Does anyone know any way to get solar energy in a do it yourself format?

Question

I would like to get started and gradually add to my system until I am off the grid!

Answer 1

It's tricky, because you actually want to be on the grid.

The reason is that one of the ways solar works economically is that you sell your excess power back to the electric company when you don't need it. "Off-grid" systems are significantly more expensive, used only by people who physically can't connect without running expensive wires.

Obviously connecting your solar system to the grid is not a job for an amateur. And the power company isn't happy about do it yourselfers trying it, because it could mess them up.

You might want to talk to a solar company about doing a basic system that can be easily expanded by you. Or maybe a solar hot water heating system. Note that if you mess that up, you can flood your house.

EDIT- campbelp2002 provides useful additional information.

EDIT2 - dad is my hero. But his way is not for everyone, requires great resourcefulness.

Answer 2

That is fairly easy.

The first thing you have to do is add up the load and pick an inverter that has a built in battery charger. Xantrex XW or Xantrex Prosine or Xantrex SW Plus. Any of the three would work great.

Next get the battery bank and hook up your inverter/charger and battery bank to your home.

The system will run from the above because it is a complete battery backup system charged from the local utility. You don't want to get the solar panels first ever. That is the wrong way to do it on a budget.

Next buy a good Charge controller like the Outback MX60 or the Xantrex MPPT60 charge controller. Either will let you go up to 3000 watts in solar panels at one or two panels at a time. Solar modules are where the cost comes in at.

Here is a link to a system that will do just what you want it to do and you can add solar modules as you go.

http://store.oynot.com/enfr450stkit.html
http://store.oynot.com/xantrexxw.html

Here is a link to help you find out what size of a system you need.

http://www.oynot.com/grid-tie-battery-backup-how-to.html

But I really think you should forget about going off grid. There really is not any glory in it because you waste money and power that you could be selling back to the grid. A grid tie with a battery backup system is the best deal. You can go off grid any time you like by just turning off the breaker.

Answer 3

You could just buy one solar panel and than another when you have the money and keep adding them. But the gotcha is that solar panels put out DC electricity and home electricity is AC and the inverter is expensive and I am not sure it is easy to connect several small inverters together. At least not easily. So you would want to start with a big enough inverter to handle all the panels you plan to end up with, and that will be really expensive. And to be truly off grid you need battery backup for night time. Batteries are messy, maintenance nightmares and do not last very long. They can only be charged and discharged so many times and then they wear out and must be replaced. In my opinion a totally off grid system that uses batteries for night operation isn't really green because of all the worn out batteries you would have to dispose of every 5 years or so.

Answer 4

From what I have seen, if you live in a windy area, wind is often better at getting you off the grid and more economical then solar. Wind cannot be relied up itself so, but neither can solar.

I know people in Kansas that actually put energy back into the grid at certain times of the year and get paid for it by the power company.

Answer 5

It's doable if you are handy and do lots of research first. But if your only motivation is to try to do it on the cheap, I'd not recommend that you try it. Nothing about solar is cheap right now, especially if you are talking about retrofitting an existing structure. Most solar installations that are worth doing run in the $10,000 - $100,000 range. If it was a really small cabin you might could get something baseline for 5k or so. Like someone said earlier storage is the real problem.

I have been considering a similar plan for some time now but have decided to wait for forthcoming improvements in battery technology and sustainability.

Check out the Gaiam real goods catalog for a good start....they have everything from reference books to the actual panels and inverters.

Answer 6

I had friends who built their house based on solar panels energy. It was very expensive then (30+ years ago) My friend's hubby did it himself he had extensive knowledge of this system being an architect. He designed his blue prints and his solar panel system. His system was heating up water basin in his basement and redistributing the heat throughout the house. He also designed and installed a sort of fireplace where he could recycled the heat from this installation. I don't know what he did for electric power. During the summer, he would cool off his house by pumping cold water from the the Lake and run this colder water through his pipes...He did this on his own. pretty clever dude indeed.

Answer 7

I built my own from junk cells i got of EBay . Some times they sale broken cells by the pound . If you go there watch out there's one guy in there all the time that sale broken cells but you hardly get any from him . If you decide to go that rout just bid on them by pound . Or you can get full cells 50 75 watt cheap . Then you can always buy the panels out of there allot cheaper then buying them from a dealer . . I have a couple pics in my 360 how i did mine cheap .

There easy to hook up you don't have to be a rocket scientist your only dealing with 12 volt . The biggest thing is to have a large battery bank . So far i have 40 car battery's on my system and doing good but i use a propane refrigerator and instant hot water heater they work great .

I'm heating with an army tent heater i got off EBay that will burn anything wood ,gas, fuel oil . kerosene . I go around to auto repair shops and allot of them will give you the used oil they get from oil changes just to get rid of it . Then all summer i collect junk wood you can find it any where . It doesn't have to come off the tree to burn old 2x4s anything made of wood some people even pay my to haul it off out of there yards to get rid of it . "craigslist " is a good site to. Go to the free section people always giving away wood and allot other stuff. I dont know if all this helps you out but thats how i live energy free.

Answer 8

Get one of those catalogs from one of those solar supply houses, most have charts, work sheets to figure out just what you might need, and of course I would plan on having either a phone or face to face with chat with one of those solar experts before I bought anything.

Answer 9

Im sure there are a lot of resources on line. Just do a check on line for Home Solar applications.

Good for you.

Answer 10

no idea how to store that energy without a panel which is expensive but there are lots of webpages which can tell you how to bake in a homemade solar oven.