For homeowners who already have solar, how long did it take before you felt the system had paid for itself? Did electricity prices or incentives make a big difference?

aliexpress is going through some crazy discounts, anyone can recommend some good solar panels from that site? 200-400w roughly foldable

I want to look at a rooftop solar installation for the house I'm moving into (south MPLS), but since it might be a while before I'm ready for a project that size, I wanted to know if anyone has experience with "balcony" or "plug-in" solar power units. I read that the MN legislature is considering a bill to permit them, but does anyone here have experience using them?

I’m planning a ground-mounted solar build at my rural property and could use some advice on the layout and equipment configuration.

Because of site layout and space, all the main equipment (ground mount array, hybrid inverter, future battery bank, and generator) will be located at an outbuilding about 300 feet away from the main house.

Property & Infrastructure Details:

• Main House: Location of the utility meter and main service panel. The basement has no room for inverters or battery banks.
• Outbuilding & Feeder: Located 300 feet from the house, connected via an existing 100A underground feeder. Running new cable or trenching between the house and outbuilding is not an option.
• 12kW Generator: Located at the outbuilding. It currently runs through an older manual disconnect setup to backfeed and power the entire property during blackouts. Voltage drop over the 300ft feeder has never been an issue under full load.

The Build Plan:

• Phase 1: Ground-mount solar array with a hybrid inverter at the outbuilding. Grid-tied to offset house energy use by backfeeding through the existing 100A feeder line. No batteries initially.
• Phase 2: Add a battery bank at the outbuilding for blackout backup.
• Generator Integration: Integrate the existing 12kW generator directly into the hybrid system so it can charge the batteries and supplement solar during extended power outages.

Questions:

1. Islanding & Grid Isolation: When the power goes out, I need to isolate the house from the grid so the inverter can island the outbuilding and feed backup power to the house over the 300ft line. If the hybrid inverter and batteries sit at the outbuilding, what is the best way to handle grid isolation at the house service entrance?
2. CT Sensors / Energy Monitoring Across 300 Feet: Most hybrid inverters use CT sensors at the main service panel to monitor grid power flow and manage zero-export or battery usage. Without laying new wires, what options exist for sending CT data or Modbus communications 300 feet back to the outbuilding (e.g., wireless bridges, Modbus over powerline, etc.)?
3. Hybrid Inverter & Generator Setup: For those running hybrid inverters (like a Sol-Ark, EG4, or similar) with a dedicated generator port, how well does the inverter handle blending solar, battery, and a 12kW generator when feeding a remote main panel over a long subpanel line?

Appreciate any recommendations, potential pitfalls, or equipment suggestions from folks with similar setups!

Im having trouble, I messed up and now regretting getting solar.

Hi everyone, first post here. It's a very low-level query about a backpackable solar panel, which is working fine but behaves in a way I don't understand.

The panel is a 14W wallet fold job, with two solar modules about 18" long that fold face-to-face when not in use. A flap with a popper closes the assembly and also carries a small solar controller with two USB-A ports. My particular example is branded Ryobi, the tools manufacturer, but I've seen the same design under many different brands -- it's a Chinese generic.

The panel works very well charging small cellphones, flashlights and so on, but it's really slow at charging my Klarus K5 powerbank -- not surprising, as the Klarus is 10000mAh capacity and designed to charge at higher power than 5V, 1A. I figured I could speed things up using a Y-cable, of the type you used to get with high-capacity hard disks, which sums the output from two USB-A ports to provide double the power. The trick didn't work.

I then decided to take a look at the output from the controller using a USB power meter. Connected to a single USB cable, the panel outputs about 2w for a few seconds, then drops rapidly to zero, then repeats the cycle. Some kind of low-frequency charge controller process, a bit like the ones you find in solar-to-leisure battery setups. Well, that's OK, but unexpected -- I would have thought it would be pretty easy to maintain USB-A voltage.

The thing that really got me, though, is that if I fit the Y-cable, I get exactly the same voltage and current off the summed output of both ports as I did from just one. I tried two different Y-cables so it probably isn't the case that one of the legs has failed in each case. Can anyone explain?

Bonjour à tous,

J'ai une production de 3kw/h maximum

J'ai une voiture électrique Mégane E-TECH

J'ai le chargeur de la marque et une prise green up.

J'aimerai pouvoir sans racheter de câble informer la voiture ou la prise de prendre par exemple 2kw/h. Ainsi exploiter au mieux les panneaux et effacer mon talon d'énergie.

Est ce possible ?

Ou faut il investir dans un matériel particulier ?

Si oui, à calculer le coût avantage de l'opération....

Merci à tous

Anyone have solar panels on their roof dormers? We are looking to add solar panels but we're not sure if our roof dormers are structural sound enough to hold panels. We have a 1.5 story house.

Hi,
I’m planning to switch to solar at home because of the rising cost of electricity. My only issue is that we’re currently renting, so we don’t own the house and can’t really install a permanent hybrid/grid-tied solar setup.

Do you guys have any recommendations for a setup that would work for renters? Would something like the EcoFlow DELTA Pro/Plus be a good option, or are there more economical alternatives?

It doesn’t necessarily have to power the entire house. Ideally, I just want it to handle my work setup, including:
1 HP air conditioner
Laptop
Monitor
Fan
Desktop computer

I’m mainly looking for something that’s easy to take with me if we eventually move, while still being cost-effective and able to reduce our electricity bill.