this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2025
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Panels $116 for two, I bought four
For the wiring you need to connect the panels together $36 for three pairs (if you're doing them in parallel like I am, you can skip this step if you design your setup in series and just connect the panels to each other directly)
You'll need an inverter to plug stuff into $41
A battery if you want to save and use electricity at night $190
A controller $12 I bought the cheapest one I could find
The rack $120 I could have made this out of wood for cheaper
Battery to Controller cable $10
Battery to Inverter cable $12
Panels to Controller cable $17
so $640 plus shipping if you buy from Amazon, but a lot of these things can be found in home improvement stores too so maybe shopping around can save you some cash.
You may also want a fuse (in a fuse holder) between the inverter and your battery for added protection against a short circuit (some batteries don’t protect themselves against this). The fuse holder I have is “Blue Sea Systems 5005 ANL Fuse Block“ but there’s a bunch of cheaper ones that look similar.
It’s also a good idea to get a DC circuit breaker between the panels and the charge controller to easily be able to disconnect the solar panels to work on the rest of the system (or if there’s a problem). I got one of these: “DC Miniature Circuit Breaker, 2 Pole 1000V 25 Amp Isolator for Solar PV System” and it has the brand “Chtaxi” on it