Post by tytower on May 25, 2017 21:55:33 GMT
I have been looking for panels and systems and was lucky enough to attract a guy who had changed his solar system to a hire type system in Queensland Australia. He hires the panels and inverter and his input to the grid is supposed to cover his monthly payment and give him some back ?
I'm waiting to see what he thinks about that after a few months.
Panels
However he offered me his 10 panels which are 250 watt jobs for $20 each. No Inverter , the installers took that.I guess it was only a 2.5KWH type anyway. I snapped it up even though it was a full day drive to get them and a day back . Mounting hardware and rails came with.
There is conflicting data on the web page but it says Perlight Solar started in 2006 so they can't be more than 11 years old and the PDF for a similar 60 cell panel warrants 90% at 10 years old . Well I don't think they are putting out better than about 70% atm and voltage is at about 90V with 3 panels so they seem to be passing on voltage fine.I had them attached to my 48V battery system but had lots of problems with the batteries so I decided to go to grid connected with them.
Inverter
Then I advertised for an inverter and there were a few around but they still wanted big bucks . Considering if you buy this way there is no way to test it before you buy . There is no way to test it after you buy until it is attached to a system and there is no way to test a grid tied inverter without an electrician connecting it in to the grid which means you have to pay the powerco up front .Thats the legal way anyway. What you do with your own system under 120V DC is up to you until you want to connect to somebody else's grid!
Dilema ! There is no warranty either of course. So they should be cheap to buy second hand. The sellers I came across were fresh into selling them mostly and did not realise they have to be cheap for me to buy them .
Eventually negotiated a 1.5KWH job for $70. Put it all together with 6 panels initially ,got approval and an electrician did the install check and I had the the panels on the roof and had run the cabling. One of the panels still had a switch attached so I removed that and he placed it inside for access.
So there it is , a 1.5 KWH system for $270 plus installation
Results
Interestingly I don't know how old these panels are and don't know how to find out . The owner did not know. Probably 10 years or more judging by their output -about 800 watts at a pretty sunny time. See above . So I put 2 more panels in the string as I had plenty of headroom to the 1.5KWH and the inverter says maximum input 1875 watts so it should be safe. Its now showing 240V input .
Anyone done this or have any thoughts to share on this?
I'm waiting to see what he thinks about that after a few months.
Panels
However he offered me his 10 panels which are 250 watt jobs for $20 each. No Inverter , the installers took that.I guess it was only a 2.5KWH type anyway. I snapped it up even though it was a full day drive to get them and a day back . Mounting hardware and rails came with.
There is conflicting data on the web page but it says Perlight Solar started in 2006 so they can't be more than 11 years old and the PDF for a similar 60 cell panel warrants 90% at 10 years old . Well I don't think they are putting out better than about 70% atm and voltage is at about 90V with 3 panels so they seem to be passing on voltage fine.I had them attached to my 48V battery system but had lots of problems with the batteries so I decided to go to grid connected with them.
Inverter
Then I advertised for an inverter and there were a few around but they still wanted big bucks . Considering if you buy this way there is no way to test it before you buy . There is no way to test it after you buy until it is attached to a system and there is no way to test a grid tied inverter without an electrician connecting it in to the grid which means you have to pay the powerco up front .Thats the legal way anyway. What you do with your own system under 120V DC is up to you until you want to connect to somebody else's grid!
Dilema ! There is no warranty either of course. So they should be cheap to buy second hand. The sellers I came across were fresh into selling them mostly and did not realise they have to be cheap for me to buy them .
Eventually negotiated a 1.5KWH job for $70. Put it all together with 6 panels initially ,got approval and an electrician did the install check and I had the the panels on the roof and had run the cabling. One of the panels still had a switch attached so I removed that and he placed it inside for access.
So there it is , a 1.5 KWH system for $270 plus installation
Results
Interestingly I don't know how old these panels are and don't know how to find out . The owner did not know. Probably 10 years or more judging by their output -about 800 watts at a pretty sunny time. See above . So I put 2 more panels in the string as I had plenty of headroom to the 1.5KWH and the inverter says maximum input 1875 watts so it should be safe. Its now showing 240V input .
Anyone done this or have any thoughts to share on this?