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Title: Photovoltaics: Design and Installation Manual
ISBN: 0865715203
Author:
Solar Energy International
Publicate Date: 2004-09-01
Publish: 2004-09-01
List Price: $59.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $34.97
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $34.97
Amazon Merchant Price: $35.97
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Best book on setting up with solar power
There is no such thing as a perfect book, but I have read all of those other books on solar. None of them tell you how to setup a system. This one does. It comes as close to perfect as you they get.
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2: Comprehensive it's not!
Given all the raves this book got I was pretty disappointed. I was expecting a comprehensive design and install manual. What I got was PV 101.
It's not bad if you have no background in the field and want a basic intro but this manual sorely lacks in depth material on the subject. I am a contractor looking to expand into PV installations. This book bare got my feet wet.
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3: To be fair...you probably should buy this...but...
To be fair, I have not read this book. Why 5 stars? The book is a for-profit venture by the author, so recovery of time, effort, & energy is important for revenue reasons. So why write this review? After spending nearly 12-18 hours perusing AMAZON's book list on solar energy and photovoltaic systems, I was frustrated! None of the reviews on any single book seemed to be convincing enough to make me want to buy. For instance, none of the reviews mention how the books address the National Electric Code, specific wiring and disconnect installation information, electrical and other safety hazards, inspection issues, etc. For a DIY'er, these books seemed a waste of time, never mind the fact that some reviewers insisted they actually DIY'ed just from the book. It then occurred to me that dozens of resources that I had used over the past 10 years - with the exception of 2007 due to extenuating circumstances - many resources are available for free from our fantastic .GOV, .ORG, and .EDU sites like Sandia Nat'l Labs, NREL, NMSU, and CA.GOV. Folks, before you start buying books on PV left & right, be smart and leverage what your fine tax dollars paid for! I have to admit - I believe it's just stupid searching for good PV technical, installation, and detailed literature on a For-Profit Bookstore when so much is already available online for Free. Folks, use your head - our government and academic labs pioneered this from federal tax dollars. Hence, much of it is public domain! (REPLACE all "?" with "." in the following website links.) nabcep?org nmsu?edu/~tdi/index?html photovoltaics?sandia?gov and energy?ca?gov - just to name a few! Of course, if you're just not Internet savvy, not an engineer/analytical A-type personality, and highly resourceful, plus you'd rather prefer to kill trees buying a book instead of leveraging online resources that are 100 times more than what's on AMAZON, and most likely don't have the wherewithal to DIY, go ahead. It will be amazing to see how many are simply duped by the thousands of new "get rich quick" companies and businessmen entering the renewable energy markets. *** Don't get me wrong - spending a few $100 yearly on many good books is not a problem for me. But when I've already paid tax dollars for outstanding American research, development, and "free" public domain resources - AND they are apparently waiting for me to simply find and use, well NOT to do so is plain un-American!
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4: PV Design & Installation
This book was exceptionally well written and logically compiled. It's content is backed up by comprehensive and clear diagrams. A thouroughly researched ensemble that makes it a benchmark for educational purposes too.
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5: Book helped me study for NABCEP exam
I took three courses (70 hours) of formal instruction in PV and each class required this textbook, which was economical because I didn't have to shell out for materials more than once. This book is written in straightforward language and keeps PV concepts clean and concise. I found the test problems at the end of each chapter to be an extremely helpful way to check my understanding of what I just read. It would be great if there were more of them and fewer charts in the appendix, because much of the latter could be found online. The illustrations were great and so was most of the supplementary material, such as the glossary, at book's back. I used this book to study for the NABCEP entry-level exam, which I just sat for. It was difficult, but would have been even more so had I not used this book to study with.
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