. Additionally, and I know this contradicts what I said about the panels, but the warranty is 25 years as opposed to 12 (or 20 with an extended warranty) via SolarEdge. From years of experience, I can tell you that a warranty on a panel is next to worthless (because panels don't break) but the warranty on your inverter is 1000% more likely to get used. In this instance, it's worth it to go with Enphase for the increased warranty.
I think if you would have made these two changes and used Snap N Rack as your racking, I think you could have gotten your actual installed cost to around $1.10-1.20 per watt.
All in all, AMAZING JOB!
Wow, thank you! Your comment is very encouraging to me. I was planning to pursue the route you mentioned but I couldn’t physically fit as much KW on my roof with those other panel brands. The physical dimensions were the main factor. The Panasonic allowed me to maximize the roof plus the other benefits of these panels. Then because I got the 96 cell panel ($.79/watt, 55v output), I was limited to enphase or SE if I wanted monitoring. At that time SE was cheaper and I was told by many installers that enphase had a much higher failure rate compared to SE. Maybe things are different now?
@@FrugalRepair I also solved my solar install with a geometry made by only 1 company. 2yrs ago it's possible Enphase couldn't handle 96cell that well. I think they were still IQ6 series then. Plus with such a huge array, a little more clipping by Enphase would have added up.
Now, for typical 12-24 panel array, I think the other comments are very relevant.
@@FrugalRepair Makes perfect sense! Yeah, I am not sure if other installers have had different results, but I seem to have about 2x as many SolarEdge warranty claims as Enphase but in both cases, I have less than a 1% fail rate. Both companies are very good and solid from a reliability standpoint.
I am very new to solar, I saw a video that stated if you are tied into the grid to supplement electricity when solar is not producing enough that if the grid goes down it will shut down solar supply to the house so there is no back flow of electricity into the grid. If this is true and is there a way to prevent back flow to the grid and keep solar power on to the house during a power outage?
@@trustmemysonisadoctor8479 It's more complicated than just protecting linemen. Gridtie inverters are designed to pump maximum power down the line, phase matching 60hz very exactly.
Off grid inverters only supply needed power while maintaining either 120 or 240Vac. They deliver 60hz but they don't track it, they just make it.
Plus off grid you need a battery charger.
Legally you are required to supply any off grid power to your house via a transfer switch. Not a trivial wiring exercise for more than a couple circuits.
If you have reliable power, just buy a few flashlights. If you don't have reliable power, a gasoline generator or 1 of those "solar generators" combo of charger, battery, inverter could be good. There are limits of volts and amps from the panels to confirm if you plan to connect some of your gridtie array to the solar charger and you'll need a separate cable with matching MC4 connectors in series or parallel as required by the charge controller.
More than $ savings, you learned a lot of info in the process. Not to mention of doing yourself the ongoing maintenance/repairs for years to come.
Nice work!!
Thanks! Definitely learned a lot.
Really great video! Nice work.
Thank you for watching!
I have been researching placing solar on two residence and one commercial application ... when I got the jaw dropping estimates, I decided to look into DIY .... Your video was more than impressive ... I plan to do one of my projects to see how it goes and then I will do the others! ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!!!!!
Hope it goes well! Shoot me an email if you have questions.
Absolutely love your videos on this.
It's pushed me to diy it. Permits all done. Ordering panels today.
Thank you!!!
That’s awesome! Shoot me an email if you have any questions.
Thank you for the real numbers. There are people spreading flagrantly wrong numbers on your install video to try and smear solar, so to see them off by several multiples in every respect is satisfying.
Thanks for noticing. Yeah, I’m not real sure why people who dislike solar go and spend time watching a solar video and the commenting on it.
As an electrical contractor that has installed solar, I'm extremely impressed with your do-it-yourself,attitude and the way you got it done! I've seen electricians do poor work, where we could use you as an example of what it's supposed to look like at the end! I'm extremely impressed! And now I know the cost of what solar cost as well per kilowatt-hour. I understand is expensive, and the permit and the material but, now that I've seen you do it I will get your book look through it and I will recommend solar now in my area and see if we can get close the kind of return that you had on your system.
I've been doing this for 33 years, and I'm extremely impressed with your Acumen, work quality, and the stick to it you need to get the job done! Thank you!
Wow, thank you for your many kind words! Shoot me an email if you want to chat any more.
I had suffered high bills, and I opted for solar grid which is productive right now,thanks for additional information ,we are on the same page of massive savings.
This dude is laughing at us pesants rn with the price of power
Great job! It’s really interesting seeing all the numbers and hearing how much this saved you. Can’t wait to hear about solar with snow.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Really informative video. Now I'll try installing almost a same setup on our home to hopefully bring down electricity costs.
Really helpful. Concise and clear overview. Excellent content, thanks so much.
Your videos are OUTSTANDING! The content is outstanding of course, but the production quality is great too! I subscribed! :-) Many thanks for packaging up all of this information! I'm in Western PA looking to install a system myself :-)!
Thanks so much for your kind words! Shoot me an email if you have questions about your possible solar install.
Great info bro 👍
Thanks!
Thinking of installing a 7KW system myself.. Great info. Looking forward to more helpful videos.
That’s great to hear! Any suggestions on new solar videos?
You are a hidden gem sir. Please keep us up to date on the solar generator system.
Thanks! I plan to.
When it snows you have to remove the snow off of your Panels..if it gets more than a few inches..once the sun comes out the snow will melt off but if it snows more than 2-3 Inches you have to remove the snow off your panels..if you live in a heavy snow area I would build the solar array closer to the ground to allow access to remove the snow manually...snow is powder mist of the time a day can be brushed off with a 2ftwide broom
Wanted to say thank you for taking the time to post your DYI. You certainly did a great job. I have been wanting to DYI this myself and really appreciate you share the helpful links. I also plan to down load your guide. I was wondering how long it took you to get the system up and running. Ultimately it not all that important how long it took. Its really more important that you got it done. Great job and thank again for sharing the information on what you learned and how you got it done.
Thanks for your encouragement! Shoot me an email if you have solar install questions.
This is a great video with great explanations of cost! Keep up the great vids!
Thank you for watching!
Ours is around $20 AUD a month here in OZ. We're looking at adding a switching battery to offset costs further as the credits reduce regularly as more people here switch to solar.
Fantastic video. Great information. Short, sweet and to the point.
Thanks!
I appreciate your openness.
I always thought solar would cost tens of thousands...but then when you factor in hiring a guy to do it...
Doing it yourself always saves you money. Very well done!
Thanks for watching! If you want to see more financial figures you might want to watch the video on how solar makes me money. If you have 1-1 net metering and have southern exposure, it really is a great option.
Well done, sir. Thanks for all the information and the free guide. You have more than earned my like and subscribe.
Thank you!
I have 46 panels on my roof! It’s been so rewarding! Love it, love this video
That’s great to hear! And thanks for watching the video.
It' s not rewarding to all of us who had to pay for your freaking system. I have grandkids that need clothes and medicine. THANK GOD I GOT TO SPEND THE MONEY I NEED ON YOUR FREAKING SOLAR. YOU PROBABLY GOT A PANDEMIC CHECK TOO. I REFUSED TO TAKE THE CHECK BECAUSE I AM TAKING FROM OTHERS AND I DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT.
@@timbrown9305 LOL WHAT? I paid for all of my solar panels myself. Guess what, today I added some Tesla batteries as well. Also you should know I contribute to much to society to quality for pandemic money.
@@JasonBay-RealEstateInvesting Then why are you so effing surprised I called you out? Jackwadd Promote the fact that your such an angell!
@@JasonBay-RealEstateInvesting So NOBODY has every called you out for this??? Shameful lazy viewers
I love the analogy/perspective of the rental property that never has late payments. That's a great selling point
Yep, it’s even more exciting when the SRECs go up in value.
Hi Reece great video mate. I put solar on about 3 years ago and it's been great. Although here in Australia we really don't have any really great incentives like you guys do. Just a pretty dismal feedback incentive. It sucks, especially seeing it's sunny most of the time :) Did you get the optimizers? They cost us around $100 per each panel and basically make it so if any of the panels get shade then only those panels are affected. Not the whole array.
On a completely different note I have to say a MASSIVE thank you! You actually helped inspire my channel I started a few weeks ago. In fact I'm currently making videos of me fixing large 60" 4k t.vs with nothing but a piece of sticky tape lol. The only difference being I found the t.v' outside in a thunderous hail storm. You wouldn't believe my reaction when it actually worked. So thanks again mate and keep pumping out the amazing content.
Good to hear you have solar. That's encouraging! Great job fixing the TV.
So glad it all worked out for you, because you have you have no one’s ass too kick if it failed.
Excellent presentation!! You sold me!!!
Thanks! I hope getting solar works out well for you too! Let me know if you have any questions.
Great video, my name is Filipe and im an electrical engineer in Brazil and my company sells and installs PV systems ! You explained net metering exactly how i explain it to my clients: it's as if the power grid is your battery.
Thank you for your kind words!
You forgot to add; "Until the power grid goes down and then your in the dark".
@@floriotj Yepo, but as long as people understand that, it is their choice. I personally would not be done with my setup until I could store power for use when the grid fails.
From another Pennsylvania resident thanks for the video
Thanks for watching!
Just want to say that I really enjoyed your videos.
Thanks for watching!
fantastic breakdown of costs, Thanks
I live in Pittsburgh and given how cloudy it is here, Ive been shying away from the idea of solar. This gives me a little hope
If you have a southern exposure solar would likely be great for you. You can always do modeling on PVwatts and put in your zip code and it pulls in weather data.
The electric company here in AZ still screws you over when going solar. SRP charges a flat fee of $32/month for using the grid. Once I pay off my system it wont be a big deal but for now I essentially just lowered my electric bill a bit and added a loan.
$32 just for using the grid. That is my monthly charge of electricity, my god.
And people wonder why land is so cheap in the american south...
Great installation job! Boy, am I glad (when it comes to building and electrical codes and permits) that I live in the Netherlands. Visited PA quite a few times, loved it everytime. I know how warm it gets in the summer and how cold it can get in the winter. Do you by any chance keep track of your electrical usage for heating and cooling seperately?
I live in a typical Dutch 1930's attached house and did insulate almost everything to bring it to current new-building standards. With only 2400 Wp installed I already generate about half the kWhs that I use (3500 kWh/year). With natural gas at insane prices ($71/1000 ft3) I'm moving forward to completely electrify my 7000 ft3 annual gas usage. I'll have to install additional solar panels for that, but here you can just climb onto your roof, mount it, hook it up and have an electrician check and certify it (or do it all by yourself like I do).
A friend of mine has to do maintenance jobs on residential roof-mounted PV-installations due to jackdaws and magpies crawling underneath the solar panels and ripping off the insulation of the DC-cables. This has caused fires due to short-circuits, which combined with nesting material, leaves and branches that get stuck underneath the panels burn very rapidly. Just something to check on a regular basis, or prevent birds from accessing by using mesh screen. That way you maintain good ventilation for the PV-panels.
Thank you! And thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed your time here in PA. No, I don't have a setup yet to monitor heat/cooling separate. But electric heat is our biggest usage in the winter for sure.
This along with the install video are great resources and I wanted to thank you for all of this and the detail of these videos. I definitely will be doing this for my future property and I would love to discuss this with you more in the future if you have some time but I did have one question for you. What is your plan when you need to repair/replace your roof in the future? I assume all panels would need to be removed?
Thanks for watching! If you want to chat solar, shoot me an email.
Fantastic stuffs you make bro.... keep going on...Love from India..
Thank you!
Great Video! Very nice. Thanks for all of the info.
Thanks for your kind words and for watching!
This is by far the best video I’ve seen, I’m planning to install a 20 kw before end of this year.
Wow, thanks! That's cool that you are putting in solar. Do you know what panels you are planning to put in?
@@FrugalRepair not sure yet still considering where I’ll purchase from. Suggestions?
Depends, where you live and are you considering DIY or hire an installer?
@@FrugalRepair I’m in Arkansas and I’ll install
That’s great you’re up for DIY! If you want shoot me an email (on the about page) and I can give more thoughts.
Excellent summary and cost/benefit analysis.
Thanks!
@@FrugalRepair I am in the UK, about 10 degrees further north than you. Solar won't be quite as productive as where you are but still doable.
It depends on several factors, angle of panels and sun hours per day annually are two big ones. Net metering here is the key to making it financially worth it. Do you have something like net metering in the UK?
@@FrugalRepair If by that you mean selling back to the grid, yes. If you mean pumping into the grid when you are not consuming electricity, and then consuming from the grid when you need it rather than storing in batteries, no. That is planned for a future phase. USA is ahead of us in that regard.
Good stuff! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
in some states it would be 3yrs . because you can get a federal credit and a state level one also. Additional in NY they pay you upto 39 cents for the solar and you pay them 5 cents when you buy power form them. the big payday is when you sell the place. base on the location you can take the amount saved a year on power times it by X. that amount you get to not pay tax on when you sold the house.
Wow. Our home is total electric. This is great
Do you think you are interested in getting solar?
Very well done video 👍.
Thanks!
Good work and I appreciate the hustle. Promos gotta pay bills but to give the full story and stay current you'll want to mention Tesla panels. A new high efficiency/low price + installation makes it tough to justify a DIY. Tesla just beats installers by more than you'd think.
Great Video! How do I know which direction the equator is ? Thank You!!
Great Job Man
Thanks!
Very good info. Thanks
Thanks for watching!
Hey. ever think of adding in a water filter/greywater system? like collect rain water (if state allows it) and use that water for toliets/outdoor watering systems and possibly having the water filtered to your hotwater/main system to lower water cost?
I haven’t really, perhaps if I was off grid I’d consider it.
My bud in Texas installed a very similar system which he averaged 1500 KW in the summer and 900 in the winter. He installed his system last March after the February freeze disaster and paid $18,580 after the 30% credit. The electric rates in his town went up over 40% this year putting his return on investment from 6.8 years based on 2021's rates to four and a quarter years based on the new electrical rates. If the rates continue to go up then he'll end up paying his solar system off a lot sooner. During the winter he pays a $6 connection fee during October November December January February and March then he doesn't pay a connection fee from April through September and he actually generates close to 16 extra kilowatts of electricity per day during the months of May through September as he changed his work schedule to have him away from home from 10am to 7pm, thus his house uses less than a kilowatt per hour during the summer months.
Great videos!
Thanks!
very nice video. On a side note, you should hide the link also at 3:34 timestamp. i can easily get account number from there. I work in IT. Just a suggestion. very informative video btw.
Saw both of your DIY solar video, excellent work! I was curious about how you'll replace your roof shingles when it comes time? I suspect the solar panels will protect your shingles, so your 20-year shingles (guessing) will probably last 40 years?
Thanks! Yes, the shingles won’t get hardly any wear because they are protected.
Great video, thank you!
How often do you clean the panels? How much time does it take?
I’ve never cleaned them. The rain does it for me.
Where did you buy your panels, inverters, and racking system from? Great video btw!!
In my opinion you should get about 20kwh buffer battery bank. In those situations when grid will go dark , you will still have power for about a day or two, but in truth for much more because solars will charge buffer bank. I know it can be costy, but in WTF situation it comes handy
With geothermal heat pump you can use 5 times less electricity for heating. Also heating your water with sun is the way to go.
You can reduce that 20 000kWh to 1/3 .
Great information. Thanks! Do you have any similar resources for off-grid solar? We are contacting our electric power company about net metering, but do not have SRECs where we live.
Thanks! If you are off grid then I think you’d only be eligible for the fed tax credit. But you’d have to look into it.
The net metering is a huge advantage you have in the US. In my country I can only get 1/6 of the cost per kWh against what i would pay normally. So I need to make 6x as much energy as I consume to be at net zero. Which makes whole thing just waste of money.
a really useful information, thank you
Glad it was helpful!
I live in California, i want to do something like this. I'll be looking at your videos for help
Cool! I hope they are helpful to you. If you want to see something specific, feel free to send me some ideas.
What on line engineering company did you use for roof framing approval?
Goods in US are really expensive, Cool video!
Well Done.... !!!!
Thanks!
Thanks for Sharing. Would you have made even more if you put solar on both sides of the roof?
More power? Yes, but I wouldn’t do that for at least two reasons. One is that they would face north (harder to recoup costs) and secondly, I would be making significantly more power than I need.
Are you still using baseboard heat? If so have you thought about a mini split with heat pump function? You get 3x the heat per watt that electric heat can get you.
The only thing I fear is putting the holes in the roof (for insurance reasons), but when i need to change the roof, I will have brackets installed and do the rest myself.
I also live very far north, and have a shallow roof angle, so I might not get great numbers in the winter.
Consider that if you have asphalt shingles you already have hundreds of holes in your roof from the nails.
You're awesome bro,keep up the great content.!!!!@
Your the man 🤟🏼
been thinking about it but dont know. i'd mess it up lol love the idea tho have been and will keep watching thanks for videos
Thanks for watching!
Dude: Thanks so much. War is founded on ideology, race to garner resources and nationalism. Young people are driving a stake thru the heart of the first one. You help drive a stake through the second one big time. The next generation will thank you as well.
The next generation will have to pay for all new panels and a reroof job. That's good. The credit you earn from feeding the grid your extra electricity often (elsewhere?) Is not at the rate you pay for grid electricity. Seldom a good deal. But, I'm glad you are happy. Congratulations on all your work. I'm too timid to even try.
Do you have to clean the panels from the dust that won't go with the rain?
Would you publish your material list? Thanks!
You should look into a DIY Geo Thermal Instalation. A friend of min in OH used to pay 4-500/month Power for electric Base Heaters and now pays 100-150/month. A DIY Geo Thermal System is about $4-5k
I would like to. I wish I had enough land to do the trench rather than the well. I’ll probably either do that or mini splits.
@@FrugalRepair yes, I agree, mini Splits are awesome. I have a conventional Gas Pack 14seer. But luckily I have insulated everything with Owens Pink Foam Board (2”) and my 1300sqft 1964 Brick house used 600-750kw per month. I can’t complain about that. I also only turn on my water Heater once a day because I’m Frugal 😎
Worth considering that solar panels will help to extend the lifetime of your roof as well which can be an considerable financial benefit as new roofs don't come cheap.
That’s a really good point!
True, but when it is time for one, all that has to come down and be reinstalled.
Not on the West Coast...that's for sure
@@FrugalRepair WHAT ABOUT IF THE GRID GOES DOWN? YOU STILL HAVE POWER?
Wait the way this is calculated in your country is actually amazing. In my country when you have solar and you dont need the energy and you send it into the grid you get payed about half of what you pay when you need energy and there is no storing up like in your case.
So in the summer when you produce a lot of excess you basically get payed half for what you provide and when you need more in winter you pay full price.
In the US the net metering rules are different by state. So it is very nice when you get a 1-1 credit for each KWH. Sorry to hear yours is a half credit.
Heck in some countries you have to pay a tax that you are sending power into the grid.
Thanks I subscribed. I want to learn Solar
Awesome! What part are you wanting to learn?
@@FrugalRepair check my comment above thanks
So how does the credit work?
You generate more kw than you need and that is a kw credit?! Or do they give you some cents for each kwh that you insert into the grid and they add up as credit in dollars?
81kWh per day average is up there. I personally use about 66kWh (with pool, spa, heat pumps etc) and relatively large home too, and I thought our consumption was excessive. anyways my power bill (in new zealand, where we pretty much get ripped off with everything, very high cost of living) is about NZD$400 per month. be aware no conversion between USD and NZD currencies needed, as we earn and live in our respective countries.
Wow, I use about 20-20kWh/day in metro Los Angeles, CA, USA and I pay USD $130 to $200 (summer need air conditioning) so your nzd 400 is about usd 260 but I dont' have a pool, spa, or heat pump. Just a 2 bedroom apt 1000 square feet and 2 window ac units. Ok well, the who apt is electric, haha. Interesting to know how things are in other countries and I will be installing solar panels soon, or the owner willl, he is my father in law so.....
New sub here. Moving to Upstate NY. I'm going to do this on the ground. I got 15 acres so I got enough room to put them some where
It actually cost more on the ground and cabling to the meter is more difficult. But easier to brush the snow off and they should stay a little cooler.
Great Video, Thanks! Question #1 ... Can you supply a link for "Jerome Quote"? #2, does Jerome Quote work in Texas? , and lastly, #3 Living along the gulf coast, I would like yo tie in either a battery storage system, or a backup whole house generator to support whole house power for upto a week during hurricane's and floods. Thanks Again.
Link for DroneQuote is in video description. Yes, they recently started servicing Texas from what I remember.
Hi, how much did the Solar Wholesale guys quote you for installing the 41 panels and all other parts?
I'm pretty sure I can buy all the parts in cash but unsure I may do the installation.
Good diy solar cell
I live in the UK and I've noticed you comsume 5 times more kwh units than me...I have probably half size house than yours.
I wonder if you have any AC units installed in your house?
Where did you source the panels?
Where did you purchase your solar panels? How much $/panel? How many watts/panel? How much was delivery? Very impressive system.
Alibaba!
Love the video and thank you. I am from Mountain Top, Pennsylvania. If u can please answer my easy to answer question below cuz I am confused over how you determined your kw system size. Sorry to bother you.
I see u use around 19,000 KWh annually and you use a 15.6 kw system that covers all of your electric bill. How did you come up with only needing a 15.6 kw system? My homes electric bill states I use around 24,000/25,000 kwh annually. I am confused over how to determine the kw size of my system. I was under the impression my solar system kw would have to identically match my annual electric output of 24,000/25,000 kWh that is stated on my electric bill.
How kw should my system be if electric bill says I use 24k/25k kWh on an annual basis? Thank you. Your would be appreciated
Allen
Thanks! They are different values kw and kWh. How much sunlight the panels get each day makes the difference. Weather modeling and latitude helps to figure it out. Did you get my solar guide? There is info in there that should help you.
Where is ur solar guide?
I am going to live in Bulgaria and my house will need a very extensive renovation, so I want to put the solar panels. Do you think I can use your guide?
The guide is for beginners and it’s a free download, so yes, I hope it will be helpful. Dober Den!
Did the power co up the minimum cost of being connected for you ?
I herd a story about that, but i still think its worth it lol.
you said your system doesnt have batteries?
one of the reasons i want to get solar power is to have emergency power in the event of a grid failure. if the power goes out at night, then we just dont have any power. even with the solar panels. one time a couple years ago, the power went out for about 16 hours, and our freezer ended up defrosting enough that we lost a lot of food. wasted food and wasted money.
so my question is why would you choose not to have batteries? and more over, could you add batteries in the future if you decided to? also, what kind of cost would that entail?
I installed 12v system to generate power to my farm with 450w solar panel. I don't use inverter bcz less power lost. Thanks for video sharing
Thanks for sharing and watching the video!
@@FrugalRepair thanks
Does your solar workwhen the grid is down? I heard it won't. Is there a way to tie into the grid and have the solar work? I had a city person tell me not to tired intu the grid if i got solar.
Mine doesn't because I don't have batteries or a switch integrated in. Yes, there are ways to tie in but those inverters/setup are more expensive and of course, the batteries can be very expensive. You have to consider the cost versus the need. For me, the power rarely goes out and it's even more rare that it goes out when it's sunny out. So a full home backup would kinda be a waste. However, a small battery backup is nice to have on hand when there is a power outage.
Do you need to notify your homeowners insurance and did you insure the panels in case of damage ? House fire and ability of fire department to access roof ? after 25 years , what is the cost to get rid of the panels ?
HE'S THE HOMEOWNER
Your project is amazing! We in Germany often use batteries (~10kWh) because the cost difference between buying and selling electricity is waaay too high. You get your investment back a few years earlier by purchasing batteries. For the environment's sake, I think we should learn what others do to make pure solar power without batteries more attractive.
Thanks! Here in Pennsylvania we have 1-1 net metering so you get full credit for excess KWH you send to the power grid.
Wow, I think this is a good deal. We buy for 36.19 cents and sell for 6.83 cents in January 2022 (numbers from google, add 5% for dollar prices). Therefore I have also watched numerous DIY solar battery videos. But I have decided that it is not worth the risk because I have been goofing around with electricity before, and I have seen too much fire, explosions and dangerous defects while complying to specifications. A solar roof seems safer, especially if you have an expert a second pair of eyes. :) Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and wisdom!
Permits vary greatly by City/State. Depending on your Elec. Company, all the drawings, Electrical Engineering Stamps, with limited "APPROVED" equipment defined by Elec. Company (Service panels, meter boxes, shutoff switches, all had to be "approved" from the electric company). Add to this the mounting system, plus, for Roof Mounted, certain cities require Structural Engineer drawings and associated stamps, all mounting systems require engineering specs, including loads, wind loads, mounting hardware etc. Extra meters, how to tie into the grid (Load side vs Line Side) proper sizing of the panel, main circuit sizing on your panel (120% NECA maximum for your main panel circuit breaker and bus bar).
I just finished my system, 10Kw system, anything over that I had to register as a commercial enterprise and at that point, forget it. The rules went through the roof.
The point, don't be naïve. That 12k that would normally go to the Solar Company that he said he saved, usually covers ALL of that stuff, plus inspections, plus paperwork, plus signoffs from building inspectors, Elec Company inspectors, City ordinances (many have limits with Solar installs). He did mention tho, the actual installation (wiring) of Solar Array is relative easy, all the inspections, paperwork, approvals, signoffs, permits, that will drive you nuts. When you're all said and done, you may look at that 12k savings and say, you know, it really wasn't worth it.
Not even worth it to trust these modern companies to do everything correctly lol ; if you want a job done right do it yourself
I was not able to download your Solar PDF beginner guide. I clicked and it went nowhere. I am in France and electricity cost is very high. There is a huge demand for solar. I am ok with electricity did professional welding for 30 years. With the lithium car batteries from junkyards You dont need to buy the Tesla power walls, I need a good tutorial on all aspects of installation. Any other way I can get that guide? Thanks
Sorry to hear about the trouble. Go to my website and click on the Solar Guide tab. FrugalRepair.com