Home page

The ugly truth behind grid-tie solar systems. Part 1, FarmCraft101 solar. Watch before you buy!

Frames The ugly truth behind grid-tie solar systems. Part 1, FarmCraft101 solar. Watch before you buy!

Description The ugly truth behind grid-tie solar systems. Part 1, FarmCraft101 solar. Watch before you buy!

Comments The ugly truth behind grid-tie solar systems. Part 1, FarmCraft101 solar. Watch before you buy!

Most solor systems are 70k to 120k now days with a hybrid and battery system Contractors make about 2000 dollars an hour installing them very high profit business because they can sell the idea that you be paying electric bills why not pay a loan over 20-25 years and it will eventually pay off They work with finance companies to provide these long loans are essentially 2nd mortgages on the house Comment from : Blastman 8888

Great Info! My grid supplier takes 64 kWh/mo as their service fee, which is a large of my small 25 KW system's output Comment from : Ron Stüder

You forgot to account for opportunity cost of that $17,000 It changes the break-even point by many years And all of that assuming this system will need $0 maintenance Comment from : First Last

how long are your batteries good for? Comment from : firstdawn

Been almost 6 years So hows the pay back or "break even" numbers looking? How much on maintenance have spent since ths install? Comment from : Boyd Lamb

The new Enphase IQ-8 inverters allow you to use the solar when the grid is down, without batteries Comment from : Daniel DeSmet

This video title is misleading because Grid-Tie system shall be OFF when the grid is down To get power during power outage, solar system must be combined with Off-Grid inverters and batteries system It is just how you invest and what is your requirement Dont say bad things to solar system Comment from : mike Tiong

Forgive me if I have the physics incorrect but feeding back to the grid is not done by producing a voltage drop This would cause real issues between phase synchronised AC sources You need to understand how a 'Link Inductor' works - not easy to explain quickly here! I believe this is a common misconception but I stand corrected Comment from : Anthony Francis-Jones

Good video The inverter forces power back on the grid by adjusting the phase angle of the inverter sine wave compared to the grid sine wave A leading phase angle will force power onto the grid and lagging phase angle will let the grid put power into the inverter(not good, boom!) I'm getting ready to build a barndominium and will put panels on my metal roof in a similar setup I'll have 1300 sf of South facing roof The panels will shade my roof and make for shorter wire runs Comment from : Donald Wilcox

Great informative video Thanks 🇬🇧 Comment from : Doug

I just had this same inverter and it just went out after 6 years Is yours still working? Comment from : ibenglish

We have a grid-tied system and what terks me off is that the power company (a co-op no less) charges $26/month for the privilege of being connected to the grid as well as limiting our installed system capacity to 115 of prior year consumption brI’ve done the math on adding batteries but given that outages are rare a battery system makes no sense whatsoever much as I really want one Comment from : D AC

0:30 - You have 30 panels in your array What is the square-feet measure of that? Comment from : B Sm

5:39 - I live 'in-town', where houses are side-by-side along a street, not a farm-house, far from the road What voltage is running from the street to my house? Comment from : B Sm

6:16 - I have wondered : When I add a solar-array, will this require more 'boxes' inside the house, by the circuit-breaker box, or outside, by the meter Comment from : B Sm

Best explanation yet! Thank you… Comment from : Steve

Solar systems on your house is not going to do what you think it's going to do everybody that's ever bought will tell you the same thing it may lower the bills a little bit but it does not do what it needs to do The only way to do that is cut from the fucking grid and they won't let you do it Comment from : Avenger 20

2022 when I’m writing this I want to thank you for this video I’m designing a grid tie only system for my house and I needed to see this video Fabulous description of how solar panel energy can overcome grid impedance and flow backwards through the meter Nice job explaining that Thank you I was the student 5 years after you first published this!!! Smile Comment from : armedmariner

I recommend to people to check out hybrid solar systems in which solar panels continue to generate power during grid blackouts Comment from : TheGreenTaco999

You cant use solar panel directly in a power outage but that is when the battery comes in clutch Comment from : MrRaja

can you use a gasoline generator? Comment from : martin bern

NO ONE EVER TALKS ABOUT SYNCHRONIZING SINE WAVES DON'T GRID AND PRIVATE SINE WAVES HAVE TO BE IN SYNC? Comment from : Juan Sanchez

I know this is over 5 years old but off grid is still the best Comment from : Coz III

Dear my friend,I am now working for a new company, Haitai, a large corporation with good reputation listed in ChinaWhich is specialized in the design,manufacturing and sells of solar mounting systemsThe attachment is our catalog for your reference,If any inquiries please feel free to contact meThank you for your support Comment from : liping chen

I am looking at a system that is 10XX KW and I have three quotes and they are all over $50k before the tax credit, I know California is more expensive than other states but it is crazy how much more Comment from : Pupuslinger

Very good presentation Very simple language so any one without engineering background can understand it Comment from : haris m

Assuming you are storing diesel, or gas, or heating oil under that array you have a fire or explosion waiting to happen with high-voltage DC power in the hazard area (see NEC) Comment from : Zach Rich

Ohm's law 101 needs to be measured in ampsbrMeasured in watts could only use and put back in the grid about 10, but yeah take advantage of all the government gravy train while you canbrEnron scam still livesbrPSbrLineman 101 you're always test if there is there's juice in the lines and you make statements like that like we're just going to grab it whatever will protected can even spice lines hot so kind of a moot point Comment from : dennis Dickinson

Can you have a "Franken switch so that it can't back feed like you can physically disconnect the grid to keep power on? Or can you install all separate outlets to keepfrom grid tied? Google isn't give me an answer Comment from : Chris Evans

Great content :) Comment from : Chris Furner

You've had your solar system for close to 5 years now Maybe time for an update video to document your experiences in that time? Recent rises in the costs of electricity may have reduced the payback period you originally calculated? Would you have done anything differently knowing what you know now, eg would you have made / installed the solar panel support system yourself? Were there any failures / warranty issues etc Comment from : Paul Hammond

Thanks a lot for the presentation and really helped me understand the wiring size according to volts One thing I am missing is what product are you using to pickup that 360v coming from your panels? It looked like you have 2 different units other than your electric panel so is one of them taking 360v and converting it down to AC? Comment from : Danny Mallory

You guys to keep mentioning this tax credit need to also mention that if you do not have a tax liability you cannot or have no use for the solar tax credit because it only credits money that you owe Uncle Sam if you are like most of us receive a return when you file taxes at the end of the year and don't owe Uncle Sam any money the solar tax credit is worthless because keyword here it is a "incentive tax credit" not an " income tax credit" so long story short if you don't have a tax liability there's no point in even filing for the ITC because you won't get it Everybody needs to stop with that confusion My Solar company when I bought my system guaranteed me I was going to get it instead I had to take him to court and wound up getting my system completely free that company is now called pink solar because I wasn't the only one that got them with that Comment from : Brad W

Grid Tie systems are a joke You need to talk to Engineer775 Comment from : Diesel Ramcharger

Hey Johnson, there is no solar system It's flat buddy Comment from : Me Nu

My question is this You said the power will go back up the grid to run your meter in reverse to save you money The generated solar power never runs back into the utility grid How is that possible on one power line? It obviously runs the meter in reverse, it never gets fed back to the utility's sub station, right? Just turns the meter in reverse so you don't use as much from the utility Co Someone comment and help, this confuses alot of people Comment from : Brandon lowe

u can actuly use solar with the grid down it just looks for a background current so a generator would provide the background current would have to turn main breaker off other wise your liable if a line men gets killed or injurde but a way around it Comment from : Alex Lindekugel

Stupid video Comment from : JC Garcia

We have 9660 watts living in Arizona, no power bills since system installed Comment from : Gary D

Thanks for this nice video I would like to mention that many meters today will not run backwards wth this system and you need an agreement with your electric company to get credit back and they credit you back with a pathetically small fraction of what they charge for their electricity, so be sure to get all those details from your electric company before taking this plunge Also remember that rates may change over the years Comment from : Richard Gieser

The ugly truth is your definition of ugly Comment from : Terry Wilkinson

After watching the entire video (very good), I don't understand why this is named b"the ugly truth"/b -- or is that just click-bait? Comment from : R M

I went with 440V DC to 220 V AC It gives me a 40 amp AC circuit into the main box The bad part is in order to do a battery setup it has to be a high voltage setup so a Tesla or LG Comment from : Clark Richards

So what you are saying is that if tax payers weren't helping you pay for your solar panel system you wouldn't be saving any money! Comment from : Thomas Koenig

So I see the truth part of the video, what is the ugly part? Comment from : smurfcrusher

Wire means a single wire, Cable has two or more wires Comment from : bob d

Mini Solar tip: eg a Beuler and all other hungry electricity consumers can be continuously adjusted down to eg 300W with a 5000W dimmer (7EUR) I run 5 dimmers in parallel on an 850W inverter Kettle 22KW at 150W runs 12 hours a day, so the water is always hot The room is also nicely heated 25KW washing machine runs in parallel with dimmed to 200400W Iron, dishwasher, oven, electric heater, coffee machine, all internal heating are throttled with me Videos about it on my channel youtube/eC2olbCBhh0 The inverter stays cool, quiet and the MOSFETs remain intact because extreme current peaks no longer arrive at the inverter Now every Mini PV Inverter is enough to sell large devices Comment from : Christian Kulmann

very good vid, explains stuff we need to know, how much is power company paying you for power that you sell to them? THANX! Comment from : bowlweevil

WOW !!! This is so wonderfully explained !!!! Fantastic job Sir !!! Comment from : AJ Taheri

you probably installed it wrong, it really matters if you connect it as parrallel or series Comment from : Crypto Prepper

The proposition that a grid-tied system cannot be used during a power outage is no longer absolute truth The problem is that the companies who make the inverters, or more specifically "microconverters", are starting to realize there is a market for producing power when the grid is down Unfortunately, the inversion process and alignment of the phase(s) to the grid is so complicated and requires certification and approval from the grid operator and it is not a do-it-yourself kind of system However, that may be changing Sun Power is offering systems that are grid tied, but can be run when the grid is down provided you purchase their battery package; a package which may cost more than the panels and inverters It's all about marketing and maximizing profits which is unfortunate as generation of electricity ought to be considered as something of national security i think things will be changing over the next decade (it is now July, 2022) Comment from : John Laurence Poole

I've been thinking about it for my house, my average power bill is about $60 though So I was thinking about trying to make a system for around 5k Comment from : Bearded gaming

What size wire did you use between your array and the workshop? Comment from : Exploit the Childless

Mine is 60k Comment from : Matthew Scian

why didnt you put it closer to the house Comment from : zjohn

Hey I noticed your feeder is before the solar panels Don’t shoot a deer there because bullets and arrow usually go straight through Hahahahaha more meat but no electric or spark to cook it would be bad Plus no freezing Comment from : Zachary Burkett

Nice video I am looing at the structure that support the solar panels I am looking at the connection at the top of the post Is there a catalogue that you can share? Thanks Comment from : Zumbatan

amazing all the videos say their system only costs them 17,000 however they all seemed to install them themselves so there are no labor costs seems like most videos are done by those who have the ability to install them to save massive labor costs, and have to go to great lengths to justify solar however, no videos rave about how well their systems do after 10 years when they need to replace most everything except the panels, which are btw the least expensive part of a system Comment from : sam usvi

The cutdown with one panel failure has been untrue for some time nowbrThese things have bypass diodes inside, so they would basically just bypass the (broken parts of) the misbehaving panel Comment from : Kjeld Schouten-Lebbing

If grid goes down you have the wrong inverter Comment from : lhffan

good information Comment from : review Depot

Wire goes in a trench, not a ditch 😛 Comment from : Hondaguy91

Great VideoWhat type of Mounting system is that you are using? Where can i purchase it? How much does it cost? Thanks! Comment from : Jason Keen

Change in frequency drive Real Power WATTS in or out of the system Change in voltage drives Imaginary Power VARS in or out of system Comment from : Dean Hagstrom

So if I heard correctly, solar panels will either reduce your electric bill, or buy you credit with the power company? I just bought 3200w of solar panels, and I'm trying to decide whether to build a simple grid tied system or a hybrid (grid tied with battery backup) I bought 15 225w 36v panels, but I can go buy 15 more @$55/panel Worth it? Do I have to use a $2100 grid tie inverter? Comment from : RecoilFreak

That's not an "ugly" truth, it's literally in the name GRID tied system brThe "pretty" truth is you'll pay off your solar, you'll NEVER pay off your electric bill Comment from : Jordan Sutche

electric company in my area makes it tough to get a ROI with net metering They charge you ten cents a kwh and only credit you with 25 cents They have other plans where you only pay 5 cents a kwh, but have large swaths of time where they charge you 25 cents a kwh Comment from : mark blue

A very well presented overview, thanks Comment from : Alex Gochenour

Could the inverter generate a third leg? That would be good for machinery Not sure if that is an option Off to google I go Comment from : henmich

Perhaps just send all electricity produced to the grid, and buy t back when needed That is, if the price of electricity output equals imput from the grid Comment from : Golden Sun

Yes, if you lose an optimizer it will not affect any other modules I've been running SE since 2011, it's a good setup My other system is off grid/intertie, if the grid goes down that system powers my home with 105 kWh of battery Comment from : mosfet500

In the event of a nasty hail storm, will they cover replacing the panels if they are smashed? Comment from : Big Hock

Quick comment about Moxie Solar The company seems to to be going out of business as we speak but! Are the salesman still taking customers and there money Check this out, I reached out and text my Moxie Solar salesman Chris, he responds back right away Chris: Is everything working smoothly? Let me know if it's a service issue and I can expedite a request Me: Not really, we’re still waiting for a build date to be scheduled for our solar Chris: I Reached out to my project manager for an update on your project Will keep you posted! That’s the last thing we heard from anyone from Moxie Solar We signed in June 2021 it’s now February 2022 Moxie Solar review’s tanked in the last six months Other customers have reached out to us and let us know a class action lawsuit is on the way Some have retained attorney’s and are demanding there money back The ground is frozen here in Wisconsin so I’m going to wait it out till spring and see if it gets rectified Hope that’s not a mistake on my part? brUpdate: a local electrician calls us out of no where and said, hi sorry about calling you like this but your on a list with us to get solar put in but, we won’t be doing the solar job for you because Moxie Solar has not paid us for the last 10 jobs we did And even if they paid us in full we would not do business with them again Sorry for this inconvenience brSo Moxie Solar’s contract requires the first two payments before they even come out We may be out a lot of money Is it time for an attorney??? Comment from : Todd Bouton

I have a SunnyBoy inverter that gives me 10 amps at 120 VAC when the grid goes down, on a separate outlet That's plenty to run the fridge while the sun shines Not as resilient as a backup battery, but FREE! Comment from : Guy Grotke

Beware of solar panels with power optimizers!! Major source of radio interference for you and your neighbors FCC does not require manufacturers to install RF filters on new installations! Beware Search solar panel RFI Comment from : JeepLuv

It's a sort of scam really Comment from : JeepLuv

We live off the grid and are upgrading our system from 24 volts to 48 volts it will cost us $36000 for a complete system Comment from : Bob Vedder

Anybody know what is the power limitation of on-grid inverters? Example: 4kW in panels, on-grid inverter with max output of 5kW Can I get 4kW out of panels and another 3kW out of grid or is it limited to 5kW total? Comment from : Igor Spitz

Well explained! Too bad about your utilities wholesale rate for power sold to them, def a deal killer Comment from : farnsworth3000

I just saw a video showing how the grid steals around 50 of the excess energynice Comment from : Abel ben Adam

Thanks for the video! What's the ugly truth though? Seems legit to me! Comment from : Eric Woolston

I think you'll find it doesn't up the voltage, well in a way it does what the invert does is produce a sine wave that is slight leading the mains sine wave Comment from : Yeah Right

17000$ ? I can buy 420w panels for 150€ It would be 3600€ for 24 panels producing max 10kw + the inversor + materials Why is so expensive? Comment from : Invertirlo

Better explained than my college professor This fella is smart and articulate Comment from : Marshall Gray

Great video! Can you please add "The link of part 2 or subsequent parts to the description of your first parts"?brbrCan you also add "related videos to whatever you cover in let's say, a video, and you mentioned something of interest you don't cover in that video we're watching, you mentioned that thing, add the link to the description of that video"? Comment from : Rodolfo Plasencia

You’re half way to free power!!!! Comment from : The Life Of HaZa

Would love for someone's opinionI'm currently using anywhere from 38-70 kwh per day but my power company only allows Me to produce no more than 10kw so I'm left with a 972kw systemif I'm getting a diy kit and my total cost after incentive is $13,400 I am paying about 920-960 per kwh they only buy back at 40 per kwh will this still save me some money or is this not smart? I live in south GA with NO trees 5 acres in the middle of an open field my house faces exact N and Southmy power bill could be anywhere from $140 to $240 would this "smaller" kit still possibly cut my monthly costs by more than half? Thanks in advance! Would like opinions before I pay for This kit and regret it Comment from : Hannah & Austin

All other types of technology has expanded by leaps and bounds, but not battery technology, I wonder why?, lol, IF the batteries last 85 yrs you can break even, and you done all that work for absolutely nothing, it's truly sickening how big-money/greed controls everything, this guy isn't going to admit he was wrong about his solar-system, he's just going to continue babbling technical crap, hoping others are foolish enough too waste their time/money on this garbage like he did Comment from : Jerry B123

How many square feet (area) is your array? Comment from : Peter Hauer

Brilliant video- thanks I'm curious Why can't you have a relay to disconnect grid if the grid goes down isolating your solar so you can continue to use the solar When grid comes back relay reconnects to the grid Comment from : Chris

My property has a odd set upMy meter is not at my house, it's about 100ft away The area where my panels would go is 120ft from my house in the opposite direction, a triangle from the house, meter and panels The utilities company said that I must have a shut off no more than 10ft from the meter For net metering, could I just trench my wiring to the meter, bypassing the house and installing the inverter outside next to the meter and shut off? Should the inverter be outside in colder climates? I noticed that most people have them inside Dont want to trench to the house AND the meter if I dont need to Comment from : mrwilly41

Related The ugly truth behind grid-tie solar systems. Part 1, FarmCraft101 solar. Watch before you buy! videos

How to Tie a Knot with a Pussy Bow | How To Tie The Perfect Pussy Bow РѕС‚ : SilkFred Download Full Episodes | The Most Watched videos of all time

Energy Matters #5 | Using Large Appliances Off-Grid | Cutting Grid Energy Usage РѕС‚ : DADvinci Download Full Episodes | The Most Watched videos of all time

Make sure you do this BEFORE you tie the knot! РѕС‚ : Finance Facts Download Full Episodes | The Most Watched videos of all time

Off-Grid Solar Homes: Essential Tips for Choosing Appliances and Saving Energy РѕС‚ : Ishmael Lamptey Download Full Episodes | The Most Watched videos of all time

How Much Money You Save with $30,000 Solar Panels | How Much you Save with Solar Panel Per Month USA РѕС‚ : AamirzTwoCents Download Full Episodes | The Most Watched videos of all time

Garena DDTank:Combo 2000 Tốc Độ Sẽ Kinh Khủng Như Thế Nào?Best Cướp Turn Cân Team Lật Kèo РѕС‚ : Review Game N.B.H Download Full Episodes | The Most Watched videos of all time

10 Money Talks Before You Tie The Knot РѕС‚ : MoneyTalk Download Full Episodes | The Most Watched videos of all time

The UGLY Truth About Dropshipping That No Guru Will Tell You РѕС‚ : MyWifeQuitHerJob Ecommerce Channel Download Full Episodes | The Most Watched videos of all time

Building Student Success Systems to Support Students with Disabilities (Video 3 of 3): Systems РѕС‚ : The National Center for Learning Disabilities Download Full Episodes | The Most Watched videos of all time

Home Security 2022: Monitored Alarm Systems Vs. DIY Alarm Systems РѕС‚ : SilverHammer Surveillance Download Full Episodes | The Most Watched videos of all time