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Being a visual person myself, I also draw out plans before taking on a project (sometimes, a little too detailed and/or over-engineered). So, I was surprised that you didn't use a sharpie or something to mark the positive and negative ends prior to install. But, as you said, the excitement of the moment can lead to overlooking the little things, even though they may bite you later. So, helpful hint: mark the top and bottoms of the panels as you unpack them with a + or - sign. Edit: By the way, it is videos like these that make you a good teacher. You show the mistakes you make so we don't have to learn the hard way. Love your channel. Keep up the good work.

I have a better recommendation for lightning protection. Make the lightning want to go somewhere else before it gets to your array. Get a 100 ft steel pipe and drive it 10 ft into the ground near your array. Problem solved. If you use an excavator you can sink it into the ground in minutes.

Good work (a teachable moment !) I too ordered new solar after hurricane Irma removed our old system. I had time during shipping to draw up a panel intallation plan so all went well with no issues. I have to laugh out loud 4 years later tho, as now when I look at the drawing I had made nothing makes the least bit of sense. We were working so hard and in such a rush in those months after storms that my mind has literally blurred everything from those days. My brain seems to be operating at 50% but the solar system is producing just fine - so thats good. Lesson learned - try never to rush. And always be able to laugh at ones self. Great videos, keep up the good work.

I used micro inverters on my solar system, I like the fact you can easily expand your solar array.

Thanks for sharing. Nice to see I'm not the only one who's run the horse over with the apple cart. You are so correct about drawing a plan before starting. Amazing the little things that come up while drawing out the plans that just don't get considered in the exciting moment of the projects. Don't forget to use, Lightning arresters. Surge protection. Proper fuse size.

Every day we learn something new.

It's amazing how smart you are

The position of the panels is determinant of where the leads are connected. Panels like yours having one lead one each side require positive to negative stacking on the rack for your series connections. Panels having the leads at one end (the head as it were), require head-to-head placement for the same series connection. In my case, a 6x2 string array will provide 2 times the highest amount I've ever used.

Thank you for the truth share. I greatly appreciate your solar videos. I learn more and more information with each video. You are a great teacher through your verbal explications. Currently, I would place myself as a low percentage number, believing solar is right for me living in the city. However, I continue to learn as I work out the decision. Thank you.

Unusual panels. I have 70+ panels of different manufacturers and none of them look like yours. ALL of mine have a common junction box with both the positive and negative wires coming out of the same junction. And the wires are all 4' or so in length, never had any trouble connecting them.

For me when it comes to lightning which rarely happens in my area, I’ve worked out a plan to just shut down everything on the solar end. That means turn off the breakers to the solar that go into the house, turn off the inverter and flip the off switch to the batteries so everything is off. Like I said this is so rare and I’ve never had any part of my place hit by lightning.

I did a dry run for my system. Easy mistake to make. I will refrain from any MSU jokes. Good on you for helping others avoid that mistake.

Thanks for explaining this, I love how indepth your solar system videos are.

You need PV lightning arrestors & old school lightning conductors at the highest points with ground rods !

You can get combiner boxes with built in fuses!

You can use short mc4 extension cables. Extra connections isn't great, but you need to balance against the aggravation of remove and replace panels. My OCD means I'm probably going to be flipping panels. :)

Aside from the Sparty gear, good stuff.

Great information. I recently ordered a system from signature solar. I went ahead and got the EMP/ lightening surge protector just in case.

Looking good so far! Planning a super similar system for my house roof, with 10 panels with 5 in series and 2 parallel. Those short wires the panels come with it's annoying but oh well!

Thanks for the information…especially the SPDs!

Last night I was watching another video, and one of the segments showed the damage that can be caused by weather, especially hail. Some of the hailstones were golfball sized, but some were not much bigger than a marble. Yet these hailstones hit with enough force to take out a quarter of a panel (in one hit, it went clean through). My question is what preventative measures can you take to prevent such damage, and how much would such precautions cost in electrical output? I would think that perhaps some Lexan (plexiglass) sheets in a frame that could be quickly mounted might work, say, if a major T-storm was heading your way. But if it isn't secured tight enough, it may cause damage itself. Perhaps, comments from your audience?

Signature Solar is also and Authorized Dealer for EMP Shield.... Just curious, why did you not add that protection level to your system? EMP Shield is also Lightning Rated for all of those protection levels as well. In my understanding, this would have saved you from having to add the "Surge Protectors".

I see some videos of lipo battery power station.comming out that serve as a UPS and can be charged by solar. Seen One that's supposed to have 3kw. So u could hook up 3 to get 9kw on their own panels so if one goes down u still have 2 left and u don't need to convert anything. And they cost like 2k each. Anyone has experience.with these packs?

Hi,just curious why didn't do 2 strings of 10 1 string to each inverter because you got 20 panels voc 40.99v you are still under the inverters maximum voltage which is 450V. This way you didn't have to use so many wires and combiner boxes. And for your array panels I suggest you should use earthing system, ground Rod driven into the ground # 8 solid copper wire from 1 end of the frame to the other with open lugs to each metal brace/Joinst and then to ground Rod with grounded clamp. Open lug you don't have to cut the wire it just a pass through and you tighten the screws on the lugs. Just a suggestions 🤔

How sturdy is the ground mount ... hows it holding g up to wind does it move alot...

Just started watching all of the videos you've done on this(This is number three for me) and I'm unsure why you just didn't do two strings of ten, or four strings of 5.

Have you ever done a big project and figured out your supplies accurately? I have not.

?? did you reconfigure your panels for the EG4 (since the max input draw is 18A per terminal, but your two strings in SP would be over 20A)? also, does the voltage in the 8 PV series pose a problem for the eg4 (i assumed each pv terminal had max 250v)? let me know if i sound crazy 😅

They don't just make MC4 short extension cables? I mean me personally I would also just mount them properly because im OCD as fuck, but functionality wise im sure a little 1 foot jumper could solve that issue. electrical engineers out there, would that small jumper have a noticeable effect on the impedance? Also are there ways to make these terminations by hand? I feel like the longer I type this comment the more I realize the best solution is to just flip the panels...

You also didn't read the module manufacturers mounting specs.

Hi! What voltage and amperage numbers on your panels do you use to find your maximum for your connections? Their is short circuit and open circuit maybe some others. Thanks!

Curious what the wind uplift design is on the racks...will it withstand a strong wind storm? Racks are light aluminum?

Maybe I heard you wrong but it sounded like you are running PV wire from your array to your inverter. You don’t need PV wire for that. THHN wire will work. You only need PV wire for above ground work.

Question for you, you said that you got a bigger combiner box for later so my question is are you grid tied and if so you have to have a permit through the electrical company and are they ok with system like it is and down the road you add more pannels with out getting another permit?

Ohms law....not watts law.

🙂👍

Why not just get 1 more panel and do 3 strings of 7?

Doh!

What part of Texas are you in? It looks like east Texas. I'm in Ft. Worth.

I just made this mistake :\

Lethal voltages.

From $16k to $20k just like that. Plugs the amount you think your labor is worth. Who's got that kind of money??

Don't ever plan anything out. Just go to home depot 500 times. Be a man.