Ray makes a great point. Just the labor that it would take to test the modules will greatly reduce their real value to the owner.
If you do leave that array as-is, you should at least take a look to make sure the wiring is OK. Bad wiring on a steep hillside could be a severe fire hazard, with the array acting as a chimney. Brian Teitelbaum AEE Solar From: re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org [mailto:re-wrenches-boun...@lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Ray Walters Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 5:30 PM To: RE-wrenches Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Old Modules for GIT system? Depending on the original work, I'd look at sealed batteries and leave it alone. I've done a bunch of rewires, and you're really wasting the customer's money to rewire 80 watt modules. ( module J boxes are so 1990s....) Meanwhile those 80 watt modules have decent resell value for small 12 v systems, as does the Trace inverter. I found that Outbacks take about 480 w-hr/ day so that's a fair bit of the array just to offset that. Small sealed battery bank, and let him play with a few backup circuits in off grid mode might be OK. or offer him a new GT system with a nice trade in allowance for the old gear. I did a rewire recently like this, and we reused the generator 3 way circuit selector. That lets them pick which circuits are on or off the grid. I'm sure others here will have some good ideas I haven't thought of too. R.Ray Walters CTO, Solarray, Inc Nabcep Certified PV Installer, Licensed Master Electrician Solar Design Engineer 303 505-8760 On 6/4/2013 3:53 PM, Steven Lawrence wrote: Dana, Maybe wire 3 in series to a single Enphase? It'll depend on what the voltages are. Date: Tue, 4 Jun 2013 14:01:42 -0600 From: "Dana" <d...@solarwork.com<mailto:d...@solarwork.com>> To: "'RE-wrenches'" <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org>> Subject: [RE-wrenches] Old Modules for GIT system? Message-ID: <05f401ce615e$55773960$0065ac20$@com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I have a client eat has a 24 - Solarex SX 80 PV module system that was off grid, Trace inverter, APT Power panel and an very aged L-16 battery bank. The utility came in and he wants to go grid tie. It is or was only 960 watt originally. I realize that an array rewire is in order and it may only be a 1 KW system but he is interested in getting the equipment upgraded. Has anyone done a grid tie with such a small array and with modules this old? Any thoughts on installing sealed batteries and leaving it alone? _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org<mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> Change email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm<http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm> Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org<http://www.members.re-wrenches.org>
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