I don't understand and general dilemmas

Bluefoam

So... Moved into a new house last year. House has 2 Solar panels (~4m/sq) are great, I had hot water all through summer (April to November) and even now they are contributing enough that I only put the hot water on once every two days for 30mins.

The PV panels on the other hand... 🤮 Have two of them (~4m/sq), I got the impression they weren't working well... and I was right! Had an electrician in yesterday and was informed that the polarity was inverted and that the inverter had blown shortly after installation. He put in a new inverter (Solis S5) rewired and I put a WiFi module onto it today to pull down information...

I'm not familiar with what this thing is doing, so I'd be grateful if anyone can explain what I'm looking at... Mostly want to know if the panels are actually contributing anything and whether I'm getting any benefit...

Bluefoam

Deagol

This time of year with lack of daylight and the angle of the sun - I wouldn't expect too much. From what you've posted they look like they're working find but I'd wait till March / April and a good sunny day to see for sure. What exactly do you want to know? They will produce power for your house and then export the rest. Unless you have an Eddi or similar pulling excess to hot water tank? What about a battery, do you have one?

Bluefoam

I'm just asking to see if they'll make any impact on my consumption... Bills are currently higher than I'd like, and would like for the PV to contribute... I get the impression that the developer put in the bare minimum and I feel like they're probably next to useless...

I have no battery, but will consider it if there's a benefit with the system I have. I did note, that the inverter doesn't seem to have a battery connection...

slave1

These were installed by developer purely to improve BER, these are gloomy days so you won't get much. You should read the long tip/tricks and 2020 Quotes threads which will give you all your answers, but in summary, put up more panels, DIY batteries and expect nothing this time of the year

MAULBROOK

Fill the roof with PV panels.

Deagol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118366037#Comment_118366037

At this time of year PV panels won't do a huge amount most days - but it does depend on primarily weather conditions - but also if the panels are being shaded at all. If one panel of the whole lot is shaded it will drag the whole array down massively. Post a picture of the array - we might be able to advise if you need to add an optimizer to get better results. But come the spring you will start to see the value of them as your electric bill should start dropping a lot. For instance, pre-PV - mine was ~€200 per two monthly cycle in the winter. It's now down to ~€150. In summer, bills have gone from ~€150 to €79 / €67 / €74 (over the 6 months of spring / summer billing).

Also, as I have an Eddi heating my hot water I didn't use any oil whatsoever from mid March to mid -October unlike previous year where I probably used 100 litres of oil for showers etc. over the summer months.

Bluefoam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118366174#Comment_118366174

🤣 It's a wee array... The roof is nearly full with just 4 panels... 2xPV 2xSolar Thermal

Although, there's zero shading, which is good...

slave1

Rear of roof, any shed, side of house etc etc

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118366213#Comment_118366213

Ah bugger

I got my latest bill and reckon I generated 220kw during the 2 months and saved 119 kW on my bill compared to last year with just 3.24kw of panels.

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118366213#Comment_118366213

My only suggestion is to up grade the solar PV panels to the maximum you can find. sell the old panels on the second hand market.

do you know what wattage they are, im guessing 300w

Bluefoam

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118367659#Comment_118367659

No idea about what was installed. The developer refuses to provide any information.

yankinlk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118367659#Comment_118367659

I think this is bad advice. 👎 wait until summer and see what you get from the 2 pv panels. You are asking folks that have 20 or more panels and 20 kw diy batteries for advice. They will have 10+ times your generation. Unless you have space for more panels no point in just upgrading 2 panels that might be working fine...

Alkers

Leave it for a few days at least until you get a sunny day and you'll be able.to see the max generation in the app. Surprised your sparks didn't tell you.

With two panels, at best you're talking like 800w, probably less. This will cover the base load from your house with a small bit to spare so will not make a significant saving really.

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118368493#Comment_118368493

Good point

yankinlk

Would you test a flash light at the beach in July? Don't bother with Solar in December...

Deagol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118366213#Comment_118366213

As someone else has said, that looks to me like simply the builder needed to get BER up - it's almost ludicrous to install such a tiny array. At least come summer time it should run baseload of the house for most of the day so you should see some small savings. But with a max of I would guess 700 watts or so you ain't gonna see major savings.