“Nearly anything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough.”—Richard Feynman Historically residential solar installations were frequently sold as AC-coupled systems (microinverters or string inverters), using the grid like a storage device to yield a return on investment by reducing the amount of electricity you buy from the grid. While that is a […]
Deep Dive Into the EG4 18K PV Read More »
Introduction to the Solar Container Videos This is the first video in the solar container series Which I shot at the early stages of planning. As the project progressed my plans changed substantially. The overall goal is to build a high-capacity three phase system to power my shop completely. I intend to remain grid-connected but
Solar Container Project: First Video Read More »
As the Expert Amateur name suggests, I’m not a professional electrician, which means no one pays me to do this stuff, but I’ve been working on electrical and electronics projects for a ridiculously long time, and I insist on studying and digging deep enough to know what I’m doing (hence, the Expert part of the
Solar Grounding and Bonding Demystified Read More »
The neverending Solar Glossary I’m starting a glossary of solar electrical terms that I will continuously add to as long as new terms that seem worth defining pop up. It may seem that the terms used are just to confuse you, but really, any technical endeavor acquires jargon so that professionals can understand exactly what
Solar Electric Glossary Read More »
Something for Everybody We are doing a solar project that will scale in stages to show how to do modern solar power projects from a simple cabin or small house off-grid, to a light industrial or commercial 3 phase system with all the stages in between. The intention is to demonstrate how versatile hybrid inverter
A Scaled Solar Project Read More »
The big plan for Fritz is for it to be all electric and capable of extended dry camping, meaning no campground, no plugging in to handy electric outlets, self-contained–and still comfortable. That’s kind of a big requirement to pull off without propane, but I think I’m in the ballpark. Most RV solar installations put a
Fritz Getz Solared Read More »
4 Comments / Projects / By PonoBill I’ve had a few questions about how and why I’m doing a solar/battery system for Fritz, what I’m using and how I chose it. This is going to be a fairly long post with a bit of math, so if you’re interested, get a cup of coffee and
Solar Power for RVs Read More »
I am NOT an electrician, not an electrical engineer, not a professional by any measure. As the name of this channel and website says: Expert Amateur. Electrical safety is unforgiving, and fortunately there have already been people for the last 150 years figuring this all out, creating solutions, and setting specifications. So I can just
Design the Solar Rack and the Electronics The idea of a solar container isn’t new–in fact there are commercial versions available with some very interesting features–if you have a few hundred thousand bucks to spare. The notion is simple: take a container, probably a 40 foot standard volume one, add racks that can hold a
Solar Container Series: The Build Out Read More »
Why would anyone care about 3 phase power? Well if your only interest is residential power, then you won’t care, and don’t bother reading on. We’ll have some video instruction and posts for your application in the future. But if you’re considering alternate energy solutions for commercial and light industrial applications, then it’s worthwhile at
Residential and mid-sized Commercial 3-Phase Solar Read More »
