Post
by JimW » Mon Mar 23, 2015 7:25 am
John, Troy may be able to answer your questions better, but...
Ebay is one option for solar cells. Look for $1US per watt, or less if you can find it. At $1/watt that will run you $1000 for each kilowatt, plus the costs for the charge controller and batteries. If you want ac power it would be best to get a pure sinewave inverter. Most that you see are "Modified sinewave", if it doesn't say, then it is probably modified sinewave. A modified sinewave is a stair-step forming something like a sinewave, but it can damage equipment and really shouldn't be depended on for long term (and, unfortunately, that's what I've got!!!!).
Buying individual cells and building your own panel will work, it may not look as pretty as the factory built panels, but it will still work. Troy has some video's where he built his own panels. Doing it that way you may be able to get below $1/watt.
The problem with grid-tie is that if the grid power goes down, so does your solar power. Unless you have a switch where you can disconnect from the grid, then, unless you have the battery backup system, you will only have power during daylight hours. If you are going to have the battery system, you may as well not connect to the grid and instead have a separate lighting/power system in your house. That could add to your total cost, but you would at least know that when the grid goes down you will still have lights and power that you can use.
Like I said, Troy can probably give better answers, and he probably knows some places other than ebay where you might check.
Good luck, and I hope you manage to get a good setup!!