hey dan, im about to build my array, which brand and wattage would you recomend for the panels and microinverters?, i consume about 2500kWh each 2 months.
I dont plan to reduce my bill to $0, but i want to try first with at least 4 panels..
I went with Ubiquiti sunMAX. I have a lot of their network gear and have been very pleased with it, so I figured I'd give the sunMAX solar products a shot.
260W panels are $203:
http://www.doubleradius.com/Manufacturers/sunMAX/Ubiquiti-sunMAX-Solar-Panel.htmlAnd their 250W inverters are $92:
http://www.doubleradius.com/Manufacturers/sunMAX/Ubiquiti-sunMAX-Microinverter.htmlSo for under $300, you have a 260W setup. I got 80 panels and micro inverters, so 20.8kW system for $23,600. To that cost you add mounting hardware (roof or ground mount) and then misc hardware and electrical. Still, at the end of the day, your cost is about $1.50 per Watt if you do it yourself.
I was a very early customer of theirs, and I did have 20 out of 80 inverters fail within the first 6 month due to them all being from a pre-release batch that should have never been in the wild. But they shipped 80 new inverters and I have only had to use 20 of them so far. This is way I'm looking at doing another array since I already have the inverters. I have had no failures from the replacement inverters.
thank you for your answer dan, seems like it wont be that expensive as i thought afterall, do i need a microinverter for every panel installed? how do you manage/know how much power are you generating? is there an app that links this info to your phone or something like that? im asking this because in the microinverter image i see like a wifi antenna, buying them at $92 seems pretty nice, sadly in mexico they are at $4500 pesos each one which is roughly $260 dollars lol