Ali, that is awesome! And hear I thought I was the man by remodeling my bathroom and kitchen myself.
Great job!!
Great job!!
Deck shade structure that turned into a grid tie solar PV project!!
- Thread starter alia176
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- #42
*** update **
The system has been wrapped up and online. The production rate has been at a steady range from 15kwh - 22kwh. The North string has too much shading to be useful during the summer so I have it disconnected. I took three of the angular panels that were in the North string and moved them to the South string. So, the South string now has 17 panels and consistently produce a decent amount of KWH.
During the winter, I'll bring the North string into the mix and see how both strings perform when the sun is lower on the horizon.
Picture of the system below. Pardon my red neck tarp hanging as walls but during the monsoon season, I need to keep the water out of the work shop/storage space below the deck. I hope to build out this area soon once funding becomes more available.
Never have I ever been excited about receiving the electric bill as I've been this month
My system went online on 7/23/12 and I missed about eight days of production due to system testing and checking. So, basically missed about half of the billing cycle saw no solar production. Still, last month's usage was 473 kwh and this month's usage was 111 kwh. 
Can't wait to see next month's bill.
On a side note, I was working on our well pump house which is far from the house. I glanced up at the utility meter and noticed that the thing was spinning in reverse. Having never actually eye witnessed such an event, I was pleasantly surprised. What really got me was that the sky was completely and utterly clouded over. It's the monsoon season here in NM so we've been getting afternoon T storms pretty regularly. Still, enough radiation from the sun was enough for my system to produce some power, thus making the meter spin backwards.
In order to quantify the "rate" of spin (nerd alert
), I called up the house and had the wife turn on the evaporating cooler fan on low speed. This slowed down the rate of the backward spinning meter quite a bit but didn't stop it. When she switched the blower to high speed, the meter actually STOPPED. In another words, the clouds were producing enough juice to power an 11amp AC induction motor 
The system has been wrapped up and online. The production rate has been at a steady range from 15kwh - 22kwh. The North string has too much shading to be useful during the summer so I have it disconnected. I took three of the angular panels that were in the North string and moved them to the South string. So, the South string now has 17 panels and consistently produce a decent amount of KWH.
During the winter, I'll bring the North string into the mix and see how both strings perform when the sun is lower on the horizon.
Picture of the system below. Pardon my red neck tarp hanging as walls but during the monsoon season, I need to keep the water out of the work shop/storage space below the deck. I hope to build out this area soon once funding becomes more available.
Never have I ever been excited about receiving the electric bill as I've been this month
My system went online on 7/23/12 and I missed about eight days of production due to system testing and checking. So, basically missed about half of the billing cycle saw no solar production. Still, last month's usage was 473 kwh and this month's usage was 111 kwh. Can't wait to see next month's bill.On a side note, I was working on our well pump house which is far from the house. I glanced up at the utility meter and noticed that the thing was spinning in reverse. Having never actually eye witnessed such an event, I was pleasantly surprised. What really got me was that the sky was completely and utterly clouded over. It's the monsoon season here in NM so we've been getting afternoon T storms pretty regularly. Still, enough radiation from the sun was enough for my system to produce some power, thus making the meter spin backwards.
In order to quantify the "rate" of spin (nerd alert
), I called up the house and had the wife turn on the evaporating cooler fan on low speed. This slowed down the rate of the backward spinning meter quite a bit but didn't stop it. When she switched the blower to high speed, the meter actually STOPPED. In another words, the clouds were producing enough juice to power an 11amp AC induction motor
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Great job for a novice..quite an undertaking!
He's not a novice.
He is an EE by training.
And he wired up a huge sheetrock plant--I've seen him do it!
Nice job Ali.
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- #44
Thank you my brotha
I wish you could've seen this in person before moving out of the state.*** UPDATE ***
Looks like a good solar day is producing approx 22kwh and that's the highest I've seen thus far. Stoked!!!
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Thank you my brotha
*** UPDATE ***
Looks like a good solar day is producing approx 22kwh and that's the highest I've seen thus far. Stoked!!!
22kwh
Are all the sides of the array up and running now?
In other words he stole most of the parts and doesn't want to say what it would cost any of us...
Great job Ali! I should wander down and take a closer look one of these weekends...
-Mark
- Thread starter
- #50
Unfortunately not yet. The inverter has a comm board that can put out MODBUS or RS422 signal and I haven't run any type of comm wire to the computer inside the house. It's on the to do list! Right now, I'm coordinating the installation of a remote head meter that would allow the meter reader to read my REC meter from the road wirelessly.
On a good note, the county passed my pre-final inspection so I'm good to go. I'll get my final once the REC meter has been installed by the utility company.
On a better note, my KWH usage is on the decline. Two months ago my usage was down to 111kwh and now we're at -12 kwh
This time last year, the usage was 446kwh. My bill, which I'm guessing, is at rock bottom, has now settled at $5.45.I couldn't figure why my meter wasn't being read on the usual date until I called them up. They told me that a second reading was required due to the meter going backwards and I've incurred no charges. Basically a flag went up in their system as if I was stealing power or something.
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- Thread starter
- #52
Now THAT'S a geekery of a different color.........
I'm a charter member of the Pocket Protector Brigade.
I found my HP41 CX when I was cleaning out some drawers last week.
Edit: who knew????
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-41CX-Sci...0855646944?pt=Calculators&hash=item35c0119ee0
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Very cool. I would have expected to see more loss with the system at 0-10 deg. I think your lower latitude is a factor for sure. Great write-up.
- Thread starter
- #55
Thanks Jon for the kudos. Your system is truly kicking ass, congratulations to you as well.
Yesterday was the final milestone for this project. The local utility came and installed the meter and I FINALLY got their blessing to turn my system on. As you know, my system has been operational for two months now but technically, I wasn't suppose to be running until the utility came.
In case anyone is wondering how the county and the local utility do things, here's a rundown:
- I applied for a PV permit with the county.
- Took the electrical exam to do my own work. Passed.
- Got approval for the permit, installed system.
- Called the county for a "pre final" inspection of the electrical system. They found minor stuff, fixed them. Got my first "green" tag (see pic).
- Called the utility to come and insert meter into socket. Meter dept came and inserted REC meter last Thursday.
- Called the county for a "final inspection". They came Friday and I'm good to go. Got my second "green tag" (see pic).
- Utility Co came yesterday and gave me the blessing to turn the system on. He checked to make sure that when the utility disconnect (to the left of the meter) switched to the off position, the inverter does in fact turn OFF. This is to protect the linemen who may be working on the power lines somewhere else from getting zapped from the power produced by my PV system.
They also checked to make sure that the correct placards and site documentation were in the proper locations per their requirement. The documentation has to be laminated and placed near the billing meter in a weather proof tube. In case the linemen needs to cut power from my house, they'll need to know how to kill the PV source as well.
As some of you may recall, I have two strings of 14 panels, with a total of 28 panels. The north string was shut off all summer due to the shading it received from the eve of the house and the south string. Today, I turned the north string on, so both strings are running hot and heavy as of today. I'll be curious to see what kind of power production I'll be getting out of this system.
Cheers.
Ali
Yesterday was the final milestone for this project. The local utility came and installed the meter and I FINALLY got their blessing to turn my system on. As you know, my system has been operational for two months now but technically, I wasn't suppose to be running until the utility came.
In case anyone is wondering how the county and the local utility do things, here's a rundown:
- I applied for a PV permit with the county.
- Took the electrical exam to do my own work. Passed.
- Got approval for the permit, installed system.
- Called the county for a "pre final" inspection of the electrical system. They found minor stuff, fixed them. Got my first "green" tag (see pic).
- Called the utility to come and insert meter into socket. Meter dept came and inserted REC meter last Thursday.
- Called the county for a "final inspection". They came Friday and I'm good to go. Got my second "green tag" (see pic).
- Utility Co came yesterday and gave me the blessing to turn the system on. He checked to make sure that when the utility disconnect (to the left of the meter) switched to the off position, the inverter does in fact turn OFF. This is to protect the linemen who may be working on the power lines somewhere else from getting zapped from the power produced by my PV system.
They also checked to make sure that the correct placards and site documentation were in the proper locations per their requirement. The documentation has to be laminated and placed near the billing meter in a weather proof tube. In case the linemen needs to cut power from my house, they'll need to know how to kill the PV source as well.
As some of you may recall, I have two strings of 14 panels, with a total of 28 panels. The north string was shut off all summer due to the shading it received from the eve of the house and the south string. Today, I turned the north string on, so both strings are running hot and heavy as of today. I'll be curious to see what kind of power production I'll be getting out of this system.
Cheers.
Ali
I am in the commercial/industrial distributed generation business, but I know scary little about the residential part of the business. Enjoyed your write up, hope your system provides years of trouble-free service!
- Thread starter
- #57
In some ways, I think the residential aspect has more rules/regs than perhaps the commercial/industrial world! Given that there are lots of DIY'ers out there, we need to be protected from ourselves!!
It was an interesting education going from plcs to three way switches and flex bits. they're totally different arts forms. I did it for 6 years-after spending 11 wiring conveyor systems and food plants wineries and power plants before I felt like I had it dicked... way more rules(implemented) when it come to single family dwellings and commercial wiring than in the plants as far as rules of thumb go, but it can be more fun-sometimes- than cutting and threading rob roy and all the thousands of miles of red 14. every single wall has something different to recon with, and no 2 houses alike(in my parts) Keep keepin it in the first tier!
RENEWABLE ENERGY IS HOMELAND SECURITY!!!