DIY solar

[pseudorand]

Does anyone have experience with DIY solar and can recommend a good getting started guide?

This may seem a bit off topic, but I swear it's to add battery backup to my tank. I know I could just buy a non-solar battery backup off the shelf, but I want to learn about solar anyway and I figure there has to be at least one other reef2reefer planning to maintain their tank through the apocalypse.

I'm trying to learn about solar and add long-term power to my tank without spending the $30+k it would take to get a solar roof. I may eventually want a solar roof, but looking into it is overwhelming and I feel like a need to get my hands dirty with solar to understand the tradeoffs between different options.

 

[sfmacguy]

Here's some good reading material: https://unboundsolar.com/blog/step-by-step-diy-solar-installation#planning-and-safety

I finally just went full Tesla solar with 4 powerwalls. After all the tax incentive's it made more sense than attempting to do it on my own. And I didn't have to climb on my steep roof :)

 

[pseudorand]

Have you actually done any DIY solar using the info at that link? That's the first link Google comes up with, and it feels very sale-ish. I spent 10 minutes reading that one earlier and didn't get to anything I considered educational content.

 

[sfmacguy]

Not sure where you are seeing them try to sell you anything in the guide itself..

But you need to decide what type of battery (Lead, lithium ion, etc), and for how long you want the battery to run your equipment ( How many batteries in the bank). You need to decide what size panels and if you want to an inverter (whole system) or micro-inverters at a panel level (How long to charge, and whether or not a single point of failure is a worry). Obviously placement and size of system would determine what I would personally choose, but since your original question was: "DIY solar and can recommend a good getting started guide". This covers all the base information without making you purchase anything, and dives into grid connection, which for a fish tank, I doubt you would need, but is part of thought process for solar in general) Otherwise, they have some ready made solar powered Generators, that would include the Panels, Battery, and inverter for you.