Hi Solar Enthusiasts!

[mav15]

Hi guys,

Just jumped on the solar band wagon and am really wondering what I need to do to get started...
I'm sure if anyone can help a total newbie it's you guys...
I'm looking at both solar panels that are for sale and the DIY approach.

I've already read all the reviews regarding the "scams" and good thing I came here first.

[Mike90250]

announcers voice:
Welcome, and thank you for making solarpaneltalk.com your first choice in solar forums.

We now return your to your regularly scheduled program.

[Jason]

Hi Mav15, Thank you for registering with Solar Panel Talk.

Where you from?

I look forward to your posts

[sunnysun]

welcome! we all look forward to joining you on your solar journey. make sure to keep us all updated with your projects.

[DeltaFox 25]

Welcome to solar panel talk.
If you want to start, buy a killawat meter. To check all of your outlet voltage . You need to know this to figure out how much you need.

[Mike90250]

.... If you want to start, buy a killawat meter. To check all of your outlet voltage . You need to know this to figure out how much you need.

The Kill-A-Watt meter, is a gadget that plugs into an outlet, and gives you several bits of information. Volts, Watts, total watts, power factor, Frequency, and more.
Here's a link to 2 models of them:
http://store.yahoo.com/wind-sun/kiwap4post.html outlet strip $80
http://store.yahoo.com/wind-sun/kiacpomome.html wall wart $30

Using this, I find my bread maker consumes .9KWH to make a loaf of bread.

Very useful, plug your fridge in, and see what it consumes in a week.

[mav15]

Hi guys, thanks for the tips...
@jason Thanks for the welcome and i'm from Canada, but right now am in the Philippines. : )

@DeltaFox 25 and @Mike90250, i'll take a look at that and sounds like an awesome gadget. I guess you can improve something until you can track it right?

any other tips to get me started?

[Jason]

If you are looking into being grid tied, Look at your electricity bill and find out what percentage of your bill you want supplemented with solar.

Once you have an estimate of how much power you need, you can figure out how much solar power it's going to take to accomplish your goal.

If your wanting to power a shed, or some other smaller project that doesn't require your electricity being fed into the grid there are different factors that come into play.

Tell us a little more about what you want to do with solar and we can provide more specific help.

Thanks again for joining.

[mav15]

That's the thing.. I'm not sure how much i can economically save up. Right now, I'm just interested in doing this as a side project, nothing too serious.

If I can make something that can cut my utility bills 50% why not? I'd be happy with any savings. And definitely I would want to do something that can be plugged in.

After doing some research, I've found out that it isn't really as simple as plugging your solar panel into your outlet, since our houses run on AC and not DC and we would need both an inverter and a synchronizer? and a certified installer to have the system plugged in. Am I right? can you guys give more info about the synchronizer?

As for the off grid one, do I need any special connectors to have my dc appliance plugged in?

thanks.