New Memeber and Starting New Project

[ItsFriz]

Yep, I created the sailnaked acct a few days ago (Tuesday I think?) and didn't see the registration email. Found it yesterday, it had expired, got another reactivation but still wasn't able to post...so made the second account wondering if the first had a problem. Both accts got approved yesterday and the sailnaked acct was still logged in so it posted from that acct. Reposted from Its Friz to eliminate confusion for the others since it would make no sense and tried to delete the first post, but no luck. Tried to send an email to let you know the sailnaked acct could be deleted but couldn't find an email for you or a way to PM. If you want to delete the account and the post that would be great

[SunEagle]

To ItsFriz and sailnaked6842. You both posted exactly the same. Can you explain why?

[ItsFriz]

Thanks JPM , I really appreciate your suggestions and your willingness to help me out, I know I'm probably one of a thousand different stories like this. Ultimately, after going through all this, I really hope I'm able to serve as a resource for people in my area who want to do the install themselves but don't know what they need to know or how to navigate these unfamiliar waters. Part of the want to DIY this is I've met several installers who are glorified snake oil salesmen who want to sell you anything and everything and it's frustrating that they're still in business.

I did decide to reduce the power of the system to 11.6kW due to the tier 1/tier 2 requirements (in my area they allow a 10kW system is allowed to be oversized by 1.7x to make up for inefficiencies so 11.7 is the cutoff for tier 1/tier 2). The panels I'm using are 385w bifacial and may produce up to 410w with the reverse side gain. I suppose that might need to be considered when going through the electrical...

Have also been talking with the building department, the inspector who'll be in charge, and received a permit/all clear to start but still waiting on records to record the Notice of Commencement so the rough in inspection can be scheduled. I have installed flashing-style mounts but that's as far as I'll be going. One of my concerns is the permit was issued before the building department received any drawings or spec sheets of my components...but they know what they're doing and if anything comes up it's "Yes mister inspector sir, I'll fix it exactly like you said/get that to you right away sir." Like you said for a project like this they are the last person you want to make your enemy.

For the most part I'm pretty stubborn about having more solar than I need because I want some breathing room and intend to have a business out of my home eventually and want the extra electricity for a computer/server, but that's down the line.

Found a pdf copy of the book so I'll be going through that over the next few days. Thanks once again for all the suggestions and looking forward to being a part of all this and being able to help someone in my shoes in the future

[J.P.M.]

I'd respectfully suggest not buying or doing anything else until you get more informed.
Start with a copy of "Solar Power Your Home for Dummies" ~ $25 at bookstores/Amazon, or a slightly outdated free PDF download. I'd suggest reading the parts about energy conservation first.
So, part of what you need to be doing, as a first step, is to get the book and read it.
Then, get familiar w/your local jurisdictional requirements for residential PV, and more importantly the folks who administer and enforce local codes. The permitting people can be like Marines: your best friend or your worst enemy. Call them and tell them what your post here said.
If you're looking to save $$ and assuage your angst about burning energy, get your annual electrical loads in kWh/month/yr. and $ amounts and, even though it sounds like you've put the cart before the horse by buying equipment before knowing what the application is, if cost effectiveness is important to you, decide how much of your electric costs you want to offset w/PV. Think engineering economics of the kind you learned in M.E. school.
BTW, and FWIW only, know that unless you're already a real energy mizer, the best place to start reducing your electric bills is to reduce your usage before displacing some of the electrical load w/ PV. For most folks in the developed world and particularly in the U.S., conservation is a far more cost effective first step than PV and so almost always the first logical step in bill reduction.

Then, get familiar w/PVWatts, a residential PV model for preliminary design. Read all the help/info screens a couple of times, do a few runs and get preliminary sizing.

If, after you read the book and do the above stuff, you come back w/questions that address the gaps in your knowledge opened up by the read/self education and the other items mentioned above, your questions will have more meat on them and you'll get better answers you'll be able to understand. It'll save all of us some time and the knowledge exchange will be more efficient.

You'll find this to be a place with helpful folks, some of whom actually know what they're talking about. Just be a bit skeptical of the answers you get until you fully understand them.

Welcome to the neighborhood and the forum of few(er) illusions.

[ItsFriz]

Figured I'd introduce myself, I'm a mechanical engineer looking to save money on some bills and tired of feeling bad for all the energy I burn...so figured I'd start by going solar. I bought a 12.5 kW system from a distributor for dirt cheap but could run into some issues with codes. So far I'm here primarily for the reason that I'm trying to figure out exactly what I need to be doing in between making calls to the building department asking them what direction I should be going in. Looking to learn as much as I can from you guys, thanks for having such a great place