3000 charge cycles is crazy! Check out the Anker 757! Use code POWERHOUSE to get $100 discount HERE: bit.ly/JREPowerHouseBOA or Buy one HERE: bit.ly/JREPowerHouse757 huge thanks to Anker for sponsoring this video.

@eloimartinez9446

2 жыл бұрын

It looks awsome!! Do you know if they are going to make an European version?

@izzfb

2 жыл бұрын

I was really thinking about picking one of these up untill i seen the 1400 dollar price tag lol

@mdshohanurrahman7597

2 жыл бұрын

You should teardown that anker powerhouse

@eloimartinez9446

2 жыл бұрын

@@izzfb Its not a bad price for a lithium ups

@user-fc2td5dx2e

2 жыл бұрын

your a wizard for posting this right after i wqatched the first one

2 Years!? It feels just like yesterday we were watching you install it

@logon12

2 жыл бұрын

felt like last September

@Gandi2000

2 жыл бұрын

That's why solar companies have long warranties...

@01dom

2 жыл бұрын

@Don't read profile photo bro stfu no1 will

@alfrredd

2 жыл бұрын

yes, and he was installing a water tank for the garden, was that two years ago too???? 😩

@eefm99

2 жыл бұрын

Time sure flies 😓

I love how Zack explains things on a great level. Not over the top, but just right!

@deepakmenon7733

2 жыл бұрын

Same. Zach and ChrisFix do it so well.

@doingfreakythings9290

2 жыл бұрын

@Don't read profile photo glad I can't read, write or type, so I dont know what your saying

@chrys9256

2 жыл бұрын

"When the sunlight hits the panels sciency magic stuff happens and DC electricity is generated." Yep, this explanation is just right.

@drunkpaulocosta

2 жыл бұрын

@@doingfreakythings9290 your comment helps their engagement

@denden9111

2 жыл бұрын

The Goldilock explanation

After living with roof mounted solar panels (grid tied) for 4 years I can say with confidence that if you live where it snows, and you plan to go off grid, you need to mount the panels on a steep angle. Don't worry about it being too steep for the summertime, there's tons of sun in the summer. It's the panel's ability to shed snow, lower sun angle and shorter days in the winter that you need to plan for.

@kb9liq

2 жыл бұрын

Watching the youtuber timbatsea he has a setup that is mounted were when comes on in the morning it drops the panels down to dump any snow in the winter. And it will even dump it in a different spot everyday so it will not buildup on the ground. Nice idea so you don't need to go out everyday and clear it off

@nimblybimbly4002

2 жыл бұрын

@@kb9liq That sounds neat. To me, the best part about solar is the simplicity and lack of maintenance. If I had the choice I'd go rack mounted and, at most, I would adjust them once in the spring and once in the fall.

@rundownaxe

2 жыл бұрын

Continuous snow will get you near zero power. After it's done I go out with the squeegee and it take 10 minutes to clear the snow. The bigger problem is going from 12 hours of sun in the summer to 4 in winter. In the summer I can run my A/C all day long and do laundry without problems. In the winter I run out of power after a few days of clouds.

@kb9liq

2 жыл бұрын

@@rundownaxe Could never sweep off panels if I had them on my roof. Too tall and steep

@rundownaxe

2 жыл бұрын

@@kb9liq There are tools that will reach most roofs. But yeah, mine are on the ground so it's easier.

Great to see this update on how it’s working out! 👍

@lubricatedgoat

2 жыл бұрын

You both should check out Will Prowse. His channel explains in huge detail the best and cheapest way to set up battery systems. Be cool to see a colab with him.

@Andy-gti

2 жыл бұрын

You do know, this WHOLE video was one BIG AD you just seen? you do realize that? right?

@Hubris2

2 жыл бұрын

@@Andy-gti It's promoting a technology, sure. The fact Zack suggests people should check around because there may be cheaper options where they are means most people won't be too-bothered by the sponsored bits.

@swirle13

2 жыл бұрын

@@Andy-gti you mean "ad" not "add"

@jurchiks

2 жыл бұрын

@@Andy-gti so what?

I had 4 solar salesman come by this year promoting the net metering program. The installation cost always makes them seem not very cost effective. I might need to look into this DIY option.

@alexisrivera200xable

2 жыл бұрын

If you are going the DIY route first check what the requirements are in your area, Where I live I had to pay an engineer to certify the installation and sign up with my power company's net metering program so they could start tracking the system on their end. The reason is that the net metering equipment needs to be compatible with your local grid or you will cause damage to the grid and your own equipment.

@RyanRiopel

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah that combined with the local hydro company only offering 50% credit for energy produced, it’s in no way cost effective to install solar in my city.

@Bward216

2 жыл бұрын

@@alexisrivera200xable you can not cause damage to the grid with solar

@craigchatterton4164

2 жыл бұрын

@@Bward216 But you can cause damage to the linemen working on the grid with solar.

@Bward216

2 жыл бұрын

@@craigchatterton4164 yeah but if you aren't aware of that you should never even consider diy solar

As someone who lived through that Texas Freeze, that wasn't the half of it. We were freezing to death in our homes. We couldn't drive anywhere because there is no deicing of roadways. I didn't have drinkable water for almost 2 weeks, we were just lucky to have some bottled water. At least our food didn't go bad because it was refrigerator temp inside the house Yeah that really blew. Get some solar power and batteries.

@devinstepp4205

2 жыл бұрын

Twas crazy. We had a little generator (20 years old and i had to rebuild the carb) that we ran all our gas furnaces off of. Our house was 68 degrees while the rest of the neighborhood was frozen

@filipkramaric6636

2 жыл бұрын

What was the lowest temperature you had to endure?

@devinstepp4205

2 жыл бұрын

@@filipkramaric6636 it was in the single digits outside

@ccarazay

2 жыл бұрын

yeah it was not a good time in Austin last February

@jackchn23

2 жыл бұрын

I remember that storm! The Governor blamed it on the wind farms if I remember correctly. I also heard Ford was kind enough to lend out some of their hybrid F-150 trucks that could be used as a whole house generator. Ford did not get enough credit for that.

I don't own a home nor am I close to purchasing one, I watched the whole vid knowing full well I have nothing to gain with this wealth of knowledge.

".. and also a whole lot of me talking." I'm sold.

This man is living the dream of every 45+ year old man

@robertgidaa2705

2 жыл бұрын

I think this is alos a dream of a 35 one

@joseespinoza9049

2 жыл бұрын

@@robertgidaa2705 This is my dream and im 20 lmao

@sedbaka

2 жыл бұрын

This is my dream & am not even 18

@Fattony6666

2 жыл бұрын

this is my newborn baby's dream

@climatechangedoesntbargain9140

2 жыл бұрын

including pick up truck?

I just got solar installed, I'm so amped! (Pun intended lol) So far we're 100% grid independent, with a 6KWp system and 7.2KWh of battery storage. We also had pretty heavy rain for a couple days and we still managed to not use the grid! About ¼ of our roof is covered so we very well could expand if we get an electric car (hopefully soon) or something. So far though we're completely fine with the setup we have, 6KWp is way more than enough for an European home. We use 250-400W constantly with some short peaks at 1.5-3.5KW, so we're good. The 7.2KWh battery does last the whole night Here in Italy we had a 110% tax credit (yep, 110%!) last year, we just missed it so we had to "settle" for a 50% credit, a friend used the 110% thing and made money before even having it installed lol Here in Italy electricity prices are absurd right now, at 0.35€/KWh, fluctuating a bit every month. In a week we already saved about 30€ in energy we would have consumed and didn't, and are selling excess energy pretty much during the whole day! Yes, here in Italy we don't have a "grid credit" but excess energy gets sold to the grid, for about 0.14€/KWh on average during the year. You get a check from the energy company once a year for it. The profit might be quite a bit higher this year, looking at energy prices. We'll see, as we've only had the system for about a week lol. So far, it's good!

@TheDivide_228

2 жыл бұрын

Wow dude 🤯

@rundownaxe

2 жыл бұрын

I have 1.8KW system and 7.5KW of battery. During sunny days my batteries are full before noon. I hope you use that wasted power. I'd have gone for bigger batteries. I ''had'' to put an A/C in my off grid cabin to actually use the most of the pannels.

@JBoy340a

2 жыл бұрын

Nice! We only get $0.03 kWh for excess here. Like you we get a check once a year, but it is small.

@Valuiskihh

2 жыл бұрын

In Estonia we have support by 20% 🥲 only. And I can't have this due to my house is too New for this type of deal.. All by your money, no supply

@al3ndlib

2 жыл бұрын

Here in Saudi we don’t have tax credit because we pretty much don’t have taxes and electricity in general very cheap $0.04 KWh. The electricity company buys back the excess electricity which’s kinda good but I don’t think it’s encouraging since the electricity already cheap.

i sometimes have no idea what youre saying but its still very entertaining, makes me feel super smart

2 years since I watched your video on solar panel installation?? Damn!! Time really flies..

I installed my solar wholesale setup just over a year ago with help from your videos. Same experience as you, working really well maintenance free. Thanks for posting the update!

@scotth9822

2 жыл бұрын

What website is it through? I'm trying to use the same place but I'm getting a website error.

@mattmayo3539

2 жыл бұрын

Same here! We went with 9.24KW grid tie. We were averaging $400 a month in electricity. System will have paid for itself by next year. I ended up doing my uncles house, my cousins house and now my other uncle wants it too! Friends and family only! 😂

@mattmayo3539

2 жыл бұрын

@@scotth9822 unbound solar wholesale Formerly known as wholesale solar This company is based on the west coast. It’s ideal to find a seller that’s at least in your time zone so you can access customer support more freely if need be.

I've been watching this channel for years and I'm only NOW realising Zack doesn't use graphs or charts or any fancy animations AND still keeps the videos interesting and entertaining. 🤯

I live in Texas and was one of the people without power for about 3 days. Since then I added more solar, I already had solar, but solar power is required to turn off when there is no grid power so it didn't help. I now have two Tesla powerwalls, and went from 5.4kw of solar to 9.1kw of solar. Now, with the powerwalls, there is a Tesla box that will automatically disconnect the grid when there is an outage allowing my solar to keep producing and I can run off battery when the solar is not producing. Now, I not only produce way more power than I use during winter, but in the summer as long as it isn't cloudy it looks like I can pretty much break even on some of the hottest days. It is really nice having the piece of mind that comes with this type of system. Of course it is quite expensive, so definitely not something that I expect many people to be able to do right now.

Yo! 365 days since your employees have showered!?!

@rohan7382

2 жыл бұрын

lol 😆

Wow it's been two years already!? Damn time flies

@0_o..

2 жыл бұрын

Bro stop saying what i want to say

I'm loving the projects that you do and the EV content. I subbed for the phone destruction, but the channel content just keeps getting better and better!

@JerryRigEverything

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

I have always enjoyed watching your videos! I've been watching them for a long time now and I really like how you push innovation and forward thinking.

Phenom is the word Jerry! I just found you by accident today and watched your reviews of your Rivian and F-150 Lightning and now your home solar systems. Excellent! Thank you! I'm a full subscriber for sure!

Hey Zack. Awesome work.👍 The drop in power in year 2 can be attributable to PV degradation, which is abt 0.7% per year. Thats also how you get to the 80% power warranty at 25 yr. And ofcourse clean the panels, soiling loss is one of the biggest controllable losses. Please do not keep heavy items (like batteries) on the panels, there can be microcracks on the cells 😟

Not only are your videos informative, and presented very clearly and concisely, you have an incredibly easy to listen to voice. Amazing presenter.

So in San Diego the rate starts at 0.39 per kwh for the first 125 kwh of use then the rate jumps to 0.49 for any extra kwh you use. In your case the 12,639kwh you produced last year is around $5,687 in savings if we consider the average rate is 0.45 .

@bobwalters7414

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly why I just installed solar with battery back up, saw that in January 2023 SDGE is raising their rates by another 11%. Pretty soon they will be scrambling for customers. It’s a fine line they were walking with such high rates, they finally fell off that line and the dominoes are falling one by one. Solar is a no brainer here with the amount of sun we get every day.

I wish I had the skills and health to install, as well as being an age where I would benefit from the 25+ years of energy :). One of the things that surprised me when moving from the UK to Arizona 20+ years ago was that every roof didnt have panels on them in the valley of the sun.

A seedling heating mat may be worth looking into for your 3 battery system. It seems you could run it off them and heat them all slightly when needed. Such mats only raise the temp up to 20 degrees so could be easily managed with a timer or sensor.

Nice stuff as always Zack. We're 5yrs in on 3.4kwh system. Solaredge AP sez lowered co2 by 25,000 lbs. Added used model 3 used leaf in 2019. Also lowered co2 by around 20,000 lbs. Financial savings is icing on the cake for this grandpa and recently great grandpa

Finally! =) Been waiting for this update. Thank you as always!

I love this kinda stuff & Zach is so entertaining to watch! I know he built this channel by testing phones, but personally I enjoy the vlog style more! 🙌

@JerryRigEverything

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

I literally just watched the 1 year update. Looks worth it to me.

I have a solar sysyem for two years now. My system has six 390w pannels and four batteries, 280 amps each. The only thing I have connected to the grid is a 220v outlet for a range and three 110v outlets for small appliances and a small grill. The rest of the house is totally independet. My system cost me about $10,000, and my total savings are around $114.00. Electricity here is abot $0.26 KwH. A great investment considering it will pay itself in 5 years. I live in Puerto Rico and do not need air condioning or a heating system. If anyone have doubts on solar pannels, do it, you won't regret it.

So the only thing I'm going to add to Zack is that if you're going to go with a local solar installer do your research some of those installers will go through and actually put a lien on your house. Make sure you read the fine print because if you ever want to sell your house you will either have to pay off the lien or the solar company will come and take the solar and they won't take it very nicely or you will have to pass the lien on to the new owners which a lot of loans will not cover solar leins. Just make sure you do plenty of research!

you explain it so good, that even a non tech person can understand it, but when i saw the panels of you, i do recomment cleaning them(more light can touch the panels) EDIT: this whas written before seing the full video

Hey Zach I’ve been keeping up with you since high school and am planning an off grid self sufficient cabin build in the next 5 years. As you keep producing diy content it will drive down costs and make clean energy more realistic for the masses. I have friends who sell solar and they’re getting paid way more than what it’s worth to have and install units. Thanks for documenting your experiments it inspires a lot of people.

Jerry you are an excellent trainer and I can really appreciate your thoroughness at explaining the items regarding solar that are on our minds. I’ve done lots of training in my career and you have a very effective, clear style. Way to go man! Now I have to decide if I take this on. Hmmm.

I worked at an ISP that provides internet to rural areas, and the only solution to power the repeater antennas is solar energy. So it's great to see technology evolving over time.

We went with solar last year. Insane on the savings from having to pay the full amounts. The last 6 months have cost me $14 a month just to keep on my electric companies grid. So, the last six months have cost me zero for actual electricity, minus the cost of the panels and grid dependence.

@orppranator5230

2 жыл бұрын

What’s the cost of the panels? Give me a number.

@vgamesx1

2 жыл бұрын

@@orppranator5230 Most panels cost in the region of $1 to $2 per watt, about 3-5kW is roughly the minimum to run an entire house and rarely need the grid, so $4500-$7500 + installation would be a safe estimate.

@littlejackalo5326

2 жыл бұрын

@@orppranator5230 With a system that covers your entire house's energy usage, after degradation, inefficiencies, installation, costs of inverters, panels, wiring, etc, it'll take around 10 years to see a return. Depending on whether you can sell back to the grid, and how much you can sell for, and other considerations. It'll be paid off right around the time the panels have about half their life left. Not as bad as an EV, where their batteries are degraded and need replacement after around 9 years, and the battery replacement costs more than the car is worth. (Around $15k-25k.) But it's still something to think about. Shelling out $10k-20k+ for a solar system is a lot of money.

@littlejackalo5326

2 жыл бұрын

@@orppranator5230 oh, and you should really weigh the cost of putting on a new roof before you add solar panels. If your roof is 20 years old, and you're covering most of it in panels, it'll make sense to put on a new roof BEFORE you add the panels. Rather than having to remove all the panels, support structures, and electronics in a few years to replace your roof. This is obviously dependant on the type of roof, typical lifespan of that type of roof, she of roof, number of panels you'll be installing, etc. But it's a cost nonetheless. Chances are, you'll need to pay someone to remove all the solar equipment, at least once, to install a new roof.

@StephenOwen

10 ай бұрын

It should be required to say where in the country you are when making posts like this! Do you mind adding that info?

Those electricity prices are crazy. In the UK I'm currently paying 31.247p/kWh daytime and 20.3742p/kWh night (about 38 cents/25 cents). Using a small solar panel setup with a separate battery inverter and pretty big battery setup (16kWh lead acid, picked the batteries up for free) which does a good job of shifting most of my usage onto solar or night rate.

@sundancer442

2 жыл бұрын

Over a dollar per KW in my town. Needless to say, a lot of businesses and ordinary people going solar !

Thank you for the update. This helps tremendously.

I've never seen a ladder setup so Majestically in my life!

FYI, Lithium Titanate batteries have a chemistry that allows you to charge below freezing - also, they cycle tens of thousands of times. They are, however, a bit more expensive.

At 4:55 Your "Year 1" vs "Year 2" difference is normal: Brand new solar panels actually produce more than their rated power output. So the first year production is always noticeably higher than subsequent years. The panels do also degrade over the years: so you'll see that year 10 will be lower than year 2. But the drop from Year 1 to year 2 is by far the largest drop and then it levels off. 7:15 I was one of those 5 million people without power in Texas. I should say without "grid power" because I used the LFP battery I built for my motorhome which produces 240v split phase power to backfeed my panel and was able to run all of my household appliances: Well pump, water heater, clothes dryer, etc. On Day 1 of the outage I was recharging my battery with the diesel generator on my motorhome, but on day 2 I cleared enough snow off my solar panels to run entirely off of solar. Since our well was working we were providing our neighbors with the water they needed and since our water was flowing none of our pipes froze thankfully. I now plan to build a dedicated battery for my home to avoid these situations in the future. At 7:50 I would disagree: The cheapest option is buying the raw cells and building your own pack. You can buy the raw cells wholesale from China for roughly $160/kWh so you could build an F150 sized battery for about $16,000. Once you add in inverters and BMS you're looking at closer to $25,000 all in. That is cheaper than an F150 but at least an F150 can do double duty: You can drive it around and use it when you don't need the backup battery capability. :)

@ashutoshprasad8494

2 жыл бұрын

Smart

The more I look at this guy, the more confident I feel for him if he ever decides to act as `Lex Luthor`. Appreciate your informative videos Keep rocking... you evil genius

Man I was just binging solar panel content yesterday and this upload comes just at the right time haha.

You already have about 100kw of batteries that you can use for house backup when needed! Yes, I'm talking about the electrified Hummer... I'm sure you can figure out a V2G (vehicle to grid) upgrade for it... 😋 It would definitely be an interesting project to see!

Hoping to try getting ahold of some used panels or ones that have been in a warehouse forever and putting a 9kw array on the roof. Panels aren’t too bad price wise it’s just getting proper equipment that can properly convert DC to AC

love how the Rivian peeks from behind, I remember your Tacoma doing the same when you installed those panels. Time passes by

At 3:12 "sCieNcy mAgIC stuff happens". So now I understand how solar panels work! 🤩

Roof leaks & shingle replacement could be a problem. Great idea using your electric vehicle batteries for emergency backup.

Glad to see you went with a micro-inverter setup. I've been installing solar on houses in Aruba for about a year now (my own house included) using mostly the AP-Systems micro-inverters and they turn out to be more efficient than a string-inverter setup, plus the benefits of being able to monitor each panel individually. Also, if by any bad luck a panel breaks down, this doesn't influence the performance of all the other panels, so production loss is minimal. Both string- and micro inverter setups have their benefits and drawbacks, but still I prefer the micro-inverter systems. What's also interesting is the development of hybrid micro-inverters, allowing you to tie into the grid, but also have a battery backup system. No need to split your solarpanel-array between on- and off grid. We're about to install one of those systems in the near future and I'm excited to get my hands on it. As always a great video. Thank you and keep up the good work!

@michiganengineer8621

2 жыл бұрын

The hybrid aspect is part of what has influenced me away from looking at micro-inverters, that and dual conversion if you want to charge a battery bank

@AintBigAintClever

2 жыл бұрын

@@michiganengineer8621 you don't have to go hybrid to get battery storage. There are dedicated units such as the Sofar ME3000SP which monitor your supply and solar output and charge or discharge as needed. I've got Enphase microinverters and the above Sofar storage inverter playing nicely together.

i love watching these kind of projects zack!

This was super awesome to watch/listen to!

My PhD research is in solar panels and maintaining efficiency throughout its entire service life. Soiling is a major issue in solar panels, and will accumulate over the years. Always make sure to clean the panels annually, or biannually, and think about applying an optically clear hydrophobic coating!

@brendanlaird5831

2 жыл бұрын

Do I need to clean mine less if it rains a lot? I live in the northwest

@SilverSand17

2 жыл бұрын

@@brendanlaird5831 rain can dislodge cementation of dirt, dust and biological debris which is good. However, it cannot dislodge bird droppings, also, with the increased amount of rain you need to look out for moss and lichen build up. 👍

@hh-dr4db

2 жыл бұрын

Like RainX? Where can I get a lot for cheap?

@SilverSand17

2 жыл бұрын

@@hh-dr4db I usually formulate my own compositions in a lab so cannot comment on branded items or their effectiveness.

@kkarllwt

2 жыл бұрын

@@brendanlaird5831 Mount a sheet of glass at the panel angle in your yard. Something you can touch and look at. It should soil at the same rate as your panels. Clean and cover a part of it for reference.

I don't understand how it's already been 2 years since you installed these. Now that I've got my own house, this is definitely something I want to look into and save and invest for. So thank you for these super informative and helpful videos!

Thank you for your information I am looking to install solar this fall myself after someone else replaces my roof this July. I have rewatched your video on the installation a few times to get familiar with it and it looks like a doable project again thank you

Northern California here. Our longest blackout in my town (Foresthill) was 16 days. Thank god I had my Tesla powerwalls and solar to make it hardly noticeable, and the opportunity to lend help to neighbors.

@JBoy340a

2 жыл бұрын

Powerwalls are worth their cost and a lot more in an outage.

I'm in the middle of getting a 9kWh system installed on my 'new' house. I gotta say, the worst part is still just dealing with all the local regulations, permits, and installers. I started the process in February and it is now May and the permit still hasn't been approved. It's no wonder I hardly see any solar setups in my area of north west Indiana.

@Thros1

2 жыл бұрын

What a pain in the ass "seems" like whoever signs those permits is dragging their feet.

@NathanMichalik

2 жыл бұрын

@@Thros1 My county has a rule that part of the installation has be done by an approved 'master electrician' in the county. It's that guy who's been taking his time... he's the only one allowed to do it though

@Thros1

2 жыл бұрын

@@NathanMichalik that's still ridiculous hope you can get it installed soon.

@blindtechworld

2 жыл бұрын

wtf? You need approval from gov to install something at your home?

@NathanMichalik

2 жыл бұрын

@@blindtechworld Yes and no. If it were completely off grid and I never planned to sell the house, I could DIY it. If it ever caused an issue and was un-permitted, insurance would not cover anything. Because it's grid tied, a permit is required which has all these strict requirements "for safety".

Hey! Thanks, some questions... How much of your vehicles' electricity are you providing from your own panels? How is that savings accounted? Thoughts on using the vehicles as part of the system? And what of the arbritige? My thought is that an app oversees the charge/discharge rate and time for any connected battery, powerwall, local neighborhood megapack-ministation, or vehicles. The overall strategy would be to charge mostly at low cost times, late at night, while discharging into the grid during the day, during peak. Personal calendar, weather apps all tied in. How about a solar water-heater for that off-grid section? Run some water down to it. Sunny winter days would generate enough to warm up the battery compartment. A super out there follow up would be to run heated water into those raised beds. Warming up the soil earlier, extending the warm season, and at times even cooling off the soil's temp can all be done to great advantage. Could dial in a crop of corn to mature earlier than others locally, can also extend vine ripe picking of tomatoes until first hard frost. The hummer could be tied into the system, no? Charge up at night/discharge during the day? Set reasonable limits in an app.

Thanks for making it clear to your viewers. Solar panel systems pay for themselves and then pay you in cash and benefit the environment.

A second hand Nissan Leaf (any build year) also has power to grid capabilities. But you'll have to get a chademo charging port.

The installation costs are indeed a nightmare. But the hardware also costs a whole lot to be honest. Unfortunately grid-tie systems often go offline when the grid is down, unless there is a master inverter that separates the microinverter array from the grid and provides a baseline for the separated system untill the grid kicks back in. I have found a pretty good niche myself - broken hardware. Received a damaged 6KVA UPS for effectively scrap value and I'm making a 12V buffer system for it, powered with random solar panels i find for little to nothing. For now the main battery is a string of 15 lead acids in series, but in the future ill go for lithium ions. The 12V buffer is a 200Ah Liion battery from a wrecked vehicle, turned out only one cell out of 6 was shorted. Using broken hardware is really the highest cost/efficiency ratio you can get, of course at the price of knowing what you are doing, but many things could be handled by literally anyone! :)

I just did my solar system, installed with just me and a friend. 4 Lv6548, 4x 13.4 kwh batteries and 60 panels. Producing about 120kwh a day. Total cost was about 50K but hoping to get some solar tax credits in 2023.

@JerryRigEverything

2 жыл бұрын

Yo that's huge

@belavet

2 жыл бұрын

Where do you live? We are looking to do a 15.2kW system in MA and are wondering if we are overdoing it? We want to be 100% self sufficient and will likely get an EV (or two) in the next five years. We will also have about 25kWh battery backup.

@kylewatson5133

2 жыл бұрын

@@belavet I live in Arizona, so it's usually sunny here and I just commissioned the system 2 months (roughly) ago, so I haven't yet been able to test whether my 54kwh battery storage is enough or not during a cold snap or harsh weather. But, in general, I would love more storage - my solar array can produce up to 120kWh per day when sunny and i'm only home at night so, during the week it'd be nice to charge my EV more off the battery. Until i collect more data i really can't give advice - other than, a little bigger and little more storage is always preferable. But so far my system just works the juice coming in is plenty and haven't had any issues knock on wood.

My grandmother's house has Telsa Solar. According to the app 2021 they produced 16.4MWh, lifetime is currently sitting at 22MWh

Haha! So weird I just a few moments ago I was scrollling about your solar panel video of last year and I got this! A new video.

I was literally just talking about this. I'm building a 12 volt solar RC car. I already have small lead acid 12 volt battery and two 12 volt solar panels and 12 volt solar controller. I want to do a full scale solar on our apartment and do all the wiring myself because that's my hobby. I was thinking about setting up some poles in the ground with some solar arrays on top and miniature telephone pole lines that can go from the solar panels to my apartment and neighbors apartments.

@lachychops2

2 жыл бұрын

Not sure if you've heard of this before, but you're planning something akin to a 'microgrid' You may find some interesting/ helpful research papers with that keyword :)

I love Solar, problem is I never plan on living in the same house for 25 years. I don't want to spend 35k every time I move even if it can raise the house value.

@mitchellsteindler

2 жыл бұрын

That makes no sense. If the solar increases your house value proportionally, then you haven't actually lost any money...

@Adrian-dv1sl

2 жыл бұрын

@rorysonTV then you take the solar system with you to the new house.👍🏻🙋‍♂️

@verdugod18dv

2 жыл бұрын

You can just transfer the loan to the new homeowner once you move

@Eyes0penNoFear

2 жыл бұрын

@@mitchellsteindler my cousin just asked his realtor how much value solar adds to a house. He said it's only around $10k.

@RorysonTV

2 жыл бұрын

@@Adrian-dv1sl You would not take it to your new house, the new house would not architecturally be the same and you would not use the same amount of solar panels, or the same size panels. The dimensions are based on the roof. You also would leave hundreds of holes in the old roof, from mounting them.

Yes the F150 Lightning could be used as a power bank for the house AND as a truck, but not at the same time. The house should have its own power bank if you want the fridge running at all times.

Great content Zack, you absolutely proved the efficiency of solar panels. I hope you will add some wind turbines to the same system or on a next project and later on compare the outcomes with the existing solar panels. Wind energy is also a great source of free energy!

I recently bought a house with a solar lease that I had to take on.... DON'T EVER LEASE SOLAR PANELS, it's entirely not worth it, you don't get any of the incentives, and in the long run you pay more than 3x what an install would have cost. Luckily I was able to pay off the lease early which saved me about $48k in the long run, but still cost almost 2x as much as it would have to just install the same system. Leasing is so darn predatory.

As you said Zack, a grid-tie system doesn't do anything for you in a black-out situation. You're still without power. Plus, you're always tied to an almost "government agency" in the power company itself, that can change prices and policies on a whim. You're better off buying some Class A, LiFePO4 cells (280-300 Ah per cell) batteries and building your own battery bank. With a cycle life of about 7000, that's about 20 years of service. I know when you have a lot of money, it's easier to just increase Tesla's stock value and go the easy route, but there's very little personal satisfaction that way, as you've learned in your Humvee build. I live in an apartment and I'm relatively poor, not like you. But, I've still built my own 7.1 KWh battery backup system out of eight 280 Wh LiFePO4 batteries in series at 24 V, with a 2500 watt inverter. I got my eight batteries a couple years ago and it was about $840 shipped. Now, it's about $1100 shipped, but still not that bad a deal. I can power everything I usually do, for a full 24 hours and if I conserve, I can go for days. Except air conditioning in the summer, damn! Time to build a bigger bank! :) Cheers, Sev PS - The fanboys of Tesla, Apple, Musk, etc... have always just made me cringe. It's an inexplicable and almost psychotic level of false deity worship, without any reason.

@LiveType

2 жыл бұрын

Building your own custom batteries is always super satisfying. Congrats! Sometimes its not really cheaper especially for e-bike batteries which I find strange, but it is the way it is. With prices going up that mythical $100/kwh of batteries is pretty much gone.

Thanks Zack. Now we can DIY our own panel array :)

tank you for the update!

Right off the bat, that Anker backup is pretty neat and pretty impressive. Thanks for that.

...sun light hits this panels and magic science stuff happens... That magic is When sunlight hits the pannel due to photovoltaic cell it generates DC current, When the sun hits the semiconductor within the PV cell, electrons are freed and bus bars collect the running electrons which results in electric current. Love from india ✨🇮🇳❤️

Dude, try solar hot water for your barn heat. You can make the panels and its not much. Or even just solar heater with air. It's killer.

Many thanks for the clear and professional explanation

it’s been 2 years????? how

@razvan__simion

2 жыл бұрын

Been asking this myself for 2 month's

Zack something that I've been wondering about with roof solar systems is - what if you need to do roof work; like shingling or other maintenance? Does that add any extra cost when the time for those things come around?

@jackchn23

2 жыл бұрын

Yes. You will eventually have leaks. The holes in the roof are filled with some kind of silicone or some other kind of sealant. Over time, due to weather (heat, cold cycles, wind) the sealant will fail and cracks will develop and grow. Every attachment to your roof is a roofers dream, as they know it will eventually mean work/money for them!

@caboom1057

2 жыл бұрын

I’ve installed solar myself, and I would say that the risk of a leak due to the solar installation itself is very slim granted the installation was done properly. I’m more worried about things happening under the panels (tiles breaking due to whatever) that I can’t see since there are panels in the way.

@ahaveland

2 жыл бұрын

@@caboom1057 If a tile breaks *underneath* a solar panel, then you have much bigger problems to worry about, such as an asteroid strike!

@99Teutons

2 жыл бұрын

I was worried about the same so what we did was mount the panels on a framework we built above the roof. Since the panels are now up above the roof the space is used for keeping some plants and the centralized air cooler

@caboom1057

2 жыл бұрын

@@ahaveland Solar panel mounts used for tiled roofs must be installed with some margin to the underlying tile, otherwise the bracket will "sit" on it and potentially break it if you add a typical Swedish amount of snow. I'm quite certain I had roughly 5 mm of clearance on all my brackets, but who knows how long that clearance remains. Also, I just have masonite (wood fibre board) underneath my tiles, so any continuous leak wouldn't be very awesome... so, some light worries there but nothing that keeps me up at night

Great video. I have had Solar hot water and Solar panels on my home since 2007. One thing everyone should be careful of. Do not lease a solar system from any company. If you can not purchase it yourself don’t do it. Thanks again for all the videos you put out.

Thanks for the update, Will Forte!

We all just appreciate the content this man and his crew makes its just a masterpiece imagine what's he's gonna doing the future 💛

@chairshoe81

2 жыл бұрын

git outta here

@rohan7382

2 жыл бұрын

@damirmukas32 warning: spammers

In India we get break even at just 2.5 years. Panels are super cheap here + Govt subsidizes cost by 20% for large system and 40% for small system. I have 4 kWh system and generates around 5.3 MWh per year, enough for my all electricity needs.

Love you being fan of green energy, this inspires lotta people. Great job!

Video is fantastic, @Jerry you explained it so clean on your savings. Great inspiration for environment lovers.

What a lovely video.. I wish I could go this way to! Your son is growing up in a lovely happy home.. 😃

Thanks for the info. Our solar and battery has been running the house completely since turning it on, and 2 x EVs. We never have a power bill ! And no fuel costs either. It’s awesome, I just wish I had done it sooner tbh. If anyone is thinking about getting solar installed, do it yesterday 👍

Would love to see a DIY Powerwall!! like the Hummer Conversion. You could also use the same Tesla battery modules as a powerwall!!

Would love to see an update video adding more panels to your off grid system!

I’m really glad that people can make their energy themselves. I want to get some panels and have a battery system.

Awesome as always.

Love this. Great video

Nice setup. I wish I had the know-how and skill to install everything myself. But we just bought our system from Tesla with Powerwalls. The goal was more to always have power than save cost, since we have been working from home for many years. And when you develop software, if you don't have power, you can't generate revenue. So far everything has worked out well. We no longer have an electric bill and when the rest of the block's power is out, we can still work, surf the web, cook, run the heater, or watch TV.

well done, you covered all the solar and storage topics so clearly. Yes the F150 makes a great storage solution, tough to drive a Tesla power wall (seems Tesla needs to add vehicle to home soon to stay up with times)

Beautiful scenery all over

My Family is also getting solar this year from projectsolar and honestly, I can't wait since I told my parents to get them for the past 2-3 years

Legit! That is awesome! Love the solar setup!

Pretty great to see it all run well, though for many households pretty sad how they waited until gas skyrocketed, was pretty obvious that solar panels were at the most effective price like the last 3 years and oil was under big pressure and we all know what happened

It's been 2 years already? Time flies! Seems like I watched the install 2 months ago. Maybe due to trying to forget the last 2 years.

No way 2 years, the time flows holy moly

you could install a heat fan or a pump which will heat the batteries zone after it turns on when the temp drops down a certain temperature during the colder months . keep up the grt work