Before you look at a SINGLE spec sheet, answer these questions. The utility cartel profits from your confusion and your inaction. This page costs you nothing but your time. The next mistake — buying the wrong equipment — can cost you thousands.
Answer honestly. This is the cheapest part of the entire process.
GOALS & MOTIVATION
Are you done writing checks to the monopoly?
You’re paying a government-protected monopoly every single month. They have ZERO competition. They raise their rates EVERY YEAR. And there’s nothing you can do about it — unless you build your own system.
“Reduce my bill” means different things at different scales. A modest setup can knock down your summer bills meaningfully. Getting to 50% reduction takes more hardware. Getting to zero takes serious investment and some changes to how you use power.
Do you want REAL backup power when the grid fails?
Here’s what the utility doesn’t advertise: the grid FAILS. Ice storms, hurricanes, infrastructure failures, rolling blackouts — it HAPPENS. And when it does, the monopoly can’t do anything about it. You can.
A backup-capable system keeps your refrigerator running, your family warm, and your home lit while your neighbors are in the dark. Think about what you’d need: fridge, freezer, furnace fan, internet, phone charging, basic lights. That’s probably 500—800 watts. Manageable. Achievable.
If you’ve ever sat through a multi-day outage — no heat, no food safety, no communication — you KNOW why this matters. That experience is what drives more patriots to solar than any salesperson ever could.
Are you leaving money on the table at peak hours?
If your utility uses time-of-use (TOU) rates, they’re charging you significantly MORE during peak hours. That’s not an accident. A battery system lets you charge when power is cheap and discharge when the monopoly is gouging everyone else.
Check your rate situation to see exactly what they’re taking. Once you have battery storage, capturing TOU savings is essentially FREE — you just program a charging schedule and let the system work for you.
Is this about your finances, your independence, or BOTH?
Both motivations are legitimate and BOTH should factor into your analysis. Financial returns are real and measurable. Independence — the feeling of NOT depending on a monopoly with zero accountability to you — is also real, even if it doesn’t show up on a spreadsheet.
Most American patriots want both. That’s the right answer. A system that saves you money AND keeps your family secure during a grid failure is a WIN, full stop.
What triggered this?
A rate hike? A blackout? A neighbor who is now independent? Your trigger is valid. Just don’t let it limit your thinking.
If a rate hike triggered you, backup power might end up being your most valuable outcome. If an outage triggered you, the long-term bill savings might be what transforms your finances. See the full picture, not just the trigger.
WHAT YOU WANT TO POWER
Cover the circuits that matter — or the whole house?
Here’s the truth the utility doesn’t want you to know: you don’t need to power your ENTIRE house to win this fight. You need to power the circuits that MATTER.
A 10-circuit transfer switch lets you put your essential circuits on solar power and leave the rest on the grid. Refrigerator, freezer, furnace, internet, lights — covered. Electric range and clothes dryer? Those can stay on the grid for now.
This approach gets you 80% of the value for 40—50% of the cost. A 3—5 kW system covers most essentials. Whole-house coverage might require 10+ kW and a battery bank that costs as much as a car.
Walk to your breaker panel RIGHT NOW. Read the labels. Think about what you’d want running if the grid went down. THAT is your starting point.
What do you NEED vs. what would be NICE?
Do you have 240V loads in scope?
Big appliances — electric dryers, well pumps, mini-splits, EV chargers — run at 240 volts. A standard inverter won’t touch them. Period.
If you have a 240V load that’s NON-NEGOTIABLE — a well pump, specific medical equipment — design for it from the start. See the inverters page for what 240V capability actually costs. Don’t discover this after you’ve bought your equipment.
Are there loads running 24/7 in your home?
Here’s where people consistently underestimate their system needs. A gaming PC that’s always running draws 150 watts continuously — that’s 3.6 kWh per day from ONE device. A home server, a second fridge in the garage, an aquarium heater — they add up FAST.
These always-on loads inflate your daily consumption AND drain your battery overnight while you sleep. Find them BEFORE you size your system. A Kill-A-Watt meter gives you accurate numbers on any device. Plug it in. See what you’re actually running. You might be surprised.
Is your everyday goal different from your outage goal?
Yes, and that’s fine. Day-to-day, you want to offset as much of the monopoly’s bill as possible. During an outage, you’d be satisfied with just your essentials covered.
Your system handles both. A properly designed transfer switch gives you full-circuit coverage for normal operation and essential-only coverage during an outage. Plan for that flexibility. It’s built into the design.
TIME & SEASON
Are you sizing for year-round independence or seasonal savings?
Solar production is HEAVILY seasonal. Summer output can be five to ten times what winter delivers. If you want year-round impact, you design for the worst months. If you want maximum summer savings and accept lower winter output, you build a smaller, more efficient system.
Both strategies are valid. They lead to different system sizes and different financial profiles. Be clear about which one you’re building FOR.
Have you faced the reality of winter production?
December and January production in northern markets is a fraction of summer output — 15—20% of peak in many locations. Your panels keep producing. Just much less.
The smart play: design for the productive months, use battery storage for TOU arbitrage and outage backup in winter, and don’t expect full bill elimination year-round. Use PVWatts (free, from NREL) to get location-specific monthly estimates.
How many hours of overnight coverage do you need?
Overnight coverage means battery storage. The calculation is direct: estimate your overnight load in watts, multiply by the hours you want covered, add a safety margin.
Example: 600W overnight for 10 hours equals 6 kWh minimum. Add 20% margin and you’re at 7.2 kWh. That’s your battery sizing floor.
TOU optimization — now or later?
If the monopoly is charging you peak rates, your battery can be programmed to arbitrage that rate structure. You don’t have to do it on day one — but make sure the inverter you select supports programmable charging schedules. Most modern units do. Retrofit options are limited and expensive.
HOW IT WORKS
Automatic or manual when the grid goes down?
An automatic transfer switch detects a grid failure and cuts over to battery power in SECONDS. You often don’t even notice. A manual switch requires you to walk to the panel and flip it yourself.
How much do you want to track this system?
Some patriots watch their production numbers daily. Others want to flip the switch and forget it until the grid fails. BOTH are fine.
At minimum: you should always be able to see your battery state of charge at a glance. Beyond that, your monitoring preference guides equipment selection more than it changes what the system actually delivers.
Can you check it from your phone?
If you travel or just want to confirm the system’s working while you’re away, remote monitoring is genuinely useful. Most modern inverters support it via app. Even the most hands-off patriots want to know if something stops charging. Most smart inverters push an alert when something goes wrong. Set it and trust it — but verify.
PHYSICAL SETUP
Roof mount or ground mount?
Roof mounting is the most common approach — out of the way, uses space you weren’t using, doesn’t take up yard. Ground mounting is easier to install, easier to maintain, and easier to adjust. Both work. Shed or pergola mounting is a common middle ground.
Your roof condition, its orientation, and your comfort working at height all factor in. There is no wrong answer — only the answer that’s right for YOUR property.
What is your solar exposure?
South-facing, unshaded panels at the right angle produce maximum annual output. East- and west-facing panels deliver roughly 80% of that — still very solid. Shade is your biggest enemy: a shadow across even part of a panel can drag down output for an entire string.
The best diagnostic is FREE: go outside on a sunny day and watch where shadows fall. Do it in summer AND winter if possible. What’s full sun in July might be shaded by a bare tree in December.
Where will your equipment live?
Batteries and inverter need a home: weather-protected, reasonably temperature-controlled, and accessible for maintenance. Garage, basement, utility room, or a covered outdoor area.
LiFePO4 batteries don’t charge well below freezing. If your garage gets below freezing in January, plan for either a heated enclosure or indoor placement. Factor this into the budget now.
What’s the distance between your panels and your equipment?
Wire run distance affects conductor cost and voltage drop. A 20-foot run is straightforward. A 100-foot run requires careful wire sizing analysis. Where panels go and where equipment lives should be decided TOGETHER — not as separate decisions.
What’s your breaker panel situation?
Your transfer switch connects to your main breaker panel. Go look at it. Is it accessible? Does it have open slots? A full panel, outdated equipment, or one buried in a finished wall may require a subpanel addition — and that’s additional cost that belongs in your budget FROM THE START.
BUDGET & SCALE
What are you willing to spend to stop paying the monopoly?
There’s a real system at almost every budget level:
- A few hundred dollars: portable panel and battery station, enough to learn and cover devices
- A few thousand dollars: a real system covering essential circuits
- $5,000—$9,000: serious bill reduction PLUS solid backup power
See the System 1 (200W starter build) and System 2 (3.2kW permitted system) as concrete examples of what different budgets actually deliver.
Are you building once or planning to expand?
Some things are easy to add later: more battery capacity, additional panels. Some are EXPENSIVE to change: the inverter, the transfer switch, wire gauge, mounting infrastructure.
If expansion is in your plan, invest in the right infrastructure NOW. Get the 10-circuit transfer switch even if you’re only using 6. Run wire sized for your eventual system. The marginal cost of planning bigger upfront is NOTHING compared to the cost of retrofitting later.
Is your budget fixed or return-dependent?
A fixed budget is a real constraint — design within it. A flexible budget with a clear return threshold is a different kind of constraint. Know which one you’re working with and be honest about it.
Build it once or expand over time?
Building all at once is usually more cost-efficient per component. Building incrementally lets you learn as you go and spread the investment out. Either approach works — as long as an incremental build uses infrastructure sized for the eventual system. Don’t paint yourself into a corner with undersized wire or a 6-circuit transfer switch you’ll outgrow.
YOU & YOUR SITUATION
Going solo or working with someone?
You can absolutely do this alone. Patriots do it every day. But a partner — even someone who just holds panels and hands you tools — makes the work faster and safer.
More importantly: explaining your wiring plan to another person out loud is one of the best ways to find mistakes before they cost you. If you’re working solo, the DIY solar forums serve the same purpose. Post your plan. Get feedback. Catch issues before they matter.
What’s your actual electrical experience?
Be honest:
- No prior electrical work: You can learn this. Plan for a steeper learning curve. Consider having a licensed electrician review your work before you energize anything.
- Basic home electrical (outlets, switches): You have the foundation. Solar adds DC-specific knowledge on top of principles you already understand.
- Subpanel work, conduit, multimeter: You’re ready. The solar-specific components are new vocabulary applied to familiar skills.
Whatever your level: DC circuits from solar panels are LIVE whenever the sun is shining. You cannot switch them off at the source. Treat them accordingly. Always.
Owner or renter?
Owners have full control. If you rent, your options are narrower but not zero. A portable panel and battery station works on a patio or balcony — you get real hands-on experience and genuine backup capability without a permanent installation. Some tenants negotiate with their landlord for a non-penetrating ground system. Worth asking. Worst case, they say no.
How long are you staying?
If you’re selling in a year or two, a permanent installation is harder to justify. If you’re staying five-plus years, the payback math works strongly in your favor — and the longer you stay, the more value you extract from every dollar invested.
If tenure is uncertain, design for portability: ground-mounted panels, modular battery systems, plug-in connections where possible. You trade some efficiency for the ability to take it with you.
Does anyone in your household depend on power-critical medical equipment?
WHAT’S NEXT
You’ve answered the questions the utility cartel hopes you never think about. You know what you’re building, what it needs to power, and what you’re willing to invest.
Now let’s get to the numbers. Know Your Numbers — because the monopoly benefits from your ignorance of your own consumption. Knowing your real numbers is how you fight back with a system that actually works.
Are you ready to take back your power? 🇺🇸
DATA SOURCED FROM: Section-01-Define-Goals source document (primary). Production estimates reference NREL PVWatts methodology. System cost benchmarks derived from source material. We’re using THEIR data to show you the path to energy independence.