When we first moved into our small house, here on the Navajo Reserve, we didn't have excess to electricity and we only ran generators at the time. Generators did the AC for us but it was too much to maintain and with the gas prices these days, it can sure add up on the bills. I just used to hear about solar panels and one day, I happened to stumble into one at some yard sale. Immediately, I purchased it and thats the day I made a habit of buying panels. Since I work at a school, I e-mailed the whole district if anyone has panels that they would be selling. Not too long after that, I purchased two sets of panels that were rated at 500 watts apiece with all the wires,controllers,switches,at 500 dollars! These were from people that recently got electric that didn't need them anymore. I think these were Arco panels and even all the frames and stands included! Later down the road, I managed to buy a brand new Unisolar panel rated at 64 watts, which was still new and the owner didn't want it anymore. I spent about 200 dollars and that included 2 deep cycle batteries! there was a morningstar charge controller that went along with that too. Not too long after that, I purchased another arco panel rated at 50 watts with all the wires, charge controller, and battery for 100 dollars! About a year ago, I purchased my last panels that were Carrizos, that were rated at 6 volts apiece and there were about 16 panels for 200 dollars. That included the frames, stands, and all the wirings! All I had to do was place them into series for my 12 volt system. My controllers are now: morningstar, prostar 60,and 60 amp heliostrope. Prostar, I bought it brand new and the heliostrope, I bought it used, but works very well for my system. Throughout the years, I've prearranged the panels afew times and learned to use the appropiate wires that can work.
My wife used to be very skeptical at what I was doing and I think she didn't want me spending too much money on the solars(she probably thought I wasn't gonna go anywhere with it)but eventually it paid off to this day. Nowdays, she likes the idea that I got into the solar habit. But like I said, I'm always learning from previous mistakes that I have made. Most of it is just using your common sense and making good judgements in purchasing selective items that you would want to build with.
Instead of buying brand new panels, I purchased used panels that are still in great shape, at a fraction of a cost to new panels. Same idea on inverters: I now use about 3 different inverters. One I bought from Wal-Mart, one from flea market, and one from Harbor Freights, which is a 2000 watt inverter. They all work very well for my system and I can't complain about them.I run a 750 watt invector inverter for the house and instead of turning it off and on from the outside, I ran the wire inside the house so I can operate it from the inside. I only use what I want, a way to save!
