Home solar panels (co-op, house, refrigerators)

[shiba415]

Any recommendations? Need to research this.

[arleigh]

I have solar I built on a trailer, that way it goes with me when I move.
On a permanent home I would put solar on an awning, not the house roof unless that is all that is available.
Secondly, I would do a power wall before being tied to the grid. that way when the grid does go down my home is immune.
The voice of experience.
If overcast reduces solar, then use the grid to charge the power wall, and not the wall to power the grid.

[Arkay66]

We have a bank of big honkin' batteries, so when the power goes off, we don't notice. Even on cloudy days like today, our panels are still producing more than we're consuming.

We tend to export more power to the local co-op than we use -- we're completely solar during daylight hours. We do use the grid at night, when the panels are not producing, but the offset from what we export ensures our electricity bill is pretty much zip.

If you're really interested, please do a lot of research first, so you can choose the solar company that feels right for you, and the amount of battery backup you're willing to pay for. The power bank (batteries) will be the more expensive part. We chose to have only our refrigerators, freezers, one bank of lights, and the internet on our battery backup; we can add more batteries to go full-house backup anytime we feel we can afford to do it. Everything else we can handle until the power comes back (for our nighttime use).

And please ignore the folks who poo poo solar as "never getting your money back", blah blah blah. It's not about that. It's about you having the power you need when you need it. I want my refrigerated medications to stay refrigerated, no matter how hot it gets if the power goes out. That was the driving force behind us having solar installed. I have no idea what the "payback" is, and I don't care. Having our food not spoil and my meds not go off are our payback.