Solar Virgin

[mort2376]

Not often at my age can you call yourself a virgin still !

I'm thinking of having a go at putting a small solar system together. Just as trial setup kind of thing.

Looking at some second hand panels but probably a new invertor and then maybe if it all works a battery store.

Just looking to try my hand at it and see if it's something I'm going to be confident at doing. Then I may splash out and pay for the training course.

Has anyone got any good reference books, YouTube guides they can send me links to or titles off so I can see if this will be a go ahead.

Panels I'm looking at are 450w ones but have been cracked but still work.

They are only asking £35 a panel which is what has given me the idea to have a play around with it.

Any help, tips, suggestions or even comments of don't bother would be much appreciated.

 

[johnb2713]

I'm not sure about the cracked panels being a good option, in my view you need reliable and guaranteed performance in order to minimise the unknowns, especially as youre inexperienced. Remove any doubt from the equation. You need to look closely at the inverter startup voltages to see realistically how many panels you need as a minimum and then if you consider the chance of each cracked panel inhibiting the performance I feel youre on a hiding to nothing.
I went on a similar venture last year with battery storage but I scarily invested in top quality gear to give me the best chance of success, this ruled out any doubts of the equipment leaving only doubts in my own ability.

 

[binky]

Not often at my age can you call yourself a virgin still !

I'm thinking of having a go at putting a small solar system together. Just as trial setup kind of thing.

Looking at some second hand panels but probably a new invertor and then maybe if it all works a battery store.

Just looking to try my hand at it and see if it's something I'm going to be confident at doing. Then I may splash out and pay for the training course.

Has anyone got any good reference books, YouTube guides they can send me links to or titles off so I can see if this will be a go ahead.

Panels I'm looking at are 450w ones but have been cracked but still work.

They are only asking £35 a panel which is what has given me the idea to have a play around with it.

Any help, tips, suggestions or even comments of don't bother would be much appreciated.

Should be giving them away as you are saving them the cost of disposal.

What are you planning to out the panels on?

Personally I wouldn't piddle about and just go 'whole hog' , unless you don't own where you live, in which case find a friend who wants a system installed.

Your biggest issue will be the roof, as that's the bit you need to learn, but as a business proposition, I would definitely take on this line of work. You've seen the rediculous quotes and piss poor service members have been getting on here.

 

[binky]

Any help, tips, suggestions or even comments

Forgot to say, if you do go into solar, it's a 3 man job, minimum 2 to do the roof. So you would either have to employ people or get a few subbies in. You could just stick to batteries, which is a lot less work and stress - there's no half a slate popping out 6 months later with batteries.

 

[Andy1733]

Not often at my age can you call yourself a virgin still !

I'm thinking of having a go at putting a small solar system together. Just as trial setup kind of thing.

Looking at some second hand panels but probably a new invertor and then maybe if it all works a battery store.

Just looking to try my hand at it and see if it's something I'm going to be confident at doing. Then I may splash out and pay for the training course.

Has anyone got any good reference books, YouTube guides they can send me links to or titles off so I can see if this will be a go ahead.

Panels I'm looking at are 450w ones but have been cracked but still work.

They are only asking £35 a panel which is what has given me the idea to have a play around with it.

Any help, tips, suggestions or even comments of don't bother would be much appreciated.

As mentioned I would avoid the cracked panels.
Battery and an inverter is a good shout to dip your toe into solar. Use the cheap over night tariff and depending on the usage/storage you could drop your purchase cost by about a1/3 .

One thing I would add. With battery storage I would work out your AVG usage and get battery's to cover this plus a min of 25% extra.

Have a look through the forum for Johnb post on building your own battery's

 

[ish]

Should be giving them away as you are saving them the cost of disposal.

What are you planning to out the panels on?

Personally I wouldn't piddle about and just go 'whole hog' , unless you don't own where you live, in which case find a friend who wants a system installed.

Your biggest issue will be the roof, as that's the bit you need to learn, but as a business proposition, I would definitely take on this line of work. You've seen the rediculous quotes and piss poor service members have been getting on here.

Totally agree! Don't follow suit with all the other installers charging so much to install, these companies are literally targetting such a small market and ignoring the larger market that over the last 5 years is emerging. Be the first to serve this marketplace and be ahead of the curve.

The UK has pushed more people to be exploring solar and batteries - I would say do the course regardless of setting up your mentioned system

 

[Ucatchmydrift]

Its possible to do it on your own if you have a big enough shed/s to put them on instead of on the roof.. Makes it all alot easier. Go all in,, is a great project..