Solar PV Hints, Tips & Troubleshooting

SD_DRACULA

Added bonus, keeps the nasty birds away 😁

I could see the pigeons eyeing up my new bird spikes and cussing at me from the houses across, the war goes on.

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117714131#Comment_117714131

That is very true, just looked at mine, micro dust all gone!!

irishchris

Just wondering had anytime experienced their panels way overproducing at any point. I have 4.3kwp from my ground mounted array into my 3.6kw Solis hybrid. For roughly 15 minutes today it was producing 5.2kw+ from panels. The inverter starter to produce a loud fan type noise which I never heard before. I know it cools by means of heat sink but the noise from internal definitely sounded like a loud fan and as panels dropped off to about 3kw the noise slowed down and stopped. Also noticed the panels which are max 11amps were producing 12.2 amps during this time

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117730909#Comment_117730909

there seems to be a bit more "head room" on the lower models (ie not the 6kw inverters), But when the panels were producing 12amps, had it just rained and the sun came out, absolutely beaming?

Back to the thing about panels being cold, produce a lot of power. Both voltage and current rise when panels are colder.

(No idea about the noise)

irishchris

Yep exactly that. Had rained not long before and then sun came out in force.

Think the Solis do have an internal fan that kicks in when things get hairy judging by this

SD_DRACULA

100% they must have a fan somewhere as I could hear my 6kw 5G a lot during the "heatwave" but not sure about the temps as mine never went past 70 degrees with around 30c ambient in the attic, yet the fan was still on.

irishchris

Had anyone a link to the ginlong Solis site that lets you see max wattage voltage to inverter

graememk

M.ginlong.com

SD_DRACULA

Or the designer? http://design.soliscloud.com/login

irishchris

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117733948#Comment_117733948

That's the one thanks

irishchris

Can anyone figure this one out? At night when demand drops as fridges and freezers etc compressor goes off my inverter imports power from grid and then exports power until demand jumps back up again later on. Does this on a continuous cycle. Is there anything that can be done on this in settings or any way to stop it. Appreciate it is only small amount of power but adds up to about 80-100 kWh per bill.

paulbok

How does a solar setup with battery storage handle an unexpected grid outage?

Assuming the production was enough to cover curren usage, would there be any 'blip' with supply

Probably a more applicable question for when battery storage was required in addition to production to cover usage?

We have on average 1 outage a month here between planned and unplanned and it causes havoc with some home automation systems. Some are only a few seconds so hoping being able to switch the battery backup won't interrupt supply

championc

99% of people's systems are grid tied, meaning that they need the grid to operate. No grid and they are dead in the water, irrespective of what solar production is ongoing, or the charge level of connected batteries.

Many systems have an emergency power connector, which would allow a dedicated circuit or sockets to be powered in the event of a power cut, but this cannot be connected to the main board, as a line man could be electrocuted if he expected a section of the grid to be off, but you then exported power into that section

paulbok

Excuse the pun, but shocked at that.

Fully expected there to be some sort of isolator between the system and the grid.

But thinking about it, where would the current go.

Would the batteries still charge even if the grid is down?

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117752195#Comment_117752195

Your gonna love this answer.. it depends!

Inverters have anti islanding that shut down on grid failure.

Batteries can charge when the grid is down. But it all depends on how the system is setup.

A lot of installs(grants require one) include a fireman switch to cut off the DC supply to the inverter in an emergency/grid failure. So in that case, grid goes down, switch disables, no dc power from panels, no charge for batteries.

As for switching to backup power on outages, it can be done but it's not an uninterruptable supply, some need a manual change over, some can be automatic but some "blip" in supply happens.

Tesla powerwall can do that but it's v expensive and not sure if it's even approved in ireland.

paulbok

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117754308#Comment_117754308

It's the blips that are the real scourge. Power goes for 4/5 seconds and then comes back. Electronics don't get time to power down before starting up again. Have had an Alexa dot, two smart bulbs and an external hard drive (with a load of movie's on it, some backed up, some weren't, was in the process of editing filenames befire backing up to a NAS 🙄) fail after such short outages.

Have some devices covered by UPS, but will have to get more capacity. Can't cover all electrical devices with UPS though.

garo

A UPS is your only realistic solution. Is it possible for you to put all thise devices on the same circuit and use a single UPS to cover that circuit?

paulbok

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117758305#Comment_117758305

It's planned for my comms panel, I have the server and some smaller kit plugged into one, need another when finances allow. But not realistic for all the Alexa devices.

garo

Yeah I thought so. Unless you are seeing the Alexa devices fail requiring costly replacements I would just leave them be.

worlds goodest teecher

So I have 3.6kW grid tied PV system, and one EV. Was on to Iberdrola yesterday about changing to day/night meter. Current rate incl vat 18.19 standing charge 208. Day/night tariff 19.59 day, 10.56 night, standing charge 208. I am attempting to get the Smart Meter installed at that time if the meter has to be changed so they have registered me with ESB. Am I making the right move considering the PV panels are there?

DrPhilG

1 - that's a scandalous rate!

2 - why do you want a smart meter?

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763388#Comment_117763388

Stick with the standard day night meter!

Smart meter unit rates are currently higher than the traditional day night rates (although the standing charge is a bit lower).

Until the unit rates for the smart meter drops or the day night rises, there is no reason to push for a smart meter.

SD_DRACULA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763388#Comment_117763388

Smart tariffs are usually garbage at this time. Also be aware that once you move to a smart tariff you can't move back to 24 hour or day/night meters (biggest scam but that's how they hook people)

SouthWesterly

12:28PM edited 6:23PM

Guys, I've A friend is looking to change from prepay to a metered bill and get solar pv.

What steps does he have to take to get the prepay removed and the meter reinstated. The meter is still there but not working from what I understand.

Currently flogas are cheaper but this may change with their 18% increase next month.

worlds goodest teecher

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763527#Comment_117763527

I don't have a battery so I was hoping to get any little fit that going for any excess I might have.

worlds goodest teecher

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763531#Comment_117763531

Do you mean stick with the 24hr tariff?

DrPhilG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764121#Comment_117764121

Whatever pittance you get for the FiT will be long eaten up by those extortionate rates.

Most of us here are paying around 6c a unit at night.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764276#Comment_117764276

No, Get the day night meter in, only will take esbn a few mins to do it.

Sometimes if you have a relatively new meter in, It might not even need to be changed, just the way its read.

the smart meter tariffs are way more expensive across the board, I done the sums on my usage, and if I was on a smart meter, and had a 5c FIT I would only be saving 5-10 euro per month. and that was exporting 250-300kwh! any savings in summer would be wiped out in winter.

When's your current contract up? - there could be better deals out there for you. - Knowing your usage is key, EV use could be estimated if you know your yearly km's

Although the unit rates are high, the standing charge with Iberdrola is relatively low.

MAULBROOK

Question, I know you will need a smart meter for the FIT but where is it written that you need to be on a smart rate.

Could you not just be on a Day/Night or 24h and get the FIT.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764493#Comment_117764493

No other meter record what is exported.

Edit, just re read your question.

You cant have a day night rate on a smart meter.

You might be able to keep your 24hr one. - wont really know until they tell us.