Optterra LLC
I’ve been quite disheartened to hear that my go-to panels and the awesome Enphase IQ7As are out of stock for the foreseeable future.. After hearing bad news from various distributors, my friends at Fortune Energy were able to make some deals and get me some of the last available stock on these awesome components!
Got another pallet of panels! Here are the next two system in line: a 7.2kW system and 4kW system. These new QCELLS DUO panels produce 400 watts each and are paired with the awesome 360 watt Enphase IQ7A microinverter. This next generation of panels and microinverters allows us to pack more power onto a smaller footprint.
Great news, I was able to get a great deal on a pallet of Longi 320W Modules. There are 30 modules in a pallet, which makes 9.6kW! This coincided with an incredible deal on Enphase IQ7 microinverters. We now have the components for two more solar systems, who’s next in line?
Here it is, solar panel number 101! This is installed on our beloved truck camper, “Bertha”.
I got this 290 Watt surplus residential solar panel for $100. It turns out, residential panels are perfect (and inexpensive) for this mobile application, if you use the right charge controller.
An MPPT charge controller is able to step down the voltage of a residential solar panel so that it can be used with the 12 Volt battery in your rig. After trying several different ones, I now really like the Renogy brand charge controllers.
The Morningstar 300 Watt Silent Inverter (on the right) makes the 92 Amp Hour Battery usable for the laptop and other 120V appliances. This setup can ensure three days of power without sun, which is more than enough for our needs.
Well, here it is, solar panel #100!! This 2kW addition was completed totally solo, too. I’m very excited to have reached this milestone, it’s been 9 years since I installed my first system. Also, this week I expect to reach 100 MWh of energy produced by my systems! At a billed rate of $0.10 per kWh, that’s $10,000 worth of electricity. Who says that solar doesn’t pay?
Edit: I was digging through some pictures and I found a pic of that first install..
