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Solar PV Hints, Tips & Troubleshooting

DrPhilG

Well I've reached the point of driving everyone nuts on the PV quotes thread, and since I now have my system installed and running my endless questions no longer belong there.

So I figured I'd ask here, and also provide a home for others in the same boat, with general questions and advice on managing post-install.

My first question (of many) is how do people best manage their production in order to reduce grid export? Despite being overcast and miserable a fair bit of the day, I've produced 24kWh so far today, but ended up exporting 11.

Not too bad when we're home, as the wife did a few loads of washing and drying, put on the dishwasher etc.

But we're both at work tomorrow so other than a timed or remotely activated washer/dryer run we would end up exporting a lot more.

Extra battery capacity or a water diverter would help, but they don't tend to justify their costs in the long term.

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air

buzz11 wrote: »

OK thats where I'm a bit screwed, its an airtight house with membranes between attic and 1st floor plus the attic is insulated with a type of cellulose fibre stuff so moving around the attic is a real pain...it'll be a job in itself to get an extra 2 cables down.

A possible alternative would be to put 5 panels on the West face instead of 6 and put 10 instead of 11 on the South. Split the South array into two strings of 5 each and then put all 3 strings in parallel.

Possible issues:
You will have significant clipping of your production, most likely limited by the maximum input current limit on your inverter.
You'll need to assess your cable size to determine if it's safe for 3x the maximum short circuit current of your panels.
Voltage losses could could be high depending on the length of the cable run.

Would it be possible to use the existing cables to pull through a new pair at all? Any conduit used?

buzz11

air wrote: »

A possible alternative would be to put 5 panels on the West face instead of 6 and put 10 instead of 11 on the South. Split the South array into two strings of 5 each and then put all 3 strings in parallel.

Possible issues:
You will have significant clipping of your production, most likely limited by the maximum input current limit on your inverter.
You'll need to assess your cable size to determine if it's safe for 3x the maximum short circuit current of your panels.
Voltage losses could could be high depending on the length of the cable run.

Would it be possible to use the existing cables to pull through a new pair at all? Any conduit used?

OK thanks for that, at least theres a possibility if the cables can't be run but I'd nearly run them on the external wall if I have to

Hopefully the new scheme in July will be a good incentive to get pulling and dragging cables

championc

buzz11 wrote: »

OK thanks for that, at least theres a possibility if the cables can't be run but I'd nearly run them on the external wall if I have to

Hopefully the new scheme in July will be a good incentive to get pulling and dragging cables

You are far better to concentrate on having as high a self use rate as possible. With a cracking day and maybe a 4kW system, you'd be lucky to make a quid

MAULBROOK

Has anyone been burning out the emersion element. Gone through 2 in the last 18 months. Another one today, ok I'm in a very hard water area but using a water softener system. Haven't burnet out a kettle in over 5 years.
I boost fitted.
Can anyone recommend a good quality element, I'm willing to give an expensive one a go.

Deagol

MAULBROOK wrote: »

Has anyone been burning out the emersion element. Gone through 2 in the last 18 months. Another one today, ok I'm in a very hard water area but using a water softener system. Haven't burnet out a kettle in over 5 years.
I boost fitted.
Can anyone recommend a good quality element, I'm willing to give an expensive one a go.

You should be using titanium elements if you're in a hard water area. Do you know if that's what you've already have? You can also get Incoloy ones but I'd guess they are pricey.

MAULBROOK

Deagol wrote: »

You should be using titanium elements if you're in a hard water area. Do you know if that's what you've already have?

What ever was cheapest.

Thanks, off to the inter web I go and order a new one.

Deagol

MAULBROOK wrote: »

What ever was cheapest.

Thanks, off to the inter web I go and order a new one.

I only knew because I was getting a new tank a few months ago and did my research

I had it wrong way round above. Incoloy is cheaper but 'will do' for hard water, titanium is the expensive one (obvious now I think about it) but it's the gold standard.

Nedved85

Hi all,

I have a small steel shed that could fit 5 x 360 Watt solar panels (south facing - nothing blocking them) and have them installed for a reasonably small figure by an electrician.

Sub board is already in the shed (which is connected back to the main board in the house).

Looking at this kit here:

https://solartricity.ie/kit-1-1x5/

Would I be a bit mad to bother getting this installed or is it worth doing?

Anything to watch out for?

Thanks.

Deagol

Nedved85 wrote: »

Hi all,

I have a small steel shed that could fit 5 x 360 Watt solar panels (south facing - nothing blocking them) and have them installed for a reasonably small figure by an electrician.

Sub board is already in the shed (which is connected back to the main board in the house).

Looking at this kit here:

https://solartricity.ie/kit-1-1x5/

Would I be a bit mad to bother getting this installed or is it worth doing?

Anything to watch out for?

Thanks.

My opinion: Won't do you any harm to fit it! But it's not going to do much in winter months especially. I would suggest unless you are 100% certain you won't add more panels, to get a bigger inverter as the price is very similar for bigger ones.
I assume the shed has a slate roof? The kit you've specced is for slate, I'm not sure it would work on corrugated but someone else here will have to talk to that.

Nedved85

Deagol wrote: »

My opinion: Won't do you any harm to fit it! But it's not going to do much in winter months especially. I would suggest unless you are 100% certain you won't add more panels, to get a bigger inverter as the price is very similar for bigger ones.
I assume the shed has a slate roof? The kit you've specced is for slate, I'm not sure it would work on corrugated but someone else here will have to talk to that.

It's a corrugated roof so I may need to ring them to see whats best in that instance. It may not work with what I have.

No plans to add more panels at present.. but I fully appreciate getting a larger inverter just in case. If I was to add some it would be on the house itself which is a bit away from the shed though.

championc

Nedved85 wrote: »

If I was to add some it would be on the house itself which is a bit away from the shed though.

Absolutely nothing wrong with even a 50m cable run from a house roof to a shed at the bottom of the garden. I speak from personal experience

gman2k

Nedved85 wrote: »

Hi all,

I have a small steel shed that could fit 5 x 360 Watt solar panels (south facing - nothing blocking them) and have them installed for a reasonably small figure by an electrician.

Sub board is already in the shed (which is connected back to the main board in the house).

Looking at this kit here:

https://solartricity.ie/kit-1-1x5/

Would I be a bit mad to bother getting this installed or is it worth doing?

Anything to watch out for?

Thanks.

I started my solar journey with a similar layout. I switched to a 3.6kw dual string Solis inverter after six months as I added more panels.

graememk

Nedved85 wrote: »

It's a corrugated roof so I may need to ring them to see whats best in that instance. It may not work with what I have.

No plans to add more panels at present.. but I fully appreciate getting a larger inverter just in case. If I was to add some it would be on the house itself which is a bit away from the shed though.

Theres a different (cheaper) mounting method for steel roofs. Its a little bracket that takes 2 tec screws(they will supply stainless Steel ones) and screwed direct into the steel.

Is your roof trapezoidal or round corrugated? - just need an adapter plate for the round one. its the way all mine are mounted.

My panels are about 50 m away from the inverter (thats in armored cable thou) and my inverter is a bit under 100m from my consumer unit.

DrPhilG

Any myenergi experts here?

My hub has been acting the whack for months, I finally got around to chasing myenergi for a replacement.

Made the foolish decision to install the new one today and the whole system has just shat the bed.

Eddi screen seems to be showing import/export but not solar generation.

Zappi showing solar generation but not import/export.

New hub has a green light for Zappi, red light for Eddi and no light for Harvi.

slave1

Have you made a Master and Slave, sounds like you've half the Harvi going to both EDDI and Zappi

[Deleted User]

Hi all

Got a 3.2kw system installed.

Previous weeks the highest generation i got was 15kwhr and this was a cloudy sunny day. It was hitting 3.1kW in generating.
Today not a cloud in the sky and the max the panels are getting is 2.3 and so far generated 11kwhr. Could a cable have come loose on the roof and not getting 2 panels?

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hi all

Got a 3.2kw system installed.

Previous weeks the highest generation i got was 15kwhr and this was a cloudy sunny day. It was hitting 3.1kW in generating.
Today not a cloud in the sky and the max the panels are getting is 2.3 and so far generated 11kwhr. Could a cable have come loose on the roof and not getting 2 panels?

You should be getting more I'd assume.

What orientation are you?

[Deleted User]

6 wrote: »

You should be getting more I'd assume.

What orientation are you?

Orientation is west so its from 1 o clock i normally started hitting 3kw, weather was unreal today and not a cloud in the sky so was expecting a lot more

slave1

Deleted User wrote: »

Hi all

Got a 3.2kw system installed.

Previous weeks the highest generation i got was 15kwhr and this was a cloudy sunny day. It was hitting 3.1kW in generating.
Today not a cloud in the sky and the max the panels are getting is 2.3 and so far generated 11kwhr. Could a cable have come loose on the roof and not getting 2 panels?

When it’s hot the voltage will drop, less voltage means less kW, on cloudy days the panels don’t get as hot so you will get higher “highs”

championc

When you have continuous super weather like that, I find too that the output is lower. So I experience exactly what you describe

drdidlittle

Anyone have issues with their Solar IBoost blowing the immersion? Getting water hot signal on panel but water not 'hot'. 0 energy used yesterday. Immersion only went in last autumn. Looks like the thermostat is gone in it.

MAULBROOK

drdidlittle wrote: »

Anyone have issues with their Solar IBoost blowing the immersion? Getting water hot signal on panel but water not 'hot'. 0 energy used yesterday. Immersion only went in last autumn. Looks like the thermostat is gone in it.

Yep i have blown 2. just got 2 new ones from Screwfix. one for spair
They are far cheaper than anyone.

https://www.screwfix.ie/p/tesla-incoly-immersion-heater-element-1-head-14/7041r

slave1

Surely it's just the temp stat that's gone, much cheaper replacement, 5 minute DIY

MAULBROOK

slave1 wrote: »

Surely it's just the temp stat that's gone, much cheaper replacement, 5 minute DIY

No tis fxxked. Went for a better quality one next time.

KCross

I've seen a few posts about blown immersions. Is that a "common" downside to using a Solar diverter?

I thought an immersion element was an immersion element. Didnt think there would be much of a difference in quality between them... clearly there is!

Does the constant up/down of Solar cause some of them to retire early maybe?

drdidlittle

Simple fix in the end. Thermostat has reset button on top. Hard see and get at but reset and working again. Thinking back I probably tripped it out with the willis as I had it on to let 'er indoors' have shower that morning before excess was diverted

Deagol

drdidlittle wrote: »

Simple fix in the end. Thermostat has reset button on top. Hard see and get at but reset and working again. Thinking back I probably tripped it out with the willis as I had it on to let 'er indoors' have shower that morning before excess was diverted

I had same issue with old tank. For some reason the Max thermostat setting was higher than the safety cutout thermostat setting. I dialed the adjustable thermostat down a few degrees until it stopped happening. Beware though, tank should get to at least 60C occasionally to stop growth of legionella bacteria I believe.

drdidlittle

Deagol wrote: »

I had same issue with old tank. For some reason the Max thermostat setting was higher than the safety cutout thermostat setting. I dialed the adjustable thermostat down a few degrees until it stopped happening. Beware though, tank should get to at least 60C occasionally to stop growth of legionella bacteria I believe.

True. Didn't change any settings on thermostat. Think the issue was the the willis was on and had water temp well over the setting on the immersion. Excess solar kicked and and probably tripped it out. Never happened before and only difference this time was willis was on.

Deagol

drdidlittle wrote: »

True. Didn't change any settings on thermostat. Think the issue was the the willis was on and had water temp well over the setting on the immersion. Excess solar kicked and and probably tripped it out. Never happened before and only difference this time was willis was on.

What is a Willis??

drdidlittle

Deagol wrote: »

What is a Willis??

https://heatingpartswarehouse.co.uk/product/willis-external-immersion-heater/?gclid=CjwKCAjwtdeFBhBAEiwAKOIy5-NOAq-Q4EeLPcf2ZJyE7_f0fyFNunn-mqg7uMr7Yz9uD-qZxgUnFxoCe54QAvD_BwE

Inline water heater. Quicker than immersion for small qty of water