[D'Animal]

Originally Posted by D'Animal

How does a system wire into your exsisting electrical system?

Originally Posted by FJ40_owner

There are two types of systems. Grid tied and a battery system.

A grid inverter receives a DC input of 12 to 600 volts DC and converts DC to AC and synchronises with the grid. Some install two meters, one for production one for use. Some have smart meters and only one is required.

Grid is way cheaper. But when the power goes out and its dark you may be hosed. A battery system will offer quiet power and in the dark also. Batteries are expensive and require some attention and maintenance. I enjoy playing with high current DC.

A guy I know installed a very large system of panels and does grid tied. The advantage is PGE buys his power at a lower rate than usual price, PLUS he can now BUY power from PGE at the much lower rate. He lives in Grass Valley and now heats his home with electricity.

Plus he got a rebate so the install cost him half of full price.

To get a rebate the system must be installed by their contractor.

Originally Posted by LandCruiserPhil

Don't overlook that when supply voltage is decreased amperage increases.

That is why I asked the question above. If I have to tie into my meter, it will require 390' of underground wiring from the shop to the meter on the house. That does not count up the 22' wall and into the solar grid.

If I can plug it into the 200amp junction box in the shop and backfeed through the existing wire, it will cost a lot less. My 400 amp box and meter is on the house.

[LandCruiserPhil]

Originally Posted by D'Animal

That is why I asked the question above. If I have to tie into my meter, it will require 390' of underground wiring from the shop to the meter on the house. That does not count up the 22' wall and into the solar grid.

If I can plug it into the 200amp junction box in the shop and backfeed through the existing wire, it will cost a lot less. My 400 amp box and meter is on the house.

Thats a question for your power company and local inspector. They are all a little different on there requirements. My power company requires all PV equipment (except panels)to be in the same location as the main equipment. Our local inspectors dont know whats going on so if its OK with the power company it alright with them. From a safety point you would want all power providing disconnects to be in the same location. I would suggest a meeting with your power company rep to discuss option.

[gifu]

You don't have to backfeed at the meter, at least not in PG&E territory (SCE, LADWP, SDG&E, Oregon and Arizona... pretty much everywhere else, you do... or at least you need a safety switch at the meter)

There's a section of NEC 690 called the 120% backfeed rule... basically you can backfeed up to 120% of the main panel rating... so, if you have a 200A system, you can back-feed 40A safely onto the busbars. Now, the largest PV system that you can fit onto 40A (you kids with the calculators hang on, it's more complicated then straight ole math), is a 9.6kW DC (aka "Rated" or "PTC") system. General "rule of thumb", is that a 1kW DC system, will produce 1500kWH AC annually. So, that 9.6kW system that you can fit on your 200A panel, will spit out about 14,400 kWH.

If you want anything larger, we'd have to connect via a line-side tap, which circumvents the panel all together and generally means tying into the meter (or at least near it).

[D'Animal]

Is this on the market yet?

Originally Posted by tltaylor22

I would hold off on any solar power for a year or two more. Google "thin film solar". These could potentially change the solar market. They are far cheaper and are currently being made for large megawatt installs. In the next few years they should start into the consumer market. They will bring the payback period into a range that is reasonable. Bang for the buck right now is solar hot water. There are a lot of rebates available and payback is 3-5yrs with a top of the line vac. tube set up. I hope to get the solar hot water installed either before the fall or early in the spring.

[gifu]

between when you started this thread, and today... the cost of an installed solar array has dropped by about $.80/watt... but the rebate has dropped by about $1.00. So, it was cheaper a year ago.

We are the only residential solar company installing thin film on a large scale (First Solar, which is CDTe). What we've seen is that the traditional silicon crystalline module prices have dropped to compete with thinfilm. On residential, I still prefer traditional SO crystalline modules.

to answer your question: No. Thin film is not readily available to the ave. joe homeowner.

[Mace]

How bout just enough for the top of a camper???

Thin film sounds neat for that application..