Solar for Beginners [ask your questions here]

Grumpypants

Perfect if they have a spare on the day I'll take it so 😜

Padre_Pio

Is there a value in JUST having a battery, no solar?

My house consumes approx 10 units a day. I was half thinking of buying the cheapest 10-15kWh battery and charging on the 6c night rate, avoiding my 26c day rate.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122519112#Comment_122519112

Yeah it's the currently the best return on a battery at the moment

Grumpypants

Solar is in and up and running at last !! 16 x 430 panels in the ground mount tubs. When the cloud broke it was hitting 6.9kw so I'm delighted.

It now just makes me hate the rain even more :(

One final question (for now at least) I plugged in my EV car. The EO Mini charger I have has a "solar charging" setting. But while the panels were only producing 2ish. When i started charging it started pulling 7kw to the charger, with 4 coming from the battery and 3 from the grid.

I'm going to assume this is because the charger was installed ages ago and has no connection to the solar to gather any info on what is being made via the panels to lower the rate a bit.

I have scheduled both the car and battery to charge on the BG EV rate between 2-6am so not an issue but was just curious in case I missed something simple.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122524105#Comment_122524105

Yes, it has no knowledge of where the power comes from without a CT on the solar supply and the 2kW was just what solar could provide at that time. Have a look and see how you fit the second CT.

Grumpypants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122524152#Comment_122524152

Thanks, I figured it might be that but just wanted to make sure. I might get into the charger installers and see if they can do it for me. It would be nice to have the option.

graememk

You shouldn't need a second CT to charge from excess. - it does need a grid CT though

It doesn't need to know the solar just the grid export.

It would need at least 1.4kW of export to start though.

noelfitz

Recently I got solar panels and am a complete beginner, but got great help here, for which I am grateful. The temperature was too hot with my new panels, and I was asked to lower the thermostat at top of cylinder. It was 140F (60C), so I changed it to 120F (approx 50C).

I cannot find where my post was to thank those who replied to me. Help about solar panel learning would be appreciated.

oaklands

I cannot find where my post was to thank those who replied to me.

Try using the search features of google…..

e.g. enter the following into google…..

"noelfitz" solar site:boards.ie

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122525837#Comment_122525837

I posted on the page yesterday where you posted initially with the link to that page and post but now it shows the below when I check my post.

Here is the page again.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122466737#Comment_122466737

"Comment Not Found

The page you were looking for could not be found."

graememk

It was this thread

I moved it here.

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122527764#Comment_122527764

You did but my tagging the OP's comment with the page link to their initial post was left behind!

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122527780#Comment_122527780

No idea what happened, your post was somehow lost to the ether. Both of them should have been moved. Gotta love vanilla... 😜

hkjohn

Am sure this has been asked before, but the terms involved are too broad for the search feature. and 110-odd pages of previous posts is a lot to read….

While a new Solar (SP) user, know that panels will not heat sufficient water during periods of poor weather such as now. To ensure my wife and I have enough, have turned on our conventional water heater between 12 midnight and 4 am each night. Problem is water is still freezing cold. 

Can anyone hear point me to a post addressing this issue or advise me what we need to do to get more hot water during overcast/rainy days?

Thanks in advance for your help

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122530405#Comment_122530405

Hi. So even a fully heated tank ends up being empty after a day's use with just two in the house? What size is the cylinder and what temperature do you have the immersion stat set for? What solar diversion system do you have controlling it and can you see it working? Is it PV or a thermal/wet system?

To me it sounds like you have low cylinder capacity and/or low water temperature.

It's likely that you need a larger tank as I have a 210l one here for a family of 4 and we'd make it through most of a day and still have 'warm-ish' water by 18:00. It would often need a boost, especially during Winter, so the same would apply to your system in a situation where there was no solar input.

graememk

What is the conventional heating system? It it working properly? can you test it during the day?

phat1

Hi All, recently had solar panels installed (5 Weeks) and was on holiday for the middle 3 weeks. I have noticed a noise coming from the fireman safety switch that sounds like an alarm a constant woo woo woo. I have my attic converted to a home office and you can clearly hear I contacted the noise all the time. I contacted the installer and they said they do not know what the noise is, can anyone here help, I will try to upload a video of the noise iPhone has is the wrong format to upload a video. Thanks for any info provided.

tommythecat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122534042#Comment_122534042

I think you need to get the installer to come to the house. It's their responsibility to check it out for you.

phat1

will do thanks, they seem to be giving me the run around, I have just emailed them to come and take a look. Thanks

Grumpypants

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122524904#Comment_122524904

Still not getting it to use the export. There does seem to be a CT on the charger as the small black cable runs back to the fuse board. But where it is connected is a different question.

But I have it set to solar charge in the day with a min amp of 6 to start charging. So I'd have assumed unless there was more than 6 being exported to the grid it would sit there doing nothing. And once it went about that it would kick in.

But as soon as I plug in the car it stands charging at 31amp/7130w and pulls from solar battery and grid. I suspect they just stuck the CT clamp on the wrong side so it has no clue what's exporting?

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122534603#Comment_122534603

Is there anywhere in the app/web portal that it shows you what's it's reading as grid?

Is it meant to load balance? Can reduce that to under 7kW to see if it will throttle itself

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122534603#Comment_122534603

My Zappi used to do this until I found a setting to turn off immediate charge on plugging in. The Eo might have something similar. Have you left it running for a few minutes to see if it throttles back?

Grumpypants

Nothing I can see. The only setting I see is to set the minimum rate of 6amp. It says it will top up from the grid if the feed is below that. But It just goes straight to full whack 31amps.

It does say it is running the solar charge setting when it's charging.

The only thing I can think of is that CT is not connected to the right side to see export or is reading incoming as export ??

Grumpypants

One more question while I'm at it. I applied for microgeneration I got and emails to say they got the form and updated the records and to email them if the installation doesn't go ahead.

Is there anything more I need to do to get paid for export? Beyond perhaps waiting for the systems to update BG. I'm on a BG rate that should give me 18.5c.

EOBAP

Hi all,

I am trying to source the best option for my home regarding Solar Panels.

I have 2 Competitive Quotes

***** offer 440w Jinko panels + 5kw Duracell battery, Chargeback Switch, Eddi diverter for 10,900

Solar Generation are offering 425w Luxor panels + 3Kw Battery, Chargeback Switch +Eddi Diverter 11,180

My question is - is the Solar Panel W important + bigger battery. Are Jinko panels as good as Luxor panels?

***** dont front the SEAI grant so I have to pay that in addition and claim 2100 back after install.

Should I also get a Zappi EV charger at install. I dont have a EV Car now but Im thinking for the future should I consider.

TIA For advice

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122536006#Comment_122536006

What inverters and panel counts are they offering with those quotes? Jinko seem fine, haven't heard of issues tbh.

If you don't need a charger then you could just add the cabling in up to the isolating switch, then add in the charger later on.

EOBAP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122536129#Comment_122536129

The Inverters are 5kwh and 18 panels.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122536158#Comment_122536158

I mean model/brand.

EOBAP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122536161#Comment_122536161

Sorry - a) Solis 5G inverter and Luxor German Panels 18 - 425w (7.65kw)

b) Solis hybrid inverter 5kw + Jinko Solar Panel Tiger Neo N Type -440w= (7.92kw)

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122536188#Comment_122536188

There's a lad who haunts these boards with the words "get as much kWp for as little as you can"… seems logical in this case. 😁