Check out Hoymiles for WORLD CLASS Solar Inverters! geni.us/Inverters

@mb-3faze

5 ай бұрын

When car manufacturers fully implement Vehicle-to-Grid functionality then home batteries will make a whole lot more sense.

@claycruckosha

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for the Hoymiles recommendation! Would be cool to see you do a video about gamifying the monopolies' new "demand" plans with solar, rather than the export/NEM 3.0. SDGE, PG&E, SRP, APS, and more either have such plans already, or are soon rolling out, and will make the grid much smarter, eliminating waste. Brayden demand managements and/or batteries paired with solar make the perfect trifecta with these demand plans for max ROI.

@b_uppy

5 ай бұрын

Another benefit of solar (when you live on the west coast) is earthquake resiliency. Thank you for sharing your experience

@pawekaczmarczyk2186

5 ай бұрын

@@b_uppy Only when you have an off-grid installation with enough energy storage, which is rare i think.

@b_uppy

5 ай бұрын

@@pawekaczmarczyk2186 Actually some solar systems can be on grid and still supply for the homeowner because they can isolate tk the house alone when necessary to avoid feeding power at an inopportune time. This is to protect linemen working on power lines from the possibility of electricity feeding in after the main line power is turned off...

Never heard of "Hoymiles" before and not a lot of info about the company, other than they are Chinese and went public a couple years ago. Appreciate you named this company as a sponsor. Looking it up it's not a cheaper product than Enphase though. That 4 into 1 unit seems like a great idea but it's almost $500! One new IQ7 is $85 and a long proven product/company. I'm not pushing Enphase but they'd be my choice today. I actually have a 9 year old Solaredge system which had the inverter replaced this year under warranty and one optimizer replaced a few years ago, also under warranty.

@fintrollpgr

4 ай бұрын

A big important difference why I went Hoymiles is that Enphase microinverters are horribly undersized for modern panels. With Hoymiles you can get the full performance out of a 400Wp+ panel, Enphase just can't.... Not even with the newer IQ8's. Added benefit with OpenDTU, a fully open source monitoring system, I have full local control over my Hoymiles install for little money (30$)

When you upgrade your HVAC system get every duct airflow tested! I see so many homes that are loosing close to 50% of the airflow to the crawlspace or attic. Getting the ductwork fixed or sealed is often the largest efficiency upgrade.

@SubvertTheState

5 ай бұрын

Good tip

@truthsRsung

5 ай бұрын

Why bother creating the static pressure to push air through Ducts? Why heat and cool the whole house as one unit? You speak of efficiency, but ignore it all together.

@KPHVAC

5 ай бұрын

@@truthsRsung He has a ducted gas furnace and AC. My point for everyone with a ducted system is to not ignore their ductwork! The vast majority of homeowners I work with only think about replacing the furnace or adding an AC or Heat Pump. The ductwork is just as important.

@truthsRsung

5 ай бұрын

@@KPHVAC ...They are parts of the house that go unseen and are, at best, difficult to Clean, but ALWAYS require energy to move air inside them. Tell people not to ignore their mini-split, and they, themselves, can actually do the maintenance.

@sophiegrisom

5 ай бұрын

One of the first things I did after move-in 2001, was to seal the ducts and wrap with more insulation, plus added R-30 attic insulation, plus replaced all 1-pane aluminum windows to double-pane vinyl. Near enough SF Bay to get a cool breeze at night, so use a whole-house fan to chill the house all night, seal-up at 68 F in morning and stays below 80 F all day even when >100 F. Repeat at night. Only run AC 2 weeks per year. Max e-bill is $150/mo, while neighbors fuss about $600. Will add solar panels for pool-pump and as a gazebo and carport cover.

What amazes me is how fast the panels themselves are improving. Once battery technology becomes better and better, the whole system could take off. It'll be interesting to see where solar goes.

@b3owu1f

5 ай бұрын

Battery is well ahead of solar at this point. LFP batteries are cheap (relatively speaking) with 15+ year life spans and definitely improving with the 100 year sodium batteries starting to hit the market (slowly). Solar panels at 20% or so efficiency is ok.. but we really need like 60%+ some day some how and smaller panels so we can avoid large installations. That and new wind turbine roof top solutions combined to produce enough energy to run the house and keep the batteries charged.

@sophiegrisom

5 ай бұрын

In researching, appears that LFP batteries have dropped in price about half in just 2 years. But, research quality, such as youtube teardowns by Will Prowse. Best is a battery with communication to a charger (ex. AllInOne inverter), which are pricier and often rack-mount. Most RV owners are switching to LFP batteries, which are half the weight of lead-acid and actually cheaper when considering real-world specs and lifetime.

@NeblogaiLT

5 ай бұрын

@@b3owu1f IMO, it is clearly the other way around. Solar panels are reliable enough to last decades. They are powerful enough for high energy production per area. And tey are also cheap, so easily pay for themselves. But batteries are not: best LFP is rated for ~5000 cycles, which is ~13.5 years of daily discharge. And in real life, some of the cells in them are likely to fail earlier, like it happens in older EVs. Plus the cost: they do not always even pay for themselves through their lifetime. For example, a cheap 5kWh battery costs about €2000+. If you are lucky, it will do 5000 cycles x5 kWh=25MWh (=~22MWh after battery capacity loss). So the cost of storage, including energy losses, is 22MWh/€2000= ~10 cents per kWh. That is significant, so batteries need to get cheaper. Regarding the Sodium Ion: they need time, further ramp up of production, and tests. Current ones do not have high recharge cycle number. Those are hard to know at this point, but I have not seen products rated for more than 2000 cycles. There is expectation of it going to 3-5k cycles in a few years, and then to 8-10 by the end of the decade- but we still need to to see it.

@JohnR31415

4 ай бұрын

@@b3owu1fdon’t need 60%… there are limits to efficiency, but there is a *huge* amount of available energy beaming down.

@vorpalinferno9711

4 ай бұрын

Perovskite.

Since you are not on Nem 3 watch out for the utility company upgrading you to Nem 3 when you upgrade by over 10%. That's the rule here with PGE. You may want to use the new array for charging and daytime use only and not grid tie it.

@davelindgren5245

5 ай бұрын

110% agree. I am 110% positive that the California utilities will do anything to move people from NEM 2 to NEM 3. I'm not sure who finally got bribed but what they have done is a crime.

@LastWish90

5 ай бұрын

@@davelindgren5245 Not to support the utility companies or anything but it kinda makes sense, here in Germany or in the EU grind market some times of the day the price per MWh can go negative, meaning if you want to "sell" electricity as a utility it costs you money to do so, so you just opt not to do so if you can like for example turn off your wind turbines. Now idk how the market is in the US or California, herein Germany you can look at the current market price and how much percent of the energy produced and used is from renewable and non-renewable sources. So of course they gonna charge you for the electricity you export and try to get you from NEM 2 to NEM 3 to save that money it costs to compensate your electricity when it's expensive for them to do so. But here we also use way less electricity because most households don't have AC here. without my car we use about 2000kWh/year for 2 persons, our landlord living upstairs uses about 750kWh/year so nothing compared to the US. Then most utilities still charge fixed prices per kWh, time of use tariff are only recently becoming available, but we pay 0,23€/kWh which is pretty cheap around here so we don't feel the need to switch.

@rudycastillo4150

4 ай бұрын

Definitely

I love your channel. As far as a 25 year warranty or a lifetime warranty goes ,if the company is no longer around/out or business…no warranty.

@stephanieellison7834

5 ай бұрын

That's an extremely high possibility given America's accelerating decline.

@gerald4027

5 ай бұрын

Yes everything is going to be made in China, including babies.

@bigdougscommentary5719

5 ай бұрын

That’s the same for ANYTHING you buy.

@rocks2rocks06

5 ай бұрын

Even if the company is around they wont fulfill the warranty look up ION Solar. Enphase ghosted me after I sent them pictures showing it was the 10th micro inverter that failed in 3 years, my feelings is they prevented the system from reporting thinking I would not be able to tell how munch power it was actually producing.

@crcurran

4 ай бұрын

@@rocks2rocks06Ouch. I'm leaning string inverter since upgrading every 10 to 15 years would have the benefit of progress and the likelihood the company will be in existence until I do upgrade of the product. 25 years sounds good but a lot can happen in that time. 10 to 15 years I equate to the ability to course correct.

I've installed many of both types of inverters. In microinverter systems there always seem to be a handful that fail very early. SMA string inverters have been super robust and reliable in my experience.

@elmojito

5 ай бұрын

For my installation I went with Fronius string inverter and after 2 years expended the installation with a second Fronius. Like SMA they rae robust and reliable, and in Europe great support.

@thezfunk

5 ай бұрын

As an electronic component that makes sense. If a component is going to fail it usually is pretty early. Stuff does wear out like caps and stuff but most of your electronic failure is going to be early. Unless you get a power surge or it gets hot or something. Just got a brand new oven and microwave and in two weeks the transformer for the microwave died.

One con you didn't mention with microinverters is the Dc -> Ac ->Dc (battery) -> AC more ac/dc conversions and the losses there. String inverters don't have that.

@wva5089

5 ай бұрын

and because of the extra conversons.. you pay for more inverters.. and the battery to ac one is a single point of failure.. better a single point of failure with a single spare then mulitple single points of failure

If you’re looking to swap your central air I’d suggest Mitsubishi ducted inverter heat pumps. The inverter compressor soft start is much easier on those batteries along with the highest quality and reliability.

@lucashinch

5 ай бұрын

I agree 100% ,"Mitsubishi inverter mini splits" are great ! Easy install and maintenance, easy to incorporate within the homes existing architecture.

@johnrogers1423

5 ай бұрын

A multi split system might be worth investigating. One outside unit with up to five inside units on a single phase supply.

@BBCMONTE34

5 ай бұрын

You can do it that way but many times the cost compared to their ducted units is pretty substantial. At least up to 3.5 tons.

@johnrogers1423

5 ай бұрын

I found that a five head multi split was thousands of dollars cheaper than a whole house ducted unit and that was with three expensive Daikin Nexura heads in my multi split system. The multi split is far more flexible and cheaper to run as it is possible to only heat/cool one or two rooms or all five as opposed to having to heat/cool the whole house.

@peterryan7340

5 ай бұрын

Mitsubishi Electric, not Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

A year later, and even with a string inverter, the newer panels are better with shading, without having 27 points of failure under every panel. ...and the string inverter isn't under a panel up on the roof. Oh, and like in southern Nevada with Nevada Energy, you are not allowed a solar system that creates more than you can use. It must be to a max of 95% and cannot send any excess back to the grid. ...and if there is a brown-out / black-out and line power to the residence is lost, the solar system must also go offline. Just another reason on top of so many others to move to the Philippines! !!!-Mabuhay-!!! Life is good again!

Quad-microinverters are usually a lose, not a win. They are not nearly as reliable as single-panel micro-inverters due to the heat dissipation problem. The bigger problem for you, however, is that custom cable. MC4 connectors are a major failure point for roof-top solar systems . Solar panel makers generally do a good job, but custom installer-crimped cables are usually really bad. When doing a custom MC4 cable, you always want to crimp AND solder. Yah yah, I know, MC4s are supposed to work just fine with only the crimp, but if you really want the cable to last you solder it too... and those crimp areas are really easy to solder. In anycase, the issue with installer-crimped cables is that when not done properly they can actually be a fire-hazard. You are lucky that wire pulled out completely. A partial pull-out could have resulted in a high-resistance connection and melting / burning / possibly even a fire. I would check under the panels with a thermal camera at all the installer-specific cabling connectors (during a sunny day) to make sure there aren't any hot spots. -Matt

I always find it curious when I tell people I have solar, their first question is "how much did it cost?" and second, "what's the payback period on that?" BUT if I were to add something like a new front door or new siding, nobody asks those questions. When I add a new door next year, I want someone to ask me "what's the payback period on that door?" I like to tell people that solar is THE ONLY thing you can add to your house that starts paying you back on day one! It goes in one ear and out the other.

@jamesbrunk9817

5 ай бұрын

It is because the investment is high and if it does not pay you back, why do it? The things you mention are maintenance items and most likely need to be done. Solar is optional.

@kadmow

5 ай бұрын

@@jamesbrunk9817 - expensive siding (front door or window replacement) or included sealing / ventilation and insulation gets to be "optional too" - and there may be no real financial payback (triple glazing vs double glazing for example - price increase may not result in rational savings) - of course "feeling good" about one's choices is nice (if one has that mentality).

@b3owu1f

5 ай бұрын

Batteries will pay back as well. Also.. if you drink coffee a lot.. roasting your own beans saves you a ton of money and much better quality coffee and it's easy to do.

@DSC800

5 ай бұрын

@DS-mz7dy : yeah, but getting solar has a fairly definable return. You are spending a fixed amount of dollars to eliminate a known monthly expense. They do try to pitch windows, insulation, hvac, etc as having a return or payback period too, but it is less definable.

@sheldonwilkinson9215

3 ай бұрын

The next time someone asked you that question, you should ask them. “What is the ROI on payments to the electricity companies?”

I have to say that I just love the information provided by so much of this kind of equipment and the software or apps designed to run with it all. My Victron charge controller can be bluetoothed to a phone and you can see the day by day power production, you can see total kwh from the first day of using the equipment to the current date of using the equipment, you can see current usage, current power generation. It's just kinda fun to nerd out seeing all this data haha. It's also helpful beyond just nerding out too though because you can become significantly more aware of your power needs.

Hi Ricky, great walk through, but regarding String Inverters vs microinverters, the SLA of the total system must be a lot lower with Microinverters even if their average survival year is longer. I would say that if you have a ground mount or roof mount without any shadows I would use string inverters and if I wanted to use different directions on panels and also if the panels had some shadow parts I would go with Microinverters. What I've heard the last 6 years during my interest for Solar is that the Microinverter is a lot more likely to break than the panel itself.

Thank you for these vids Ricky. They were a huge help in preparing us for our solar system. Now that’s it’s up and running it’s so obvious we should have made this addition years ago. Enphase micro inverters with Canadian Solar panels.

Nice video. I have the blessing of a free energy at night program in Texas. I have 36 panels with a tesla battery. I am loving them. Before installing the panels, my electric bill in the summer was $750/mo. Now I pay around $60/ month. The panels cost $400/mo.

I have a full solar roof facing SSE and NNW, where I’ve had up to 35% peak over-production with micro inverters connecting to 6 cells with same facing. After rewirering 4 SSE and 2 NNW, the peak has been reduced, and my production on sunny days has increased with 15-20%. Another benefit to micro inverters. As always a great informative vlog. T’as from 🇩🇰

To find which panel is not perform to its full potential, or not working at all. I would use a cardboard sheet cut to size of a panel. During peak light, cover one panel at a time and read your total output, the one that gives the least power drop is the problem one.

Man i'm from the Netherlands and we (a family of 5) use 3500kw a year. The energy usage you have is crazy for us! Love your videos, keep em coming!

@paul1979uk2000

5 ай бұрын

We use on average around 5800kw per year in our house in the UK. The funny thing is, we went on an energy saving drive around 2 decades ago, basically, reducing our energy use as much as realistically possible, but without changing our lifestyle, we managed to cut our energy use in half and in fact, we actually use more tech gadgets around the house. There are other areas we can do to reduce our energy, but these are much bigger expenses and something we'll do when the time is right. Also, during the summer when Putin invaded Ukraine, we went on a massive insulation job to insulated the house for winter, to our surprise, it's remarkable how well it works, so much so that we rarely need heating at all and the house feels comfortable at -5C outside, which is a major improvement over what we had, the other benefit of this is that, even when you do put the heating on, you only need it on for around an hour and it's enough to keep the house warm for half the day. We did do a mistake when it comes to summer, it can get quite hot upstairs, whereas downstairs is fine, and we've kinda got used to it, but we are planning on looking into solutions to reduce the outside heat from getting in. All in all, I'm very happy with the results and even thought I know over the long run, our energy use will go up because of electric cars and heat pumps, we could reduce the energy bill a lot with solar. In any case, my advice to anyone, try and get your house so you rarely need to use heating or cooling to feel comfortable, that's probably going to save you a lot of money over the long run, but the cost to do so will depend on your house, in our case, it didn't cost too much but some house can cost a lot more to do that.

@b3owu1f

5 ай бұрын

I read that average homes of 3 to 4 use about 25kwh to 30kwh a day.. which would be about 10,000kwh a year. I think that's pretty low, but 3500kw a year seems like you run a lot of electrical items all the time?

@spankeyfish

5 ай бұрын

@@b3owu1f Houses in Europe are usually heated with gas and very few people have aircon at home. Heating and cooling are the 2 biggest power draws, cooking is the 3rd.

@zarkov2324

4 ай бұрын

@@b3owu1f this guy is using 50kwh per day and he has a heap of gas appliances, heating, etc. I would say his house is horrendously inefficient.

@listerthat

4 ай бұрын

@spankeyfish wouldn't this imply that house design in the US is extremely poor. Well designed built homes in the US would require less AC. Its incredibly large the misuse of power that goes on.

The turn off for your panels is quite troubling. Panels should work in those lighting conditions. But it also depends on the type of panels: some are better for indirect lighting. I live in the Netherlands, and we have enough clouds, and it still works. That's also the difference between microinverter and string: the minimal lighting conditions are better.

@jozefa1234

5 ай бұрын

I have 9 pannels withe optimizers and they work great in the Netherlands with clouds and trees in the way blocking sunlight

Great presentation. Simple, to the point and educational. Congrats!!!

adding a heat pump is a great way to ditch NG, especially as you are in San Diego a warm climate. We have a heat pump, that replaced a corn burning furnace, and a mini split with 2 head units for the upstairs. It is great, but it is a energy consumer for sure. Yes it is more efficient at moving heat than old resistive heaters, but it is still a lot to account for and see what your battery can handle for starts and continuous loads. Thankfully we still have 1:1 net metering in Illinois so my 21kW system doesn't need a battery and we also charge our Ioniq 5 every other day.

Great video, as always! I'm surprised you didn't have batteries in your system from the initial installation. I live in Michigan and have sixteen 330W panels on my roof (direct southern exposure with no shade) and one Tesla PowerWall 2 battery in the basement. This system provides me with about 80% of our electrical needs. We're retired and only use about 22 kWh a day, including charging our Prius Prime plug-in hybrid. Here are a few of the benefits of the battery: 1) can act as a whole house generator when the power goes out (as long as it's sunny the next day!); 2) if it got charged during the day it will provide electricity after the sun goes down; and 3) the Tesla app tracks an amazing amount of data that I can use to graph my production, usage and savings. Regarding point 2 - we were once off of the grid for 32 days!

@livingtree3547

2 ай бұрын

Cost for your system? Total size?

@panoramictravels

2 ай бұрын

@@livingtree3547 About $28,000 US, but only $21,000 after a $7,000 federal credit. Sixteen 330W panels = 5.28 kW system. The Tesla PowerWall 2 battery has a 13.5 kW-hour capacity.

I just want to aknowledge your work here, since i started watching you. You got really more professionnal looking, more professionnal editing, and almost always listening to advices that we, viewer, can provide to you. I am really happy to see you grow. If you ever hear about some solar alternative for people far more north than you, please review it :).

Wow, I thought paying ~20 cents per kwh here in Chicagoland was high, but I had no idea people were paying 42 cents per kwh! Solar really does make more sense at those rates. Thanks.

Very well produced, thank you.

Your advice might be good for US but in Europe we have much smaller houses and they're usually on two levels so there's far less roof space for panels. The advice I give over here is fit as many panels as you have the space for in one go. If you need to budget then get a cheaper inverter that can be easily upgraded later on. Most of us can't simply walk around on our huge roofs because we have proper tiles, so maintenance and fitting more panels later is expensive vs doing it right the first time.

Information that is actually useful! Thank You!

You gave me a chuckle with "[If you're under NEM3] you're going to be a little bit more screwed." Thanks for all the great advice and data.

Thanks for your video and input

Incredible amount of great info ✊🏼👍🏼

Not a bad video, thank you for sharing your experience

If all your loosing in the winter is a hour that's not bad. The sun rides so low in the southern sky that the last hour is very poor in energy production. That being said . You always over size your panel array . If you have the money. But panels are so cheap now . Compared to 2000 they were 5 bucks a watt back then.

Very Informative Video. Thanks

Hey Ricky, love the show! I doubt you’ll get the same monthly average production over the next 4 winter months so your payoff calculation may be a bit generous. I’m also in SD and just finished my first year of solar. I greatly benefited from adding 2 powerwalls by only consuming super off peak electricity for my 2 EVs and charging them from the grid, then selling 80-90% of all solar to the grid. I’d love to hear how your battery setup is going and if it’s offsetting your daily Peak energy usage. Btw, homeowners in CA on NEM2.0 should be aware that if they expand their solar setup, they will be forced to the less favorable NEM3.0.

I have a 20 kw solar system I installed last year, and I used two 10 kw+ string inverters. One is a SolarEdge and required 25 power optimizers which can be expensive as he says in the video, I got mine off eBay for about $45 per (which is about 1/3 new price). The second inverter is part of the FORD Home integration system for my FORD lightning and what’s awesome about it, is that it’s a delta inverter and does not require power optimizers. I have 0 shade where my install is and so far, 7 months in, the 25 panels on the delta inverter have produced 97% as much electricity as the more expensive SolarEdge system. Plus I have a 131 kWh battery back up with my Ford Lightning which is about 10 tesla powerwalls plus I get to drive it around 😂. The truck provides enough power to run everything except my emergency heat, so it’s a no brainer for anyone installing a new solar system, wanting battery back up, and interested or able to purchase a ford lightning.

Thank you so much for sharing very interesting.

Good video, as always, but I have to disagree with you on one point. String inverters are much more reliable than micro inverters. Especially in hot climates, the micro inverters get toasted. I've seen many failures of micro inverters, but I've never had a string inverter fail. Don't get me wrong, if shading is an issue, go Micro. But the idea string inverters are less reliable isn't true in my experience. I have two SMA in my garage and one is already about 13 years old. Also, if you go to install a battery system after the fact, strings will be easier.

We were lucky enough to be under warranty for our microinverters, we had about 5 go out roughly 9 years into our install

@behindthebuild8016

3 ай бұрын

Did they replace them with the same model or a newer model and were they compatible with the others?

Hi Ricky, one way to economically make solar hot water using daytime solar is to run your existing electric HW cylinder via a step down transformer. We run at 240v in New Zealand so I use s step down transformer to power the HW cylinder at 120V. This results in the load dropping from 3KW to 0.75KW. The water heats more slowly but by using a timer switch to use daytime solar production I can easily keep up with my needs for hotwater. The low load means that even on cloudy days my modest 5KW PV system manages OK. I would assume that the same strategy could still work in the US. My system is also a little different in that I have a changeover switch to select either mains or completely off grid. By isolating the two systems I miss out on export tarrifs but avoid the regulations that apply to a grid connected system. Thanks for your great channel.

@906MediaProductions

5 ай бұрын

It's also worth looking into a solar water panel, they're more efficient than going from PV>electric but at the cost of complexity.

I live in the Pacific Northwest and I don’t use any micro inverters, string inverters, and I get along fine! I figure any clouds that go over are going to move eventually, just like any plane or tree shadow. The only time it is a problem is in the winter when the sun is very low on the horizon. It’s easier just to get some more panels on the east side, as well as the west side, as my house is oriented towards the south. I figure it’s more cost-effective to orient my panels by raising some of them at an angle for the winter. Another way I try to save money, is to switch back to the grid at night in order to keep my batteries from being drained completely. That’s only during the winter months. Also, I’m off grid, but can still connect to the grid. I just didn’t want to go through the permits and the other BS to be grid tied. Although I have to switch back manually, I don’t care!🖖

Nice video. You could also use separate charge controllers for each array and charging the battery bank in parallel instead of so many micro inverters, but your system works well, and that is what matters. Greetings from Jamaica.

16:18 One other factor to consider is that the average lifespan for solar panels is 25-30 years, so in general, it's still a better deal than conventional power networks.

@Rhaspun

5 ай бұрын

Yes. The efficiency may fall but it but it's not a huge drop off after 25 years.

3:30 - Great analogy. 👍

Thanks Rickie; like usual great info and entertainment. After installing 3 solar panel systems on our home in Seattle, my son’s home in Encinitas (near San Diego), and our rental home in Encinitas ; I can say I’m generally happy. A couple of things I’d caution people about. On all 3 projects I wish that I’d put in bigger systems. Adding EV’s, changing a gas furnace to a heat pump, having tenants start working from home and doubling electricity usage are just a few of the reasons. We are adding panels at our Seattle home and this will require a new permit. So if you are on a favorable plan of net metering from original permit and the new plan will be less favorable (ie time of use factor) or doesn’t have net metering at all, you will lose a lot of the benefits that imho you are entitled to. Seattle is 16 year payback and San Diego 5 ish so overall very happy but agree with you that the utilities are going to squeeze us when they can.

For approx 40k USD in pakistan at the moment, you can get north of 100kW on-grid system

@livingtree3547

2 ай бұрын

Send me info

Excited to see the comparison of micro inverters…a bit worried that the calculation you used for yearly expectations did a straight line based on 8months of highest producing solar…and missing months might be actually less in solar production. Thanks for recommendation on supplier and showing the advantages they give.

I live in Phoenix and my house is laid out West to East so I already have panels on the southern and western face. Last year I put panels on the northern side of my house and they output almost exactly the same as the southern side because the sun tracks directly overhead in the summer. It drops off like rock in Winter, but I hardly use any electricity in Winter time Maybe 10-15 kW per day which my 7kW system easily can handle... So my main point is for people in AZ or NV, CA you may want to use that real estate on the northern face. You won't have the same output during winter , but during the summer months when you are drawing 70kWH per day, it will help out a lot.

Very informative - as usual. Gracias. CA's energy costs are a purposeful governmental policy problem. We left the Bay Area 18 months ago. Bought a house in Northwest Nevada that is 60% larger, and we pay less than half the electric and gas total charges.

If you add a heat pump water heater keep your old tank and use it as an additional reservoir by tying into the drain plug of it you can double your capacity

Yes. Last year when natural gas prices were high. My gas bill was the big driver of my higher utility bills. It was going over $250 per month from Dec to Feb for my utility bill. This year natural gas is cheaper so now my total utility bills this year has been less than $110 per month since Nov. I've had solar panes since 2016 and it has been worth it. Electricity rates have gone up every year since.

(Panel level monitoring is nice to have - there is a cost (optimiser vs microinverter), but it does reassure that all is working - or how shading affects output - I have 3 panels with significant morning shade.) Once one has a load of solar, energy usage tends to increase - to fit the "ability to spend for comfort". Available roof space limits many installations (gross cost impacts somewhat - if space remains.). Prior to solar we paid $1-1.5k per annum (not heavy power users) for retail electricity (0.26c/kWh AUD - no time of use "peak and shoulder surge") in an all electric house (for ever) - since solar we have only had net bills over the last year (5 years of no bills and increased summer AC usage)- recently bills vary from $25 to under $110 AUD / quarter (Arbitrage is a game I like playing)... (~8.7MWh per annum with a 6kw inverter and 6.6kW of panels) NB, IF they billed you for backfeed - that is surely a regulation failure (irrespective of agreement or not - unless it was itemised as a fine/penalty).

It blows my mind how much electricity Americans use. I’m in the UK, have a typical medium sized house and my annual usage is about 3.8K kWh. Granted, I don’t have an EV yet, that arrives in April, but even so I use so little in comparison. As for solar I have 7 panels, and that is as much as my roof could fit. They are saving me a fortune already, although this month it is the battery and a time of use tariff that is doing all the work.

I would do micro invertors if I were grid connected. I went with a string inverter because my setup is off grid. Thanks for the video and sharing your experience!

great video, I am hoping to follow you on this journey soon. let me know when your in colorado bro

I was a coach for a "solarize" campaign in my town. Roughly 50% of the households went micro-inverter and the other 50% went string inverter with power optimizers. That was back in 2014. All the components came with 25 year warranties. Since the installs, we've had 4 micro-inverter failures and ZERO string inverter failures. The inverter is a vert delicate device. The typical IGBT that does the switching to create the AC out of the DC is the most likely to fail. Do you want that component in an exposed area on the roof where it bakes in the summer and freezes in the winter? Moisture, humidity, etc. OR, do you want that sensitive component in a nice stable basement? Then, when it comes to failures, the weather doesn't matter in changing out a string inverter and the worker is standing in the basement. Micro-inverters are under your panel. You might need to take off multiple panels to get at the one that failed. You are not changing it out in the rain, snow, wind, heat, etc. The other thing that power optimizers do is balance the voltage. By keeping the input voltage constant to the string inverter, it is MUCH more efficient. Mine is rated at better than 98% efficiency. Lastly, if you have a battery backup, you want to keep the power as DC to the battery. With micro-inverters, you go from DC (the panel) to AC (the micro-inverter) to DC (the battery charger) and then back to AC again (use from the battery) With a string inverter, you can send DC to both the battery charger and the inverter to do whatever is needed. And you only convert the DC to AC when it is needed. It is these conversions that have the most losses. DC to DC conversions (ie, voltage changes) are far more efficient. Installers like to push the micro-inverters because they are easier to install. This is why nearly all leased systems are of this style.

It’s interesting to see how close you can put your panels to the edges & apex of your roof. Here in windy Ireland & UK we have to keep a large gap around the edge of the roof to stop the wind from getting under the panels & tearing them off. It means you lose a lot of area unfortunately.

You should use your excess electric generated to heat your hot water tanks. They probably already have electric heating elements installed in them👍 I think the device you need is called a solar diverter..

Thanks for your video. I just found your channel today. I've been thinking about getting solar on my Illinois home ever since I bought my house in 2022. My main issue though is that I'm not sure if it makes sense since my power is actually pretty cheap. (Last month I paid less than 10 cents per kWh including all taxes and fees) I'm already 100% electric and I think my best way to save money will actually be moving to a cold weather heat pump instead of getting solar. My current heating is electric resistive heating and my AC is like 25 years old. If I do end up getting solar eventually I will be sure to look at Hoymiles inverters. I've been doing a bit of research but hadn't heard of these yet.

You could make the initial investment, even less, by isolating just the main consumers(such as EV charging, and going for a lower cost system) and not connecting to grid. The drawback is you need to charge during day, or need a dedicated battery storage just for that. Also could involve some remote switchover equipment. Just some 💭❤️👍

Nice video, but some details were lost in translation: - hoymiles default warranty is 144 months (12 years) worldwide with the exception being USA market where indeed is 300months (25 years) - terms and conditions apply (for all manufacturers). The small font print becomes interesting when things go south, so do not ignore those - above 10 years warranty is commmon for big manufacturers, and is not a Hoymiles benefit: SolarEdge up to 24 years, SMA 10+5 (after online registration), Enphase 25 years (can differ per device and/or date of purchase - micro inverters have indeed advantages but “they work less than a string inverter and thus lasts longer” is false. You are overselling in my opinion. Maybe the partnership with Hoymiles is blinding you? A 400W micro inverter with 400W panel will work the same as a 5K string inverter with 5KW of panels. Right? Other curiosities of mine: - How is the Hoymiles integration with other brands when adding batteries? - can the system be activated without internet access? (Think off-grid?) - can you access the stats without internet? (Aka. Local only?)

@junkerzn7312

5 ай бұрын

Yes, and warranties kinda mean buckus anyway. Take Solar Edge. Their equipment is total junk and fails all the time. The warranty doesn't save you from having to go up on the roof and replace the equipment. Even warranties with installer reimbursements are usually really tough to actually get the labor reimbursed. Better to go with quality, and quad-micro-inverters are NOT quality IMHO. For micro-inverters that means going with enphase, and for string inverters... well, there are a couple good brands, but in my opinion SMA is one of the best in terms of actual reliability.

@DSC800

5 ай бұрын

Yeah, I agree, good points. The company is new too. Went public on the Shanghai two years ago and now at an all time low (but so are other solar companies). I thought the 4 into 1 would save on equipment cost, but that unit is almost $500 whereas the IQ7's from Enphase is ~$85. I like to see competition but I'd still choose Enphase. (I actually have a 9 year old Solaredge system tho).

@fintrollpgr

4 ай бұрын

There is OpenDTU (and AhoyDTU) for Hoymiles. It is an open source implementation for their monitoring. Works like a dream, is cheap to make and you get full local control, and as you get MQTT out of it, it integrates very easily in most modern home automation systems. And no need to activate those Hoymiles microinverters. Plug in and connect and they start producing.

Nice that you can get so close to roof edges and peaks with your panels. Our township claims "We're Solar Friendly" but requires minimum 3 ft open from edge of all panels to peak, roof edges, and valleys. For our roof, with several valleys, that rules out half of the roof space!

@jongoode3296

5 ай бұрын

Some roof designs make solar more difficult. We have several peaks and valleys that are less than ideal for installing solar panels on, but thankfully have a nice flat garage roof. One installer I got a quote from put "fireman runs" around the edges of their plan because where they install panels it's required, but it's not required at my location. Do you have any space where you could build a patio and put panels on top of it or install some ground mounted panels?

@larrybolhuis1049

5 ай бұрын

@@jongoode3296 Our home is basically in a 'hole in the woods' so panels lower than the roof would be heavily tree shaded. Additionally our 'solar friendly township' has a low limit on sq ft of panels that are not on the roof. :-(

@dannydaw59

5 ай бұрын

It would be nice if solar panels came in triangles to maximize roof space.

@timsteinkamp2245

2 ай бұрын

Stupid rule.

@larrybolhuis1049

2 ай бұрын

@@timsteinkamp2245 Supposedly for firemen to be able to walk around on the roof if needed, so they say.

Hey Ricky, big fan of your solar content! While I'm following your lead on Hoymiles for my new house and spreading the word, I've hit a snag. Despite reaching out by phone and email four times, I haven't heard back from their Hoymiles service team. Where's that "top-notch support" you mentioned? Hope we can clear this up together!

I’m happy my electricity is only 10 cents per kWh north of Seattle because of all the hydropower. I just got a heat pump washer dryer combo, so I free up a 240v outlet and no longer need to vent to outside. The heat pump water heater is my next target. My primary driver of electric use is my resistive heaters and I plan to switch to mini split heat pumps in 2024. Right now my electric bill can be $200 per month in winter and $27 in summer. My car used to add $40 per month when I was driving a lot, but since I retired I don’t plug it in every day anymore. For the last 15 years I had a tree shading most of my roof, but it has been cut down now, so I can think about solar again. However it will probably wait until the roof gets replaced now

I have solar in colorado. The utility will only let you have something like 120% of your avg. electric bill. Once you hit that you can't add more solar and go above it till you use more electricity. Hope to add battery storage as storage gets better and cheaper. Good thing is we have very reliable electric power.

One of the biggest wasters of power is commercial locations, like you see lights left on all night every night, even though there's no one there. Another one, not as big, is people leaving lights on when not necessary and running ACs all the way down to 68 degrees or lower. There is or was the issue of people leaving electronics and fans on when they are not there. I was roommates with 3 other ladies, and two of them tended to leave lights, TVs, and stereos on all the time, so I had to go around turning them off, as I was the second poorest of the bunch. I see you use a heck of a lot of power. I'm in India. We don't have solar for our apartment units, and I see myself using 400-1000 kWh. In the months of October and November, I used just over 400 kWh (200 per month), and it cost me $37 for TWO MONTHS of power. We are billed bi-monthly. You have something wrong over there! Solar usage is quite high here. I notice that people here tend not to use ACs or even fans unless it gets a bit warm for them. Inside apartment buildings, lights in the hallways go off automatically at sunrise. What are people going to do when SHTF over there? Not if, but when... Also, you are not beholden to monopolies. You are beholden to demons that (not who, but that) have hijacked the country and wrote laws that favor them, regardless of party affiliation.

Talking to a guy that knows the stuff beforehand would have saved you from some of the headache. There are also half/half solutions like for example the one from SolarEdge: You combine the advantage of both ways: Optimizers coming w. 25 years of warranty on every or every 2nd panel but still one inverter (12 years warranty?) that makes sure the cost is not exploding. And the monitoring also allows you to see each panel or pair of panels and how they perform. And you really don't have a problem, you have plenty of free roof surface to put additional panels.

In Australia we use Colourbond (i.e. high quality pre-coated corrugated iron). Its basically indestructible and good for maybe 200 years. Deeply don't understand USA preference for roof materials that need to be replaced inside a lifetime.

@howebrad4601

5 ай бұрын

Cost. Custom homes use longer lasting roofing but homes built for resale by a builder usually go cheap. Starting to see lots of steel roofs in our area which is a long lasting roof.

Great video and set up. My first systems were grid tied but adding batteries surely means these micro inverter system will have to go and you have a lot of work to do and in most cases the strings will need a higher voltage series configuration. Battery choice and cost is going to increase the investment and lucky if you get a 6 year payback but if nothing goes wrong for 10 who would moan. Good luck, you're watchable and interesting

I live in Idaho. Cost per Kh varies up to $0.12 :) But because it's hot in the summer (about 95 F in July and Auig) we use AC a lot and heat a lot in winter ( in the 20's in Jan and Feb).

@larrywong7834

5 ай бұрын

Man. Such Blessings you have. Lucky Lucky. I'm in Central California. Pg&e is 45 cents a KWH. Under our house patio shading...Summer ambient air is 115F to 126F.

@howebrad4601

5 ай бұрын

Similar prob in north dakota. Many days in the 90s in summer and Jan and Feb can be minus 25 at night with highs below 0 sometimes. Thankfully this winter had been wonderfully warmer than normal

My son switched out his gas furnace for an air to air heat pump. The gas furnace provides the blower for the heat distribution. The heat exchanger takes the place of the A/C exchanger so the new heat pump provides both heating and cooling. At the same time he added a 14kw solar system. Before the heat pump, he was paying $700/month for gas alone. Now, the solar covers everything and his bill has dropped to zero. He basically has no electric bill anymore. They do charge a fee to be on the grid but he is producing more power than he needs so his bill nets out to the minimum. I have a small all electric home at 8,000 elevation in the Colorado mountains. I have a super insulated home so my heat demands are very low compared to a conventional home. I have a 6,800 watt solar system that with net metering, provides all the power I need for the entire year. I produce more than enough to offset my winter demands on the grid. To do it right, you need the entire package of low electric demand ( high efficiency appliances and superinsulation house ) and enough solar to generate power and a utility company that does straight net metering. You can get a payback in less than 10 years. My utility charges $0.13Kw/h and my payback is 9 years.

I believe With SDG &E if you're in tier 2, and you add over a KW of panels to your system, it'll kick you into tier 3.

@karltreziok2693

5 ай бұрын

You can add up to 10% of your system and stay at NEM 2.0. More than that and you will be moved to NEM 3.0.

We all underestimate our solar. I added from 38 370w panels to another 30 450 watt panels. Using IQ8+ microinverters. It got to near brake even on electric bill.

Haha, same thing with metering happened to me. But I caught it after few days. One of my neighbors also turned that on early and paid for few months of his generation. SDGE is the best)))

I never look at our solar between September to April lol good catch!

The further back in the design process you incorporate solar, the easier it is to optimise yield. If I needed a new roof I'd certainly look to redesigning the angles so that I could fit more panels to the sunny side.

As an off grid person, I just want to point out that the micro inverters are for grid tied systems only. For an off grid system, I would recommend getting a high voltage DC battery anywhere from 48VDC and up. It will make it easier to buy more solar panels and less charge controllers. Outback 80 charge controllers are excellent but you will need 4x as many of these $800 controllers if you have a 12V battery bank vs a 48V battery bank. With 72V you only need 1/6 as many charge controllers as a 12V system.

*photovoltaic / solar thermal technician here: great video. i use Enphase definitely will look into Hoymiles. figuring out which panel is not producing power with 'ol multimeter vs new technology is impressive. yep i new since day one you under sized your system LOL but shows everyone a great lesson. love your content it angers me that the power you produced you got charged. some people don't get their system turned on for a whole year. watch out for that *“True-Up Statement”* *Fire Code says: there must be 3 ft sides for them to walk on safely on the roof in case of fire* watch out for that, even if the other half of roof is clear cause you don't know which side they're going to climb. i still recommend lead acid batteries in some cases...

@MrJayallen2004

4 ай бұрын

Talk with a fireman, he'll bust through the roof any place he wants, your panels won't stop them from busting through if they have to. This fire code is nonsense. They care less about any 3 feet.

@fvrrljr

4 ай бұрын

@@MrJayallen2004 we all know that's common knowledge of firemen busting anywhere on roof. but when there's solar panels i believe they're smarter than that, why, *because the panels are live/charged they're still producing electricity* are you a fireman, if so, please be careful

You have excellent audio.

I have a large hill immediately to my east, and a much taller house to my SW. Right now in December I'm only producing power from 8 AM to 3 PM. But I installed 30 kWh of storage, which at least gets me past midnight. I'm on NEM 3.0 though. I'm in the bay area, so a bit further west than you. Edit to add... PG&E doesn't bill for pre PTO exports.

I'm genuinely curious as to why the monitoring software you are using didn't simply notify you of any underperforming panels. It seems like a simple and expected feature of any so-called monitoring software. I would expect some sort of push notification if any issues.

@dannydaw59

5 ай бұрын

I've got the Sunpower system and they do that. It's just a generic message though. I can't see individual panel production.

You could consider solar hot water for all your hot water needs. Solar hot water systems work in the UK so San Diego would definitely work.

When my solar system (Enphase with micro inverters) was approved by the utility, they had to come out and program my meter for two-way operation. This is why you got charged for your production before approval. The old existing meter could only measure current without regard to what direction it was going. it didn't know how to recognize bidirectional current.

6 cent cost the 1 kWh here in Iceland. We get our electrity from hydro power and geothermal. Very cheap. And we use geothermal hot water to warm our houses

I had a planned electric power outage yesterday, it was a few hours. My whole house generator ran the whole time, burned propane the whole time. If I had even a moderate battery system the battery should have provided the majority of power we used and the generator would either not kicked in or just long enough to recharge the battery bank. We have had outages for a few days in the past, and we actually ran out of propane and had to call fast a refill. If I had battery the generator could shut off all night, a generator needs to run at a set rpm to create 60hz even if only a few LED's and a fan are sipping power all night.

Batteries are the key moving forward, if you can afford them. You might want to check on what happens if you add panels. My understanding is that it would knock you out of NEM 2.0 and push you into NEM 3.0.

I have a small 1 panel solar, someone who lives within 100m of my house has installed a large solar system. My hobby is/was HF radio and since the start of December 2023 my radio turned to QRM ( manmade RFI) this is from 20Mhz up to 30Mhz and the noise is prodigious. I know this is the future, but something needs to be done about the noise they can generate.

@kadmow

5 ай бұрын

- lots of switchmode gear all over the place outputs loads of RFI...

I love my solar. Renewable Energy sure saves me. Installed solar panels on my roof and a grid tied inverter (no lithium batteries for me). This was my 3rd solar panel installation, each at a different property. Also have an old Solar Hot Water System (HWS) on my roof - which produces more than enough hot water for my needs, even after days on overcast weather. My power bills have turned to credits, and I now get free electricity and make around $100 per month tax free. It's like having a piggy bank on my roof. Highly recommend others do this if they can. Use a reputable, quality installer, do your research first.

You forget an important part of the micro vs. string inverter analogy if you have storage. With a string inverter, it is like having to exchange the dollars in the large armored truck for Euros at the bank, and paying the exchange fee. With micro inverters it is like having to exchange dollars for Euros with each bike courier, then exchanging Euros for dollars at a stop on the way to the bank and then exchanging dollars for Euros again at the bank and paying the exchange fee all three times. 😁

The peak output from panels is a couple of hours +/- solar noon, so that hill doesn't really cost you much.

Great commercial for hoymiles

It's still early days in terms of discovering all the facets of these efforts to wrestle down our dependence on burning fossil fuels. But thanks to your efforts and those of so many others now, we are building a base of knowledge to continue improvements. Two things though: the ease and reliability of use for the average consumer will have to improve as much as every other aspect. See: recycling. And another thing: we keep confronting the same old battles with human nature. Here in Phoenix (moved here to retire in 2021) we have scammers who hoped to take over the current power providers in the state by selling solar panels to consumers, then having them pay these start-ups for power instead of the commercial state-wide producers. So the grifters are trying to get into the electric power business, since a lot of money flows through that. Yet, careful customers are learning that only a few individual households are actually getting a major share of power through solar anyway, after all the detail get sorted. Commercial providers, however, seem to be making some progress through economies of scale and sufficient sophistication and investment. These issues will continue to slow progress, so we really need competent leadership. And in American politics that is nowhere to be seen.

I wouldn't not have a gas furnace if you live in San Diego, but it's hard to get rid of natural gas heating in Canada. Heat pump will not be very efficient in the coldest time of winter, and will be loud vibrating.

@jongoode3296

5 ай бұрын

We installed an air source heat pump in Iowa with a propane furnace backup. The propane runs 1-2 weeks a year when it gets below 10F or so. If you have 70 or 80 amps capacity in your electrical panel you could use resistive heat as a backup, but that would've required a panel upgrade for us.

Fantastic news Riki. I can't believe the energy use figures in California, they are horrendous. I pay £100 a month total in the UK

@kadmow

5 ай бұрын

(energy use or energy cost??)

ya the last two years have been terrible of SCE I have seen rate go up so high could not believe it I think my summer time rate for the peak 4pm-to 9pm is around $0.65 per kw glad I have solar or bills when be over $1200 a month other wise.

I am tempted to create a small system of 8 to 12 - 100w panels linked into LiFePO4 batteries. I am looking to not install on the roof but instead only on my southern exposed wall with a bonus by shading my windows in the summer. The southern pitch angle of the sun on December 21 is 19 degrees over the horizon where as the sun is 67 degrees over the horizon in the summer (June 21). The bonus is if the sun angle is used to position panels, they can block or reduce through window solar heating in summer but permit 100% of the suns rays to heat all winter. In December the panels are in full sun from 8:30am to 4:30pm and from 6am to 8pm in late June Goals being able to maintain refrigeration, Ecomm radio systems, heat pump, computers, fibre gateway, off the power grid after Nor'Easters and post tropical storms. I do have a Vermont Castings wood stove for extra heat and some cooking. We pay $0.096/kwh (all hours) so the rates are not so much an issue (my sister pays $0.035 per kwh, grrrr) I just want not to have any noisy generator, but still have power.

@MishaDaBear

5 ай бұрын

Does anyone in cooler climates wax or treat their panels to stop snow and freezing rain from accumulating on them?

We only pay 11 cents/kwh (Colorado) and the utility charges us $27 per month for grid access so payback on our 6kw system is pretty long and it would never payback if we had added a battery much as I want one. Given that our power comes from a cooperative I was pretty surprised they are at least as hostile and maybe even more hostile to rooftop solar as the investor owned electric utility in our area.

One good thing about solar is you can expand!

I would suggest trying some bifacial Solar panels. They will greatly improve your low light power production when you get shading from the mountain. They do not have to have a high angle of attack to achieve this.

Fellow San Diegan and squeezed in on the NEM 2.0 with my system up and ruining this summer. I too now see I should have sized up as I convert everything to solar. I had read the issue to adding on is risk losing NEM 2.0 if the size is over 1kw or 10%. How are you avoiding that with adding 4kw if you are on NEM 2.0? See below on the discussion below. Thanks! Will adding solar after April 14 cause me to lose grandfathering? Not if your solar company filed the contract, interconnection application, single-line diagram, and oversizing explanation documents. You have three years from document submission to get your system installed. If you did not get documents filed in time, you would lose grandfathering if you added a system after the sunset window ends. To keep NEM 1 or 2 grandfathering, you cannot add more than 1 kw or 10% to your system (whichever is larger). The idea is to make it so that a warranty replacement wouldn't end your grandfathering. I don't know of any companies installing only 1-4 panels.