Who want's an Alternative Energy Sub Forum.

[watchdog]

Z80 & or Joey -I'm thinking of getting the basic solar install ( together with the grant ) There is a group called Climate Action Newcastle who have put together a package with Aussie Solar for $1386 after rebate for a 1.02kW system. This sounds a pretty good price but I'm wondering about the quality of the components they use.

6 x 170W Enertech panels
CMS 2 kW grid interactive inverter ( 5 yr warranty )
CMS Solar Rail frame ( 10 yr warranty )

is this quality stuff ?

[z80]

Z80 & or Joey -I'm thinking of getting the basic solar install ( together with the grant ) There is a group called Climate Action Newcastle who have put together a package with Aussie Solar for $1386 after rebate for a 1.02kW system. This sounds a pretty good price but I'm wondering about the quality of the components they use.

6 x 170W Enertech panels
CMS 2 kW grid interactive inverter ( 5 yr warranty )
CMS Solar Rail frame ( 10 yr warranty )

is this quality stuff ?

You haven't mentioned the warranty on the panels...but whose to say that the company will be around in 20 years' time anyway....LOL

That system will do stuff all for you.
It will let your power company off the hook for emmissions compliance and will never save you anything because you as a taxpayer are effectively subsidising a hanger on installer who sells overpriced gear.

When they introduced the subsidy all the bits went up 30% overnight.

Even if they gave you the stuff for free it will be lucky to make you $200 a year.


Now....WHEN the grid interactive inverter craps itself, and it WILL definitely fail eventually...you will be left with a huge replacement bill.

(It is a significant portion of the cost)

That's when it all falls in a heap of poo....

Don't waste your thousand bucks.

But if you decide to go ahead I have never heard of those brands....How about insist on a minimum of Australian built stuff?

[watchdog]

Panels are a 25 yr warranty. Reading the fine print it comes down to - 2yrs product warranty
10 yrs 90% o/p warranty
25 yrs 80% o/p warranty

CMS stands for Carbon Management Solutions. They are based in the Blue Mountains. Don't know if they make the electronics or it is just rebranded. This would just be the starting setup to get the rebate & would be expanded at a later date. I'm still trying to get the grid feed -in tarrif so I can do some sums. I'm thinking it should be a gross peak green power tarrif but I doubt it.

[z80]

Panels are a 25 yr warranty. Reading the fine print it comes down to - 2yrs product warranty
10 yrs 90% o/p warranty
25 yrs 80% o/p warranty

CMS stands for Carbon Management Solutions. They are based in the Blue Mountains. Don't know if they make the electronics or it is just rebranded. This would just be the starting setup to get the rebate & would be expanded at a later date. I'm still trying to get the grid feed -in tarrif so I can do some sums. I'm thinking it should be a gross peak green power tarrif but I doubt it.

They will be chinese panels....the whole kit will no doubt be chinese imports.

Just remember that state governments are artificially making the whole process viable at the moment.

A recession and govt cut backs can easily change the viability overnight.

Ask them for the schematics for the inverter and see what they say...?

I cannot emphasize enough how important the inverter is to the whole purchase. IMHO

If you are lucky you might get $2 a day I reckon.

[Joey]

Hi Joey, the nicads worked well as a small system running a house with refrigeration , plc lights, tv, dvd, radios etc.
As for the lead acids ; we were offered these huge batteries cheap, they weight about a quarter of a ton each and took a lot of effort to install into the battery compartments with just me and the wife, i had to make up a second block for them and the 12v circuit batteries. They are 10 years old and should go for another 20 years if we treat them carefully.
the reason i pulled the nicads was they needed a top-up and when i added water their sg was bad. under 1250 means trouble for nicads. i have one in the shed that went short circuit. drained it, thumped it, refilled with fresh alkali boosted it , nope its stuffed.
along came a neighbour with a source of huge ex-tollstra batts, so we went with them.
We also installed an extra kilowatt of panels recently to up the power input
Trash has been out here and knows how it all works well.
73's

Those new batteries sound amazing would love to see a picture if you get a chance some time
Pretty impressive also that you are able to charge your batteries before lunch most days , sounds like if you had more of the telco batteries you would be able to keep heaps in reserve for the cloudy /rainy days .

Thanks for sharing always very interesting.

[Joey]

Z80 & or Joey -I'm thinking of getting the basic solar install ( together with the grant ) There is a group called Climate Action Newcastle who have put together a package with Aussie Solar for $1386 after rebate for a 1.02kW system. This sounds a pretty good price but I'm wondering about the quality of the components they use.

6 x 170W Enertech panels
CMS 2 kW grid interactive inverter ( 5 yr warranty )
CMS Solar Rail frame ( 10 yr warranty )

is this quality stuff ?

Hi mate ,

As Zed has mentioned I have also never heard of any of these brands so your guess about them being rebadged is probably right.
Keep in mind for any of this equipment to be eligable for the rebates it has to pass some pretty stringent testing and accreditation for use in Australia.
It has obviously been down this path and they should be able to provide you with the certificates or approval for the inverter and panels.
You will actually be able to see test results and where they were tested , I know a lot of these are tested at Murdoch University in WA , They really put everything through the mill and beyond !

Personally my opinion is that is very cheap , it can also be added to your home and contents insurance which in a lot cases covers you for fusion ( inverter meltdown ) Not a huge investment really and good way to get a taste of what's possible.

I have a friend that uses only slightly more power than a 1kw system can produce , he gets great satisfaction out of being almost self sufficient from the sun and virtually no power bills.

[z80]

LOL...we can play "good cop bad cop" Joey....


(I must stop looking at the negatives all the time, else we might have an economic recession)

[Joey]

LOL...we can play "good cop bad cop" Joey....


(I must stop looking at the negatives all the time, else we might have an economic recession)

Thats the beauty of forums and open discussion we can all see things from a different perspective and when it's really important the same perspective

Now how do we petition for the new sub forum ? dont you own austech Zed

[z80]

Now how do we petition for the new sub forum ?

I doubt anyone is listening.

[Joey]

Looks like I might have make sure my panels are bolted down really good !!!

Massive increase - W.A. electicity cost!
Colin Barnett has warned householders to brace for steep rises in electricity bills after WA's energy watchdog recommended last week that the State Government raise tariffs to recover the true cost of generating power.

The Office of Energy has proposed a 116 per cent increase in residential electricity charges over the next three years, starting with a 52 per cent rise from July. The move would send average bills from about $930 a year to nearly $2000 annually by 2011-12.

[bulbous]

When the 'leckie was privatised in South Australia a few years ago the price doubled soon after. The SA price is about 22c/kW/h in summer - what is it in other states ?

You can just imagine what the price to consumers will be with these price rises....but wait until you see the extra 'tax' thrown on top of these prices when the 'emissions trading con-job' is added as well !

Power is already around 20% of a pensioner's gross income.

[Joey]

When the 'leckie was privatised in South Australia a few years ago the price doubled soon after. The SA price is about 22c/kW/h in summer - what is it in other states ?

You can just imagine what the price to consumers will be with these price rises....but wait until you see the extra 'tax' thrown on top of these prices when the 'emissions trading con-job' is added as well !

Power is already around 20% of a pensioner's gross income.

In WA it's at 13.22c/KWH , I think the lowest in Australia but only just , This rise will cripple a lot of people , I really feel for the pensioners etc.
I can see a lot of them turning of their Air conditioning and heating when they really need.

The Grid in WA is running pretty close to it's limit so I think this is more aimed at getting people to cut back on their usage , so the outcome will be less load but twice the profit , not a bad business model it's just a pity it will come at the expense of so many that really can't afford it.

Yeah the new CCT ( Carbon Con Tax ) will slip in there no doubt , all to fund one of the worlds biggest Con Jobs ( Global Warming )

For some strange reason when people have been interviewed on Radio and for Newspapers etc giving tips on how to save power , they are not mentioning "Smart Power" a tarrif system available here that can save people a fortune. Bit of a mystery this one.
One bright spark from Western Power was on the radio yesterday giving some real words of wisdom , If you have recently bought a new fridge don't leave your old one plugged in as a spare!! FFS !! Oh and don't forget to turn off your power points when not in use ! I am sure this information is going to save pensioners millions .

[Ramjet]

Not sure if you know yet but Selectronics are releasing the new series Nov and Dec , the SP Pro series SGB ( Solar , Grid , Backup ) .

If anyone is interested...download SP link to get a feel for what this new stuff can do...

What ever happened to the old trick of feeding AC from your inverter into the grid via your meter to make it run backwards...this is how they used to do it. Probably illegal!

[HoochDaTank]

Don't know a lot on the subject but def would use it. Kind of fits well into a technology site as well I think

[Joey]

If anyone is interested...download SP link to get a feel for what this new stuff can do...

What ever happened to the old trick of feeding AC from your inverter into the grid via your meter to make it run backwards...this is how they used to do it. Probably illegal!

Nice unit but I think a real backwards step not having an on unit digital display and no way to adjust or view parameters from the unit itself , all has to be done via a PC.
Note this unit is not yet certified for Grid connection until May 2009 , so no mention of grid guard parameters and possibilities.

I have asked them several times to answer some technical questions regarding grid feeding and compatibility with SMA ( Sunny Boy ) Grid inverters.
So far I have not received a satisfactory answer.

While this system accepts DC voltages it conveniently does not mention this is battery input voltage only and not direct solar array input , so basically the solar can be used to charge batteries or fed to the grid via grid feed inverter ( separate device ) and then used to charge batteries via SP Pro charger.
No mention if the SP Pro can utilize a grid feed inverter during a power outage , this can be more troublesome that is appears on the surface but very important to a lot of people.
Massive output on the 6KW system , but also no mention of the huge battery bank necessary to produce this sort of output.
You can easily expect to spend another $8.000 to $20,000 for quality sealed batteries for this unit and still only operate for 24hrs on full load.

Add the cost of the unit and batteries costs , installation which is significant , you could spend another $60,000 Plus for enough solar generation to run this unit at full load for a single day.

I really wish them all the best , I would have tried this system out if the release date and grid connect certification was not delayed so long.