I have 40 295 Trina panels on my shop that feed to my home , grid tied, no batteries yet , but looking to add soon , got a quote for Tesla battery, way too much , and having difficulty finding a contractor to install the battery back up system, just don't think it's something I can do myself and I'm fairly good at electrical stuff ,wired my shop and other out buildings but this is something I think I need to leave to the pros.
The thing with me doing it myself is I am learning as I go. Generally this has been event free. I did blow up one little part, but that was pure stupid on my part. Red is + black is -, the magic gets out if you mix them up, and I popped this guy.
Not really "important" just a fun little doo dad that shows me what is going in and out. Currently I am not even using this thing as I took a big step forward and upgraded to this:
Yes everything is a bit of a mess, I snapped this right after I got it working. Cool, little needles.....so much cooler then digital numbers.
As you might have guessed I am really playing with this thing. It is running the shop, but I am fiddling with it minimum weekly. Not because I have to to keep it going, I fiddle with it because it is just fun to tinker with. Wires are everywhere, but nothing stays put, I keep changing stuff. Adding more stuff this week, and added 4 more solar panels last weekend. I also have a 3 axis auto sun tracking gizmo that I need to get off my tail and pour concrete for and get mounted, that is not going to happen when it is 98f and 99% humidity outside.....nope.
Really it is basically very easy, so easy even I can make it work. Where it gets "fuzzy" is when you move from your solar DC stuff and onto the AC stuff, then up one more level when you want a "grid" tie in.
It sounds like you are in my same ballpark. I wired up my shop and barn, sub panel in my barn, and it is all still standing and I don't get shocked when I touch the walls, so I must at least be lucky.
When you start getting IMHO into the transfer panels this is when it gets crazy. For me, I have an automatic transfer panel on the house, if the house looses power the gen will auto start and power what it is to power. When the "grid" comes back on, it switches back on its own. Most are setup this way. When you toss solar in there as well is when it goes over my head. Doing it all on its own, and giving the batteries time to "recover" is all crazy.
Right now I am very happy with where I am. I know in my last electric bill, when the system was still much smaller I used 100Kwh less over last year and the temps are about the same. Provided I was out there as much as I am this year that is something.
Bottom line, I think I am learning much more doing it myself. It is really quite fun and my brain really likes figuring this out.
I should update my thread. Perhaps after the next batch of new parts come in.
