I am thinking of adding solar energy to my home, where can I find sound advice and reasonable priced product.?
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Before you do anything, check with local codes to see if you are aloud battery back up. I live in the north east and this part of NY does NOT. So unless I'm home during the day, solar for me would be useless. Once the sun goes down, I'd be back on the grid. And make sure you have all the proper disconnects to prevent a dangerous backfeed into the grid system during traditional power outages. This could be VERY dangerous to the lineman. These systems start at 12 volts, your transformer makes it 120, then the grid transformer makes it either 4160 or 13200, depending on the grid in your area. So please check with local codes before you start. The battery back up clause in this area, I think, is to deter people from doing it. So here it is only plausible on commercial buildings where they're in use during the day.
In general self installing is a bad idea. Here: http://www.nabcep.org/map.cfm?normalflag... is a site of installers who have the NABCEP certification, which is right now one of the few certifications that apply nation wide. Just click on your state and call around to find out the prices of installers in your area. More likely than not they will be able to point you toward the product you want. While I know you want to set this up yourself, installing it yourself is a bad idea. Just from asking this question it shows how little you now about solar power in general. This is not a DIY project. Most electricians don't even know what to do with PV (photovaultaics). There are many codes and regulations for PV not to mention the rules set up by your power company and the risk of falling off your roof, electrocuting yourself (you can't turn PV off, it is always generating electricity) or punching holes in your roof that will leak. NABCEP was set up so that people would know which companies are qualified installers. Setting up solar on your roof or in your backyard or on your garage is a great idea, but please let the professionals do it.
http://www.usgbc.org/leed/homes/...
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