Left my pair of 150W solar panel idling, charging the sets of SLA batteries for past few months. Not really doing much work.

Came across this from a friend’s sharing of Carousell post. Solar Grid Tie Systems  800w (Full Set) for $2400 Sparks me to dig deeper into what Grid Tie Inverter really is.. End up it is a MPPT device that convert Solar DC direct to AC and pushes power direct to my homes power line. It takes batteries out of the equation, which is very neat.

located this Grid Tie Inverter from Tao Bao.

太阳能 并网逆变器 光伏逆变器 Inverter 500W 送MC4接头一对. Set me back ~$130 plus shipping.

Gotten this power meter too. ~$10

I have now modified and connect the pair of 150W Solar panel through this Grid Tie Inverter to my home power line.

It is pushing 150W max with good sun shinning on it. The yield is not great as I’ve only ~3hours direct sun on the panel everyday. Less then 0.5 kWh / day of use.

I did a cross check on SingPower electricity tariff which is now $0.18/kWH. I’m pulling less then 2kWH from the panel in 1 week. At this rate, my setup is not going to let me recovery my investment.

I NEED MORE SUN. Am now thinking should I move the panels towards the railing for more sun.