Originally posted by Wits_End
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Originally posted by tpepper70
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Aiming is due south 25 degrees. I played around with the nrel calculator for optimal angles and that was about as steep as I wanted to get so I could reach to clean and it still provides near optimal output. You can tweak for summer or winter then the other suffers. It's really a compromise no matter what. You could by those adjustable posts but it's expensive and by my calculations it is impossible to recoup the cost on a small system.
My QS1s are currently two separate Alternating Current strings of 20A each to two 20A breakers in my main with simple knife cutoffs. As mentioned in my above post, I'm going to move my array over behind the barn so it is less visible. I'll have to cut down some big cedars, but no loss there, lol. When I fire it back up, I'll be putting a 60A sub-panel on the array to combine the two strings and run a single 40ish amp feed through the back of my barn to the service panel there. That is a 125A panel coming from my 320A main at the house so it is more than capable of carrying the load back to that panel without overloading. I'll probably lose 5% from the distance but I'm not that worried about the loss and I can always add more panels behind the barn.
As far as prices, I ordered them in bulk from a wholesale outfit and picked them up myself. You can't order from the companies that do the installs as they mark up the panels. 400W solar panels at the wholesale level are $125-$135 per panel plus tax. Double that from the installers...
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