Loving my room mount PV array!!!

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bryankloos

Member
Oct 31, 2013
132
Weston, CT
Hey guys,

I more often over on the stove thread or wood forum. Now I'm here!!!

Just wanted to say how happy I am with my mostly DIY 19.84k grid tied solar array. I have been watching production from my enlighten app and my Neurio app and just can't get enough of this! Best day of the year was today at 59kWh.

The install was completed last October and I was cleared to energize in December. Needless to say not the best time of the year. It's fun watching the production improve each day as the sun hours and angles increase.

Now I just need to finish my taxes and get my Fed and State rebates! Icing on the cake.

I joke with my neighbor about him just cutting me a check instead of sending it to the POCO.
 
Congrats! Was it hard to get the DIY system certified, or did you get some instructions and an inspection?
 
I did it all by the books, with myself serving as the GC. Applications, Permiting, Inspections, Engineering Analysis, Design, Structural Improvements, Electrical, etc.

I hired out a local roofing company with solar experience to help me out, as I needed to replace the roof as well. I basically had them help me do the install of the racking and panels. Everything else was done by me.

There were a lot of hoops to jump through, but other than my time it wasn't too difficult. It was well worth the money saved paying someone else to run around and take care of all the little details.

The array is split between East and West facing roofs. LG310s black with enphase S280 microinverters, all on iron ridge racking. Roof penetrations were under the panels with soladecks so no wires or conduit show. 64 panels total, collecting the rays and turning my net-meter backwards. Good stuff!
 
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bryankloos said:
I joke with my neighbor about him just cutting me a check instead of sending it to the POCO.
Click to expand...

I know how you feel, been there, done that (August 2013). The sun just keeps coming up... I just keep collecting the sunshine and putting it to good use. I don't joke with my neighbors about electric bills anymore. They always got frowning faces and had steam exiting their ears when I rattled off the sum total of my electric bills for the last year. (and I only have a 4.4kW array, which basically negates the expense of running the A/C down here in the tropics in my all electric house).
 
bryankloos said:
Hey guys,

I more often over on the stove thread or wood forum. Now I'm here!!!

Just wanted to say how happy I am with my mostly DIY 19.84k grid tied solar array. ......
Click to expand...

I'm envious

That's a lot of power. I run my house, electric hot water,air to air heat pump, and my chevy volt with 4.6 kw....what do you do with it all? Smelt aluminium?

Well..I do heat mostly with wood, but still..

I have a$1400 credit with the poco
 
Yes, it is a lot of power.
Its a 3400sq ft colonial built in 1976. Average insulation at best.
I have dual AC units (2.5 and 3 ton) for the upstairs and downstairs respectively.
The pool pump runs from May through September.
2 young kids.
Electric clothes dryer.
Can lights in most rooms (well over 100 BR30s in the house)
Happy lights around the deck and some tree lights on the property.
Computer and Server for home office/business.

I've tried to tighten things up over the past couple years (LEDs, Heat Pump Water Heater, Efficient pool pump).

When I designed the array, I had approx. 20,000 kWh as the goal. We will see if I hit the target. That said, as I've made efficiency improvements the target should decrease a bit...
 
bryankloos said:
Yes, it is a lot of power.
........
Click to expand...

Ah.. that explains it

Way before I had the 4.6 kw system I had an early 1 kW install. To meet power production I went through the house metering everything. I was ready to blame my wife for overuse, but turns out it was me. Back then I had a c/ku band satellite habit and continuously powering the LNBs drew a lot of power. I put everything in the entertainment cabinet on a switch. These days I rarely turn it on, everything video is on low power tablets

The next biggest user was the Fridge. I eventually bought a commercial model that uses less than 1 kWh/day

I replaced all the lights first with compact fluorescents, and later with LEDs

Biggest surprise was the shallow well pump. It used almost nothing . Later the city provided water and sewer
 
Ahhh, refrigeration.
I forgot to mention 2 full size fridges, a chest freezer which is converted to a kegerator, and another chest freezer that gets used to ferment homebrew. Oh, and the wifes wine fridge.
 
EatenByLimestone said:
I think you'd make my monthly usage in 4 days. I averaged 177kwh last year.
Click to expand...

Brings up an interesting question.. why limit use when you can harvest all you need?

I realize there is a burden on the utility for load leveling from day to night, and winter to summer, but daily load leveling is now done with batteries (albeit an emerging technology, but at least a commercialized one, see Tesla or Enphase).

Even the winter summer problem goes away with enough panels. My system, optimized for summer because of shallow roof pitch, produces roughly half the energy in January than it does in August

I say the day of the renewable energy hair shirt is over, just load up on PV panels.
 
I did it as a long term plan. I'd love to go solar in the future, but don't like the idea of grid tie. Once batteries are cheap enough to become mainstream I can see where lots of people leave the grid. The less power I use, the smaller the system I'll need to realize the dream.

The other obstacle I see is snow. I like snow on the roof. It provides a noticeable amount of insulation on the roof. If I have panels up there I can't enjoy the benefits of the snow.
 
bryankloos said:
Hey guys,

I more often over on the stove thread or wood forum. Now I'm here!!!

Just wanted to say how happy I am with my mostly DIY 19.84k grid tied solar array. I have been watching production from my enlighten app and my Neurio app and just can't get enough of this! Best day of the year was today at 59kWh.

The install was completed last October and I was cleared to energize in December. Needless to say not the best time of the year. It's fun watching the production improve each day as the sun hours and angles increase.

Now I just need to finish my taxes and get my Fed and State rebates! Icing on the cake.

I joke with my neighbor about him just cutting me a check instead of sending it to the POCO.
Click to expand...

CT resident here as well and would love to see what your bill looks like. I assume you have Eversource? Just started a thread as I am looking into installing panels. I would love to diy but after what I dealt with just to get a deck built in my town I could only imagine what I would have to deal with for panels. What did you get for state rebates?
 
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