The Greg's Grid Tie Solar Project

[Gregski]

Not quite sure about your efficiency figure. What went it and what went out?


You did what?

in some American homes you can use natural gas instead of 240 volt 30 amp electricity in your clothes dryer machine, the gas clothes dryers only use standard/regular 110v 15 amp power freeing up the big 240 volt plug/circuit

allow me to insult your intelligence with this video:

[robertwa]

Gas powered dryer

[Gregski]

so it's been a while since I posted an update, here I am in my new house, yes I moved again, to what appears to be the world's least solar panel friendly domicile, so here I was doing the best I could

here they are facing South but this side of the house gets so much shade that this really sucked !

[Gregski]

anyway here I am not bending a knee to the HOA, those of you blessed enuff to not be familiar with the Home Owners Association may not get what I am trying to say here, lucky you

as you can see I have now graduated to these blue grid tie inverters, this one is a 45-90 dc voltage input

here we are in the Fall (November) with the panels facing South

so here we have six 200 watt solar panels for a total of 1,200 watts pulling in 860 watts of solarness, so approximately (860/1200=71.6) so 70% efficiency? they are connected in pairs so panel 1 + panel 2, panel 3 + panel 4, and panel 5 + panel 6 so the input voltage is just above 70 volts, well within the 45-90 range of that inverter

so this setup counting everything including cables is less than $1,500 bucks

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

those of you blessed enuff to not be familiar with the Home Owners Association may not get what I am trying to say here, lucky you

An HOA community is perfect for the type of people who want all the expenses, responsibilities, uncertainties and liabilities of owning a home, but who miss the restrictiveness of only being a renter!

Every HOA is staffed by people who's passion in life is being a know-it-all busybody, who've now been given authority over their neighbors. It is the final evolution of the Karen. Her most powerful form.

And because these people have no interests in their life other than gossip and bossing people around, the rules they create for others to follow involve the only acceptable activity of providing them gossip. You can't have a hobby, it'll be banned. You can't be creative, it'll be banned. You can't make your own decisions, they'll be banned. The rules also apply to them, but again, they don't have hobbies or interests or individuality that could be affected by them, it's why they're on the HOA.

The only way any HOA member could actually make the world a better place is if they themselves fell into a woodchipper. I would happily fertilize the greenspace with their minced corpses so they can forever enjoy their afterlife doing the things they love most: measuring the grass and being full of shit.

3 kinds of HOA members:

1 - Powertripping busybodies, as above.

2 - Lonely people who don't do anything and serve no purpose. They avoid arguments and controversy and thus always vote to agree with the loudest voices in the room.

3 - People who don't want the job but want someone sane in the room to keep the other two types out and just maintain the infrastructure.

...

I'm on an HOA. Never... again. I'd rather live in the ghetto.

So I bought a house in the ghetto. It's everything I dreamed it could be.

[alexbeatle]

An HOA community is perfect for the type of people who want all the expenses, responsibilities, uncertainties and liabilities of owning a home, but who miss the restrictiveness of only being a renter!

Every HOA is staffed by people who's passion in life is being a know-it-all busybody, who've now been given authority over their neighbors. It is the final evolution of the Karen. Her most powerful form.

And because these people have no interests in their life other than gossip and bossing people around, the rules they create for others to follow involve the only acceptable activity of providing them gossip. You can't have a hobby, it'll be banned. You can't be creative, it'll be banned. You can't make your own decisions, they'll be banned. The rules also apply to them, but again, they don't have hobbies or interests or individuality that could be affected by them, it's why they're on the HOA.

The only way any HOA member could actually make the world a better place is if they themselves fell into a woodchipper. I would happily fertilize the greenspace with their minced corpses so they can forever enjoy their afterlife doing the things they love most: measuring the grass and being full of shit.

3 kinds of HOA members:

1 - Powertripping busybodies, as above.

2 - Lonely people who don't do anything and serve no purpose. They avoid arguments and controversy and thus always vote to agree with the loudest voices in the room.

3 - People who don't want the job but want someone sane in the room to keep the other two types out and just maintain the infrastructure.

...

I'm on an HOA. Never... again. I'd rather live in the ghetto.

So I bought a house in the ghetto. It's everything I dreamed it could be.

I feel you. Because this is what I'm coping with too:(

[Gregski]

well after 8 months the roof was finally wet enuff and slippery enuff [think February] to climb on up there and temporarily affix the six 200 watt Newpowa solar panels facing South like the sun gods intended

I am using super duper heavy plates to keep the panels from sliding down so that I don't drill into the roof as this is a rental property and I do not own it

I purchased these panels from Newpowa via eBay for $200 bones each [so $1.00 per watt] I refuse to pay more than that made up heuristic

[arber333]

I am using super duper heavy plates to keep the panels from sliding down so that I don't drill into the roof as this is a rental property and I do not own it

Nice job!
Please let me know what kind of rope you are using. I was thinking of simply using 6mm2 cables with lugs crimped on both ends and fixed by bolts to the solar panels.

I would guess direct sunlight would make short work of the rope...

[Alibro]

I'm not sure how they are fitted in US but over here concrete roof tiles can be slid up to get access to the timber underneath.
In the old days only 1 in 4 or 5 were nailed but the nails are really soft aluminium and a good kick will break them.
Once the tile is pushed up you can screw in a bracket made for the job, then pull the tile back down to cover it with just the bracket sticking out.

[Gregski]

Nice job!
Please let me know what kind of rope you are using. I was thinking of simply using 6mm2 cables with lugs crimped on both ends and fixed by bolts to the solar panels.

I would guess direct sunlight would make short work of the rope...

EVERBILT 3/32 in x 50 ft 184 lb working load limit galvanized uncoated wire rope (with enhanced rust protection) $15 bucks at Home Depot

[Gregski]

I'm not sure how they are fitted in US but over here concrete roof tiles can be slid up to get access to the timber underneath.
In the old days only 1 in 4 or 5 were nailed but the nails are really soft aluminium and a good kick will break them.
Once the tile is pushed up you can screw in a bracket made for the job, then pull the tile back down to cover it with just the bracket sticking out.

thanks, but I do not plan on staying long term in this house, just until I retire, then it's adios California - so I did not want to do anything permanent, plus it's a rental

also my wife used to work at the Department of Consumer Affairs (one of the many State Departments here in California) and while she was there a few years ago, they were literally forming and dedicating one whole unit / division to deal with nothing but bad poor quality professional solar panel installations, they had that many complaints about broken tiles, ruined roofs and leaks galore, major major warrantee issues and battles

[Gregski]

and here is the SUN-1000G2-H 45-90 volts DC grid tie inverter I am using now, $200 bones on eBay

the goal for this year is to finally add batteries to this solution to have some DC juice after the sun goes down

don't tell me this aint no Green Solution

it was 8:00 am on a very overcast and misty morning

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

don't tell me this aint no Green Solution

Did the math boys, it all checks out. The bin is in fact green.

[Gregski]

Did the math boys, it all checks out. The bin is in fact green.

LoL, and in the second pic it's even [ahem] grounded !

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

LoL, and in the second pic it's even [ahem] grounded !

[Gregski]

so here is how this little 1,200 watt South facing system is doing in February 2025

not making any excuses but last night I noticed that my solar production starts at 7:00 am and stops at 5:00 pm when the sun disappears behind the 2 story house, west of my single story, oh well, I think the sun will be higher in the sky in the summer and may produce until 7:00 pm

so since I put the panels on the roof a couple days ago I generate 6 kWh of energy from the sun a day and with a peak of 876 watts using 1,200 watts of panels that is 73% efficiency (I think that number can get up to 75% in the summer time)

[Gregski]

still just using this single Emporia $12 dollar smart plug to monitor my system, I dig it because being a dinosaur you can still use a computer to monitor it, other plugs only offer apps for your phone

that is one sexy bell curve if I do say so myself

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

still just using this single Emporia $12 dollar smart plug to monitor my system, I dig it because being a dinosaur you can still use a computer to monitor it, other plugs only offer apps for your phone

*perks up*

I basically ignore all integrated devices because it's always some random dogshit app I'm forced to install that wants access to everything on my phone to perform a simple task.

An IOT device that you can check on an actual computer? I'm game!

[Gregski]

and here is what that day looked like from the perspective of my Electric Company, the green shows me selling energy back to them

ideally that's when I would like to charge my electric 2022 Hyndai Ioniq 5 (the world's sexiest electric crossover) because when they buy electricity from me they don't pay me the same as when I buy it from them, you get the idea

[Alibro]

Can't you get cheaper power at night and slightly more expensive during the day?

[Gregski]

Can't you get cheaper power at night and slightly more expensive during the day?

sorry I would love to answer that, but it appear The Cloud is down !

[Gregski]

Can't you get cheaper power at night and slightly more expensive during the day?

thank you for your patience, your inquiry is very important to us... lol

so here is a lookie look at my electric daily rates, yes my town's utility statement looks like what would happen if your wireless telephone and credit card companies had a baby

Some Perspective: in 2014 when we leased a 2013 Nissan Leaf for three years the same electric company offered EV Rates from 8:00 pm until 8:00 am, if my memory servers me right (and my memory is so bad I can hide my own Easter eggs)

Now, ten years later, they have shrunk that window to Midnight until 6:00 am. I am able to set my charging via the Hyndai Ioniq 5 (pronounced: "the world's sexiest RWD only silver hatch back") app to only charge in that window, which I tried but then reverted back to Charge When Ever The Hell I Want - CWEtHIW schedule

[Gregski]

last day before Daylight Savings Time begins, what are your feeling about this [ahem] scam, I hate the winter hours

anyway I can look at the graph below all day, the green signifies me selling electricity back to my electric company, making my household an Official Power Plant, aka OPP yeah you know me (sorry couldn't resist)

Trivia Time: What States in the [ahem] "United" States do not participate in the Daylight Savings Time?

[Alibro]

Agreed, I hate the winter hours and always long for the longer days after the last Sunday in March.
Why they take away an hour a day every Autumn is beyond me, I mean to say, 23 hours in a day is not enough!

Sadly I'm waaaaaaay to stupid to understand your graph at a glance and similarly too lazy to try and figure it out so instead will pretend I understand it perfectly and choose not to answer.

My leccy is half price between 2am and 8am so I set my charger to charge my MG EV then. The MG is too stupid to have an app so I have to use the EVSE to control the charging times and as it has the worst app ever written, once I have it set I don't touch it.

I have been working off and on (but mostly off) at getting my Freelander to charge at night and also have the house battery charging at night so I'm trying to avoid paying for any daytime leccy at all. Mostly this works.

Now the sun is appearing a few times per week I've set the night time house battery to charge for only one hour. Hopefully I'll be able to reduce this to not at all over the summer.

[Alibro]

Ok I managed to spend more than a few milliseconds looking at the graph and it all make perfect sense.
I was thrown by the strange random looking numbers with the degree symbol beside them, then it occurred they may refer to some ancient prehistoric measurement for temperature. Bizarre!
After several hours scouring the Internet looking for a way to translate these numbers into something that can be read by modern man I gave up.
Then by pure luck I happened upon a stone age thermostat the wife keeps on the wall and low and behold there it was. Deg F with Deg C right beside it.
So in this archaic language it seems the high temp of 70F is the same as 21C and the low 39F is about 4C
These are very pleasant temperatures for March but I guess you pay the price in July and August.