Generator or Inverter for residential use?

[AchmatK]

what's the hammer for? doesn't look big enough.

The bolts going through the IBR doesn't always line up with the holes in the mounting rail so just sometimes needs to give the bolt a few taps with the hammer for the mounting rail to fit on top of the bolt.

It's a standard sized hammer. The drill is big so it looks like a small hammer with the angle of the pic.

 

[AchmatK]

This bolt goes through the IBR and into the wood beams below. Cigarette for scale.

The rubber seals the hole in the IBR in tightened using the nut above it.

The top nut is removed and the nut below it is used to move the rail up and down. The rail is then placed on the nut and and the top nut is then used to secure the rail to the bolt.

 

[wingnut771]

The bolts going through the IBR doesn't always line up with the holes in the mounting rail so just sometimes needs to give the bolt a few taps with the hammer for the mounting rail to fit on top of the bolt.

It's a standard sized hammer. The drill is big so it looks like a small hammer with the angle of the pic.

my comment was a bit tongue in cheek. got a problem? get a bigger hammer.

got to say, i'm enjoying the step by step progress, and detailed pics like that bolt for the hammer. what does the rail look like?

 

[AchmatK]

my comment was a bit tongue in cheek. got a problem? get a bigger hammer.

got to say, i'm enjoying the step by step progress, and detailed pics like that bolt for the hammer. what does the rail look like?

Rail mounted.

 

[AchmatK]

Anti theft clip locks into the rail and takes extra effort to remove once installed. It hooks into the mounting holes on the back of the panel.

 

[AchmatK]

Last minute changes as we decided yesterday to mount the panels landscape so we could get 4 rows in. This resulted in our rails now not being enough. Not able to finish as I need to buy 4 more rails to finish the installation.

 

[RonSwanson]

Last minute changes as we decided yesterday to mount the panels landscape so we could get 4 rows in. This resulted in our rails now not being enough. Not able to finish as I need to buy 4 more rails to finish the installation. View attachment 881313

What is the roof pitch (in degrees)? Did you perhaps consider mounting them at an angle more suitable for winter and if so, what would the additiional cost have been?

 

[Speedster]

Last minute changes as we decided yesterday to mount the panels landscape so we could get 4 rows in. This resulted in our rails now not being enough. Not able to finish as I need to buy 4 more rails to finish the installation. View attachment 881313

That second row is skew?

 

[wingnut771]

That second row is skew?

more like offset, the brother must have done that one.

 

[wingnut771]

What is the roof pitch (in degrees)? Did you perhaps consider mounting them at an angle more suitable for winter and if so, what would the additiional cost have been?

looks flat.

 

[AchmatK]

What is the roof pitch (in degrees)? Did you perhaps consider mounting them at an angle more suitable for winter and if so, what would the additiional cost have been?

It's pretty much flat with only a 10° pitch.

This is only phase one and will see how it fairs over the next few month.

Total panels will be 8 540w. I am aware that it's not at the optimal azimuth but will be adding more panels than trying to get it optimally positioned.

 

[AchmatK]

Been running the entire house from the batteries and only down to 38% SOC as of now.

During this time the fans of the inverter did not go on once so very satisfied with it.

 

[RonSwanson]

It's pretty much flat with only a 10° pitch.

This is only phase one and will see how it fairs over the next few month.

Total panels will be 8 540w. I am aware that it's not at the optimal azimuth but will be adding more panels than trying to get it optimally positioned.

Okay, so I take it that adding say, 4 panels is cheaper than angled mounting hardware? Never knew it would be that much, very interesting. Please do let us know the total cost of the mounting hardware (once you have completed it of course)?

 

[AchmatK]

Okay, so I take it that adding say, 4 panels is cheaper than angled mounting hardware? Never knew it would be that much, very interesting. Please do let us know the total cost of the mounting hardware (once you have completed it of course)?

Angled mounting potentially also uses up more space as you need to make sure that the shadows doesn't land on the panels on the next row.

I will only really be able to see the efficiency of the current setup once I get it hooked up to the inverter.

K2 mounting kit came to about R10k for 28 panels. Only need 4 additional rails with each rail being 6m. I can't use the off cuts from the 10 rails I already used up.

 

[AchmatK]

Pretty much full afternoon cover over the carport.

 

[Vuilhaas]

@signates I'm really enjoying following your installation. It's looking really great so far!

 

[AchmatK]

@signates I'm really enjoying following your installation. It's looking really great so far!

Wife is gatvol off just hearing about solar so this is my only outlet. She says I'll be sleeping with the batteries if she hears anything more about solar panels or batteries

 

[AchmatK]

3 hours to charge from 35% SOC to 100% at 2kwh charging rate from the grid. Ran the house off the battery for about 8 hours of normal household use from 100% to 35% SOC.

 

[cfvh600]

3 hours to charge from 35% SOC to 100% at 2kwh charging rate from the grid. Ran the house off the battery for about 8 hours of normal household use from 100% to 35% SOC. View attachment 881461

That bodes well for when loadshedding hits again.

 

[AchmatK]

That bodes well for when loadshedding hits again.

Definitely. Didn't tell my wife that it's running from batteries only and she went about her normal day. Put on the washing machine, blow dried her hair, dishwasher, boiled some water, had my brother over and his family for lunch(oven and stove are gas so no impact), another load in the dishwasher, coffee machine and microwave on numerous times throughout the day. Inverter was silent for 95% during the eight hours and only activated the fan a few times for about five minutes and just continued on its merry way. Also didn't exceed what the battery could provide at anytime so it did not have to go to the grid at any time.

When panels are connected I'll work out the best schedule for time off use settings in order to rely as little on the grid as possible.

One of the reasons for the 8kw system is that I did not want to change too much of our normal routine and worry about over taxing the system.