Going Solar: The Pictures

[Case]

Last week, I posted (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=44616&highlight=Solar) about progress in my solar installation.

So I felt compelled to write an article (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2308692,00.asp) about the install process for my solar power installation, including lots of pictures (http://www.extremetech.com/slideshow_viewer/0,2849,l%253D%2526p%253D1%2526s%253D1005%2526a%253 D227909%2526po%253D1%2526i%253D1,00.asp?p=y).

[Fugitive]

That doesn't actually look half-bad on the roof; I was afraid they were going to be the kind I've seen (albeit probably an older kind) that still had bright, reflective metal strips that made them stick out like a sore thumb.

[cliffski]

hey that's an excellent article. I'm thinking about 9eventually) moving house, so putting off a similar move until then, as I don't think it's worth the grief knowing I'm only here a year or so.
I thought it was scary how much you were having installed, but then you have a family of 4 and a ton of PC's, so I guess its needed.
I'm surprised about all this stuff OUTSIDE the house though. Is this normal? is this all in locked cabinets or something? I'm pretty sure its different in the UK. I'd be wary of having anything pertaining to power supply visibly external to the home. (vandalism etc).

[jpinard]

Very nice. Solar panels sure have changed over the years. I expected it to look a bit more gaudy. The electrical hookup is what floored me. Much more involved than I thought it would be.

[cliffski]

True. surely one day this will be simplified, with a single box you plug the panels into, which plugs into an existing power meter.
We are still technologically at the early days for solar. I'm sure in 10 years time you will read the numbers on this post, look at the pictures and laugh at how bulky, inefficient and expensive stuff like this used to be.

[Case]

Actually, 6KW is probably overkill during the day, even for me. But that's the goal -- to generate more power during the day on sunny days than I need in order to offset the cost of using power at night or in bad weather.

The inverter is pretty much weathertight, and bolted closed. And it is in the back yard. The only thing that worries me is the location of the safety cutoff switch, but that's now out of easy view from the street. Had we left it on the front of the house, we might as well have painted a big arrow pointing towards it, saying "Pull This Switch!" ;-)


hey that's an excellent article. I'm thinking about 9eventually) moving house, so putting off a similar move until then, as I don't think it's worth the grief knowing I'm only here a year or so.
I thought it was scary how much you were having installed, but then you have a family of 4 and a ton of PC's, so I guess its needed.
I'm surprised about all this stuff OUTSIDE the house though. Is this normal? is this all in locked cabinets or something? I'm pretty sure its different in the UK. I'd be wary of having anything pertaining to power supply visibly external to the home. (vandalism etc).

[shift6]

Great article LC, thanks.

[Balasarius]

Awesome, thanks.

[Reldan]

So the panels pump at peak around 5.5 KW every hour into your house. Is the estimate that you'll be generating 8,271 KW/h per year based on the assumption of cloudy weather? It sounds like on that's expecting an average of around 4.5 hours worth of solid sunshine every day.

I'm just trying to understand how this all works - I'm going to try and convince my father that this kind of thing would be a good improvement to a house he's planning on buying in the near future.

[Case]

That's the estimate. Remember, sunshine is weaker in winter (even in northern CA), because the angle is lower. Also, you typically only get that peak for an hour or so a day.

I'm having a monitoring system installed Wednesday, so I hope to have a good month's worth of hard data to report in a follow-up article.


So the panels pump at peak around 5.5 KW every hour into your house. Is the estimate that you'll be generating 8,271 KW/h per year based on the assumption of cloudy weather? It sounds like on that's expecting an average of around 4.5 hours worth of solid sunshine every day.

I'm just trying to understand how this all works - I'm going to try and convince my father that this kind of thing would be a good improvement to a house he's planning on buying in the near future.

[Reldan]

That's the estimate. Remember, sunshine is weaker in winter (even in northern CA), because the angle is lower. Also, you typically only get that peak for an hour or so a day.

I'm having a monitoring system installed Wednesday, so I hope to have a good month's worth of hard data to report in a follow-up article.

Awesome, I'm looking forward to that. I'm leery about a lot of the data I see on solar panels because they rarely get into great detail about the everyday performance. Also it seems like most of the data either comes from places trying to sell the panels, environmentalist types who see no problem with enhancing the truth, or non-objective owners who may easily be prone to exaggerating/rationalizing their purchase.