Solar Power for Dummy Installers

Power inverter

In the bad old days just about anyone writing for eHow.com pulled their so-called answers out of thin air. Apparently it's a little different these days, since many contributors are now self-described experts. Once in a while, you run across older content from an eHowian who tried to claim expertise... though as often as not the expertise wasn't readily apparent. Take, for instance, the self-described "certified energy professional" Diane Bacher, who we found trying to explain "How to Install a Power Inverter and Solar Panel to an Electrical Panel"¹ for HomeSteady.com  

If you asked the staff of the Antisocial Network for help connecting your solar array, we'd like to think that you'd find some instructions for wiring the various pieces-parts instead of a boatload of semi-nonsensical babble along the lines of

"DC electricity is conducted via metal wire through the charge controller to your battery... Wiring will go from the battery to a circuit breaker and shunt, and then transport DC electricity into the inverter... The wires connected to your electric panel are the final stop along the conductive wiring connections..."

All that's fairly accurate, if a bit on the flowery side, though -- given that the included is just a snippet of three paragraphs and 232 words -- it's mostly unnecessary information about solar power systems. Once this filler is out of the way, however, we expected some actual instructions. We don't know what they might be, since no one on the Antisocial Network staff has ever installed a power inverter for a solar system, but we assume that quality instructions (something for which eHow isn't generally known) would be more detailed than the remainder of Bacher's post, which essentially comprises  Connect a AC generator to your inverter... Connect your electric panel to a special utility meter...

...expanded with yet more filler. There's not a single word about the actual installation process: no mention of voltage, wire gauge, service panels, ground, or any other technical or semi-technical information. In other words, this isn't "how to install," it's "now, go find real instructions"! You know, someplace like, maybe, here...

Besides knowing nothing about the subject, Bacher clearly didn't think this post through. According to her, you must connect a generator to your system as a "backup source of energy" for times when the solar power grid isn't sufficient. But the next section she suggests that, with the right configuration of array and utility meter, "...you may be able to sell excess electricity back to your utility company..." In that case, why would you need that backup source – at least for Diane's stated reason?

You wouldn't – and that's just one more reason we're giving Diane Bacher a nod; a nod as our Dumbass of the Day.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/how_5767226_install-solar-panel-electrical-panel.html

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