WHAT I PAID - CHEAP - ENTIRE DIY SOLAR SYSTEM

[@keiboman]

Hi! I've been watching quite a few videos on DIY solar over the past couple of weeks, and this is one of the best. Very straightforward, thorough, and nicely presented. Thanks for taking the time to do this, I have subscribed and I hope your channel finds success if that's what your goal is. Cheers!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Mike thank you for the kind words, very appreciated and inspiring.

[@mikesmith-po8nd]

Enjoyed the video. Nice to see someone who has a clue As opposed to so many videos that claim to be a budget build and then end up costing as much as having a contractor do it.

[@larrymacdonald4241]

Dual purpose panels, they use water to cool the panels and the hot water can be used for domestic.... sold in California, my idea over 10 years ago...small sail boat wind generators... there is a guy in NJ who gets temps over 100 fahr using a similar system in the winter. LTO cells for battery packs, Daly BMS.... silicone wire, high strand count, high conductivity and less line losses, resistance etc... the larger the wire or multipule strands of smaller wire the less heat and resistance you have. Combining all 3 types of passive energy gives you more options, more reliability more self reliance. Heat is the worst enemy of solar panels... so using water to cool them, makes them last longer.... there is a guy in Aus. who builds tesla type power wall units, he does some nice work...

[@andykillary6989]

Ian is the man! I bought 20 panels from him.

[@hozettes]

Im impressed with how well organized and researched this was. I learned alot watching this. Thanks

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you for the comments, glad it helped.

[@harryv6147]

William, great summary video of describing the various component of your solar system. Very organized and clearly presented!!! Great job and very informative!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Thank you sir, really nice compliment! Been working on how to improve the videos.

[@butcher9266]

One of the best and most informative videos. WELL DONE !!!!!!!!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you sir, glad ot helped!

[@coryj1811]

Appreciate the video. Been researching and looking into solar the past 6 months or so and besides the basic maintenance stuff around house I haven't messed with electricity much. Not gonna lie was bit to take in at first but just like with alot of things in life, if you take the time to learn about something you'll understand it more. Plus the help of people like you and others I've found and that share their knowledge and experience. Finally about to take my first step and make some purchases. Thanks again 👍

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thanks for watching and sharing your comments Cory!

[@michaeldomanski2472]

Informative and a great benefit. Thank you for taking the time to produce this content!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you for the kind words and watching.

[@luckydogfarms]

Always learn more when I watch your videos! Thanks, J

[@harrisidiens564]

Gyll look really good

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thanks for commenting Harris, the EG4's (supposedly GYLL) work great, it's only the BMS speaking to the Inverters that is the issue for myself. Thankfully the BMS of the EG4's is good enough to allow AMPS in or OUT intelligently enough where the inverters help is not needed. My plan is to install an additional BMS between inverters and batteries as a backup prior to expansion.

[@Chris-ie9os]

Another place you can cut cost is fuses. Fuses are only required on PV lines if you're paralleling 3 or more strings. 1 or 2 strings do not require over current protection.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thanks for the comments Chris!

[@philippekuster]

Hey nice to see a new channel on preparedness and homestead. Im from Southern Brazil 🇧🇷 Already subscribed God bless your homestead and work

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Welcome aboard the channel and thank you for the kind words of aspiration!

[@therealpeterburke]

the wire now costs $966 per 500 ft 8 gauge reel at Menards. Copper prices are off the charts

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Like everything else these days, inflation is off the charts and continuing.

[@tabbott429]

Im using a 3.5KW setup for backup power, Ive had it set up since 2014. Im still using 24 golfcart lead acid batteries since they were affordable back then at 85$ each. I dont use the system unless the power goes out but 75% of the panels are hooked to grid tie microinverters for lowering the electric bill. Id like to upgrade my batteries in the near future with lithium but I aslo want to move so I will probably just do a new setup at my new place. I will definitely make a rack for the panels instead of roof mount in the future. Thanks for sharing your info

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Hello TDA and thank you for the sharing your comments! Good advise for newbies.

[@douglashilton4048]

I have 4350 watt Solar, with a 6000 watt growatt inverter (240 volt split phase)and 3 - 48 volt eg4 batteries (15.3KW) .. all on a 40' motor home.

[@MichaelWaiteMusic]

Thanks for putting this video up. It’s been helpful. I’m a fellow DIY Yooper over by Big Bay, planning on building something similar.

[@dougsagal5860]

Been in solar stuff for35 years = you did very well in your selection sizing etc = should you advance to the green house I would suggest looking at nife batteries tied in so as to use the browns gas/ hho that is a buy produce the can be used to enhance plant and health situations = read up on George wise browns gas

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Hello Doug and thank you for taking the time to share you comments and advise, much appreciated!

[@evjedi4061]

Great job. Very clean very Pacific and to the point. Next time I would explain how doing it yourself makes it easier to troubleshoot if there’s a problem. Pretty obvious but you know.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

-Thanks EV Jedi for the kind remarks and pointers, duels noted as I move forward. "May you be embraced in the force"

[@BigHeinen]

As opposed to being very Atlantic?? Oh My!!

[@prilep5]

Great system and excellent video with text inserts of the important info. I enjoyed every minute you’re very smart man. Subscriber

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you for the inspirational comments, this keeps the energies flowing on the positive cables! Happy DIY'ing and welcome to the channel.

[@prilep5]

@@ahhlifesgood1956 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

[@TheWadetube]

Signature Solar has solar panels for 40 to 43 cents per watt on the low end and averages around 50 cents per watt. The cheapest battery is 24 volt at `100 amp hours or 2.4 kilowatt hours for $500. Two for me was $1,000 dollars for a 5 kilowatt hour pack. I spent about 3,600 dollars for 7 kilowatts of panels each being 370 watts. My dad and I split up 33 panels, 14 for him and 19 for me. His inverter was 1250 dollars and he also got a 5,000 watthour battery pack for a thousand dollars. Together we spent over 9,330$ and I don't have my inverter picked out yet but I will probably get the same as his, a grow watt 6000 watt system and I will put 16 panels on it ,two series of 8 in parallel connections to keep the voltage down and the amps to about 16 to 18 amps. When finished this system will have cost me over 5 thousand dollars and I will upgrade it later with more batteries and I will also have 3 panels left over to run a separate small system of 3,000 watts with a simple inverter and 3 or four lead acid batteries. Two systems so I can avoid total shutdowns if there is a problem.

[@thomasbranson7237]

I am in the process of changing my system from a 12 volt to 24 volt at present. Not you got me thinking about going to the next step above that. Thanks, you give me something to think about.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Thanks Thomas for reaching out, if you're in a house I would most definitely go with a 48v system if you still can and there's not allot of other components needing changing, cheers mate!

[@drax50ish58]

Very helpful, thanks for sharing this William

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Glad it was helpful Drax!

[@smallshoptalk589]

By the way, I had 2 solar companys talk to me about using MY ROOF to produce electricity just to sell it back to the electric company. No Batteries. Over $50,000.00. But with government credits so it will be lower. Credits not guaranteed, but I still would owe them over 50 Grand. I told them to hit the road.

[@qvrty6]

Awesome dude! Great job! I'm following your lead!

[@topeye4202]

If you build the batteries by your self, which is quite easy, they cost less than half ($2500/20kWh) My 14kWh (16pcs 280Ah Lifepo4) battery + JK smart BMS (balance current 2A, 200A load) + 5A active balancer (+ his voltage detection controller to activate just above 3,4 Volts) + offline monitor was in total $1750.-

[@mainerdiy8399]

Thanks for all the excellent, detailed info.

[@ne1cup]

good job ,looks very professional , I enjoyed your video

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you sir

[@IlyaDemidov]

Finally a video on solar station that does look like it was done DIY. I have very similar station and its cost is around 7k USD (I have lead-acid 10 kWh batteries), also bought 7 kW gas generator (2 liters of gas for each 7 kW of energy; up 80 liters of fuel a year). I have Discord channel where I encourage people to go solar. And in the end of the winter I will give results of living in an off grid house with similar video.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thanks for sharing Llya, I'll be having a look at your channel. Living Off Grid has become the new place to be.

[@GavinStoneDIY]

Great video. Would really love to see more about how you constructed the array, and what hardware you used to attach the panels to the superstrut.

[@jimanddiana4103]

Very helpful. Thanks for sharing what you did.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Glad it was helpful Jim and Diana!

[@Scoopy2022]

Very cool setup, however, living in Canada as I do, I wouldn't ever consider setting up an offgrid system without some ability to charge your batteries besides solar!! I talked to one older fellow after he had solar installed, and he said in 2013, there was a stretch of 3 months during the winter that he never saw more than 3 days in that entire period that had good clean sunlight!! Thankfully he had a backup generator!!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Hello Kevin and thank you for commenting. I would agree with your recommendations, those living in the northern climates where snow or rainfall, conditions are high causing literally causing "sun outs", having either extra panels, and a few more batteries than you're normal solar setup is recommended. If you have the luxury to do so, a backup wind generator would also be ideal if you're 100% off grid. The luxury of Hydro probably isn't an option unless you have a fast enough current where the river doesn't freeze and or you have the space to put the turbine low enough in the water table where it won't freeze.

[@geraldkoth654]

A very good summary of your system and costs. Providing why and where you purchased helps too. On another channel some folks with similar KW as you used some ingenuity to make tilting panel holders. They can follow the best angle for capturing sunshine and only adjust four times a year. Check the Life Uncontained channel. From my knothole I think you could run another top horizontal and some hinges and or risers at the bottom horizontal. Then all you would need are arcs of metal with a central cutout that can be bolted to the "vertical" struts at any angle you choose. Min and Max will depend on your latitude. To make it even more simple, you would just have holes in a plate that give you the four or more angles you choose. Just propping it up and laying it down.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Hello Gerald and thanks for sharing your comments, the horizontal hinged system you're referring to is exactly what I'm thinking of doing for the additional racks of panels in the future. I'm not to concerned on the East-West swivel as, those adjustments would need to be done daily if you don't have it automated, but I do want to harness the Up-Down pitch, like you said you could adjust it 4 times a year and really gain allot of extra sunlight from the angel differences accomplished. I think allot of folks under estimate how much more energy you can harness with a tilt system in areas that don't' have the sun shinning 99% of the time like the Midwest.

[@Gunns57]

Very good video. I like your system.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you Mike!

[@dper1112]

You mention upgrades as a benefit to 8 gauge wire, which it is. Another small but real benefit is less transmission loss.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Good point and thanks for sharing.

[@kameljoe21]

If you plan to add more panels I would just go with getting something like a midnight charge controller if you do not need more inverter space. Adding another array or 2 is always easy. Did you run the wires in conduit? if you did then it might be easy to sting in a few more lines for new arrays. You can never have enough solar. Winter time is one when having extra panels really pays off. In the summer it really helps as well because you can turn on another ac unit and not feel guilty about it. The all in one inverters are nice. I like the MPP solar ones because of their higher voltage rating. 450v for one of their battery-less inverter. Also you can only make them battery less if they are ran as single units. Though there is not a larger unit out there. I would like to find a unit that is 20kw inverter with 30kw of solar and can be battery-less. As the current way my home is set up adding in a few kw all in one battery less inverter if futile. With the battery less you can also back them up with the grid which is great for those who want to cut their day time electric cost by larger margins. This could also be the means of running air conditioners with out the extra monthly cost, running electric heat with out the extra cost.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thanks for weighing in William and offering good advise for myself and others, most solar enthusiast would agree I'm sure that you just can't have enough panels, especially those in the areas where sunlight is a higher priced commodity! I was also at a tossup between MPP Solar and Growatt, the only deciding factor for me was that these smaller growatt series are perfect for the greenhouse, while being scalable for my trial period In-House until the Climate controlled greenhouse has been built. Battery-less option inverters are a great option to have available.

[@bdjm8595]

Excellent video, thanks for the breakdown !!!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you sir!

[@ryanbeck7166]

Every electrical supply house sells wire by the foot. Also, Home Depot sells wire by the foot. Nice system. 👍

[@richardpayne9640]

wow! great information Thank you for sharing

[@electricandlspower]

Great video. Thanks for doing a full overview of the system.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Thanks EV, appreciate the kind comments!

[@upnorthandpersonal]

I've got a 10kW solar system coupled with a 28kWh LiFePO4 DIY battery with BMS. The system includes 2x100A charge controller and a 6kW low frequency inverter. Together with all wiring, and my DIY ground mounts the total cost of the system was

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- That sounds like a really nice system and at a great price, was planning myself to DIY the next round of batteries. What did you use for the BMS?

[@upnorthandpersonal]

@@ahhlifesgood1956 JK BMS. It's a 2x16 280Ah cell battery pack, so 2x that BMS. It's been running for almost two years now without issues. I'll probably double the capacity this year.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

@@upnorthandpersonal - Thanks for sharing, I'm in the market myself for backup BMS to my EG4'z and for expansion of my current system

[@upnorthandpersonal]

@@ahhlifesgood1956 No problem. Are you on Will Prowse's forum? If not, I would recommend dropping by there :)

[@lifeinnorthpolealaska8198]

Awesome, thank you for the details

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- thank you!

[@Smackvttv]

Living off grid for 15 years now I just upgraded to lifepo4 battery’s At this day in age I would never recommend led acid to anyone they may be cheaper in initial cost but to get the same amount of storage you need 2x more . 100 ah led acid = about 40 ah irl. Don’t buy led acid

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Hello Smack, this is good advice given all the alternatives now available for Lithium and cold or even Salt battery solutions. Couldn't agree more on storage capacity and discharge rates. Where I live currently, 46 degrees north everyone relies heavily on Lead acid as the temperatures can get really cold (-50), with people living off grid 100% they have no alternative for charging there batteries in the event there is no sun. Of course there is allot of Lead acid batteries available as well on the market, making them a very cheap additional energy source when rebuilding old units.

[@leandraaraya5648]

Excellent video!!! Very good job, easy to understand with all the comments.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Thank you very much!

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Nice! Our 6,400 Watt system was around $7,000.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Very nice to hear, extremely affordable for plenty of power.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

@@ahhlifesgood1956 It was a challenge. We ordered the major components and batteries from Alibaba.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid - Good information, how long did you have to wait for merchandise when ordering direct from Alibaba? I looked into ordering direct myself but shipping was outrageous for heavy items, unless you order an entire container for me the cost difference wasn't feasible.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

@@ahhlifesgood1956 We ordered everything in December of 2020 before all of the shipping issues and delays. It was a pretty large order because we also ordered the components for 2 more systems for family, so that helped bring the price down too. It took about 6 weeks to get everything in. We have a video on our channel about the system and components.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid - Thanks for sharing, I like your video on laying out the house direction trying to find due south!

[@miketanner1920]

Thank you for the great info brother Have a great day God bless Just saying

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- And thank you Mike for the kind words, brothers we are!

[@johnparkerthegimpygardener]

The place cut you a big break ? They are more than double that now.

[@mikedoingmikethings702]

Little money for me is $5 bucks LOL Great video sir!!!

[@donrad]

The main way to reduce cost is to design the house and lifestyle to use less electrical power. Q: Did you look into whether or not it would be cost effective to have a solar rack that could be manually adjusted to change the panel angle for different seasons?

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Hi Don - The first sentence you have written is stated perfectly. No I haven't calculated the cost differences as of yet on being able to adjust the panels to follow the sun but I can assure you this is very important topic that needs allot more discussion, the difference is big for people like myself with limited sunlight as opposed to others.

[@terrywinningham5405]

Very informative, hopefully the battery options will improve and hopefully pricing comes down.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Hello sir, thank you for the comments!

[@MaximeDulude]

I think that it could be a good video if you could let us know what s your plan with solar + greenhouse. Are you trying to be self sufficient as possible? What are your upcoming goals?

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Great idea for an up and coming video, thank you!

[@andrewyates5548]

I know you already did it the way you did it but just a money saving fyi for you for future projects, Instead of buying way more wiring than you need just buy one roll of white that will cover all the distance you need and label the connected ends with black or whatever color electrical tape. The color only has to be correct for the first foot after each connection.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you Andrew for the advise as it's very true and the 1000' foot rolls are less expensive than the 500'.

[@leifhietala8074]

To help put this kind of info in perspective, count up how many kilowatt-hours you've produced with your system. Divide that by your total expenditure to put your outlay in the same framework as what on-grid electricity consumers pay: money per kilowatt-hour. While it's early days it'll look like a terrible comparison and you've thrown your money at a losing proposition, but unlike ratepayers - like myself - your spending is pretty much done. Every kilowatt-hour you generate without spending more money works to the good. The longer it lasts, the more affordable your system looks until eventually it becomes pretty obvious that your way is the best way: it costs a hell of a lot up front, and is cheaper every day after that.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Hello Leif and thank you for taking the time to share your insights. Solar to me really comes down to the question of "if you need it," if you need it well then the cost is justifiable. In truth we really don't need electricity but we've conditioned ourselves to think we do, therefore we spend most time and money more often than not on luxuries we never needed at all. Cheers

[@knurlgnar24]

Could you make a video walkaround of your pressure treated solar array setup? I've been wanting to do something like that and yours is the most efficient and well designed I've seen anywhere based on this short video. Wood may not last 30 years and so people poo-poo it but most solar installs only make it about 10 anyway before theft, hail, moving, etc so that makes sense to me. I was also thinking of using superstrut but am unclear on how those Ubolts fit in and such. Thanks for the video!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- I'll make a more detailed walk around on the solar rack, thanks for asking.

[@hortensejones5213]

I must say great video but can i ask some question. Between mono and poly , solar panels..any of these two type can be connected in series. How would you calculate the wire needed from the solar panels from rooftop to your growat inverter, am considering to install a 3600w solar system and 3000w inverter....i would need the calculation for the size wire from inverter to battery bank. How many battery it would require for an off grid system? I see you install a breaker box in this video which a great idea.. can i ask a question on that..for instance install a breaker box too. How would u calculate the size wire for the output current, coming from the inverter to the breaker box.. For instant there is a 2 (40amp breaker install) what type wire should be connect to those 2 amps. And there is 1 (15amp breaker) what type wire should be connected to that... Can you please explain so i can understand..and if you any video ..that can help , i would appreciate that too

[@l0gic23]

One of the best vids of this type. +1 sub. Keep it up.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Excellent inspiration, thank you sir!

[@Off-Grid]

Nice layout. Wish we had gone with another brand. We did Schneider.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thanks Journey, was a joy implementing this system. We'll have to see how the Growatt and EG4's do overtime!

[@1quickdub]

That is a lot of power for the money, especially considering you went with Lithiums. Great work!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- thank you for the comments sir, yes I'm surprised myself at the cost and amount of electricity one can produce daily.

[@bobturner6516]

great video, but I think it would even better if you gave examples or demonstrate what you can run or power with your set up such as appliances, furnace etc.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Sounds like a great video, pushing the system to the limits and see how well it'll perform without being connected to the Grid. I'll do that at the point of moving it to the greenhouse in the event something goes "haywire", Thanks Bob

[@bigcheese4454]

these vids have answered 90% of questions I have had, so thank you for taking the time to make them. 1 question I still have is, I see you have a ground rod for your pv combiner boxes and solar panels. Did you run a ground wire out of your PV combiner bow back to the inverter? or just 2 reds and 2 blacks? If you did run a ground wire where did you terminate it inside? Again thanks

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Hello Big Cheese! Going from the combiner box to the inverter I only ran both DC hot wires, no ground. I did however connect a physical ground to the case of my combiner box directly to a grounding rod at the panels chasis.

[@williamwilliam728]

Aside from the battery cost, which I am sure you have your reasons for the overkill storage...that's a reasonable cost for such a big amount of electricity capability. We pay on average $200/month so you can see if with your battery cost we'd be running free in less than 5 years. Awsome break down William!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Hello William, if you do add solar be sure to plan according to your consumption of electricity needs and then the rule of thumb is to have a 3 day surplus. Honestly for me, depending of course on needs I think a 10kw, system with a 30kw storage system in the northwest is necessary for running your average households, then again I consume allot of electricity. This amount greatly depends on if your conscious or not in your consumption needs. Now in the desert of California you could probably get away with 5kw PV and 10kw battery bank, given the amount of continuous sun. In the end for me it's been worth the small investment for the added stability I have of being Off grid should the time come to be.

[@ianmburke]

Great walk through and production on the video, subbed, and will be referencing this in the coming months when I take on my own diy solar project very similarly. Keep up the great content

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thanks Ian for the kind words, I hope the video helps as you move forward!

[@dice468]

Thanks

[@aearnest]

how did you run the wire from the panels to the house ? did you bury it and did you have to put in a conduit?

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Yes I buried the cable in electrical conduit.

[@denisshavaliev1849]

It would be interesting to see solar panels efficiency to understand how much power you can get in reality versus information given in data sheet

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Sounds like a great video on efficacy of the panels, capabilities, costs and time, thank you Denis for your comments.

[@mr-andre]

Thank you for the break down.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Very welcome Andre, thank you for watching.

[@curtisbacon7856]

Excellent system excellent information seems like a system that would pay for itself in as little as three years or maybe out to 7 years depending on what you are doing

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Hello Curtis and thank you for watching, yes the system is not to big, not to small, just the right size for someone wanting to dig in and get there feet wet in the solar industry prior to any serious investments of time and money. The system could pay for itself without using any kind of credits or write off expenses within 8 years, depending of course on consumption and increased electrical prices towards the future. With tax incentives this system will pay for itself in 3 years time.

[@adrianantoci1187]

Amazing video. I'm subscribing!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you sir, planning to make more videos in the near future!

[@jab376]

Thank you for your honesty!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

My pleasure and thank you for the comments

[@willowoodherbals]

thanks for mentioning if you are using them totally off grid to use the 5000 series, I am having difficulty finding info on doing my own off grid cabin full time living. too many videos only address part time usage.. for smallest split heat pump & smallest fridge 6 to 9 cubic ft.. doing this in 2022... with the hopes of not going without electric

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Hello Jaded Willowood, they're many variables that need to be considered when looking to go fully off grid with ONLY solar and battery as your power source. First I would recommend a generator as a backup in any event, secondly the design of your system will depend on how much electricity you will need and use on a daily basis, along with your locations amount of sunlight availability during the calendar year. Once determined you'll need to consider how many days you'll need to have battery backup reserve providing electricity in the event you don't have any sunshine to charge your batteries. At a minimum you should calculate 3 days, I would prefer 5 days, but batteries can be very expensive when looking to store large amounts of electricity.

[@LibertyLaneLights]

Thank you! Very informative!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- My pleasure Jim, glad it was helpful.

[@colesgarage8134]

Nice video. Very informative.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- thank you sir, glad it worked out for you.

[@GregHassler]

I have a 17kW, 50-panel (340 watt panels) grid-tied microinverter system that was installed by a local solar contractor last year for $20,000. No batteries yet. I thought it was a pretty good deal.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thanks for sharing Greg, sounds like you have a powerful system at a very reasonable price.

[@navyretired230]

Very good price. Congrats. My DIY 31 panel 12KW roof mount system cost me $17k. I could of shaved off 45-7k if I knew about buying bulk panels. Thanks for sharing

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you for the comments and sharing as well, valuable information for the viewers. 12kw is a descent size system, especially being that it's roof mounted.

[@larryferguson3387]

Thanks for sharing.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Thanks for watching Larry!

[@DaleLClay]

Great video, thanks for making it.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Thank you Dale!

[@ChrisHufnagel_Polymath]

Pretty amazing. An equivalent tesla power wall would be about $20k at least. Thanks for all this info!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Thanks Chris

[@Mripoststupidstuff]

Dude your set up is 20x the size of mine, lol. I have 2x 24v panels on a single controller, going to 2 truck batteries. That powers a 24volt inverter. Off that I can run a small fridge, and charge my laptops. I have a single panel on a car battery to run the 12volt Car Stereo and the lights. If I ever get around to cleaning the place up I might do a video about it. :)

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Hello Rowen, sounds like a nice start to your system! I've seen a few of these guys put there systems on Dolly's when there smaller, yet very powerful, making it portable and more versatile for alternative applications.

[@xiaowei1]

That was very cheap given you are in the US. In Australia, it cost me about $8,000 ($5,765 US) to have a 13.2kw system installed on my roof (2 x 6.6 half cell systems, with 5kw inverters for each system). I do not have a battery set up though, and a 20kw system would cost well over $20,000 ($14,413 US) here as tehre are no government subsidies for batteries yet.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thanks for sharing neighbor, the price you paid is relatively inexpensive factoring installation costs, other viewers have been much higher in comparison. I hope all is well in the land down under mate!

[@OW...]

Great info thanks..

[@cowboymcq6711]

How much was the pallet of panels ?

[@johnfitbyfaithnet]

Does the inverter have a charge controller?

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

These inverters have built in charge controllers, very nice option with these growatts.

[@MikeyMikeHq]

Awesome video

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

Thank you for the comments!

[@hawaiidogs9277]

I have a question if you don't mind me asking I'm just kinda starting out so how do you insure everything the solar panel systems batteries, cabin land etc and if anyone else has any information it would be really appreciated ty

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Hello Hawaii, I would imagine for each person and location insurance options or availability may very. In my case I added extra coverage to my policy in the event of any losses, one would need to contact your Insurance company to ask.

[@scruffy4647]

Really eye opening video. I am planning a 9kw install. Aside from outages, what are the advantages for using batteries. My system is going to be grid tie. Not worried about outages.

[@useract4643]

Thank you Sir, in my country i can buy this system , price about 1800$, the difference is in quality, the component will not give good result , most of materials made in china and there are used solar panels from EUR, really i want to change my life to green power, Thank you again!

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thanks for sharing your comments User Act, green energy is the way towards the future, lower our impact on the planet and raising our vibrations as we go. Life begins to flourish the more connected we become with our natural resources, if you need any help feel free to ask.

[@useract4643]

@@ahhlifesgood1956 Thanks for response Sir, Really I need to know the better brands in your country to compare with other products, I want to study depending on standars, becase in your country there is monitoring about the quality and standars, I do'nt know if you can help me with this case, anyway, Thank alot for your time and response to me!

[@walktheline21]

Great video. I'm sure i can find this somewhere else, but you promoted the concept of batteries or wind/water to generate power at night. However, with what you presented, can this feed into your existing power? i.e. feed into the grid or do net-credits for not using anything from the grid? I cannot process that without batteries this would be around $4K for me if I just went with panels...

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

This system could feed into my grid but I chose to run it entirely independent so when I transfer the system to my greenhouse I should have the bugs worked out. Which I'm happy to report, the bugs have been minimal.

[@TimBee100]

I skipped over a bit of the video. Is that enough power to run your entire household or do you still need to be connected to the grid?

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Hello Time Bee, yes the system does provide enough electricity to power my house entirely, but of course you need to be very conscious of the amounts of loads you're using or demanding of the system and if the sun will shine ro replenishthe batteries. I would recommend a minimum of a 10000 watt system for a house, I only have 6000 watts currently.

[@Comisionado]

Thank you, very informative video.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you for watching sir

[@greggmcclelland8430]

Good video. I like your setup.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you Greg!

[@TurbineGuy]

Greatly system !

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you sir, was just out cleaning of the morning snow that seems to fall on this system in this region almost daily!

[@thewizard7099]

You can get panels even cheaper if you buy them used. Most people sell them $25 a panel used

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Good advise Wizard for those looking for more savings these days, especially after watching prices on panels increase greatly over the last year.

[@littlespressurewashing]

Thx for sharing bro

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thanks for sharing your comments.

[@mkonvo]

Just curious, are you using 2x6 or 2x8 for your panel mounting? Planning mine out now. Thanks for all of the great info. I'm in Michigan also but southwestern side.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

I used 2 x 6 for a more rigid strength.

[@TheFatman819]

Why do you need quick disconnects when you can shut each of the Batteries? It dosent hurt anything, where did you get your U bolts to connect the super strut

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Happy Holidays Tony, good question on the Quick Disconnects, in principal they're not needed I added them for convenience and if for some reason I have an issue at the batteries there is another means to cut the current. I actually plan to put in place DC breakers at that same point of the disconnect for added protection.. The U Bolts for rear leaf springs on cars I used for the super struts I ordered online at I beleive NAPA, they're a third of the price than those made for the super strut connectors.

[@84homey]

Thank you, very useful practical advice, simple to follow.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- Thank you sir!

[@Pixel_Page]

Great video! Could you please tell us (or do a video) about how you wired your panels, ie. how how many in series/parallel, open volts/amps, max volts/amps, etc.? I'm wondering because I want to buy the exact same Growatt 3000 ES model inverters but the manual says only 18A max solar input and it looks like you have more in parallel that exceed 18A. Also how does the cold weather affect your panel voltage? Does the voltage exceed VOC on really cold mornings? Thanks!

[@bigblockcutlass123]

A guy at work paid $50,000 for a generac 7000 k of panel and about 7000k on battery's. not sure on that compacity of the battery's, but it was not a lot.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- WOW! That's a hefty price tag to pay, I highly encourage the DIY market to dive in. It's allot easier to install these systems than people think. I'm here to help if people have questions on how to. Cheers and thanks for the comments

[@johnfitbyfaithnet]

Why do you need 2 combiner boxes?

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

- I used 2 combiner boxes to regulate the volts/watts for each inverter based on panel and inverters sizes, along with the type of setup I'm needing.

[@joanies6778]

I am guessing you are in Canada... amazing info.

[@ahhlifesgood1956]

On the border of CA in the UP... Close enough, great area to be currently.