Solar Panels for home energy

[-Pjackso]

Hi all,
I'm interested in possibly getting some solar panels installed on the house to help reduce our electric bills.
I'm primarily interested in grid-tied solar for reducing total KWH usage. I'm not interested in any battery back-up or going off-grid - as that's not my motivation.
Solar has made huge progress in bringing down the prices and the ROI is actually getting reasonable.


SO - my question:
Anyone here actually have any solar panels? (home based units)
Does anyone here install solar panels or can recommend an installer? (OKC/Norman area)


I realize Oklahoma is all about Oil/Gas and that 'solar' is a popular topic to dog-on with all the past political baggage.
Prior OSA threads were sparse at best. LINK1 LINK2
So please try to keep this on-topic and productive. (if possible!)
Thanks for any input!

 

[LightningCrash]

I've been interested in this for a while, but I haven't put much together on it.

I'd want to get at least 1KW up, ideally 2KW. I just don't know what it would take to do it, or how much it would cost overall.

Some places are saying around $6 per W for grid tie-in. Still seems pretty steep to me though.

 

[SMS]

I haven't spent much time looking at them for home use, but it still seems the cost to benefit ratio isn't there.

Being in Oklahoma...I've always wondered what one good hail storm would do to a bank of solar panels.

 

[Blitzfike]

I
Being in Oklahoma...I've always wondered what one good hail storm would do to a bank of solar panels.

My guess is that it would break the bank...

 

[jrusling]

I did install a small solar system on my shop/storage building, but it is not cheap to do. You do have to be careful of some of the Chinese solar panels, as they have been having real problems with some of them. If you want a grid tie system, I would recommend adding at least some battery backup and an inverter. At least you would have some power when the power fails. I installed my system my self, which was an interesting project. When I was researching solar I called http://www.suncityenergy.com/products/solar-power/?gclid=CMrU-vCv4rgCFSFyQgodbngAPg, but they did not do small systems like I was putting in. The did recommend me to http://www.wholesalesolar.com/, who is the company that I got most of my stuff from. I could have beat their prices some, but they also provided a system design that would meet my needs and were available on the phone when I had questions when I was doing the install. My system will generate 2.5 KWH per day one most days.

 

[IndVet]

I'm in the process of installing a VERY modest backup system. I've got a few deep cycle marine batteries and a 1500 watt inverter. We use them to charge phones and power a few small items during an outage. Currently I keep them on a battery tender, but am doing the research to get my initial solar panels purchased.

I'm starting small and going from there.

 

[jrusling]

I'm in the process of installing a VERY modest backup system. I've got a few deep cycle marine batteries and a 1500 watt inverter. We use them to charge phones and power a few small items during an outage. Currently I keep them on a battery tender, but am doing the research to get my initial solar panels purchased.

I'm starting small and going from there.

Check out http://www.wholesalesolar.com/solarpowersystems/small-dc-off-grid-solar-power-system.html. These are the same panels that I have, except I have 4 of them. You would still need a way to mount them. It would also depend on your battery capacity and how quick you want to recharge them. Don't forget that lead acid batteries can generate hydrogen gas when they are being charged.

 

[IndVet]

Check out http://www.wholesalesolar.com/solarpowersystems/small-dc-off-grid-solar-power-system.html. These are the same panels that I have, except I have 4 of them. You would still need a way to mount them. It would also depend on your battery capacity and how quick you want to recharge them. Don't forget that lead acid batteries can generate hydrogen gas when they are being charged.

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.

 

[338Shooter]

Costs should be coming in line with grid power in the next 5-10 years from the numbers I've seen presented at some tech conferences at work. I'd hold off for a few more years on home solar.

 

[excat]

Also, check with your power company, if they don't approve of it, they will cut your power. You have to have some sort of means to prevent back flow into the system or it can seriously injure line workers if you are grid tied. I also don't know if OG&E/OEC (if you are metro) does buy back if you end up rolling your meter backwards on days you over produce, which may or may not be of concern to you.