All things Solar (merged threads)

[poppa smurf]

yes mate, more than happy, we will be installing a reverse cycle ducted air-con shortly (if I can ever get this kitchen finished) so that will soak up the extra.

very tempted to pull $1,000 out just "because"! but I will leave it.

best of luck with your solar, I think you will be pleased, haven't met anyone yet who regrets getting solar on.

let us know how you get on.

[Blue Ice]

First full day of output, 23kwh on an overcast day day in Vic. It'll be interesting to see it on a good day.

[Bushbasher]

I've had a 5kw system connected since the 12/12/12 and in the dead of winter when it's been piisssing down it's been as low as 2kw and today with a bit of cloud till noon it was the biggest reading so far at 35.68kw. Last years best was 34.2kw on 28/12/12, but that was before I removed a tree that was blocking the sun to the panels progressively for the last 3 hrs of the day. I fully expect to go over 36kw this summer at some point in the not too distant future.

[comagutsa]

oh how i love WA solar
exported 861units = a whole $76.22
i used 251units
total bill = $15.15

251units = $59.11
the supply charge is $23.96 haha nearly cost more for that than what i used oh then the $8.31 for gst

no heater or air con used this bill ..its one of the lowest usage i have ever had,avg 4 units a day

my 3kw system is doing 19 with the odd 20 day atm

[zeuss000]

Got my first bill since the 3 kw system was put on my roof, very happy as we have been running 2 and sometimes 3 air conditioners a lot lately as we are home most of the day..
$56.53c !! Awesome result, so happy!! this is from Click energy that give us an extra 10 cents FIT over what the standard pitiful rate that the Qld gov gives us..
56 bucks haha sooo good!!! it would have been up around the $600 - $700 mark otherwise going on this time last year..
Cheers
Ed

[rancidpunx]

Good stuff Ed

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by zeuss000

Got my first bill since the 3 kw system was put on my roof, very happy as we have been running 2 and sometimes 3 air conditioners a lot lately as we are home most of the day..
$56.53c !! Awesome result, so happy!! this is from Click energy that give us an extra 10 cents FIT over what the standard pitiful rate that the Qld gov gives us..
56 bucks haha sooo good!!! it would have been up around the $600 - $700 mark otherwise going on this time last year..
Cheers
Ed

have you done your costings in so far as system payback time.......I would assume it wouldn't be all that long would it? given the fall in system prices.

a good result.

[DJR MAN]

Apologies if this has been asked earlier but how do you clean solar panels?
Can I aim the garden hose on to the panels clean them - are they LIVE?
Do I switch off the isolator next to the inverter?
Should it be done in the evening when there is no sunlight?

I really don't want to get up on the roof to scrub or run a mop over them as I don't trust my sense of balance lately.

[poppa smurf]

all I do is grab one of those brooms that you attach a garden hose to and the water comes out the brush part, I think that are used to clean caravans and boats and such, super cheap sells them,

anyway, morning, before the heat, I just give them a scrub with that, low pressure, no need to disconnect the power.

just squirting them down won't remove the grime, they need a gentle "scrub"......no detergent, just water.

I haven't found a better way unfortunately........if you can't do it yourself maybe a younger friend.

[DJR MAN]

Many thanks Poppa Smurf!

[zeuss000]

[QUOTE=poppa smurf;4976438]have you done your costings in so far as system payback time.......I would assume it wouldn't be all that long would it? given the fall in system prices.

Howdy Mate, The house we are in is actually a rental but a bit different as it is owned by my best mates family and is ours until they drag us out of here feet first if you know what i mean. The folks that own the property kindly offered to put a 1.5 kw system on the roof when we moved in so i thought i would put some money in as well and up it to a 3 kw setup, that cost me $1600 ( the whole setup was $3200) so it will not take me very long to recoup that investment at all, probably be covered in the next 12 months i reckon. 40 degrees here today so it's great to be able to kick back with the air cond's blasting away and knowing that there will not be a huge bill down the track, if we can get away with under $200 for the next 3 months i will be extremely happy, wouldn't be surprised if it was a fair bit less than that though..
Have a great day my friend and all the best for 2014, hope you and yours have a very healthy and happy year..
Cheers
Ed

[poppa smurf]

[QUOTE=zeuss000;4977505]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

have you done your costings in so far as system payback time.......I would assume it wouldn't be all that long would it? given the fall in system prices.

Howdy Mate, The house we are in is actually a rental but a bit different as it is owned by my best mates family and is ours until they drag us out of here feet first if you know what i mean. The folks that own the property kindly offered to put a 1.5 kw system on the roof when we moved in so i thought i would put some money in as well and up it to a 3 kw setup, that cost me $1600 ( the whole setup was $3200) so it will not take me very long to recoup that investment at all, probably be covered in the next 12 months i reckon. 40 degrees here today so it's great to be able to kick back with the air cond's blasting away and knowing that there will not be a huge bill down the track, if we can get away with under $200 for the next 3 months i will be extremely happy, wouldn't be surprised if it was a fair bit less than that though..
Have a great day my friend and all the best for 2014, hope you and yours have a very healthy and happy year..
Cheers
Ed

Thats terrific, an exceptionally good outcome, knowing you can use the power when and where you want with little to no outlay has gotta make you happy.

Then such a short payback time is a bonus......well done.

these stories always gladdens my old ticker, I hear so many folks having their power shut off simply because they are in the lower end of the socio economic curve of societies "ladder"

[Pepscobra]

So guys, I'm very new to solar power, but looking to go solar on our house when we move back to Perth early next year.
We've got an average size house with fully ducted reverse cycle Airconditioning; what size system should I be looking at? 3kw?
About how many sqm of panel surface is that?
What budget should I allow?
Any recommendations for suppliers/installers here in Perth please?
Cheers.

[Pepscobra]

Also, what is the current buy-back scheme in WA?

How does it work please?

[Bushbasher]

Originally Posted by Pepscobra

So guys, I'm very new to solar power, but looking to go solar on our house when we move back to Perth early next year.
We've got an average size house with fully ducted reverse cycle Airconditioning; what size system should I be looking at? 3kw?
About how many sqm of panel surface is that?
What budget should I allow?
Any recommendations for suppliers/installers here in Perth please?
Cheers.

If I were you I'd go as big as you can afford or as big as allowed, which ever comes first. In SA the max is 5 or 6kw but I don't know about WA. I'm sure finding out would only be a google search away though.
I have a 5kw system and paid $8k 12 months ago but again, the rebate rate should only be a google search away.

[Pepscobra]

Cheers Bushbasher.

I've just stumbled across this website, which has great information on all aspects of solar power installation:

http://www.solarchoice.net.au/

[Matty4]

OK, a question for those more in the know than me.

Last Saturday here in Melb we had our hottest day of this summer so far ( and the hottest day since I had my system installed).
I don't check my inverter every day (it can display daily, monthly and yearly outputs) but today I noticed that on Saturday it hasn't recorded any output at all, nothing.
I've also noticed no recorded output for the 1st of the month.

Even on our worst days it will still record something, even if it's only 1 or 2kwh.
Why would this be?
Too hot to function at all?

Here's an image of the display showing the hole for last Sat, 28th.

Cheers,
Matt

[poppa smurf]

looks like you have a problem there somewhere, even on a cloudy day it will still produce, hot day it will lessen but reduce.

is it still under warranty, if not call in a sparky.

[Bushbasher]

Are you sure it not just the monitoring software? My system is monitored live onlinevia a built in WIFiI on the inverter and todaqy the web site says I've generated nothing and there's no recorde, yet the inverter itself is registering the power it's generating on it's LED readout and the external stand alone digital gauge I installed is still showing it's generating.

Bushbasher

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by Pepscobra

Also, what is the current buy-back scheme in WA?

How does it work please?

different power suppliers give different feed in tariffs........do some checking to see who gives what.

Originally Posted by Pepscobra

So guys, I'm very new to solar power, but looking to go solar on our house when we move back to Perth early next year.
We've got an average size house with fully ducted reverse cycle Airconditioning; what size system should I be looking at? 3kw?
About how many sqm of panel surface is that?
What budget should I allow?
Any recommendations for suppliers/installers here in Perth please?
Cheers.

do your sums first and find out your tariffs before purchasing anything, do not do anything at this stage until you know what the FIT is or the power companies will say a big "thank you very much!"

have a yak with a few folks in your area about installers, best to get the info from the horses mouth.

[Auslandau]

Had a 3kw system installed 3 weeks ago ..... today was finally turned on! They aren't in a hurry to come around Now will see how we go, hopefully makes a dent in the bill!!!!

[poppa smurf]

I hope it goes well for you, a bit of a headache at first and a few hurdles to jump through but when it all comes together it's a good feeling.

[Pepscobra]

Looks good!
Looks like it's facing your backyard too... at my place, the front faces north, so gonna have to live with solar panels on the front elevation, which isn't going to look too flash.

[Auslandau]

Yep ..... faces North but there is a 2 story section to the right which starts to shade out the RHS screens from 5.00 on wards. Cant see them from the street and they face the side. Wouldn't even know they were there! Not that is really a problem though. Now mine are in have looked to see who else has them and plenty are seen from the street and are done neatly

[DJR MAN]

Originally Posted by Pepscobra

Looks good!
Looks like it's facing your backyard too... at my place, the front faces north, so gonna have to live with solar panels on the front elevation, which isn't going to look too flash.

Mine face the front of the house - like many others here too.
If anyone dares to comment on the "appearance"- show them the appearance of the electricity statement in CREDIT!

[DJR MAN]

Originally Posted by Matty4

OK, a question for those more in the know than me.

Last Saturday here in Melb we had our hottest day of this summer so far ( and the hottest day since I had my system installed).
I don't check my inverter every day (it can display daily, monthly and yearly outputs) but today I noticed that on Saturday it hasn't recorded any output at all, nothing.
I've also noticed no recorded output for the 1st of the month.

Even on our worst days it will still record something, even if it's only 1 or 2kwh.
Why would this be?
Too hot to function at all?

Here's an image of the display showing the hole for last Sat, 28th.

Cheers,
Matt

image

I got the same inverter.
Never had that happen though - I'd think that it would log some kind of output from the early cooler part of the day at least, prior to the day reaching max temp. Might be one for the installer to check out. Perhaps your meter is reading it even though you;re not seeing it on the inverter screen?

My inverter has an opposite issue.
With my inverter on a FEW random days, at sunrise that bar graph will record maximum output for that first hour - or part hour with almost zero actual sunlight. I have no idea if this is shown on the electricity meter.

[DJR MAN]

Today , first time ever, my Solar river inverter screen has lost all of the months data for December, only showing what was logged today. Also showing 5kw (maximum) generated for the first hour of the day today, which was at sunrise , at about 4.30 am. No way it could make that kind of power with such little sunlight.

As long as the grid gets the power and I get the correct amount of credit, I won't mind.

[Bushbasher]

call the installer to get it sorted under warranty.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by DJR MAN

Today , first time ever, my Solar river inverter screen has lost all of the months data for December, only showing what was logged today. Also showing 5kw (maximum) generated for the first hour of the day today, which was at sunrise , at about 4.30 am. No way it could make that kind of power with such little sunlight.

As long as the grid gets the power and I get the correct amount of credit, I won't mind.

don't leave it, get it sorted while it is still covered.......sounds like a problem developing.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Auslandau

Now will see how we go, hopefully makes a dent in the bill!!!!

image

With a sky that dark and wet roof ?...........

Must've been one of Melb's rare wet days