Domestic solar PV quotes 2018

reklamos wrote: »

When inverter is put in place the radiator is against the wall and there is very little air movement in insulated attic.
I used 2x12V PC fans with temperature probes. Probes were attached to radiators. I created shrouds so the air is pushed through radiators on the back of inverter. See chart attached over last 24hours.

Might have to look into that then.

I guess free electricity to drive them too ! :cool:

reklamos

AidenL wrote: »

What kind of fans did you use and do they have a supply from outside or are you just passing attic temp air over them?

When inverter is put in place the radiator is against the wall and there is very little air movement in insulated attic.
I used 2x12V PC fans with temperature probes. Probes were attached to radiators. I created shrouds so the air is pushed through radiators on the back of inverter. See chart attached over last 24hours.

reklamos wrote: »

I assume 615 is a typo and should be 315Watt.
Would you have space for 20panels as it does not seem that you do? I would also go for less but higher wattage ones. I'm not sure on ESB part here but because they would be spread over multiple directions you would never get to 6kWh. SEAI grant could be a show stopper if you plan apply for it.

The location of the inverter depends on the ambient temperature. I have mine installed in the attic that is insulated and facing south. The inverter itself is passive cooled and in July it was getting hot. I could barely hold my hand on the radiator for more than few seconds. The internal monitoring was going close to 70 degrees and that was too hot for me. I have installed 2 fans temperature controlled fans that spin up once it goes above 38 and now the temp rarely goes above 40.
I'm not convinced about shed as it does not really solve the problem. The temperature would fluctuate there even more and humidity would be higher.

Yep, typo , you are right, I meant 315s. I do have the space for 20, the clear roof space is quite substantial.

What kind of fans did you use and do they have a supply from outside or are you just passing attic temp air over them?

Gumbo

unkel wrote: »

I wouldn't bother with any of that Northumberland. As air already said, someone won a case against the planning board for having the front of her house plastered with panels without planning permission

The precedent is set, no one needs any planning permission any more for any PV installs. It will no longer be enforced.

It will be at local level by the Planning Enforcement Sections. They have to u til government amends the planning act which hasn’t been done.

So any complaint going forward will have to be regularized or followed through the legal system to the High Court.

reklamos

AidenL wrote: »

Could I install twenty 615 watt panels, with a 5kw ? It would put me a little over the ESB allowance, but is that within margin of error, or is it a total nono?

Finally, a big question for me - one installer has said no issues fitting in the attic, no heat or fire issues. Another installer has said he would much prefer to install in my steeltech shed, citing more space, less heat issues and better for the inverter. Hes quoting around 1000 euros more, but he would have trenching, armoured cable and so on included. Its around 2m from the side gable of my house. He taken for fireproof board as a backing wall for the equipment and so on.

Any opinions on this, safety, worth the additional cost, etc? Attic is insulated, but it still gets cold in winter and hot in summer though. To be fair, so does the shed, same , or approximately the same temp extremes in all honesty, the shed not heated, so would run to freezing and below in winter, which I believe has an effect on batteries not charging and not discharging.

Id appreciate thoughts on pros and cons on the tow locations please?

I assume 615 is a typo and should be 315Watt.
Would you have space for 20panels as it does not seem that you do? I would also go for less but higher wattage ones. I'm not sure on ESB part here but because they would be spread over multiple directions you would never get to 6kWh. SEAI grant could be a show stopper if you plan apply for it.

The location of the inverter depends on the ambient temperature. I have mine installed in the attic that is insulated and facing south. The inverter itself is passive cooled and in July it was getting hot. I could barely hold my hand on the radiator for more than few seconds. The internal monitoring was going close to 70 degrees and that was too hot for me. I have installed 2 fans temperature controlled fans that spin up once it goes above 38 and now the temp rarely goes above 40.
I'm not convinced about shed as it does not really solve the problem. The temperature would fluctuate there even more and humidity would be higher.

joujoujou

Hello everybody. Long time lurker, first time poster here.

What say you, good or bad?

quentingargan wrote: »

Yes, but those four panels will need optimisers to ensure that the darker ones don't affect the brigher ones. Not a big issue - optimisers are cheap enough.

unkel wrote: »

Optimisers are about €50-€60 per panel. Up to you to make your mind up. Alternatively you could go for a dual or triple string MPPT inverter, then you won't need optimisers for your E or W strings

reklamos wrote: »

Before going with optimizers, check your inverter. Solis RHI ones are Dual MPPT so you can connect those panels to second MPPT without optimizers

I just measured up there, I think id only get one panel on each side of the outcrop.

My house faces South West, and I have 6m clear space one side of the living room outcrop, on the east side, and 4m clear space on the west side, and that's leaving 0.5m clear from the gables.

I guess a South West orientation would be decent? Maybe id not need the extra 4 panels.

Could I install twenty 615 watt panels, with a 5kw ? It would put me a little over the ESB allowance, but is that within margin of error, or is it a total nono?

Finally, a big question for me - one installer has said no issues fitting in the attic, no heat or fire issues. Another installer has said he would much prefer to install in my steeltech shed, citing more space, less heat issues and better for the inverter. Hes quoting around 1000 euros more, but he would have trenching, armoured cable and so on included. Its around 2m from the side gable of my house. He taken for fireproof board as a backing wall for the equipment and so on.

Any opinions on this, safety, worth the additional cost, etc? Attic is insulated, but it still gets cold in winter and hot in summer though. To be fair, so does the shed, same , or approximately the same temp extremes in all honesty, the shed not heated, so would run to freezing and below in winter, which I believe has an effect on batteries not charging and not discharging.

Id appreciate thoughts on pros and cons on the tow locations please?

KCross

quentingargan wrote: »

Yes, but those four panels will need optimisers to ensure that the darker ones don't affect the brigher ones. Not a big issue - optimisers are cheap enough.

If you have a dual string inverter could you connect both East and West facing panels to one input and the south facing panels to the other input and it would happily manage the east/west panels or would they interfere with each other?

Or would you need a triple string inverter?

reklamos

quentingargan wrote: »

Yes, but those four panels will need optimisers to ensure that the darker ones don't affect the brigher ones. Not a big issue - optimisers are cheap enough.

Before going with optimizers, check your inverter. Solis RHI ones are Dual MPPT so you can connect those panels to second MPPT without optimizers

quentingargan wrote: »

You can set this in the advanced settings. Are you familiar with these? PM me if you want the password.

The exact menu options changed depending on whether you have HMI version above 20.

You go to advanced settings - storage energy set - battery select. Press enter to leave it on pylon.

You get an option for over discharge SOC. You can temporarily set this to 50%. Normally it is between 12% and 20%. You then get an option for force charge SOC. This can be set to 48% to prevent the inverter discharging the batteries during long dull spells.

See section 38/39 of manual. If you don't have the inverter manual, PM me.

Glad you got the other issue resolved.

Thanks, my HDMI is version 14, so I had better request an Upgrade stick and upgrade the HDMI software. I followed your instructions (and I do have the manual), but when I get to over-discharge SOC the max I can set it to is 30%, and when I enter that I get no 'force charge setting screen at all. I see force charge in the manual ok, but have never seen it on my screen.

Optimisers are about €50-€60 per panel. Up to you to make your mind up. Alternatively you could go for a dual or triple string MPPT inverter, then you won't need optimisers for your E or W strings

quentingargan wrote: »

Yes, but those four panels will need optimisers to ensure that the darker ones don't affect the brigher ones. Not a big issue - optimisers are cheap enough.

Is it worth the hassle and additional expense, in your opinion?

AidenL wrote: »

That’s great, thanks for the clarity.

My house is mostly south facing, I thought it might be useful to have maybe 2 panels facing both east and west for morning and evening maximum benefit, so 1.2kw would suit nicely.

Yes, but those four panels will need optimisers to ensure that the darker ones don't affect the brigher ones. Not a big issue - optimisers are cheap enough.

quentingargan wrote: »

Max inverter is 6kw. You can typically put 6kw panels onto a 5kw hybrid inverter and put another 1.2kw onto a 1kw inverter on the same site. So max panels is 7.2kw.

If you want to go beyond that, it'll cost you more than its worth to have G10 relays and approvals.

That’s great, thanks for the clarity.

My house is mostly south facing, I thought it might be useful to have maybe 2 panels facing both east and west for morning and evening maximum benefit, so 1.2kw would suit nicely.

Max inverter is 6kw. You can typically put 6kw panels onto a 5kw hybrid inverter and put another 1.2kw onto a 1kw inverter on the same site. So max panels is 7.2kw.

If you want to go beyond that, it'll cost you more than its worth to have G10 relays and approvals.

I know 6kw is the max allowed to be installed by the ESB.

Is there anyway to install more, space permitting? One installer suggested to me that they could go over 6?

I think in the UK, permission is achievable to exceed their 4kw limit.

Thanks a lot, I will try that. Yes I am familiar with advanced settings and with the two different passwords. I have to request an upgrade stick from the Ginlong UK distributor and update my software sometime soon.

Northumberland wrote: »

If I want to ensure that I have at least 50% charge in my batteries when a storm is expected, is the easiest way to do this to just turn both batteries 'off' using the rocker switch on each when a storm is expected (and when the batteries have at least 50% charge)?, and then to turn batteries back ON if the power cut actually happens (will the inverter be able to 'power up' from the batteries?)

You can set this in the advanced settings. Are you familiar with these? PM me if you want the password.

The exact menu options changed depending on whether you have HMI version above 20.

You go to advanced settings - storage energy set - battery select. Press enter to leave it on pylon.

You get an option for over discharge SOC. You can temporarily set this to 50%. Normally it is between 12% and 20%. You then get an option for force charge SOC. This can be set to 48% to prevent the inverter discharging the batteries during long dull spells.

See section 38/39 of manual. If you don't have the inverter manual, PM me.

Glad you got the other issue resolved.

Thanks so much Quentingargan, your post solved my problem. My installer had wrongly connected the comms cable between the bottom left port of the first battery and to the top left port of the second battery. I just re-connected given your instructions (and following the photos in the battery manual - although the manual is pretty bad and no description in wording), but I turned batteries back on and it worked. There is now a charge of 2.5kW going in to the 2 batteries together, equivalent of about 50 amps which seems perfect, and which will allow the system to operate more efficiently during the few hours of sunshine at this time of the year!

One more question for you. I now finally have my system set up to power an 'essential load' in the event of a power cut (which we have in my area due to the ESB overhead cable running through a forest). If I want to ensure that I have at least 50% charge in my batteries when a storm is expected, is the easiest way to do this to just turn both batteries 'off' using the rocker switch on each when a storm is expected (and when the batteries have at least 50% charge)?, and then to turn batteries back ON if the power cut actually happens (will the inverter be able to 'power up' from the batteries?)

Northumberland wrote: »

Hi anyone out there using Pylontech batteries with a Solis inverter?

The manual for the Pylontech states max charge voltage 54 v and charge current 25A (up to a max of 50 amp) - but that is surely for just one battery? I have two connected of course in parallel.

I had assumed that the batteries own BMS would know it was connected to a second battey, and the Solis as well would control the show, all connected up as it is with monitoring cables, but now not so sure. 53 volts at 25 amps is 1.3 kW. When the sun is shining, I see that just 1.25 kW is going to charge my batteries, but often an additional 1 to 2kW is being given away free to the grid. Am I right in thinking that with two batteries in parallel I could charge them together with 2.5kW, or 50 amps?

Yes - with two batteries, the charge current should be able to go to 50A. Is there a comms link cable between the two batteries? The comms cable from the inverter goes to the top left port of the first battery. Then a link cable goes from the bottom right port of the first battery to the top right port of the second one. Make sure dip switches are the same on both battreries.

If you use advanced settings - storage mode - you should then look at control parameters. It should show max charge current at 50A.

It may sometimes show 20A (10a per battery). This happens if the battery is below 10 degrees, and also under some other circumstances.

Hi anyone out there using Pylontech batteries with a Solis inverter?

The manual for the Pylontech states max charge voltage 54 v and charge current 25A (up to a max of 50 amp) - but that is surely for just one battery? I have two connected of course in parallel.

I had assumed that the batteries own BMS would know it was connected to a second battey, and the Solis as well would control the show, all connected up as it is with monitoring cables, but now not so sure. 53 volts at 25 amps is 1.3 kW. When the sun is shining, I see that just 1.25 kW is going to charge my batteries, but often an additional 1 to 2kW is being given away free to the grid. Am I right in thinking that with two batteries in parallel I could charge them together with 2.5kW, or 50 amps?

jspuds

digzy wrote: »

No. House was oil fired when I bought it. So went a2w before we moved in

hi, sent you a PM

antoinolachtnai

That is really high consumption. Is this all driven by the winter months or is it high year round?

I think it would help you if you could understand your consumption better before making (another) big investment.

And who advised you to do that, did you get proper survey done that proved your house was suitable for an A2W setup?

digzy

unkel wrote: »

You're a bit vague. Was the A2W system already in the house when you bought it?

No. House was oil fired when I bought it. So went a2w before we moved in

You're a bit vague. Was the A2W system already in the house when you bought it?

digzy

Cheers guys. Many thanks for the advice.
I bought a large house a few years back. 6000 sq feet. As I said, I’ve new windows, attic insulated.
Didn’t insulate the ground floor as it would’ve involved tearing up all the floors.

We’re a pretty avg family in terms of behavior.
Just wondering to whom I can turn to sort things out. I appreciate the advice here but I think I need to get someone on site. I’ve had to install 3 phase power to power the air2water system. I’m based in tipperary.

I’m getting the impression that I’m getting ridden with the quote, which being honest I wouldn’t mind if I got the payback.

The system was designed by ‘ash grove’ think they’re based in north cork. Plumbers work was top class too.

It’s a thermia pump

Ha I clearly missed that. My eyes were distraught by that €18,500 figure

air

unkel wrote: »

Obviously?

How many old private houses in Ireland are on 3 phase? Wouldn't be too many I'd have thought. Or maybe the quote included getting connected to 3-phase

Well the quote mentioned a 3 phase inverter, I'm giving the installer the benefit of the doubt and assuming they wouldn't quote for one on a house with a single phase supply.
Perhaps I'm too generous.