Solar for Beginners [ask your questions here]

con747 · 30-06-2025 08:19PM

Bump

DrPhilG · 30-06-2025 08:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123593962#Comment_123593962

I set it at 90a. It goes at 87a, then drops to 78, then back up to 87.

I think I used to set it for 95a but can't remember how it performed. I'll change to that tonight a see how it goes.

magicbastarder · 30-06-2025 10:11PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123593969#Comment_123593969

cheers, i was not sure how the car would be charged; AC direct, or AC to DC converted by the inverter, or AC to DC converted by the car charger itself.

graememk · 30-06-2025 10:33PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123594282#Comment_123594282

Technically AC direct, the charge point at home, is just a fancy plug. The "charger" is in the car.

DrPhilG · 03-07-2025 01:00AM

Checked with the settings at 95a.

Same fluctuating pattern, but this time 92a to 78a.

magicbastarder · 03-07-2025 08:44AM

my panels were finally hooked up fully yesterday after two or three weeks of faff - initially caused by the electricians and roofers getting out of sync because of weather issues, and a connection issue between two panels on one of the strings.

i was generating 6kW at one point yesterday, with 0.6kW going to the battery, 0.5kW to the house, and 4.8kW to the grid. i'd assumed the inverter could only handle 5kW, but does that actually mean it can only send 5kW to the grid? i.e. that it can handle more if the excess is being consumed by the house?

graememk · 03-07-2025 08:48AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123600600#Comment_123600600

Only 5kW can leave the inverter.. well it's more of an amp rating, so when voltage is a bit higher a bit more can be outputted.

Inverter can handle more, as long as there is space in the battery

magicbastarder · 03-07-2025 09:03AM

cheers, i'm still trying to understand some of the behaviour; e.g. just now i put the kettle on and despite the battery being 80% full and getting nearly 1kW from the roof, it was pulling in 1.4kW from the grid. i had thought the default behaviour was to use the battery first. solis inverter, i assume one of the standard (i.e. basic) models.

my provider apparently locks users out of advanced settings, but will unlock them if you mail the office and they're happy you're somewhat technically competent. i'm going to get my head around any quirks before asking for that.

JohnySwan · 03-07-2025 09:11AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123600633#Comment_123600633

Are you seeing this behavior on the inverter screen or the app?

magicbastarder · 03-07-2025 09:11AM

on the app.

JohnySwan · 03-07-2025 09:16AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123600650#Comment_123600650

Solis app isn't live afaik, it can take a few seconds for the inverter to react to a load. The solis screen is what you should look at to observe behaviour.

graememk · 03-07-2025 09:16AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123600633#Comment_123600633

The code for solis is 0010 by default

Are you looking at the app when putting the kettle on or the inverter itself

App has a delay, where as the inverter screen is instant.

There might be a brief blip when you first put the kettle on but inverter should quickly take over (within a second or 2)

magicbastarder · 03-07-2025 09:20AM

cheers, will keep an eye on that; i know the app updates every five minutes, and from what i've seen, gives what's an instantaeous reading on those heatbeats, rather than an average of the five minutes.

i've no way of telling in hindsight how long the kettle had been on when it heatbeated the below.

magicbastarder · 03-07-2025 02:01PM

Also, I suspect I'm not the first to complain about this, but there's a basic design error in the app. In the main diagram, feed to the grid is blue and feed to the house is orange. But I'm the daily summary at the bottom, feed to the grid is now orange and consumption is blue.

Busman Paddy Lasty · 03-07-2025 07:02PM

In the 2 years I've had mine Solis have done app updates and f*cked that UI up a few times so I don't really pay much attention to the colour coding etc. !

noeldon · 04-07-2025 07:31PM

Hi folks!

Newbie here :-) had my first quote in today. Cost after grant €13,800 - should I keep shopping?

this system will see me still with power if the grid is down. without the extras a 20 panel 8.8kw would be €8,300. is the difference worth it?

do I need to get an Eddi diverter?

Any advice would be great as i'm swimming with info, after reading pages on this thread, the head is spinning - despite seeing some very good advice here on specific questions.

05-07-2025 03:45PM

This content has been removed.

antodeco · 05-07-2025 08:51PM

Hi everyone,

Bit the bullet and getting 18 x 425 panels, 5kw inverter and 10kw battery.

My on average edialt usage is low, between 5-6kw per day. On weekends that jumps to 15-20kw per day.

What's the best setup I should go for (that I can see to the installer)?

Im in a contract so probably can't get night rate at the minute. When I do I'll charge battery on night rate and export all my solar and run the house off the battery. But for now, assuming I can't change tariff what the best way I should utilise my solar and battery?

Busman Paddy Lasty · 05-07-2025 09:16PM

Your contract is likely to be €50 break fee so don't let fiddy squid get between you and the best plan.

Assume you have a smrt meter because you mention export.

These summer days you'll fill battery quickly and be exporting. You could ask the installer to set night charge time for you but then that is tailored for a night rate.

Probably better to get a bit of training and go though the manual. What's your equipment, Solis inverter by any chance?

antodeco · 05-07-2025 09:24PM

Actually that's good thinking. My rate is the same day or night at the minute so I could set it to charge during the night (assuming I charge it throughout the day there's probably only a small top up). Yes Solis inverter.

Busman Paddy Lasty · 05-07-2025 09:41PM

Plenty of others here are charging at 5 ish cent and getting paid 20c for feeding into the grid FYI. I've only a small system so doing it for the laugh.

The green lump during the night is battery charging. The pale one is car charging.

magicbastarder · 06-07-2025 08:15AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123605137#Comment_123605137

Yeah, it's a bit of a head melt. But in relation to this:

do I need to get an Eddi diverter?

That was one of the first decisions I was clear on, to not to get one. The usage of your house suggests low occupancy during the week, so you probably don't need a cylinder of hot water sitting unused and leaking heat?

A reasonably smart immersion switch would probably do 90% of the job for 10 or 20% of the price. And if (like us) your primary shower is an electric one anyway, that'll lessen the benefit too.

banie01 · 08-07-2025 02:35PM

I'm still spitballing options to ensure that when I proceed with an install that I install as much SSE facing solar as possible to take advantage of 2 roofs I have with that aspect.

I've been using the SL-rack.de planner to try and see what my options are.

I've used it to spitball an installation that IMI will max out my SSE facing production.

It's 6 x 2278mm x 1134mm panels on my shed roof & 10 "Standard" size 1722mm x 1134mm panels on the house roof.

Assuming 600w minimum for the large panels and 430w for the standard panels, that would give me 3.6kw from the shed & 4.3kw on the house for a 7.9kw SSE total.

Now my thinking is that would give me decent production and ensure my payback period is as short as possible.

I will need a couple of optimisers on the house roof to account for chimney shading.

Can anyone advise on an installer who can review my thinking and proceed with supply and fit?

I'd also look towards including 10kw battery and a manual switchover, with installation outside on gable end of house.

As always, thanks any help with the query.

noeldon · 08-07-2025 10:08PM

Priorities then :

Max out on panels / production?

Is a Battery needed or important. if so how big?

How important is the direction they point. my front roof faces sse 155 deg, but have west facing slope too 250 deg. leave all on south side or split some to include west for afternoon / evening higher usage time?

Hot water immersion we agree to leave it out. And grid power outage protection is better and way less expensive to just get a generator right?

is that too many questions (that wasn't a question :-) ) please & thanks

magicbastarder · 08-07-2025 11:38PM

worth mentioning that for no extra cost (well, it was not on the list of chargeable items) the install i got included a double socket beside my inverter/battery which runs off the battery. this is not the same as the house being fed in a power cut, just those sockets. enough to keep a fridge going, or to charge a phone. so i guess you'd need to weigh that against your requirements. unless you got a big battery, your house might not last long on battery alone anyway; i think the irish average is approx 15kWh per day consumption.

homewardbound11 · 09-07-2025 07:12AM

anyone here use planet blue . PM only please .

morrough · 09-07-2025 05:04PM

hi, unsure if I’m in the right thread for this query… so we got solar panels a few months ago. Got electricity bill today with estimated meter reading so bill for approx €250. Actual reading is about 2,000 lower due to feeding back to the grid. We still have old roll back meter. What should we do in order not to be pay the bill? Should we submit the current actual reading and if so what happens next in terms of billing and the roll back? Presumably ESB networks will seek to install a smart meter but will they pay us for the feed back or could we lose it?

JPA · 10-07-2025 11:01AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123618058#Comment_123618058

You need a smart meter before you start getting a feed in tariff. As it stands, ESB do not know what has been exported.

cgcsb · 11-07-2025 09:23AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123618058#Comment_123618058

This is unusual, your solar installer should have told you off the bat that you need a smart meter before getting panels in order to get the feed in tariff. Also DO NOT get the smart plan, jus the smart meter unless you also have good battery storage.

magicbastarder · 11-07-2025 11:12AM

11am at the moment, and i'm getting between 3.3 and 3.4kW off one string of ten panels; six east facing, four south facing, all optimised because of the two aspects. i would have hoped for the full 4.4kW off that string given the sun is high in the sky but it's still a bit to the east, i would have thought it was perfect conditions to max out that string.

currently 299V @11.2A on the string.

also, it's interesting how hot the inverter is getting. not exactly cool weather for it (it's in the garage)

Solar for Beginners [ask your questions here]

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