Noob Questions, phase 1

 Hi folks,
After years of putting this off I'm finally getting around to
learning  about PV , and one (or more)
of my big  questions is about DIY panels as opposed to factory made.
Prefabs are  a lot more expensive  and if it's really mostly just as
functional to make my own, I'd like to.

One thing I read was  that "I should" get prefabs if I plan on being
grid-tied , so some of my ignorance revolves around exactly why that
would be true, and also what would be wrong (if anything) with making
say, half and half: start with some DIY's to get going and build up to
the point where I'm generating enough to go grid-tied , and then buy
kosher prefabs .

Also, I've gotten ahold of some of the ubiquitous DIY 'propaganda'
that led me to ebay and  the proliferate (proliferating?)   sales of
3" by 6" cells and kits and all that . Good stuff ? .
Is it reasonable  that building wood frames and soldering cells
together and silicone sealing them
makes good quality, long lasting panels ? . One guy even suggested
using broken pieces of cells ,
since they can be had cheaply . es loco , or just thrifty ?.
thanks,
Dar

  The price of manufactured solar modules had come down by 50% over the
past 20 months,
making it good value. Consider its 20 year plus warranty, designed to
be exposed to the
elements.  If you expect to get 20 years of good production in KWh's,
your DIY module will
not hold up.

 
thank you. might we expect prices to come down significantly more in
the next couple of years?.
now I'm thinking grid-tied, if anything, since batteries are so
expensive for a setup  big enough ]
to do me much good , and grid -tied requires prefab panels.

Dar

 No. We waited so many years for prices to drop to the new lower level now. I
doubt they will drop much more for quite some time now but you never know
the market for sure.

Ontario has put out big incentives to push the solar PV market to advance.
It has worked and a several new factories are putting out PV panels at a
fair rate. This helps put the prices down and may continue to clobber the
market mafia and this technology.

The frames the commercially manufactured panels use,  for home built units,
will cost you almost as much. The commercial units can be walked on to
service panels in the middle of the array. very tough construction.

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"Dar"  wrote in message
thank you. might we expect prices to come down significantly more in
the next couple of years?.
now I'm thinking grid-tied, if anything, since batteries are so
expensive for a setup  big enough ]
to do me much good , and grid -tied requires prefab panels.

Dar

 
Ontario Solar Farms....in Ontario ?.
I found a google ad at Ontario for Las Cruces  Solar .
 I'm just up the road from Las Cruces...

D