Post #2953532

2026-05-13 11:32 UTC

@wronglang@bayes.club We've got some new coolers coming in for the farm, so that's kind of my baseline. It's an east-facing roof in Michigan, so I'm limited to morning sun, but my kWh looks good for summer months when the coolers are running. I can comfortably fit 6 kWp on my roof with room to expand. Extra production will go back to our utility through a tariff for now.

Replies (3)

@wronglang@bayes.club 2026-05-13 11:40

@brianb@fosstodon.org it's so nice to have a consistent space... did you check how many hours of sun that means? That lets you translate kW to kWh then those numbers let you size your battery back, battery charge controller and your inverter. Once you size those you get a price range and have to see a) what's locally available; b) if you want to go through the effort of getting something not locally in use; c) where those can live physically (so what environmental conditions they operate in)

Open ##2953533
@wronglang@bayes.club 2026-05-13 11:45

@brianb@fosstodon.org back to your original question about diy gotchas: 1. panels need to go on a roof that outlasts them 2. panels add dead load and live load (per code in MA anyway), they modify wind load depending on how they sit, MA code is pretty specific so that might be a nice guide if mi doesn't say. It's not just regs, you want to know you won't lose panels in a windstorm 3. in Michigan with hail... I'd check what sort of impact rating is on the panels you buy...

Open ##2953534
@wronglang@bayes.club 2026-05-13 13:22

@brianb@fosstodon.org also this just popped up 😄 https://agora.echelon.pl/objects/e44fffb6-73f2-4ddc-a418-5a18e9e52a5d

Open ##2953536