• LordKitsuna@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    DIY install would cut the cost dramatically, the markup on labor was already fucking insane. You can get a roofer to do the install for the brackets and an electrician to certify the cabling for fraction of what solar installers want to do it.

    Plus the equipment is dramatically cheaper doing it that way too. Go checkout https://signaturesolar.com/ and see how insanely larger your system could be for 70k lol.

    Just as a quick example you can build a cart that is

    27kW of solar input

    24kW of inverter output

    55kWh of storage

    For about 30k then add 5k for cabling, lugs, fuses and breakers, and I’m also assuming you’ll need the lug crimpers and other such tools amd 5k for the mounting hardware, unless you happen to be or be friends with a welder then you can find a steel yard and make your own mounting hardware for pretty cheap.

    So tldr for 40k you can have a system that wildly outclasses that 70k one from an installer. It’s not particularly difficult work to do there are a million extremely great tutorials available out there both in text and video form solar is mostly DC so it’s just positive to positive negative to negative. You can always have an electrician handle the final connection to the actual breaker box of the house and it will still be dramatically cheaper than having solar installers do the whole thing

    Reference links for that price

    2x Solar pallet

    4xWall mount battery

    2xstackable 12k inverter

    • DesertCreosote@piefed.social
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      13 days ago

      Only if you’re in a place that lets you do it DIY. My county does not allow me to do any solar on my own, whether it’s tied to the grid or not. If I could do what you’re suggesting and hire a roofer to install the brackets, then install the panels myself and just hire an electrician to finish tying the wiring into my panel, I would do that in a heartbeat.

      You’re absolutely correct in saying people can save a ton of money with DIY, but people also need to check their local laws and make sure they’re able to do that.

      • LordKitsuna@lemmy.world
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        13 days ago

        Grid tie i fully understand being regulated heavily but man i wish i could punch and then bury alive any officials that regulated offgrid self consumption. Like fuck off its basically just a larger version of those computer battery backups you can get at bestbuy lol. Or better it’s just a larger jackery battery and solar, they gonna fucking regulate those too? We can’t have people being self sufficient that would be just awful

        • Revan343@lemmy.ca
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          13 days ago

          Or better it’s just a larger jackery battery and solar, they gonna fucking regulate those too?

          If they catch you using it to be self-sufficient instead of paying the electrical company? You bet your ass they will