Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Installation Complete

After mounting the solar panels, hooking up the wiring and configuring the enphase solar power monitor on the network, I threw the switch and electricity began to flow.  Each solar panel reports it's production numbers onto the internet for viewing with a web browser.  Data is stored on a website for viewing and reporting.

Installed and generating Power!!!




Tuesday, August 5, 2014

MicroInverters

Under each 300 watt solar panel is a microinverter.   This box accepts the 36Volt DC leads from the panel and converts it to 240 volts AC for use in the house.  Waterproof connectors are used in both the 36 volt panel attachment and the cabling to microinverter 240 volt AC attachment.

One Microinverter ready for a panel over the top


First two panels mounted and plugged into microinverters

Panels bolted to rails with stainless clamps



Monday, August 4, 2014

Wiring

Once the panels were moved to a temporary location on the roof, it came time for wiring using the enphase microinverter cabling system.

The cabling terminates in a waterproof PVC junction box which is attached to waterproof conduit

Waterproof conduit goes to the master disconnect switch

Master disconnect with Midnight Solar surge supressor


Friday, August 1, 2014

Raising Solar Panels

After considering various schemes I decided to hoist the panels up the ladder using a come along.  The come along was fastened to a roof rafter by drilling a hole in the siding and passing a nylon rope through from the outside.

First panel attached to the cable ready for hoisting

The panel is pretty stable at the top of the ladder

A 2x4 nailed to the roof edge serves as a guide to easily slide the panel over the edge