r/SolarDIY • u/PortableSunOfficial • 1d ago
Hi everyone,
I work for Portable Sun, a solar distributor in Grand Rapids. Battery compatibility comes up pretty often in this community, so I thought I’d share a few things worth checking before buying an inverter, or before adding a battery to the one you already have.
I’ll use Tigo, Sol-Ark, and Growatt as examples since we carry all three and I know them best. I’m happy to answer questions here for free, whether you’re buying from us or not.
If you told me you were getting solar installed now but wanted to wait a couple of years before buying batteries, the first thing I’d ask is what inverter you’ve got in mind. I’d want its exact model number so I could see which batteries it supports.
It’s easy to grab a battery on sale without checking compatibility first. “Battery-ready” is a common advertising term in this industry, and it means an inverter can take a battery. It doesn’t tell you which ones, and depending on the inverter, that list can be a single brand or more than a dozen.
The first thing to check is voltage. You’ll notice that most home batteries are either 48V or high-voltage (a few hundred volts), and an inverter is usually built for one or the other. After that, the battery needs to be on the inverter’s compatibility list.
If it isn’t, the inverter may not be able to read the battery or control its charging properly, and some brands won’t cover the pairing under warranty.
Let’s quickly go through some specific examples:
The Sol-Ark 15K is a 48V inverter with a certified list of batteries from other manufacturers, including the Discover HELIOS 16 kWh battery (we actually sell this together)
Growatt’s MIN 7600TL-XH-US takes high-voltage batteries, either Growatt’s own APX and ARO lines or certain LG models. A battery on the list may still need extra parts.
Growatt’s APX system uses 5 kWh battery modules, but you can’t just buy one module and connect it to the inverter. It needs the matching power module and other equipment.
Tigo’s EI inverter only connects directly to Tigo’s own batteries, including the GO battery.
That limits your DC-coupled battery options, but you can monitor the inverter and battery through the same app, including error codes from both. And if something goes wrong with either one, Tigo supports both pieces of equipment.
You can also add storage through AC coupling, where the battery system has its own inverter.
You could have enough battery capacity to keep your refrigerator, well pump, and a few other circuits running all night, only to find out that the pump won't even start. That's because its motor can draw several times its normal running power for a moment when it kicks on, and having plenty of energy stored doesn't mean the system can supply that sudden demand.
I'd check the continuous and surge output ratings of both the battery and the inverter before counting on them for backup. Whichever reaches its limit first is what you're working with.
With Tigo’s GO Battery, for example, three 5 kWh modules give you 7.5 kW of steady output. On a 7.6 kW EI inverter, a fourth module mainly gives you longer runtime, since the inverter’s steady backup output tops out at 7.6 kW anyway.
Cold obviously matters too, since batteries have a minimum operating temperature and put out less power when they’re cold. The GO Battery is rated down to 14°F, which matters on an outside wall in a Michigan winter.
To run the house during an outage, the system needs a transfer switch that disconnects it from the grid.
Tigo and Growatt, for instance, use a separate transfer box (Tigo’s comes in 50A or 200A, and Growatt’s MIN V3 uses the SYN 200-XH-US for whole-home backup), while the Sol-Ark 15K has it built in with 200A grid pass-through.
In Sol-Ark’s case, however, be aware that a 200A grid pass-through doesn’t mean the inverter can supply 200A from the batteries during an outage. On batteries alone, the Sol-Ark 15K is rated for 12 kW, which works out to about 50A at 240V.
In any case (but especially if you DIY), do the math for your own inverter-battery setup so you don’t encounter an unpleasant surprise in a longer outage scenario.
The battery you plan to buy now might not be sold by the time you’re ready for it. Your inverter could still be working perfectly, but the manufacturer may have moved on to a different battery generation. Tigo went through this in January 2026, when the GO Battery followed the older EI Battery.
The current EI inverter datasheet lists both as supported options. Sol-Ark’s certified battery list and Growatt’s supported models (and any other company’s) can change too. I’d advise using the current documentation when choosing an inverter, then checking it again when you’re actually ready to buy storage.
It depends.
If I knew I wanted backup power and could afford the battery, I’d install it with the panels and get the whole backup setup working at once. But if the battery had to wait, I’d still go ahead with solar, provided I’d chosen an inverter with a documented battery option.
Even if you’re unsure about adding a battery later on, I still wouldn’t let that impact my inverter choice. AC coupling is still an option for many existing grid-tied systems. It’s more equipment, and there can be conversion losses. But replacing a working solar inverter isn’t automatically the better choice.
If you’re looking at a particular inverter, share the model number and what you’d want the battery to do. I’ll hang around in the comments and help where I can. New customers planning a solar installation in the lower 48 states can also get free full-system planning.
r/SolarDIY • u/Shigley57 • 5d ago
When Maryland passed their plug-in solar law, I started planning my own 1600W DC / 1200W AC system. My original plan was for a ground-mount array, however, county code setbacks for auxiliary structures would have pushed my array into the shadows. A coworker joked that I should put it on wheels, since vehicles, RVs, & trailers are not subject to these setbacks. Hmmmmm.
Solar System – (4) 400W Longhi panels connect directly to a Hoymiles inverter. This inverter is perfect for my system. It has four dedicated solar panel inputs and dual MPPT controllers. This grid-tied inverter meets the latest UL standard (UL1781 SB.) The Hoymiles Data Transfer Unit (DTU) is expensive, so I opted for a less expensive/less capable OpenLabs OpenDTU to monitor my system. A 12 AWG heavy duty extension cord delivers the output to a dedicated 20A branch circuit receptacle. An AC disconnect is mounted adjacent to this receptacle.
Racking – I settled on the IntegraRack IR-45. They were expensive, but I really wanted to be able to adjust the panel tilt angle each month (to maximize the output of such a small array.)
Trailer – I bought a small DIY trailer kit intended for small watercraft (jet skis?) and mounted a 4x4 pressure treated frame on it. The two main rails are 16’ long, so I had to replace the original trailer tongue with an optional (longer) version to accommodate the 16’ rails. The 4’ long 4x4 crossbeams provide the mounting surfaces for the IntegraRack frames. To keep this assembly stable in high winds, I set ground screw anchors at the four corners of the trailer and secured the trailer with ratcheting straps. I’m sure it won’t survive a tornado, but it’s fine for the occasional 40-60 mph winds. It's a fully functional trailer with lights, so I could tow it if needed. I would be puckered if I had to drive on the highway, but local roads would be fine.
Observation 1 – Best orientation is situational. I originally set my array to face due south (per standard practice.) However, my neighbor has some tall trees and I discovered that my system only delivers full rated output when the sun peeks thru three gaps in the tree line (at 11:30, 1:30, and 4:30pm.) So, I centered the array on the middle gap to maximize results when the sun peeks through. This was an unanticipated advantage of the trailer; I would not have been able to make this adjustment with a fixed ground mount!
Observation 2 – IntegraRacks are oddly not ideal for Maryland. According to AI, my optimal solar tilt angles for my location (by month) range from 21-68° (with respect to the ground). The IntegraRacks only adjust from 15-45°. This surprised me, since Maryland is sort of in the middle of the country, latitude-wise. It seems these racks are optimized for more southern locations. On the other hand, since the max tilt is only 45°, I can leave it at 45° from September thru March!
Observation 3 – Mounting is Expensive! The solar portion of this project was only 25% of the total cost! The solar components were a little over $1000. The mounting system (trailer, IntegraRacks, lumber, hardware, etc.) was closer to $3k.
Observation 4 - Performance. For the last 3 weeks of October (including 4 rainy/cloudy days), the system averaged about 4.5 kwhr/day (about $1/day.) It should be much better in the summer, when the sun stays over the trees all day. The solar portion should pay for itself in about 2 years. The mounting system? Payback should be shortly after I’m dead! Lol!
Observation 5 – Don’t give your watts away! When you sign up for plug-in solar, part of the deal is the utility will not pay you for any power you push back on the grid. Since I only generate power during the day, I don’t want to waste it. I have a Shelly Pro 3M installed on my main panel, so I can see if I’m pushing power out to the grid. It’s become a game for me. Our loads during the day are pretty low, so I looked for opportunities to load-shift. Now, we only run the dryer during peak generation times. I can’t really load-shift the HVAC, so no real options there. However, I installed a pool timer on my hot water heater so it only runs during peak generation times (10am-5pm). Even after being off all night, morning showers are fine.
Observation 6 – Tilt Matters! Based on a south-facing roof with a fixed 30° tilt in my town, AI predicts Oct average of 4.7kwhr. After 3 weeks of operation (w/ 4 rainy/cloudy days) with a 45° tilt, I’m getting peaks of 5.1 kwhr and an average of 4.4 kwhr (when my panels only see direct sun 3 times per day!)
Observation 7 - Mobile solar doesn't penalize the next owner. If/when I move from this property, the next owner can decide if he wants to keep the array or not. They won't be saddled with a fixed structure in their yard anchored in a ton of concrete. Plug-in solar was really intended for renters, so it's right that the system should be mobile/easily removed.
Observation 7 – It’s a fun hobby (that slowly pays you back!) Honestly, I get pretty jazzed when that spud is cranking out the full 1200W. Since it’s on a trailer, I can play with the orientation based on the season. It’s also really heightened my awareness of how much power we use in our home. I expect this system will cut our monthly electric bill by 10-15%.
r/SolarDIY • u/MrsPetrieOnBass • 53m ago
It's likely that a couple of things could be slightly better, but we're amazed that we were able to do this grid-tied project ourselves for ~$1.20/W. The power company set our net meter today and we're up and running. Thanks to everyone in this sub who we learned from. We plan to build it out further next year depending on PV gear prices.
r/SolarDIY • u/I_Talk-to-myself • 3h ago
TBH I don't have the knowledge or time to learn for a DIY. So that being said, honest thoughts on this one. I believe I can add panels too. TIA
r/SolarDIY • u/Saul2156 • 2h ago
During my upgrade to 200A, I inserted a Gridboss in the path. I am not adding any batteries or inverters until I complete the upgrade. What can I use on the Gridboss until then? Can I wire my generator through it? Do the Smart ports work?
r/SolarDIY • u/perpetualcub • 17h ago
This is a pretty good look at my RV solar system in action.
Dry camped at a state park in Big Sur last night. (Completely shaded) Was cool enough that I didn’t need ac - but because I could, I did run the heat pump (Turbro Greenland) when it got chilly during the night (like 5a-8a). So had about 20% left in the house bat (314ah ecoworthy) and about 60-something ont ej Anker F3000 (they are tied together via Ankers bidirectional dc-to-dc charger, and I had it set to feed the Anker from the house at 200w)
Today I drove up highway one from Monterey to San Simeon and then over to Paso Robles. So while driving the victron Orion connected to the alternator (yes I have two dc-to-dc chargers - I don’t know how common that is - but it did what I wanted to do) puts out about 600-7xx watts (dropping way down or shutting off when idling or slow driving). The shot above I took while the engine was off - so no output listed.
I’m dry camping tonight and this is more of a transition stop than a pretty stop. It was a tad warm so I decided to run the ac. (80 inside) it’s supposed to get down to 60 tonight, so not worried. (It currently says it will run for 8 more hours - but the Turbro will scale down to near moth soon - if it’s just running the fan it pulls like 100w. Currently pulling 550).
The home assistant screen shows my dash board. The solar output is about peak what I get from these panels. This was grabbed right around noon. They’re rated 970 watts total - but they’re flat mounted so, while I was hoping for a little higher, it is what it is.
The sideways panel is on its own controller (previous owner install) and I might have space to swap it out with something bigger. Bit priority over that would be to get a second ecoworthy 314 and wire it in parallel. I habe space and they’re cheap. Thst would bring me just over 11kWh.
I did have a chance to test it in hot conditions while staying at Pinnacles National Park. Where I also had a space with no sun. I did connect a portable 400w panel to get as much I lit as o could - but it was minimal. It was unusually warm for the season (low 90s or high eighties during the day. I also arrived with batteries about halfway discharged (dry camped the night before, and make some beginner mistakes (this rig has an electric add on to the water heater - I thought it was off, it wasn’t).
It also taught me just how hard a hot rig is to cool down, and if it’s much over 85 it’s gonna take forever to cool off, the ac will still pull hard, and it will eat your batteries.
Regardless it only ran the AC for about 4 hours before I shut it down due to low power. Which worked out okay because it cooled down to 60 thst night and fans were enough)
Most places o could have run the generator for an hour or two and charged everything up and been fine - but no gens allowed in pinnacles.
Verdict: more battery!
r/SolarDIY • u/OcoeeG • 3h ago
I had my heart set on going with the 10KW Ecoworthy AIO inverter and battery bundle for $3800. But I think I have talked myself into sizing up to a 12KW inverter. My other option would be start with the 10KW inverter and add a 5KW one later after I get things scaled up. Which is a better play and why?
r/SolarDIY • u/j_unspeakable • 2h ago
Hello everyone,
I'm having trouble connecting 2 × Growatt HOPE 5.5L-A1 (5.5kWh) batteries in parallel with my Growatt SPF 6000 ES Plus inverter.
Both batteries work perfectly individually, including BMS communication, charging and discharging.
The issue:
When connected in parallel, whichever battery is configured as the slave continuously flashes both its red ALM and green RUN lights simultaneously.
What I've checked:
1000 (Switch 1 ON).0100 (Switch 2 ON).Important observation:
One battery is approximately a year older than the other. I initially configured the older battery as the slave, and it showed the alarm.
I then reversed the master/slave roles, making the newer battery the slave. Interestingly, the same problem occurred on the newer battery instead!
Earlier troubleshooting also showed that disconnecting and reconnecting the LINK cable changed the slave's behaviour, making it appear to transfer power to the master.
Has anyone experienced this? Could this be a BMS firmware compatibility issue between the older and newer batteries, a communication handshake problem, or something missing in the parallel configuration?
I've attached photos of the DIP switches, a short video of the flashing indicators, and a video showing the connections.
Any advice from someone who's successfully paralleled these batteries would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
r/SolarDIY • u/Dr_Breeder • 20h ago
Where are people in the DMV buying panels locally or within reasonable driving distance? Any distributors/warehouses worth contacting directly? I’m also open to just paying freight and receiving a pallet or two at my address.
Also interested in specific panel models/brands you would choose right now for a ~25 kW bifacial ground mount.
Looking to buy roughly 25 -30 kW of bifacial solar panels for a DIY ground-mount system in the DMV area.
Target is around 24–30 kW DC, so roughly 40 x 630W panels, 52 x 550W, or something comparable. Planning to buy by the pallet and prioritize good $/W, reputable manufacturer, N-type/TOPCon if it makes sense (ideally panels that should hold up for 25–30+ years.)
Want to eventually run a 9500 sq ft home off grid, but I won’t be purchasing batteries and adding them until later on. Going to 1:1 meter back to grid for a few years.
r/SolarDIY • u/Sweeth_Tooth99 • 1h ago
wanted to ask a few questions about a behaviour im noticing in mine.
r/SolarDIY • u/SashaDabinsky • 2h ago
I bought 4 of their batteries for a 2P2S 24 volt system, and one battery randomly decides to discharge itself, also discharging the 2nd battery it's wired in parallel with. This is the 3rd time this has happened. I've reached out to them multiple times via website and email and they fail to respond.
2 days ago all 4 batteries were between 99-100%, last night 2 batteries showed at 0%, even though the conditions (use, weather, etc.) were identical. Now the 2 batteries at 0% are refusing to charge because I'm guessing the BMS of the suspect battery is bad.
r/SolarDIY • u/2old2bThisDumb • 2h ago
So a homeowner only wants to remove a small section of a large roof mounted array for patch work. It is an railless, flashless, deck mount racking system. The mids look like the old Unirac SM, but i can't find anything online.
I don't want to reuse these after removal because the butyl on them will not work after again. This homeowner is refusing to just do the whole array. If the roof attachments are mismatch, the transition from one to the other will not seat correctly, because the roof attachments take the mid clamp.
Any one have this legacy racking system that can shine some light on it for me? This way I can call around for new old stock.
r/SolarDIY • u/Tiffany_Chapman_5002 • 9h ago
Does the smart shunt provide more info than the bluetooth capability built into the batteries? and more importantly, is it more accurate?
r/SolarDIY • u/OcoeeG • 23h ago
I just bought 9 710W Canadian Solar panels yesterday for a price of $195 each tax included. That is $0.27/watt. That is cheap right? These panels are HUGE! Part of me thinks I should have gone with the 570W panels that are a little smaller, but too late now!
I have my heart set on the EcoWorthy bundle they have a sale on right now. It is the 10KW inverter and a 16KW battery (48v, 314Ah) for $3800. That seems like a pretty good deal to me! Does anyone know of any other deals going on right now that compare? I am up for advice and ideas about inverter and battery pairs. But this is the approx. price range and size I am looking for.
My goal is to run as much of my house as possible excluding the dryer, heat pump and stove. I honestly think I can get pretty close. I will spend the winter experimenting with locations for my panels. I think I have a pretty good plan, now I just need to implement it. Thanks for all your help so far.
r/SolarDIY • u/Apocaloptimist44 • 14h ago
We purchased a wonderfully constructed home-made mini camper from someone this past Summer, and are about to store it for the winter. It’ll be in a non-temp-controlled/non-electric storage unit.
It has two 100w solar panels on the roof, a lead-acid battery (to be replaced by a lithium battery next Spring), and we’d like to disconnect the battery for home storage & trickle charging through the winter.
The thing is, is it’s recommended to disconnect the solar charging before disconnecting the battery. With the DC switch (white box) off, the solar still charges the battery. It’s said that “you must cut off the photovoltaic (PV) power input before touching the wiring.”
Anyone know how to do that with what’s displayed here? Is that removing the 30amp fuses below the blue SmartSolar charge controller, or….? There’s no switch to turn off the SmartSolar control box.
Any help would be appreciated!
r/SolarDIY • u/Smiley_McFly • 13h ago
I have been looking into setting up a 12kw hybrid inverter with 200 amp pass-through and two 16kwh batteries or one 32kwh battery. I found out that my city requires a $250 application fee for an interconnection agreement. Online, I read that the setup must include a UL 1741-rated inverter and a UL 9540-rated battery system. According to my city's interconnection agreement, the inverter must have a UL 1741 certification that can be presented. There is nothing about the battery or even the solar panels. It only covers the inverter connecting to the grid. My thinking is that I can use any battery system that I want, like a Docan Noon or ECO-WORTHY PowerMega 314, without issue. It may be an issue for insurance purposes, but if the batteries have UL certification and the battery chassis has fire suppression, then I should not worry. Using a non-UL 9540-rated battery will keep my cost way down.
Here is the related text on the agreement from the city:
Distributed Energy System Information
Location (if different from above):
Inverter Manufacturer:
Model
Nameplate Rating: (kWAC) (kVAAC) _
System Design Capacity: (kWAC) (kVAAC)
Energy Source: Solar Wind Battery/Storage
Is the Distributed Energy System equipment IEEE 1547/UL 1741 Certified?
Yes No [Note: Requires a Yes for an application to be considered complete.]
If Yes, attach manufacturer’s documentation and technical specification sheet showing IEEE 1547/UL
1741 certification.
Have all necessary government permits and approvals been obtained for the project prior to this
application?
Yes No [Note: Requires a yes for an application to be considered complete.]
Is Utility Accessible External Generator AC Disconnect Switch Provided? (Required) Yes No
Location of Accessible External Generator AC Disconnect Switch
(e.g. Two feet west of utility electric meter)
Below is an example of the connections.
r/SolarDIY • u/Fun_Lecture2997 • 9h ago
I've been looking into heavy-duty low-frequency inverters with a built-in transformer and came across ZLPOWER's GS series. The price looks quite a bit lower than Sungoldpower's, and the specs seem pretty comparable at first glance.
I checked out their website, too, but haven't found much independent feedback on the brand yet.
Has anyone here compared the two or looked into ZLPOWER before? What would you check before deciding whether it's worth considering?
r/SolarDIY • u/Friendly_Permit9134 • 14h ago
Tengo 2 bateria puesta en serie y dice el manual que el voltaje de flotacion es de 13.5 es decir en serie seria 27.0 volt pero mi controlador solar nama llega hasta 28.0 volt esto le haria algo a las bateria.
r/SolarDIY • u/ChillPixel69 • 11h ago
Hey everyone,
I’m looking for some advice from anyone who knows about Voltronic hybrid inverters, specifically the Knox Krypton 8000 / Infini V IV 6KW Twin.
Background:
Unit: Knox Krypton 8000 (Voltronic Infini V IV 6KW Twin)
Battery: 52V 102Ah LiFePO4 pack via RS235
Firmware: I just updated the firmware using official files from support.
Original: U1 68.20 / U2 81.06
Updated: U1 69.37 / U2 81.14
The Issue:
Ever since the update, I’ve had a weird, intermittent problem
Random Drops: A few times a day, the inverter's AC output cuts out for about a minute.
Error Display: It shows a Bp error, and the screen voltage drops to 0V.
Battery Reality: The battery is totally fine at 55V with no BMS issues.
Auto-Recovery: After a minute, the display comes back, the voltage reads correctly, and the power turns on again.
r/SolarDIY • u/beanerlong • 1d ago
October sun in Alaska is great when we get it.
Today sun angle was 18.1 degrees above horizon at 1351.
PV1: Gstar, 40° tilt PV2: AIKO, vertical
Voltage: 319.6 V 180.8 V
Power: 2,369.8 W 1,572.2 W
Rated: 3,650 W 2,425 W
% capacity: 64.9% 64.8%
June 21: the sun reaches 53° above the horizon. December 21: just 6°. At around 25° of sun elevation, the optimal angle switches between my two solar arrays. Pretty fun project up here in Alaska, and the data has been really interesting!
Also I have a weather station in the backyard, and the strongest wind we’ve recorded in the last year was 17 knots. Also is great for tracking solar radiation. Growatt is pretty terrible for interface so if you like data use other tools. The 4×4 posts are buried 4 feet deep in concrete. I’ll improve the bracing on the vertical array this summer. Just wanted to share having two arrays optimized for the season and hopefully I will max out my 3.8 KW inverter more!
r/SolarDIY • u/Crawlerado • 1d ago
I have a four panel array that I lazily setup this summer using Obama era panels and some plug ins. I decided to invest a bit of time into moving them and damn, still a very temporary B game install but damn, huge improvement.
r/SolarDIY • u/Latter-Ad-1523 • 12h ago
everything i mention here is referring to the negative side of dc
i have 5 charge controllers, all their output feeding to a single bus bar, about 15kw of pv
that bus bar then feeds the smart shunt, this is to track combined solar gathered
that shunt feeds a load buss bar, think inverters, (also feeds below shunt and battery bus bar)
(also attached to that above bus bar is a lead that feeds to another non smart shunt) this is to track exactly the battery soc, incoming and outgoing power over time. this works great. this non smart shunt bus bar where all 30kwh of lifepo combine.
basicaly i want a shunt to track battery soc, which i have and am happy with
then i want one to track total pv that came in that day, as some power will got to battery, and some will go to inverters
i read that victron smart shunts can do this if you switch modes, you can even select solar charge controller mode.
it works, but its all over the place, its flipping polarity of current, then sometimes it flips polarity of voltage, and sometimes both and sometimes it just does its job correctly
in settings there is a way to flip polarity, but it seems to only flip voltage, not all of it. so then i said fine lets physically flip polarity on the shunt, and flip the settings back in the app. it will appear to work for a while, then i go back and check the data, and i can see that through out the day its flipping back on its own.
i really wanted to track peak watts, amps, volts, hours and see the wave form s the sun moved across the sky, but still end up having to play detective, as i have to add "ah to battery" and "from battery", then multiply nominal voltage to find watt hours
and the wave form is a joke its flipping back and forth between positive and negative.
i can throw this in the trash if someone can help me find a brand/model that will track all this data and let me store and see this on a phone or pc.
r/SolarDIY • u/FreddySolarTX • 18h ago
I have been doing a lot of repairs on SolarEdge inverters. Specifically non comunicating inverters. What are you guys telling clients when this happens. I find it so difficult to explain why this happens to clients and they are always getting upset.
r/SolarDIY • u/Smooth-View-9943 • 21h ago
Hi,
I installed a 12.6 kWh DC system on our roof, connected to a Solis S6-US 10kWh. The panels are east- and west-facing. A tall tree to the south of our house throws some shade in fall and spring on some of the panels. The number of panels being affected increases gradually from around 12:30 to 6. The east-facing panels are not affected at all.
I activated the Multi-Peak MPPT Scanning setting on the inverter every 30 minutes (the default). I can see that the Voltage goes down and back up every 30 minutes, which I understand is the expected behaviour. What is unexpected is that the inverter throws DC-INTF alarms and some REVE-DC warnings, but recovers by itself. I do not see these alarms and warnings when running Multi-Peak MPPT Scanning every 60 minutes. Of course, at 60 minutes, it takes much longer for the inverter to optimize power generation. The time it takes to run the scanning seems to be 5-10 minutes, which makes me wonder if the scan is all that useful.
TBH, I'm not sure what question I'm asking here, but maybe someone can throw in some wisdom based on what I wrote?
r/SolarDIY • u/rsmith2786 • 1d ago
I've been thinking about putting some panels on my barn roof for a few years and decided to just go for it. I got serious the first week of October and spent a few days researching. I decided to try and find some panels locally and ended up finding a decent deal on some 550W ZnShine panels a few hours away. I picked those up and started ordering other supplies.
Major pieces:
IronRidge XR100 Rail System
(18) ZnShine ZXM7-SHDB144 550W panels
EG4 Flexboss Inverter
Tigo TS4-A-F MLPE RSDs
About a week before the project I noticed a small leak in one of the exposed fastener roof screws and decided to just replace them all before they're covered in solar panels and much harder to fix.
I made a little lift jig for my tractor to lift the panels in place one at a time where my wife and I could pull them into place and fasten them down. It ended up working pretty well.
All in it took most of 3 weekends and almost exactly $9k. I did get a permit for the project and currently have an application in with my local utility for net metering.
I normally do more research for big projects like this but felt a time crunch between deciding to do it and cooler weather moving it. There are likely things that could have been done better, but overall I'm happy with the outcome.
This subreddit was a great resource and I appreciate all the helpful posts I found along the way.