Solar panel installation

[pahoated]

This is just an example, no endorsement or plan to get it. It represents my near term need, not to get off the grid or even sell excess to HELCO, but as a back up if/when there are power outages, possible switching to it as the main during low load times, just opening the breaker. 1KW seems like enough for now, mostly pulling current from the batteries.

http://www.amazon.com/1KW-VISE-COMPLETE-...awn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1350668706&sr=1-12&keywords=1kw+solar+system
1KW VISE COMPLETE SOLAR SYSTEM
6 panels
$3,472

This price doesn't include installation or the batteries. Is there any experience out there with the price range here for an equivalent system with installation and without the batteries, preferably HIT panels?

This is an easy and interesting reference for the number of batteries. My current usage is 7KWh/day, planning to halve that soon, so with this guide, it looks like 10 250AH batteries could last for 5 days.

quote:

---

As a rough rule of thumb for home solar systems, the total battery capacity (in amp-hours) should be five times your daily usage. 5 days of storage or backup is commonly used. To work out what storage you require, just take your average daily usage in watts and divide by the battery voltage. For example, if you use 3 KWh (Kilowatt-hours) or 3000 Watts of electricity per day and your solar electricity system operates at 12 volts, then dividing 3000W by 12V gives you 250 AH. It’s important that the battery is not discharged completely and we suggest discharge should not be more than 50%. At 50% discharge you will need 500AH of battery storage."

---