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Solar Power

Any of you guys gone solar? I've been doing quite a bit of research lately and finding a lot of people trying to make the sale, but not as many honest reviews of real users. What's you take?

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  • A friend of mine just had Tesla install a 8.1KW system for him in California. He said the install crew were pros. They broke 3 tiles on his roof and had replacements with them. He figures about 5.5 years payback time.

    This is from the e-mail he sent the day of the install.

    "Tesla solar installations have a good reputation among my neighbors. The "front office" can be hard to deal with but the quality of the system is top-notch. And the good part is - for what you get, a TESLA system is cheaper than others. I have priced from SunRun and through Costco. They were both much more expensive.

    I would highly recommend Tesla for any solar installation. And --- if you plan on buying a system from them, I have a referral number that - if you use, Tesla will give me a $500 "referral fee" that I"ll share 50/50 with you."

    He ordered his system the day before they started to require a backup battery with your order.

    Ron

  • R.O.I. of 5.5 years doesnt sound that bad to me . I wonder if that figures in rebates/tax credits as well?

  • Knowing my friend, he probably looked at every conceivable angle when calculating R.O.I.

    Ron

  • I would jump on a 5.5 year payback. Our electric bill doesn't break everything down, but in July we used 2100 kwh. It cost us $201. Unless going with used panels, best I can tell we are looking at something like a 14 year payback on a grid tie system. We generally get several storm related power outages a year and it would be nice to have a battery option but that almost doubles the price. The Tesla PowerWall is very competitive with the other battery options.
    It looks like the only incentive here is a 22% federal tax credit.

  • Any good diy solar forums to join?

  • A couple friends of mine who are realtors have told me to steer way clear of solar systems (electrical) for resale reasons. They didn't list specifics, but alluded to simething more than ROI. This may apply only to Illinois, IDK.

  • Craig, I've seen it touted that a solar array can increase your home value by as much as 4%, and I think for $300 I could put a fresh coat of paint on the house, and increase its value more than 4%. After a search, yet to find where it would decrease the property value but have seen where it may decrease the neighbor's property value. If you run into your real estate friends I'd be interested in what they have to say about it.

    Thinking out loud ... maybe a better route would be to build a small test array for pop's hunting cabin. Pick up some b grade panels, say 6 250watt panels ($40+shipping total~$400, shipping price will be the same for up to 30 panels), inverter+charge controller ($500), and a couple deep cycle batteries ($200) should power a small air conditioner or heater during the day and charge a couple deep cycle batteries for lights, radio or tv, during the night. With everything needed to hook it all up, $1300? Considerably more expensive than a portable gas generator but no gas to buy, and most importantly, no noise at camp.

  • @Kornbread said:
    Craig, I've seen it touted that a solar array can increase your home value by as much as 4%, and I think for $300 I could put a fresh coat of paint on the house, and increase its value more than 4%. After a search, yet to find where it would decrease the property value but have seen where it may decrease the neighbor's property value. If you run into your real estate friends I'd be interested in what they have to say about it.

    Thinking out loud ... maybe a better route would be to build a small test array for pop's hunting cabin. Pick up some b grade panels, say 6 250watt panels ($40+shipping total~$400, shipping price will be the same for up to 30 panels), inverter+charge controller ($500), and a couple deep cycle batteries ($200) should power a small air conditioner or heater during the day and charge a couple deep cycle batteries for lights, radio or tv, during the night. With everything needed to hook it all up, $1300? Considerably more expensive than a portable gas generator but no gas to buy, and most importantly, no noise at camp.

                      
    

    Where are you getting the B-grade panels? Also, there are hospital Lithium cells going pretty cheap used and still has over 80% life left - again - i don't have a source...

  • edited September 2021

    Cheap used $40 panels; snail trails, cracked vinyl on back, often called 'white label' or have the original manufacturer's name tag removed so they are off-grid only. They cannot be connected to the grid! The vinyl can be 'repaired' with stuff like silicone roof coating but since cracked vinyl has already allowed some moisture in ... no way to fix that.
    Many of the new panels are ~400w or more, and anywhere from $300-$600.
    If that cabin experiment works out, seriously going to try and give it a go with diy'ing a substantial system for the house using used but fully functional panels which can be grid tied.
    Shipping sucks and is done by the pallet. One or thirty panels, shipping is the same $150 - $250.
    I had looked a round for those reported cheap lipo batteries and didn't have any luck but in general, they are becoming much more affordable.

    https://store.santansolar.com/product-category/solar-panels/?utm_source=Menu&utm_medium=Header&utm_campaign=Solar%20Panels

    https://ebay.com/itm/283884016396?mkevt=1&mkpid=2&emsid=0&mkcid=8&bu=43941294434&osub=77ded2e38795c3e4f41ff007bde1e6e7%257ETE80101_T_AGM&segname=TE80101_T_AGM&crd=20210914100500&ch=osgood&trkId=0ACB45E0-61D45092230-017B9EB5CEE5-00000000028CEB72&mesgId=3002&plmtId=700001&recoId=283884016396&recoPos=4&sojTags=osub%3Dosub%2Csegname%3Dsegname%2Ccrd%3Dcrd%2Cch%3Dch%2CtrkId%3DtrkId%2CmesgId%3DmesgId%2CplmtId%3DplmtId%2CrecoId%3DrecoId%2CrecoPos%3DrecoPos%2Cchnl%3Dmkcid

    $.27/watt https://ebay.com/itm/194293715511?campaign-id=90001&run-date=20210912100000&templateId=c9bb7c1b-7d13-47db-a41b-43e64b1b36cc&templateVersion=756&co=15002&placement-type=mfe.rt1&user-id=43941294434&instance=1631466000&site-id=0&trackingCode=TE76001_T_AGM&placement-type-name=mfe.rt1&mfe-Id=101270&mkevt=1&mkpid=2&emsid=0&mkcid=8&bu=43941294434&osub=f7040e579b51d7df36cbd444ec40e98c%257ETE76001_T_AGM&segname=TE76001_T_AGM&crd=20210912100000&ch=osgood&sojTags=osub%3Dosub%2Csegname%3Dsegname%2Ccrd%3Dcrd%2Cch%3Dch%2Cchnl%3Dmkcid

  • Have a pallet of good panels on the way. 21 Trina 255w with 4 Hyundai 260 watt panels for pop's cabin. Shipping was $350 to a somewhat local freight depot. Counting panels, charge controller, batteries, and inverter, it should be <$1.3k for something capable of running ac or some power tools while the sun is out. Or a fan, radio, lights, frig for the night. If he doesn't want to go that far, I'll just throw up one panel and size everything to that. Really hope some random meth head doesn't wander by and steal this stuff.

    Yeah, I know. Could have bought a gas generator for less than half that.

    Want to do a grid connect hybrid system for the house. A hybrid system will still feed the house power when the sun is up, even if the grid is down. Generally, a grid connect system shuts everything down if the grid goes down, even if the sun is shining. My first thought was battery backup, but dude, have you priced enough batteries to run a house for twelve hours? KaRazy. They are more than the entire solar system.

    Have to research a ton of regulations for connecting to the grid.

    ani_1016thplanetrjj45
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