How & Why to Wire Solar Panels in Parallel or in Series
When connecting multiple solar panels into an off-grid energy system, there are a few wiring options: parallel, series, or a hybrid (a combination of the two).
Going Off Grid – Simple Inverted Solar System
How do we get our typical household 120 VAC current from a 12-volt battery? Let’s take a look at a simple inverted system which provides that function. Warning!!! All content of this podcast and/or blog is for educational purposes only. Use at your own risk. Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects involving electricity,…
Going Off-Grid – Overview of Our Home Solar System
In order to build more familiarity with off-grid solar systems, we take a high-level overview of my home solar system.
Going Off Grid – Basic Solar Example with a Battery
When we rely on solar power for our off-grid system, how can we have power when the sun isn’t shining? Let’s take a look at a very basic system with a battery. This is the third episode in the Going Off-Grid series. To start at the beginning, go to Going Off-Grid…
Going Off-Grid – Most Basic Example
This post was originally done as the old Higher Octave podcast. What is the simplest solar system? Let’s take a look at one. Though it will not take our entire house off-grid (heh, not even close), we can get our feet wet as we work towards understanding off-grid systems. This…
Going Off-Grid – Introduction
One of the most frequent questions I get is, “How do I go off-grid?” This is the first episode in a new series that will help YOU answer that question.
About Our Solar Panels
In this video I talk about the 24 ReneSola 305W JC305M-24/Ab solar panels in our arrays. On some days, these panels actually produce more than their rated 305 watts. ReneSola JC305M-24/Ab
Iron Ridge Solar Panel Ground Mount
The Iron Ridge solar ground mount system is the first I’ve ever installed. It went well:
The Solar Panels Are Installed
Making great power! And my grilling faux pax. It turns out that the battery ended up having a bad cell. After addressing the grill fire, I continue with the Outback Power components:
West Solar Array Installed
Any day that can make power from the sun can be called a good day. Today was a good day. Ra would be proud. Mare helped me get the rest of the “West” array installed, 12 panels in all. Her help really makes a difference (two people can often make…