i don't know what your wattage needs are...if you get a chance...take a look at these portable systems...the lithium ion phosphate in these blueetti inverters...completely recharge ...4,500 -5,000 times...that's about 12 years...also ...the inverters will plug into wall outlet or 12V...several wattage choices....panels are portable...quick in or out
My intention was to have enough power to run well pump and refrigerator maybe a couple other low voltage items. Nothing big but we have lost power here in Florida for weeks a couple times over the years and it isn't fun. Something as simple as a fan or little ice can save a life in heat waves. And we all need water to survive. I would like to get a couple lithium batteries though, waiting for price to drop may have been a bad idea .
if you can get them....price is going up...China supplies of course...and...they're mining another mineral to replace the lithium...won't be as reliable
Here's my installation so far. Because of the type of roof I put on this summer the panels are a challenge to install. Twice I've had them fastened, thought of a better way, dismounted them, redid the mounting and reinstalled them. I think I've got a good solution this time. For whatever reason you have to click the image name to show it on a full sized image. The thumbnails display without the click.
Is that a metal roof? Man, that's quite the challenging installation. On the other hand, one dilemma for solar installations is how to replace the shingles when you got panels on top of them. In your case, that roof will outlast more than one generation of panels. I assume that you did not fasten those 2x4s to the roof material.
I wish it were metal. It's corrugated asphault. I had signed a contract for $20,000 to have the whole back half of the roof covered with solar panels. A stipulation was that I install a new roof before the installation. I was under some money pressure and I went with the corrugated asphault as the cheapest and easiest to install. I did the roof myself. Then the Suntuity company says they wouldn't install over this type of roof. It's true that it won't last as long as, say, 30 year shingles but there are some tricks I know to make it last longer. I needed those 2 x 3s you refer to as false rafters to fasten the horizontal 1 x 4 stringers to. They're fastened right in the valleys of the corrugations with one long lag screw through the roof sheathing and then heavily sealed with an excellent rubberized roofing cement that stays flexible. I don't expect any long term problems with anything I've done so far. My picture shows the first two panels. There will be at least 4 more along with additional deep cycle batteries to match the solar panel output. Whether I install more after that depends on how the numbers work out with energy gained and tax credits and so on.
This book on solar power is free on Amazon Kindle today, and it might be of interest to you, @Dwight Ward . Here is the link to download it for free; but mostly they go back to regular price in a day or two, so if you are interested , you have to get it right now. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BLM58R4D/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=ed4580a4-7469-4d28-846f-c8dfaf56f9ed
Yvonne, I read that is a great book to have, we got the " Solar for Dummies " book. I did all kinds of research on solar but now I have forgotten most of it. Jake is really good with things like that, and he has the book too.
What do you think of circuit protection? I studied this several years ago along with some people on another and decided on fuses instead of breakers.
I saw where I can read it online for free but didn't find any link to download it. Mayne I missed something so I'll try again later. Thanks, Yvonne.
Marie, what do you think is an advantage of one over the other? Fuses might be okay for low amperage applications but for serious power I'd go with breakers. I don't know it all though.
You need to have the Kindle app to download it with your amazon account information, @Dwight Ward . You should be able to have it on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone, pretty much anything that you can go online with. You will be reading it online once you download the Kindle app.
I wasn't going with serious power but from what I learned several years ago fuses are less dangerous with the one we were going with and in some cases larger ones. It may be good to watch the video I put up or find another one for better info on it. I don't have the cognitive ability's I did 6 or 8 years ago maybe it was the stroke, not sure.