How we create and review content

What we are and are not

Solar DIY Project is an independent publication. We are writers and researchers, not licensed electricians or engineers, and we do not present ourselves as either. Our content is educational and is not a substitute for local code, a permit, a manufacturer's manual, or professional review.

Because we ask you to rely on the work rather than on our credentials, the work has to be inspectable. That is what the rest of this policy is about.

Sourcing

Numeric claims are either derived from a formula printed on the page or traced to a published source, cited with enough specificity to find the figure — the document, the table or section number, and a link.

A source is only cited if it was actually retrieved and actually contains the claim. We do not cite documents we have merely seen quoted elsewhere without saying so. Where a standard is paywalled and we relied on a reproduction, we say that on the page rather than implying direct access to the primary text.

We distinguish between the force of different authorities. A code requirement, an advisory informational note, a manufacturer recommendation, and a common industry practice are four different things, and conflating them misleads readers about how much latitude they have. Where two standards genuinely disagree — as NEC and ABYC do on conductor ampacity — we publish both values and explain the differing assumptions instead of silently choosing one.

Handling uncertainty

When we cannot verify a figure against a primary source, we have three options and we take them in this order: cut the claim, publish it with an explicit caveat naming what could not be confirmed, or replace it with a method the reader can run themselves.

We would rather a page say "no manufacturer datasheet we examined publishes this number" than quietly repeat a figure that circulates widely and traces to nothing. Several pages on this site do exactly that.

Examples and images

Worked examples on this site are illustrative constructions that demonstrate a method. They are not write-ups of installations we personally built, and we do not describe them as such. We do not claim to have field-tested equipment, and you will not find photographs here presented as our own work when they are not.

Derived tables are generated from a stated formula rather than typed by hand, so the arithmetic is consistent across every row and a reader can reproduce any cell.

AI assistance

We use AI tools in research, drafting, and editing. We think readers are entitled to know that rather than to discover it.

What that does not change: a citation still has to be real and still has to be checked against the source document, because fabricated references are a known failure mode of these tools and are unacceptable here. Calculations are verified independently rather than trusted. Nothing is published on the strength of sounding right.

Independence and funding

The site is funded by display advertising served by a third-party network. We do not select or endorse the adverts, and advertising has no influence on editorial content.

We do not sell hardware, accept payment for coverage, or give manufacturers input into what we write. Products are named when they illustrate a point. If we ever add affiliate links or accept sponsorship, it will be disclosed on the affected pages before publication.

Review and updates

Pages are checked for internal consistency, working links, whether the title matches the body, and whether every figure still traces to its source. They are revisited when a referenced standard, datasheet, or dataset changes. The update date shown on a page reflects its last substantive revision, not a cosmetic edit.

Corrections and retractions

Send corrections through the contact page with the page URL and the source you checked against. We prioritise errors affecting safety first, then those affecting purchasing decisions, then accessibility and privacy issues.

Substantive corrections change the page and revise its update date, so a reader can see that it moved. We do not edit a figure silently and leave the original date standing. If a page turns out to be wrong in a way that cannot be patched, we retract it and say so rather than deleting it quietly.