PV Panels, what are they doing

Bluefoam

I moved into a new house a year ago. I have two solar hot water panels on the roof, which are great. I have had hot water for showers all through summer, and in the winter (starting 1st Nove), I have turned on the hot water for 30 minutes every two days which has been enough...

I also have two PV panels, but for the life of me can't figure out what they do... My electricty bills haven't been very low (about €100 - €120/bimonthly for a two bed house)... I'm not connected to the grid and have no battery... I'm told that the eelectrical system does know the difference between power from the grid and power from the panels, so is most likely drawing from the grid more often than not...

I believe that the governement are intending to allow connections to the grid... will this need a new physical connection? or should it be in place already? Should I geta battery? The cost o batterys seem to be high... and again, would the system know to draw down from a battery?

I'm a bit lost.

Wildly Boaring

Have you any info on the PVs?

Ours have a website, you can log in and see what they're producing.

No storage here either....

Bluefoam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118239514#Comment_118239514

No information whatsoever... the developer is not good at communication (that is an understatement)

YouKnowYourself

Check the inverter in the attic, you can look online and possibly find a manual or instructions on how to setup the web access.

The issue with PV is it works best when you’re using the least electricity, e.g sunny days at midday when most people aren’t using lights or are at work etc. It’s why a number of people use hot water diverters or storage batteries, as you’ve already got solar panels the hot water diverter isn’t needed so you’re left with batteries which are costly.

The alternative is to time “heavy usage” appliances to the sunnier hours of the day, if you’re on a standard 24hour meter it doesn’t matter when you run them and if the sun isn’t as good as you’re hoping for it’ll just pull what it needs from the grid.

Some new build houses have a generation meter in their consumer unit to show output.

Also - at some point the generation tariffs will come in and you’ll be able to sign up to one of those to get payback for each kWh you push to the grid.

Bluefoam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118250168#Comment_118250168

I'm trying bto get more information from the developer and the engineer... None of the neighbours are familiar with the posibility of viewing any information online, so I'm imagining that that is not an option on the system they have installed on our houses...

With regard to connecting to the grid, should the connection be simple, or would it require any further wiring/connections?

YouKnowYourself

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118250933#Comment_118250933

It should be connected to the grid by default, if it is by law you need to have some warning on your electricity meter box saying there is PV on the roof, so double check that.

Try and find the inverter make and model in the attic and there might also be a screen on it with some details of generation.

Blue4u

A few of the inverters you need to plug directly into them to get the information. Mine has an app. Up into the attic and find it. If it is in the attic or it could be beside the fuse board.

Two PV Panels could be 2 x 300w panels. So even with the sun hammering down you might only be getting 300w which would be just about enough to keep a modern house ticking over. My base load is 500w just to keep fridge etc going

Bluefoam

So, here is what I found... It's an Omnik inverter, spec attached In the photos... There are no lights showing and nothing coming up on the LCD when the button is pressed. Fuse board is all correct and 3 points given to PV... There is no data, or WiFi module attached.

Bluefoam

Blue4u

Did you try turning everything off and then back on to see if that kicked anything into life? if not and no lights on then its not working

Bluefoam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118254053#Comment_118254053

Yes, turned everything off and on... No response...

Wildly Boaring

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118254079#Comment_118254079

Was it dark outside?

Bluefoam

Yes. It's night time. But presumably the inverter is connected to the grid to allow it to operate, so should at least show some power??

Am I wrong?

Bluefoam

Is a 1kw inverter of any use? Seem very low to me...

YouKnowYourself

Go up there during the day, inverters power off when it’s nighttime because there’s no need to try and generate electricity then. It should be on around lunchtime today if the weather isn’t too bad.

1kW is of some use, but you’re not going to be generating a great deal from it. Assuming your 2 panels are 250/300w and they’re facing nearly south in the summer months you could generate 3/4kWh a day in the summer months. I’ve a similar 3 panel setup (750w) and over the summer I was getting 4-5kWh most days.

Blue4u

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118254405#Comment_118254405

You only have two panels.....so I think max the latest panels are 380w so you are probably 300w panels. So 1kW if only 300w wil allow you to add another panel.

most of these installs got put on the roof to get the A rating.

Bluefoam

Thanks for all the suport! I'm now looking for a WiFi module, but even that is very unclear...

looking at something like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002272241298.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.135b42a1fo8VRY&algo_pvid=29ebd11e-0edb-40b4-9047-60a8711c6531&algo_exp_id=29ebd11e-0edb-40b4-9047-60a8711c6531-0&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2212000019854588581%22%7D

Blue4u

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118255808#Comment_118255808

I found spec sheed and it mentions a WLAN port. This would be standard on most and you don't have wifi support. You can plug a laptop directluy into it and browse to IP address

If the LCD is not on then it aint working

7.3.2 Operation steps are as following:

a) Power on the inverter with AC side connected.

b) Press the Function button until the LCD displays " Standard " and hold the button for 5

seconds or more when the LCD displays the current Safety Standard. Change the

standard by pressing the Function button one at a time.

c) When the LCD displays your desired Safety Standard, hold the Function button for 5

seconds or more until it shows "Safety Standard OK".

This is manual

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1314661/Omnik-Omniksol-2k-Tl3-S.html?page=30#manual

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118252046#Comment_118252046

There is no such law.

Blue4u

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118255999#Comment_118255999

I know when I got mine done, the installer forgot to install. I had to put stickers on the box at front and on the fuseboard to indicate to people Solar PV was installed. I had to then take pics and send off to SEAI etc or the install was not deemed to be complete

Not sure if its an actual law but seemed to be some sort of requirement

Bluefoam

My understanding is that the stickers are there in case anyone is working on the system, they can switch the power off, but the panels may still be pushing power through the house, so they also need to be isolated... thats all.

When the power is off at the meter or if there's a power cut, the inverter is required to be automatically off also so you're not zapping the electrician fixing the problem.

Blue4u

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118257524#Comment_118257524

The reason given to me was for emergency services, if they are pulling the power to the house in lets say a fire, they might think no electricity is flowing but the PV is still going so they need to shut that down as well......

No idea if that is correct

YouKnowYourself

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118255999#Comment_118255999

Sorry - code of practice.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118258464#Comment_118258464

My post before yours answers how that's achieved. The inverter shuts down if there's no mains power, so when the mains is off there's no output into the grid from the PV.