Reply With QuoteSounds like you've got a bright one there doing the job - make sure he puts the panels up the right way
5Kw east/west system
They started installation this morning. 5 weeks since contract signed which puts it 1 week behind promised starting date. I had to chase them up last week as to when they were starting they didn't contact me. I am informed that they usually have a team of 4 but 2 are on another job so it may take 2 days instead of one. This doesn't concern me but it does show poor planning.
First concern - lead man says that the TV antenna & whirlybird needs to be moved. When I mention that they are on the southern facing hip roof he reconsiders. He never seems to realise that there is no way the panels would fit on that hip anyway and the other end is filled up with the solar hot water. At the moment he has worked out east and west from north and south and are hard at it.
For those who missed my post on the system specs they are as follows -
10 x 250W Suntech panels facing east plus 10 x 250W Suntech panels facing west.
Micro inverter (each panel has its own inverter) networked via EOP. This means that there is just one 15A cable back to the meter box.
All metering re arrangment and remote monitoring done.
Total cost $10200 ( the micro inverters lift the price a bit )
The aim is to reduce my electricity costs NOT get a FIT. We currently use 40kW / day and while the kids are here it seems to be stuck at that consumption. Useage is pretty much split equally over peak , shoulder and off peak. By my calculations while my peak generation will be lower because of the east/west orientation, the generation period will be longer for each day. In summer I'm hopeful that my peak consumption will be just about totally offset as well as putting a reasonable dent in my shoulder period consumption. I will update progress later.
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Sounds like you've got a bright one there doing the job - make sure he puts the panels up the right way
When I was a kid, I used to have an imaginary friend. I thought he went everywhere with me. I could talk to him and he could hear me, and he could grant me wishes and stuff too. But then I grew up, and stopped going to church.
Who is doing it ?
Originally Posted by admin
Aussie Wide Solar
All installed. A few problems that needed overcoming -
My meter box has grown like a cancer & is an absolute ratsnest at the back. The original ceramic fuseholder are loined by a copper busbar on the feed side. This has a very short 4mm stranded pigtale which pops into the back of the main power switch. This is all done between the back of the fuseholder and the front of the backing board. The problem was that they couldn't get the new 4mm wire for the solar feed through the backboard & into the main switch.(apparently it HAS to terminate at the main switch & not elsewhere along the feed bus.) The installer (ex Qld"er) said he had never seen this type of setup & suspected it was not legal. I suspected he was trying to put the resonsibility onto me to get it corrected. I then rang a sparky mate who came around. He said it was a fairly common (albeit old) setup & he had it at his place as well. He admitted it was a pain in the arse as there was never allowance made for extra cabling in the load side of the main switch. All wiring was supposed to come off the load side of the fuse holders, the supply side of which was connected to the main switch via the busbar. Anyway my sparky can swear better than the installer and got it done.
Next problem came when he tried to configure the inverters. Being EoP they have a transmission distance limitation and apparently it is somewhat less than normal ethernet. It turns out that the total length of cable from solar panels to meter box & then to power point was too far. Luckily my router is virtually on the back of the wall the meter box is mounted on (in the garage) so he installed a new powerpoint directly to the meter box and everything came up ok. Been keeping an eye on the generation reports today and so far they are as follows.
Overcast conditions with the sun occassionally breaking through the lighter clouds , outside temp 25.7*
This logs in 15 minute blocks & as of 1140 is as follows - Total for today 6.3Kw Peak for today is 2.7Kw Currently 200W
Started at 7am with 250W , climbed steadilt to 500W at 10am
Will be interesting to see the figures around 1pm when both sides will be generating.
kevin1341 (14-04-14)
Performance over the weekend. Saturday was overcast with heavy rainstorms on & off. Peak generation was 4.97Kw. Total for the day was 19.2 Kw
Sunday was fine with patchy cloud cover & occassional light rain. Peak was 4.2Kw with a total for the day of 17Kw. I would've thought conditions on Sunday were better than Saturday so there you go. By 1030 this morning it had generated 5.5Kw with a peak of 2.9Kw. It was even putting out 1Kw at 7am.
can't complain about those figures then watchdog
should do well on a sunny day
So now we are getting into better conditions. Yesterday was - Total generation 31.2Kw Peak generation 3.7Kw. A performance figure I use is generating 1Kw or more, which it did from 7am to 4:30 pm
I would be interested to compare with other orientations. So if you are roughly Sydney latitude & have a 5Kw system post some results. I'm interested in comparing to a totally north facing system & a totally west facing system.
Just had a west only single Inverter 3kw put up on the 22nd Aug, in Newcastle, as you know we have had a quite few rainy days since then...............anyway, lifetime average for 3KW System has been 10.5KW per day, but for September so far it is been 13KW per day average, best day ever was 15.8KW, so far have made 325KW in Total.
Last edited by mudcrab; 19-09-14 at 07:40 PM.
Perhaps try looking on . I was surprised at the number of systems that came up in my area and it was interesting to compare.
weirdo (19-09-14)
Was it your idea to face it west and why? The east side of my setup puts out 30% more than the west side despite being on the west side of a hill
It was a bit of 'go west young man', I have Solar Hot Water right in the middle of my North Face, I'm using a Single inverter etc for cost reasons mainly, I know the micro inverters let you put panels were ever, from what I read East will be better for Winter, West is better in Summer, so really over a full 12 months they should come out pretty even, but well, lets wait for the first power bill too and see what is what.
There is a website, p , has real time Solar outputs etc from all over the world
This Month here are my stats so far
Last edited by mudcrab; 24-09-14 at 06:57 PM.
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