OT: Need advice on Solar Panels

[uconnfan68]

OT but kind of related... anyone have conversations with a neighbor about chopping down a giant tree just over in to their property? It would help me generate more solar power (and I don’t like the threat of it ever falling on my house).

My former boss used to tell me to put an iron bar high up in the tree and wait for lightning.

 

[CTMike]

My former boss used to tell me to put an iron bar high up in the tree and wait for lightning.

Good unless the tree falls on my house.

I suppose I could just ask and offer to split the cost... crazy I know!

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

That seems way overpriced even for another part of the country. My install was roughly 21k, for 3 arrays totalling 32 panels, to produce 102%, of the energy I was using. Your situation almost sounds like you were being discouraged from signing up. I took my time with it. Started interviewing companies in April and didn't pick someone till late November. It's a huge decision. My cost to take them down is 1k. My roof is about 9 years old so not expecting a replacement anytime soon.

I was quoted between 42 and 57 panels. The 3k number for removal was for the 57 panels. The one selling 42 said the 57 was over producing, and the 57 guy said the 42 was underproducing.

Between the conflicting information I got, and my concerns about technology advancements, I decided to wait. I still may do it, but I am going to do more research.

 

[noeynox]

I was quoted between 42 and 57 panels. The 3k number for removal was for the 57 panels. The one selling 42 said the 57 was over producing, and the 57 guy said the 42 was underproducing.

Between the conflicting information I got, and my concerns about technology advancements, I decided to wait. I still may do it, but I am going to do more research.

The simple formula is take your bill add up the monthly usage, divide it by 365, and you should get the number kilowatts you need per day. Mine came out to 30. Your system should be designed around that number. It's good to have a general idea of your usage so no one tries to sell you more than you need for commission. Also the most important thing I learned, use a company that is backed by the Green Bank or whatever there is similar in your area.

Accelerating Green Energy Adoption in CT | CT Green Bank

In Ct if a company isn't backed by the Green Bank, I'd be leery. They come out and make sure you are 100 percent happy and that the company delivers in what is in your contract. I.e your system is producing what they promised.

I interviewed 5 companies. Solar City was the last to come in, by the time I sat down with him, he was blown away by the info I was aware of, right down to the best panels. I asked which panels they used, he said we use some "right in the middle". He stopped trying to sell me and went down the Solar City is national company, were not fly by night etc, etc.

The worst of the big companies was Sun Run in terms of price.

I took my time with it 2 local [in state] companies, 2 national, 1 regional. I wanted to do it, but only if I felt it made 100 percent sense. At the end of 10 years, I should have no electric bill.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

The simple formula is take your bill add up the monthly usage, divide it by 365, and you should get the number kilowatts you need per day. Mine came out to 30. Your system should be designed around that number. It's good to have a general idea of your usage so no one tries to sell you more than you need for commission. Also the most important thing I learned, use a company that is backed by the Green Bank or whatever there is similar in your area.

Accelerating Green Energy Adoption in CT | CT Green Bank

In Ct if a company isn't backed by the Green Bank, I'd be leery. They come out and make sure you are 100 percent happy and that the company delivers in what is in your contract. I.e your system is producing what they promised.

I interviewed 5 companies. Solar City was the last to come in, by the time I sat down with him, he was blown away by the info I was aware of, right down to the best panels. I asked which panels they used, he said we use some "right in the middle". He stopped trying to sell me and went down the Solar City is national company, were not fly by night etc, etc.

The worst of the big companies was Sun Run in terms of price.

I took my time with it 2 local [in state] companies, 2 national, 1 regional. I wanted to do it, but only if I felt it made 100 percent sense. At the end of 10 years, I should have no electric bill.

The difference in the panels was that one said to generate 85% and the other said 100%. Since it costs you money to overproduce, the 85 percenter said go with less panels.

Anyway....thanks for the tips. I will store them away for when I take my next run at this...lol

 

[SouthBayHusky]

PM me the link for YouTube channel. I'd be interested in seeing it. I'm rethinking it based upon the results here. I'd be comfortable with the work, but I'm not quite as comfortable on a second story roof anymore. It's getting on and off the ladder that gets me.... Still do it from time to time though.

Im having trouble figuring out PM feature. But If you can PM me I will respond with the info to my channel and the install vids. I would post channel info here but don’t know the rules on disseminating that type of stuff on this forum. But PM me and I’ll PM back.

 

[Scrutineer]

Im having trouble figuring out PM feature. But If you can PM me I will respond with the info to my channel and the install vids. I would post channel info here but don’t know the rules on disseminating that type of stuff on this forum. But PM me and I’ll PM back.

What types of storage devices do y'all with solar systems have for night time power?

 

[HuskyHawk]

They are already available, some five different styles. You'll want solar power for your electric vehicle at some point anyway.

I'm not planning on having an electric car in my lifetime. Cars = freedom. I require the ability to continue driving with only short refueling stops. When they have electric cars with 500 miles ranges while traveling over the speed limit, AC and radio on, that can be fully charged in about 3 minutes, let me know.

 

[CL82]

Im having trouble figuring out PM feature. But If you can PM me I will respond with the info to my channel and the install vids. I would post channel info here but don’t know the rules on disseminating that type of stuff on this forum. But PM me and I’ll PM back.

Done.

 

[CL82]

I'm not planning on having an electric car in my lifetime. Cars = freedom. I require the ability to continue driving with only short refueling stops. When they have electric cars with 500 miles ranges while traveling over the speed limit, AC and radio on, that can be fully charged in about 3 minutes, let me know.

My (gas) car doesn't have a 500 mile range.

I'm with you though, paying a premium for reduced performance makes no sense to me.

A friend of mine has a Tesla S model. It is a comfortable car with plenty of pick up. Electric cars are very quick off the line. The fuel range on it is north of 300. The issue is that refueling takes about a half hour for a a little over 'half a tank.' He says he doesn't mind stopping and getting a coffee every few hours. The car tells you when you need to refuel and how far to the next super charger. I suppose it's like anything else, you get used to it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

My (gas) car doesn't have a 500 mile range.

I'm with you though, paying a premium for reduced performance makes no sense to me.

A friend of mine has a Tesla S model. It is a comfortable car with plenty of pick up. Electric cars are very quick off the line. The fuel range on it is north of 300. The issue is that refueling takes about a half hour for a a little over 'half a tank.' He says he doesn't mind stopping and getting a coffee every few hours. The car tells you when you need to refuel and how far to the next super charger. I suppose it's like anything else, you get used to it.

Mine doesn't go 500 either, but it does better than any electric.

I also have a friend with a Tesla S. But...he lives in CA, and got huge tax incentives from the feds, the state, his county and utility. It was massively subsidized. Plus, it lets him drive in the diamond lanes, which are everywhere in the Bay Area. On top of that, unlike the northeast, chargers are all over the place in California.

I think there are great use cases for these cars. I don't think they work well outside of urban areas, or where chargers are not yet common. I routinely drive to Vermont, and wouldn't be able to do it in such a car. They are also bad in the snow. Huge torque at the wheels.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

What types of storage devices do y'all with solar systems have for night time power?

Solar power isn't generally off the grid...your power always comes from the local power grid. Solar just supplies power to that main grid. Now if you are off the grid, you have to get batteries that store power.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

What types of storage devices do y'all with solar systems have for night time power?

most solar installations have no storage they are only grid tie only ( means it sends the power directly to the utility by backfeeding your mains and turns back your meter at day and then at night you use the power from the utility you gave them at day as you’re still connected to utility, which offsets it to zero roughly).

That said, I’m a bit of a geek on this topic and I’ve done many home installations, including wind turbines, etc. I do have a battery bank that I can run off of at home if the grid work to go down. My battery bank holds approximately 20,000 W of energy but I can only run that down by half so 10,000 W of energy is all my battery bank holds but I only use it for critical circuits in case of utility collapse/failure.

Remember if the grid is up, I’m just taking from the utility back what I gave them during the day. I am not using my storage in the batteries. But I use lead acid batteries, specifically 6v interstate 2200s wired series/parrelel. You get more bang for your buck on the lead acid although you do have to be careful in setting up venting which I’ve done with both passive and using relays that trigger a fan that will vent out. But, people will also get “gel cell batteries” were there is no venting required, and now with the Tesla ball people are going that direction as well for storage. Remember, storage is only used for two reasons: the first is because the consumer wants assurance that if something catastrophic happened to the grid and it went down they can still run their house from there battery bank.

The second reason for storage would be because the installation is completely off grid, and not part of the utility or connected to the utility at all. For example I have a cabin which I did an off grid only installation, since I am not connected to the grid out there and that’s my only way of getting power for the night when the sun goes down. But most installations today and the most economical is the grid tie only, and the best are the micro inverters like
Enphase. PS sorry for the typos I did this by voice

 

[CL82]

I routinely drive to Vermont, and wouldn't be able to do it in such a car

I think you'd be surprised. CT and Mass have plenty. In VT they have them in Brattleboro, Lebanon and Montpelier.

Supercharger | Tesla

I'm still not 100% sold but is way more manageable than I thought.

 

[NJHusky]

I think you'd be surprised. CT and Mass have plenty. In VT they have them in Brattleboro, Lebanon and Montpelier.


Supercharger | Tesla

I'm still not 100% sold but is way more manageable than I thought.

Do you really want to spend 75 minutes waiting for your car to fully charge? I think the cars are great for local and superb for city driving..but if you have to travel any distance on a regular basis they aren't practical IMO...

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think you'd be surprised. CT and Mass have plenty. In VT they have them in Brattleboro, Lebanon and Montpelier.

View attachment 32995

Supercharger | Tesla

I'm still not 100% sold but is way more manageable than I thought.

I think you misunderstand "plenty". In CA ever single office building has them. Most restaurants with parking lots have them. They are more common than gas stations.

Near me, Big Y has them. Chilis has them, and my office building has them. But that leaves the 99% of places I would go as places with no charger. Including the local movie theaters, malls, etc. The closest Tesla branded one to my house is in Mansfield. So that is one shopping center within 20 miles that has one.

 

[CL82]

I think you misunderstand "plenty". In CA ever single office building has them. Most restaurants with parking lots have them. They are more common than gas stations.

Near me, Big Y has them. Chilis has them, and my office building has them. But that leaves the 99% of places I would go as places with no charger. Including the local movie theaters, malls, etc. The closest Tesla branded one to my house is in Mansfield. So that is one shopping center within 20 miles that has one.

Somehow I've become a spokesperson for Tesla. Yep, I get that the system isn't perfect and I'm not willing to buy one yet. It is better than I thought it was though.

So can I point out that 99% of the places you go don't have gas either. That doesn't stop you from going there, right? Within 20 miles of home, why would you need one since you "top off your tank" at home anyway. The big issue that I see is road trips. There Tesla has done a great job of making sure that they have superchargers spaced out at a distance of less than 50% of full charge range. That's really all they need to do.

Do you really want to spend 75 minutes waiting for your car to fully charge? I think the cars are great for local and superb for city driving..but if you have to travel any distance on a regular basis they aren't practical IMO...

Nope, but might I willing to take a twenty to 30 minute break after the first 5 hours of driving and then every 3.5 hours of driving. Yeah, probably.

Unless Tesla wants to formalize my standing as spokesperson and pay me, I'm out of the debate.

 

[NJHusky]

Somehow I've become a spokesperson for Tesla. Yep, I get that the system isn't perfect and I'm not willing to buy one yet. It is better than I thought it was though.


Nope, but might I willing to take a twenty to 30 minute break after the first 5 hours of driving and then every 3.5 hours of driving. Yeah, probably.

if the range is 250-300 miles ( I'm sure it degrades over battery life) but that isn't sufficient for me having to wait nearly 2 hours to be able to drive that far again...Not sure how you drive but at 250 miles, with the AC I'm not driving 5 hours...And I don't want to have to plan my trip around a charging station...there are gas stations everywhere

I think the technology is getting better and better and will have real viability in the nearer future. As a local driver I think its great now.

 

[jibsey]

There are electric/hybrid gas cars that get 20 miles of electric then go to gas so long trips no problem. the Fusion. Luxury interior. I know because my wife has had one for 4 years. A lot of short trips around townare handled by the electric. Overall it gets 65 mpg.BMW has one also.

 

[lne001]

I'm not planning on having an electric car in my lifetime. Cars = freedom. I require the ability to continue driving with only short refueling stops. When they have electric cars with 500 miles ranges while traveling over the speed limit, AC and radio on, that can be fully charged in about 3 minutes, let me know.

All of the above are right around the corner; 3 minute charging is asking a lot. How about 15 minutes and a cup of coffee instead.

 

[CL82]

having to wait nearly 2 hours to be able to drive that far again

Kind of the point that you don't have to. In 20-30 minutes you can get 175 miles of charge. Enough to get to the next supercharger. Call it 2.5 hours of driving. Having to stop for 25 minutes every 2.5 hours after driving 5 hours on the first charge is eminently doable.

 

[uconnbill]

If you can place them in the yard and not on the roof that would be best as the insurance companies are charging more if they are on the structure at least in Central Connecticut area. Stick to American made instead of what's made in China. Just better overall quality and if there is an issue it is easier to deal with an American company than one based out of China.

If you rent them, eversouce still charges a delivery charge of $30 dollars or so.

 

[HuskyHawk]

All of the above are right around the corner; 3 minute charging is asking a lot. How about 15 minutes and a cup of coffee instead.

At most locations, no, I don't want to stop for 15 minutes. At the NH rest stop on I-93, sure. But I'm not the target audience. It is much more likely that my next car is body on frame and has a V8 than is electric.

 

[Yankees32123]

You can claim a 30% federal tax credit on the cost of a solar panel system too. I work for the national trade association for the solar industry, and we have a lot of info on that credit here: Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) | SEIA

 

[PhilG]

If you live in a community with an HOA, be sure to check your community charter and covenants. Some communities do not allow them. The rules/laws are different for some states. In some, an HOA is allowed to ban them. In other states, an HOA does not have that authority.