Admin's Solar Installation

[ol' boy]

On a serious note, I went for a run last night

You went for a run?!?!

[weirdo]

On a higher export tariff it is. If your aiming to cancel power usage during daytime a East/West arrangement can be more effective.

true

[admin]

After much umming and ahhing with pens and calculators, I am going ahead with a cranker. 8 kw system running 2 x 4.4 kw invertors.

It should hoot along alright

[admin]

And just to note that is not what the average person needs. I have a collection of much varied reasons for a system that size.

[weirdo]

That sounds like an awesome system admin
You obviously have plenty of roof area to fit that all on

[admin]

That sounds like an awesome system admin
You obviously have plenty of roof area to fit that all on

Yes, I am a big roof they said you could probably even go as big as a 10 or even more. Its a long house and I have a nice side of roof thats North Westish that gets full sun with no shading.

[LeroyPatrol]

And just to note that is not what the average person needs. I have a collection of much varied reasons for a system that size.

reasons?

.......Leroy

[mtv]

I'm looking at a 10kw system with a 3-phase inverter.

One company sent a 'consultant' to inspect and give me a quote, but when I asked 'her' about 3 phase inverters, she had no idea.

My house also has a long roof facing due north which gets full sun, which should be ideal.

[admin]

When I was talking to Daniel he mentioned some of bigger systems they have been doing for business. Many of them are using Jinko and Samil.

Here is a few of them :



Its interesting that one is an aged care facility. My wife works at one and they are constantly trying to save money, usually by cutting staff. Solar would be an ideal way for these places to save money given its also a legit business tax deduction.

[weirdo]

Its interesting that one is an aged care facility. My wife works at one and they are constantly trying to save money, usually by cutting staff. Solar would be an ideal way for these places to save money given its also a legit business tax deduction.

There was an offer here recently that non for profit organisations could get a special deal (more government subsidized)
Not sure if it's still current

[Mr 672A]

Its a good idea to have the biggest system possible allowed for your state. Here in QLD you are limited to a max of a 5Kw inverter but most of us on whirlpool.net that live in QLD have overclocked our systems ("eg" 5Kw inverter, 8Kw of panels using SMA inverter).
Since we are limited to 5Kw in QLD when you oversize or as some call it over clock your system what happens is you are generating 5Kw at 8am to around 4pm in the arvo.
Having a big system is only a part of a cure to reduce or remove your electricity bill, you still need Solar Hot water, replace your cooktop (if not gas) to an induction cook top. You must look at all other thirsty appliances and decide what are you going to do with them.
We have not paid a cent for Electricity since 2009 and get a bonus of around $900 credited back to us around Xmas each year. We originally were getting back around $1100 a year but continual Electricity increase have chewed into our return

This site is a good site for Solar info. There are plenty of solar contractors found here.

[ol' boy]

replace your cooktop (if not gas) to an induction cook top

How does that make sense, Induction Cooktops are the most power hungry things in the world. 6 to 9Kw for the ones i've installed. I've had to upgrade the cable half the time. I'd like to know how this works?

But i agree on having a higher capacity bank of panels to what your Inverter's Max output is, helps with shade and fringe times of the day. The term "Overclocking" is pretty ridiculous though. More like you have an Undersized Inverter

[Mr 672A]

On a higher export tariff it is. If your aiming to cancel power usage during daytime a East/West arrangement can be more effective.

Yep. A lot that overclock their system that have multiple strings like I have (early SMA inverters) have panels facing north, east and west. By doing this you limit the clipping of the invert between say 11.00 am to around 1pm. Another thing that is important. Keep your inverter out of the sun because besides slowly killing it most inverters today derate themselves once they get to a certain temperature.

[Mr 672A]

How does that make sense, Induction Cooktops are the most power hungry things in the world. 6 to 9Kw for the ones i've installed.)

Yes they can be but cook 60% or more faster

[Mr 672A]

The term "Overclocking" is pretty ridiculous though. More like you have an Undersized Inverter

This term "Over Clocking"is mostly used on Solar forum. They also call it "oversizing". Our house we had a 5.5Kw cook top and we replaced it with a 6Kw Induction cook top and the wife loves it because it cooks my fish and other extremely Quick and it doesn't lose any taste as some have stated before. They are a pig to keep clean, all the crap you buy does a poor job of cleaning the surface but we tried Mr Sheen Yeah Mr Sheen on the glass surface and it bring up the black surface like a mirror

[ol' boy]

Yes they can be but cook 60% or more faster

From what i've read and CHOICE magazine, they heat around 25% faster, but when a recipe calls for a 3.5hrs on low, 3.5hrs is 3.5hrs
For short burst cooking like eggs, it may be different. Anyway, this is getting off Solar, agreed, there are other things you can do to save your energy costs, ie: solar hotwater, which had a massive rebate of $3500 at one point. Its gone now.

[Mr 672A]

there are other things you can do to save your energy costs, ie: solar hotwater, which had a massive rebate of $3500 at one point. Its gone now.

Yes! We have not turned on the Solar Hot water booster since August 12 2012. Now just think how much we have saved since then. When I have time I will post a pic of my designed Solar Hot water monitor (a Panel) that lives on the wall in our lounge room. this monitor tells us what going on for the three solar panels and what Temperature the 340 Ltr tank is.

[Mr 672A]

Slightly off Topic but Here goes on what we do to save power and bills.

The solar monitoring panel. The above panel controls the Booster switch with indicators when Tariff 33 is switched on.
The things you do not to waste Electricity.


The reason for the pencil line is I'm currently designing a similar system but monitoring my 3x 5400 Lts water tanks and the pump and the gravity control for our toilets (if the pump starts it uses ELECTRICITY to pump water to the cisterns in the toilet and that is not efficient.. If tank water is below 30% pumps will have to start (ps water does not run up hill). See i'm an old man with power saving Ideas.

[Mr 672A]

From what i've read and CHOICE magazine,

Urrrrgh Choice Magazine also said that a Phillips blu-ray player was better than a Opp-103

[admin]

There was an offer here recently that non for profit organisations could get a special deal (more government subsidized)
Not sure if it's still current

Unfortunately that would only apply to government or charity facilities, most are private enterprise.