Dr. Evil

Hi Chris
 
This is what I mean.
http://imgur.com/mgpEriJ
 
Instead of needing 2 thick angle iron pieces to be braced onto the roof joists (for the very first panel) I will only need one additional piece per additional panel.
The same goes for the actual horizontal frame the panels will sit in.

Making about 180w today, 12:30pm clear skies. Think I should start making the mounts for flat IBR roof.
Basically want them to be adjustable between 12

God damn.. would you believe it has been raining and murky since Saturday plonkster?
The weather gods continue to p*ss on my plans!
 
When will I finally get to test. pft

Lol. agreed. Anyone seen the cheap powertools you can buy at Checkers Hyper now? It's branded "Schultz". Look carefully on the box, and you'll see that this is a name the Checkers people sucked from their collective thumbs. The product itself comes from the PRC (People's republic of China). It's SOOO cheap that I'm scared to even touch it. Now on their shelves I also found this Inverter-generator of the same brand... I'm too scared to even look :-)

This sounds familiar 

Okay gentlemen, I have 2 options here on local sourced solar panels.
I'm in Port Elizabeth btw
 
Yingli panel vs Schutten panels. Any of you esteemed gentlemen have experience with these brands?
Both are chinese made panels but the yingli seems to be a class panel, don't know much about Schutten.
Generally, when a chinese manufacturer tries to fool you with a german name, the subterfuge is usually necessary lol

Ah, plonkie.. a fellow software dev
warms my heart lol
 
i think a good software dev is, by nature, fastidious.
i don't intrinsically trust the word of a salesman i want to double check everything myself.
 
Thanks for the info, will look into this.

Hi ladies and gents
 
Newbie here, so bear with me lol
 
Been doing some research on the photovoltaics thing and I think now is a good time to jump in.
I am looking at a simplified, grid tied system with, initially, a 1kW array (4 x 250w) of panels but without the battery backups.
 
The idea is to feed this theoretical max (1kW x 6hrs of sunshine) 6kWh per day back into the grid and offset some of my 30kWh daily average usage. I have an old analogue meter that can go backwards.
Much better and cheaper battery technology seems to be in the pipeline for the future, hence I would prefer to wait on this and go for a setup with a higher ROI.
 
So in essence, I am looking at a Chint SCJ 1.5kw grid tied inverter (www.sustainable.co.za). I can expand the solar array output to 1.8kW later on and it comes with a 5 year warranty.
Anyone here have any experience with these Chint inverters or the batteryless setup I am proposing?
 
Any attempts to enlighten me would be appreciated