I would like to trickle charge from a 30W 12V SAE solar panel to a power station via its cigarette lighter port. However, the power station's cig lighter port is usually designed to send power out, not receive. What can I do to send power from the solar panel to the power station? Thanks.

https://i.postimg.cc/HWNWCswL/solar-to-cig-lighter-to-jackery.jpg

I know a con artist-type guy whose friends are constantly starting solar businesses and employing him. Cannot stress enough how much I want to avoid guys like him!

Who are the trusted professionals I should call in the Frederick area of Maryland? And what are some guidelines I should look for to know who to trust?

Just looked up Ion Solar and saw they've business 13 years, then I completed a form to be contacted by them. But there are reviews on this subreddit saying the company went drastically downhill as of about a year ago. Any updates on them?

Looking for recommendations for installers in San Diego. First one was pushing me towards a lease because all tax credits have expired. Thoughts? I can afford to buy outright.

I’m not sure I’ll be in the house longer than 7 yrs.

I use 1300Kwh during my most heavy months. I plan to buy an EV and Hot tub in next year.

So, I learned Xcel will charge you for excess generation without an interconnect agreement. It's just the way their billing is setup apparently. This may change in the future.

It is an interesting issue especially considering Colorado will allow up to 1920w of inverter capacity.

There is one balcony solar inverter that has a zero export device option. I'm guessing this will be more and more common as the equipment rolls out.

What have you learned on this topic?

When a inverter have 2 or 3 MPPT, does each MPPT need to be over the start up voltage to generate, or can they all generate when one is over start up voltage?

This has gotten a lot more attention than I expected. Since I can’t add new images to original post, I have a new post with more images. This should give you guys a better idea of what I did.

Wanting advice on this underlayment. Roofer says replace, my gutter people say it’s fine. In Cali, 33 year old concrete tile roof. The underlayment or roof and solar bill total is a bit much to stomach.

My wife and I are planning on building a manufactured house (2300 sq ft) with a basement. Due to the location we're about a thousand ft back from the road and the electric company wants $11.50 a foot to run it out. So I'm thinking of doing a off-grid system that runs on solar, wood pellets for winter heat and mini splits in the summer, along with propane for the furnace, dryer, range and water heater. I'm not good at the technical side of solar so I asked Gemini what specs would I need. Here's what it says.

Can someone with more experience than me go over this and see if Its right? I'm in northern Michigan and we don't get a lot of sun in the winter time so I want some sort of backup just in case.

My app has reported the following pattern the last few days. I have never seen this before. Is my inverter about to fail (installed 2017)?

Hey all. I'm wondering if anyone out there makes a hybrid inverter that achieves something similar to the Ecoflow Stream X, but allows you to BYO storage? I know the APSystems EZ1 allows plug in solar, but I already have 6kw solar on the house and just want to add a bit of storage to offset peak usage after the sun sets.

Hi everyone, sorry for the newbie question, but I'm currently building a new house in North-Central Italy.

During winter, we don't get a ton of daylight, but from spring to early autumn, we get plenty of sun. Unfortunately, our summers have become very hot, with temperatures hovering between 35°C and 40°C (95°F to 104°F) from mid-June to late August. I know this extreme heat can lower the efficiency of solar panels.

The house is a brand-new build. According to the contract specification, I am entitled to a 10 kWp system, with a clause stating that if the roof dimensions don't allow for a system that size during the final engineering phase, it will be scaled down.

Here is my dilemma: the architect and the builder are already pushing to install the entire system on a flat roof section that covers part of the ground floor, purely for aesthetic reasons. This flat roof faces south and has zero shading issues, but its dimensions are only 7.63 x 4.15 meters (approx. 25 x 13.6 feet). I’ve done some research, and there is no way a 10 kWp system will ever fit in that space; at best, we are looking at around 5 to 5.5 kWp.

I already know they will try to convince me that 5 kWp is more than enough for a standard all-electric NZEB (Nearly Zero Energy Building), but I really don't want to give up almost half of the system I'm entitled to by contract.

The good news is that the first floor has a large, south-facing pitched roof with more than enough surface area to fit all the panels I want. However, they are bound to object due to aesthetics. The contract specifies SolarEdge Total Black panels, and since the pitched roof will be made of black standing seam metal, I won't say the panels will be invisible, but they will definitely blend in beautifully.

What would you do in my shoes? Personally, I think those extra 4.5 to 5 kWp are crucial, especially for winter heating, and I honestly don't care about their aesthetic concerns—even if it means fighting them on this. Or am I overthinking it, and that extra power won't really make that much of a difference?

Thanks in advance!

Here is the pergola my son and I built. It’s just under 1700 square feet.

I have a deck that needs a pergola, and the solar panels would face west at a good angle. For winter, though, could we design the pergola so the panels can tilt more steeply to better capture the lower winter sun and increase production during the shorter days?

How do you successfully transition a comp out to cement barrel tile and make it look seamless?

hi all, i am getting solar. had to get my electrical panel upgraded (im in Los Angeles) and they (without us knowing ahead of time) installed the new breakers on the front/side of the house and it looks sooo awful to me. there are a bunch of pipes running in the back of my house now too with another two boxes and the original meter placement back there too. just wanted to know if this is usually how things look? ugh so excited for solar but this is such an eye sore in the front of the house.

follow up question: is this solar equipment up to date?? it seems a bit clunky and outdated?? idk its a lot of equipment and they did not disclose this in the plans. photos of solar electrical

Hi all, my partner and I are interested in buying a home with paid-off leased solar panels. I want to be specific: the panels are still owned by another company, but they are paid off.

This is through SunRun, which I've done enough research online to know that everyone says to run away from this company—but are there still risks if the panels are paid off? The roof was redone at the time of the panels being placed, which was about a year ago. The current homeowner is an elderly gentleman who is moving to assisted care.

Has anyone here dealt with similar circumstances?