Do it yourself home solar power?
Friday, July 31st, 2009 at
9:15 pm
Anybody have any personal experience (good or bad) with do it yourself solar power kits to hook up to the home? I’ve seen a lot on the Internet. The same company is both recommended and warned that it’s a rip off, depending on the website. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks!
Filed under: Solar Homes
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I have been living on a stand alone solar system for about 16 years now, so maybe I can help you out a little. Last week, a friend of mine, called me and asked me to help him find out which of his panels were bad and after spending about 2 hours , we found 3 of them. They are all about 10 years old, and after calling one of the local solar places, found that all three would be exchanged for 90% of the full value, which means that he will be out only about 150.00 instead of about 1500.00. That is the reason that all of us out here in the boonies living off the grid will not even consider building our own panels. Mine have a 25 year warranty on them and the company is very good about it. Yes , the initial cost is going to be high, but years down the road you will be very happy about this choice should you choose to go with it. If you attempt to build your own, you on your own, Forever. Good luck with whatever to choose to do. Rock
Look you can definitely build your own solar power kit if you have got reasonable DIY skills and access to parts.
In that sense I don’t think the guides or the ones I have seen are a rip offs and some of the better ones include step by step videos as well.
It all depends on what you want to achieve and the amount of sunlight in your area.
What some of them don’t tell you is how many panels you might need to make a big difference to your costs. You are not going of the grid big time with 1 panel ! Solar is still not that efficient which is why some of these guides combine solar with wind generators which are more eficient
A reasonable sized solar panel could provide you with approximately 1KWh of solar energy per week. This is enough to operate things like your laptop for around 40 hours, medium sized TV for about 20 hours, or one of those new compact-fluorescent 12-watt light bulbs for around 80 hours worth of light. With an inverter it could also handle things like small size vacuums, coffee makers, toasters, even a microwave just to mention a few.
Actually come to think about it a number of these firms offer a 60 day guarantee I think which isn’t to bad.
Best of luck in your choice
If you want to hook up a standalone system for the fun of it, you can do something for a few hundred dollars. It will not be cheaper than simply buying grid electricity, just so you know. There are kits at places like Harbor Freight and Northern Tool. The review I read suggest that the so-called 15-watt panels of the kit are really 5 watts, but it’s still a fun thing to do if you’re so inclined.
If your goal is to save money, you’ll need to install a much larger system, likely costing from $10-20k, after incentives. It’s a nontrivial project, but doable if you’re the type that would build their own room addition and wire it. It may or may not be cheaper to wire it yourself than to hire a professional. A pro will charge for labor, but they will also get better prices on the components than you can.
We installed our own. It was not a kit, really – I calculated what we wanted first, then shopped for components. My email is in my profile, if you want to ask anything.
If you want to run an exoeriment for the kids to demonstrate the power of the sun these cheap kits a are great
If you want to power your house listen to Rock above