49 Responses

1. No, it’s not true it is legal to plug in grid tie inverters and if the meter goes backwards the power company will give you credit or send you a check every month for the electricity you put in back to the grid. Get a lot of big size solar panels and a lot of big size grid tie inverters will produce a lot of electricity back to the grid means more money you will get from power company and that’s free money for using the power of the sun. The sun can make money for you for doing nothing.

2. I have heard that plug in grid tie inverters are not legal, do you know if this is true or not?

3. i haven’t factored in maintenance or the fact you probably do not receive a steady 60watt hour per panel.

   We really need to make this stuff affordable.

   I saw the roll out solar panel video Dan posted where the panel comes bundled in rolls. That maybe worthwhile as you can cover a lot more square footage of your roof.

4. Sorry taken the installation training. I also counted 13 panels on one roof locally, and it was a Large corner lot house, that was all he could have installed up there.

   13 panels x 60 watts /hour x 12 hours day = 9360 watts produced divide in half means this fellow receives $4.60 per day for the system (generalizing)

   Installation ranges from $15,000 to $35,000 (generalizing again) it takes 9 years to get your money back assuming you pay $15,000 and no clouds rain or snow.

5. I am curious what overall wattage output over the course of day is on those panels. We have green initiative subsidie programs here in Ontario. I know one person who has taken the training. The province use to pay 80 cents per kilowatt put into the grid, now they lowered it to 50 cents.

   While I love the concept, I as a general contractor am interested. But for the life of me I cannot find how solar is profitable for my customers. Hence I cannot sell it even with the rebates.

6. No, direct.

7. Do you have to use some sort of charge controler with a grid tie and no batteries?

8. Thank you:-)

9. I like the way you look around, and give extras to us also. Like the birds in the sky.

10. Hello great videos you have. Can you tell me what you would recomend for me, I just built a cabin for my family to go to on top of a small moutain and we would like to build something that we can run lights for the small cabin and possibly run our laptop and or small tv and dvd player for our kids because we plan to spend months on end up there and we do need a small amount of electric up there other then a generator. It is next to lake erie so wind is there, and we have a small budget thank you

11. UNBELIEVABLE ! The Italian turd politicians taxed solar panels !!! INSANE !!! in the modern EU !!!!

12. GTI no batteries

    regular inverter batteries + charge controller grid free.

13. do i need to use batteries for this?

14. “When I worked for the administration I was very active in the implementation of the Recovery Act…one thing we found about clean energy was that you build a solar plant, you’re going to hire a lot of people. You run a solar plant, it doesn’t take a ton of people to run some of these plants. The labor saving technology around the actual production of clean energy is quite intense. Some of these firms don’t employ as many people as you might hope.” — ex-Obama economic advisor Jared Bernstein

15. @RichardGee
    haha.. me too. It was a lot of fun to see your
    meter flipping the other way around. Atleast
    I can take revenge on those greedy electric
    company..lol. I have recommended that to
    several people already.:)) Anyway, I think
    you have interchange the site name. That
    should be:
    GreenEnergyNow.info

16. It will take around 10 Years – to pay you back on Commercial Solar Panels
    If you want to cut this time short to 1-2 Years
    There is a website that explain how to Build your own Solar Panels
    just for a fraction of the Retail Price
    Just go to Google and Search for…
    “Top DIY Solar Panels Review”
    Go for the First Result (Ignore The Advertisements)

17. Hey Dan! If I get a grid tie inverter (what kind should I get?), can I add 1 solar panel at a time as I get them?

18. does this store power?? for when the sun goes down?

19. im not an expert wat so ever but im wondering what u can power with 80 watts? it doesnt seem like a lot.

20. Hello Dan,, In your example you are using a panel rated at 80watts that yields 63 watts back to the grid. In my setup I have 2×125 watt panels and 1×85 for a total of 335 watts rated.
    The problem is I am only yielding 120 watts back to the grid as displayed on my watts-up meter, Why is the yield so low. This reading was at 2pm no clouds in sky, I am losing around 50% or more and its very frustrating… Please help… Thank you,,,, 

21. That’s not a Solar Panel. That’s an oversize square Solar Strip on your Texas Instrument Solar Calculator.

22. Solar is a big waste of Taxpayer dollars. I do love my $2 solar lawn lights that I bought with my own money, not other peoples money.
    I wonder if you live in Chicago, where the cloud cover is about 47% and the snow gets 2 ft deep, solar would have a payback? NOT

23. If You Want To Make Your Own Solar Panels Easy & Fast, Than This Is Your Chance !

    Not Only Is Going Green Good for Our Environment, But Also For Our Grand-Children, Who Will Thank Us For This One Day In Our Green Future !

    Enjoy :) –> squidoo(dot)com/green-future

24. Which is more efficient for Grid Tie Systems? Wind or Solar? Im from the Visayas, Philippines.

25. Dan,

    WQhat would happen if you charged the solar panel with your big fenel lense?

26. Why you didn’t use monocrystalline solar panels that’s better than amorphous solar panels you have there and you need 3000 watt inverter to use Air Conditioner and refrigerator. Wal-mart also sells bigger battery type 29 marine deep cycle cost about $81.00 each, the batteries you have there is type 27 you need bigger batteries.

27. put the panels into a basement or attic and the panels on the roof and electrical from a panel to the main to power some things

28. you can get a 3 panel set for about $150.00 and a 115ah battery for $80.00

29. thing is i have a computer service, i rent computers. and im thinking about going solar, can you tell me how much money you spend? on battery and 3 panels?

30. probably 10 hours if that is all that i was running. mine uses only 59 watts an hour. if you have a small computer or laptop you could set up a 3 panel set with 1 battery and probably run it for 2-3 hours a day. maybe more. just depends on power much power the computer uses.

31. how long can you run the computer for? i want to build one for a computer

32. is not 500 watts continuos but go up to 590 and cam donw

33. Thanks. not usually. i usually run the system down at night and then it takes most of the day to charge it back up. the 12 panels match up pretty good with the 4 batteries.

34. Thanks. I’d say probably just a couple of hours. 500 watts continuous is a lot to draw off of a 420ah battery system. are you sure the tv takes that much power? my tv is rated 150 watts but it really only draws 60-90 watts.

35. hi nice video i have 410 watts in solar panel and 420 ah battery bank and i only use a tv the tv take about 500 watts how long did u think can i use this in the nigth time without sun

36. so are you making more power than you can store with your system? great video.

37. Funny thing is you can buy 1 45watt Kyocera panel for less and add up better quality stuff the price is roughly the same than the harbor freight system. The only thing you lose is the frame for the panel(s).

38. Yes. Power bill (in the past) averaged $40-$45 (w/o AC). Now it’s about $25. $20 of that is fees/taxes. With AC running 24/7 (June, July, August) add $75. Total bill for all of last year about $540. Total summer bill – around $300. rest of year (Sept.-May) about $240.

39. Ok. Now I understand. Lol I should’ve realized one battery would drain quick if you’re asking for 1000w. My bad. How do you calculate amp hours? Battery life when fully charged is xxx amount of amp hours which equals to ??? Amount of hours to run- let’s say a normal fan-make up an amp #.

40. The battery won’t overcharge as long as you have a good charge controller. You could use a 1000 watt inverter with one battery, but if you try to draw that much power off of only one battery, it will discharge very fast (in minutes, not hours). When I want the battery bank to last a few solid hours, I usually won’t put a continuous load of more than 300 watts on it. (It can handle higher power draws (up to say 1000w) for short periods of time… toasters, vacuums, blenders, for example)

41. Cpl Q’s. Anyone can answer. Could u run a 1k watt converter with one 15w panel and one battery(same batt in the vid)? What are he cons to having too big of converter? Will the battery ever over charge? Thanks.

42. I currently have six 15w solar panels on my roof. It takes about 4 or 5 hours of daylight to charge 3 deep cycle batteries after sunrise. I still have about 50% of space remaning on my roof and when I can afford it, I plan on putting 180w total solar power across my roof.

43. What about costs vs. savings? Have you seen a decrease in your electric bill? How long until the system pays for itself? Nice setup for a single person home… Are you the only one using the system regularly, or do you have kids, spouse, etc.?

44. nice home

45. Great job putting this together…

46. When you buy the battery did it say 115ah

47. hmm ..So cheaply…:( (I will spend about 750 euro for two 130 AH batteries :( )

48. put some mirrors on the ground in front of your solar panels and they will increase your output by about 8 %….or even a sheet of glossy white plastic film to help reflect more sunlight…i have tried this with small trickle charge 1.8 watt panels from canadian tire and it works !!

49. i got the batteries from walmart. ‘everstart’ brand.