With the cost of solar panels coming down and with the rise in energy consciousness, I thought it might be time to try out solar panels myself. Just starting out, it seemed to be prudent to get a small, trial size panel kit to see how it works. I opted for a simple 100W monocrystalline panel with a grid tie inverter and a cheap PMW charge controller (read more about the basics of a solar system here).
The installation was much simpler than I had anticipated since all the components are plug and play, just like Lego pieces. Mounting the panel to the roof of the shed took the most time but it is also something you want to get right the first time. Once the panels were mounted securely to the roof, I just had to run the wires down to the inverter and charge controller and I was done.
While painfully simple, the terminology and jargon that goes along with solar panels did take awhile to adjust to, so I’ve decided to write up a whole article on what I learned during the course of my investigation into solar power systems and about why I chose the components I did.
Now, where can I buy some more…