Best place for Solar system purchase and install BC Alberta

fanrgs wrote:
Backwoods Solar just over the BC border in Sand Point, Idaho, has a great catalog; is one of the most respected US-CA resources for all types of residential/RV renewable energy systems; has done numerous residential solar installations in the Kooteneys; and, most importantly, has been in business for 37 years. They also have a couple of contacts/reps in southern BC, including Bob Watters at bwatters@igc.org.

To request a catalog, click Backwoods Solar. This Website also has lots of examples of a wide variety of solar systems that have been installed for several years and worked as designed.

Give Backwoods a call or send an E-mail and let them help you with ideas for your system. They will be happy to give you free advice and it will be worth much more than what you are paying for it!

Fwiw theres a downside for buying from the US as canadians have to pay customs duty on imported products,,not to mention the lower value of CDN
dollar it adds up,,,its cheaper to buy in Canada in most cases..

Backwoods Solar just over the BC border in Sand Point, Idaho, has a great catalog; is one of the most respected US-CA resources for all types of residential/RV renewable energy systems; has done numerous residential solar installations in the Kooteneys; and, most importantly, has been in business for 37 years. They also have a couple of contacts/reps in southern BC, including Bob Watters at bwatters@igc.org.

To request a catalog, click Backwoods Solar. This Website also has lots of examples of a wide variety of solar systems that have been installed for several years and worked as designed.

Give Backwoods a call or send an E-mail and let them help you with ideas for your system. They will be happy to give you free advice and it will be worth much more than what you are paying for it!

Thanks everyone for your commeNts and recommendations, they are much appreciated.
Thanks,
Morley

Riverside Energy Systems in Kamloops is a super guy to deal with, Paul Fletcher @ 1-866-288-1517, I and fellow mh's have bought a lot of parts from Paul and you won't find better people to deal with.

Harvey51 wrote:
The best price I found in Canada was Canadian Solar in Ontario - but the shipping cost doubled the tab. With shipping, the best price was Amazon.ca selling a Renogy 100 watt kit for $200 including shipping and controller, in 2014. I think it is more like $300 now with the reduced value of the CDN $.

Renogy still sells their 100 watt kit on Amazon.ca. Current cost is $249.00.

A single 100 watt Renogy panel on Amazon.ca is $199.00. I ordered one of these earlier this week and should be delivered Monday.

Another ordering option would be from Solar Wholesaler based out of Calgary. Prices (for Canada) are not too bad, however not sure of the quality of their panels. Also need to watch their shipping costs which - depending on the shipping destination, can get costly.

The best price I found in Canada was Canadian Solar in Ontario - but the shipping cost doubled the tab. With shipping, the best price was Amazon.ca selling a Renogy 100 watt kit for $200 including shipping and controller, in 2014. I think it is more like $300 now with the reduced value of the CDN $.

I found that 100 watts was adequate to boondock indefinitely in summer, for fridge, LED lights and occasional use of the furnace in our small motorhome. If you watch TV for several hours in an evening, you would need another 100 watts just for it - and another 50 amp hours of battery.

A spreadsheet would be handy to calculate the amount of energy you want to use and from that and how sunny it is, the panel power needed, and the battery capacity to store what is needed overnight. I don't see how one could calculate the panel size from the battery storage a manufacturer happened to install.

Check out craigslist..... do a search in the "services" section. Just type in "solar" and see what comes up. Yes, you need to be careful and check them out but there are honest people there along with the scammers. Those that are legit can help you figure out what system you need based on your requirements.

Hi,

You need to know what you want before you grace the door of any installer.

Here is a simple flow chart.

Budget-->Energy Audit-->Battery bank size-->number of watts-->PWM or MPPT. What ever type of controller is chosen, make sure it has adjustable set points and a temperature probe that is on the battery.

If you use solar as a battery charger, one rule of thumb is between 60 and 150 watts of panels per 100 amp-hours of storage. The smaller the battery bank the higher the wattage needed (per 100 amp-hours). Here is a link to the rather special spreadsheet which includes an energy audit, that N8GS has created to help size solar battery charging systems!
solar spreadsheet by N8GS

If you full time or use an inverter lots, then populate the entire unshaded area of the roof with panels. I'm considering replacing my awning with solar panels.

For a nice explanation of solar, try this link:
Golden rules of solar

I got my stuff from a guy in Bowser here on the Island. He had panels at a buck or else than a buck a watt. Unfortunately, he has faded off into the sunset.

While I haven't dealt with these guys, their prices look rather good: https://www.wegosolar.com/
They are in Chemainus. And you did need an excuse to do a trip to the Island....

R