All things Solar (merged threads)

[MNM96]

Originally Posted by Uninvitedgest

SMA, KACO, Fronius, and the Selectronic SP PRO all offer monitoring in some form, other breeds of inverter i have not much knowledge on and I have been out of the game for over a year; but nearly all companies have their own brand of monitoring equipment and it is generally incompatible with other brands
I would recommend looking at your inverter's website as most reputable brands supply information about their comms systems and then contact their listed agent to arrange supply and install (it is not a job to do yourself as most comm connections involve opening the inverter exposing you to up to 500VDC of lethal power)
Hope this helps
Andrew

Originally Posted by zilo

Much more info needed mate.

What brand / make of inverter for a start?

Hey Lads.

It is a Grow Watt Inverter. I believe it has an output for a Dongle.

[poppa smurf]

That output would be for diagnostics using a laptop with a specific program.

I wouldn't go sticking anything in there......warranty on your whole system would be gone in an instant.

Contact your installer/supplier and ask if there is anything on the market, personally, I haven't heard of anything.

[Mr Hardware]

Originally Posted by MNM96

OK, so I am interested in data logging from my Inverter to my computer.

Who does this, and what do we use?

Sunnyboy SMA5000 here- i use the official sunnyboy program on my laptop and just bluetooth into it from my loungeroom. Otherwise the Oxley solar app on Android works well.
The sunnyboy inverter keeps daily logs going back the whole lifespan of my inverter (about 2.5 years).

So i can tell you about what the weather was roughly like on the 14th of December 2012!

Interesting fact: There is only 65kw difference between my gross production in 2013 compared to 2014. That surprised me!

I don't output it to the internet as for me I see this data as offline and personal.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

***Double Post***

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Thought you guys may be interested in this article from our internal communications bulletin:

One million milestone at Nyngan solar plant.
Construction at AGL’s Nyngan solar plant in western New South Wales has reached a major milestone with the one millionth solar photovoltaic (PV) module being installed.
When completed, AGL’s Nyngan solar plant will have capacity of 102 MW, bolstering AGL’s existing credentials as the largest ASX-listed owner, operator and developer of renewable energy generation in Australia.
During an inspection of the 250 hectare site yesterday, Group General Manager Merchant Energy, Anthony Fowler, said he was pleased with how construction was progressing at what will be Australia’s largest utility-scale solar PV plant.
“A project of this magnitude has never been done in Australia before and together with project partners First Solar, we have reached the installation of the millionth module while remaining on track and on budget. It’s a credit to everyone working on the project.”
Mr Fowler was joined at the $290 million Nyngan solar plant by the Minister for Resources and Energy, the Hon Anthony Roberts MP, Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) Chairman, Greg Bourne, Bogan Shire Deputy Mayor Cr Jim Hamstead, First Solar as well as other state and local government officials and project employees.
“In total, 1.35 million advanced thin-film solar PV modules will be installed. If placed end-to-end, the modules would measure more than 1,600 kilometres, or the equivalent distance of Nyngan to Uluru as the crow flies,” said Anthony.
First generation from Nyngan solar plant is expected to occur within the month and the plant will be fully operational by July 2015.
Once operational, the Nyngan solar plant will produce enough renewable electricity annually to supply more than 33,000 homes.
The Nyngan project has provided economic benefits for the regional community including employment, which during the peak of construction reached more than 200 people on site. Business in the local Nyngan area and wider Orana region have also benefited from local procurement and contracts associated with the construction of this project.
AGL is constructing the Nyngan solar plant along with the 53 MW Broken Hill solar plant with $166.7 million funding from ARENA and $64.9 million from the NSW Government. The two plants are being constructed in partnership with local councils, local communities, and First Solar.

Craig H

[poppa smurf]

yes it would appear that as long as big business can continue to make a profit, at our expense, then solar is a good thing.

no good in private hands for the good of the people though.

bit of a show on tv the other night about solar panels, I want the ones that are on our orbiting satellites and other space craft,........6" square gives out approx, 1000 watts ( from memory).

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

yes it would appear that as long as big business can continue to make a profit, at our expense, then solar is a good thing.

no good in private hands for the good of the people though.

bit of a show on tv the other night about solar panels, I want the ones that are on our orbiting satellites and other space craft,........6" square gives out approx, 1000 watts ( from memory).

Hey Poppa,

Thanks for your comments. Whilst it is easy to be cynical of any large business (we must accept the fact that businesses only exist for one reason: to make money), I still think it is good to see that an Australian company is taking some positive action to develop renewable energy sources on a large scale, such as what AGL is doing (sure, I'm biased, I work for them!)

I'd also love to see some of the technical challenges involved with such a large solar plant!

Craig H

[poppa smurf]

mate, don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the green energy sector, far from it, I'm on the committee to have solar brought in to Port Augusta to replace the ageing coal facilities.

I'm also looking forward to seeing the wind farm get up at Jamestown.

the only qualm I have is the double standard, the companies get all sorts of kickbacks and subsidies to construct these things while the little struggler is flogged by a big stick if we even try to step out of line and dare to produce our own energy.

we have thousands of people here in South Aust. that can't afford power, they live without it everyday, summer was bad for them but what the hell do you do with the kids when it gets to -3?

how do you tell a kiddie that they can't have a laptop like the folks next door for school work.

my eyes well up many times when I see the struggle many are going through through no fault of their own......

I'm a big sook when it comes to families and kids going without for no reason and I get very angry when I see multinational power companies simply price gouging.

somewhere there has to be a "middle ground".......companies profit and grow but without the depravity that exists now.

But anyhow! Rant over, Poppa calm now, you can come back to the keyboard.....I promise I won't yell any more.

[EgoFG]

Originally Posted by MNM96

OK, so I am interested in data logging from my Inverter to my computer.

Who does this, and what do we use?

Mike

I like the Wattson.

I have the three Phase solar version.

There is three inductive pickups for the threephase, and one for the solar.

Positioning of these is vital, and behind your switchboard so should *cough* be done by a licensed eletrician.

Once installed the data is logged at 5 minute intervals, and can be pulled into a windows PC using their "Holms" software (pretty sure they have for IOS too).

Inductive pickup is not an exact science, but I have found that my figures were within 2% of the meters (inverter and electricity provider).

That having been said, in my new installation the enphase inverters talking to their meter creates noise which the Wattson assumes to be solar generation, so as soon as my solar gets to zero, it immediately jumps to 167 watts - bummer - I adjust this in my spreadsheet. later models may be better.

This style system is great for Net Metered installations, as the reciever can glow green when you are exporting to the grid (time to put the drier/dishwaser/poolpump on).

The wattson has batteries at the sender and receiver ends, but also comes with power supplies - Possibly worth having a powerpoint in the switchbox.

[LG17]

Got our latest bill today. It's just over 12 months since the system was put up. Our last 3 bills have all been $245 - $251 which I'm very happy with.
They used to be $600 - $700!

[davenl5l]

sorry poppa but wind farms SUCK!!!.......they are ugly inefficient and you would not believe how many endangered birds they kill . psychobimbo I thought agl were owned by someone in hong kong now ?

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by davenl5l

sorry poppa but wind farms SUCK!!!.......they are ugly inefficient and you would not believe how many endangered birds they kill . psychobimbo I thought agl were owned by someone in hong kong now ?

Hey daven,

I can proudly tell you that AGL is a wholly Australian owned and operated company, and has been that way since its inception over 175 years ago.

A fact that most people are probably not aware of, but AGL is the second oldest continuous company listed on the Australian stock exchange! Anyone care to guess as to what is the oldest? (no cheating!)

Craig H

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by psychobimbo

A fact that most people are probably not aware of, but AGL is the second oldest continuous company listed on the Australian stock exchange! Anyone care to guess as to what is the oldest? (no cheating!)

Craig H

The Kings Cross Brothel corp ?

You get screwed either way

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by davenl5l

sorry poppa but wind farms SUCK!!!.......they are ugly inefficient and you would not believe how many endangered birds they kill . psychobimbo I thought agl were owned by someone in hong kong now ?

yep! I hear ya!.......I'm not a great fan of wind turbines either but to be honest and factual,

wind farms first and foremost, in my mind, look way better than a coal or nuclear fired power plant and a lot less polluting once setup.

the bird kill equates to 1 bird per tower per year, television and radio masts actually take out more than any wind farm, cats kill roughly 10 times more in one year than any farm, victorian duck hunters take out more protected species in any given year than all wind farms combined.

these are easily verified through different study programs accessible on the interweb.

I have been to quite few wind farms and spoken with experts within different states under a study program with the view of setting up sustainable energy within our region, foremost the replacement of the Port Augusta, coal fired power plant......I, personally, have never sen a dead bird under ANY tower we have visited, nor have I had any adverse effects from them.

I'm not saying they don't effect some people nor that they don't kill birds but we must take these things and actual numbers into Factual perspective and not just make summary judgements without factual basis.

South Australia is currently undergoing talks concerning nuclear, I'm still out with these things, I don't like them, nor do I understand them, but I can see we have to do something in the future, me personally I would rather go, solar, solar thermal, turbine, geo thermal and possibly wave technology anything but nuclear, but in the end we, sadly, possibly will have no alternative.

nuclear, which a lot of folks see and the only solution, in my eyes is not a good thing, the waste that is produced currently in the world nobody wants, there is talk of it going to our outback, sorry but you produce it, you deal with it, I don't want to roll up on the cooper to be faced with a big gate and a radiation dump.

the way I see it, and this is my view only, I would much rather see small, numerous green generators, be it solar, or wind or thermal, in private Australian hands than a large, multinational owned generator doing nothing more than generating profits at cost to the people and the environment for millions of years to come.

But I do understand and respect your dislike of wind farms......there are many like you.

to me they are a beautiful thing, making power with no polluting side effects.

[zilo]

I hate wind farms and i hate solar farms...they are just commercial factories that perpetuate the utility scale multi national dominated energy dependence model forced upon us.

Their greatest nightmare is if we are self sufficient.

It is fast becoming viable to go off the grid in the suburbs.

Just get a 10kw system, 60kw of batteries and tell them to shove it.

at thge moment they are laughing at us all.

we have panels on our roof, use less power yet they put the prices up so they make more money with supplying us less power.

we wear the expense of supplementing their grid for about a 1/4 of what they charge us.

switch Off the grid and let the electrons drop into the paddock rather than letting the *** oles profit from your panels.

[davenl5l]

one of the problems with wind farms up until recently is that taxpayers were paying for them to be built but they were wholly owned by private companies I mean wtf .poppa I have lived on yorke peninsular for 11 years and have been coming here camping for 40 years before that and since the windfarm was built at edithburg I have noticed a dramatic decline in wedgetail and sea eagles . other factors ? possibly but I think the farm has a lot to do with it . one of my mates has noticed the same thing down in the southeast(he has lived at Tantanoola for 40+years)

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by davenl5l

one of the problems with wind farms up until recently is that taxpayers were paying for them to be built but they were wholly owned by private companies I mean wtf .poppa I have lived on yorke peninsular for 11 years and have been coming here camping for 40 years before that and since the windfarm was built at edithburg I have noticed a dramatic decline in wedgetail and sea eagles . other factors ? possibly but I think the farm has a lot to do with it . one of my mates has noticed the same thing down in the southeast(he has lived at Tantanoola for 40+years)

wedge tails and sea eagles have been on the decline all over for a long time now, along with goshawks, chicken hawks, yellow tailed and bridle nail tail wallabies.

I used to live in the south east, Mt Burr, I felled for a contractor then drove log trucks for him to Apcel and the mill at the Burr, I can remember wallabies, black duck, kangaroo, wombats used to graze on the front lawn.......last time I was down there they are mostly gone.

pretty hard to see a wombat down there at all now......the powers that be drained the wetlands and deforested the surrounds and planted non native species, some cows broke their legs in wombat holes so the cockies shot the crap out of the populations.

ducks are on the list all the time and so are roos.

these animals all used to be plentiful around here but are now extremely rare, due to cats, foxes, climate change, hunting, but not a wind farm within coo-eee of us.

climate change, food scarcity, environment declination are all contributors.......but I'm afraid the facts are facts......wind farms are not the sole reason for decimation, in fact they are of minimal impact to the surrounds.

now the coal fired generators on the other hand.........

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

now the coal fired generators on the other hand.........

Oops, time for me to

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by zilo

I hate wind farms and i hate solar farms...they are just commercial factories that perpetuate the utility scale multi national dominated energy dependence model forced upon us.

Their greatest nightmare is if we are self sufficient.

It is fast becoming viable to go off the grid in the suburbs.

Just get a 10kw system, 60kw of batteries and tell them to shove it.

at thge moment they are laughing at us all.

we have panels on our roof, use less power yet they put the prices up so they make more money with supplying us less power.

we wear the expense of supplementing their grid for about a 1/4 of what they charge us.

switch Off the grid and let the electrons drop into the paddock rather than letting the *** oles profit from your panels.

Roughly how long to batteries last for in the bank?

[ebxr8240]

Batteries last up to 8 to 10 years in motorhomes .
The big part Is not over charging or deflating batteries too much..
A very good battery control system saves you money in the long run..
Variable charging rates etc help batteries big time..
At home a budget diesel generator in brick, insulated but vented shed for emergency
Stand by so batteries don't go below recomended level...

[323Turbo]

ive got a 4.2Kw system (had it nearly 3 years), last bill a couple of months ago I'm $520 in credit.
sweet

[poppa smurf]

just listening to Leon Byner (yeah I know!) but he had some sort of specialist on there, didn't catch who he was, but he reckons gas is the next thing we won't be able to afford, in fact there are folks now who are getting cut off.

He reckons the numbers are roughly, off the top of his head, are 40 households per day getting cut off electricity and about 2 per day, and rising, getting cut off gas.

I didn't hear whether this was SA only, figure seems rather high if it was, or whether that was nationally, either way that's disgusting.

What the hell is this world coming to.

On a good note just got my power account from Lumo, $760 in credit, thats after heavy use of our new ducted reverse cycle air con (very unsure as to the usage of that big bugger) and large stove.

I'm happy with that!

[323Turbo]

yeah our ducted a/c is 13Kw, so some bills we might have to pay $50 or so, but generally electricity bills are something we dont really have to think about.

When I boughjt my system they were crazy expensive like about $9000 i think it was - i think that will be paid off in a year & then the real savings will happen.
I thought of it like paying all my bills for 4 years in advance & then getting much cheaper power after that - something like that anyway lol

[zilo]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Roughly how long to batteries last for in the bank?

The critical parameter is called "depth of discharge".

So...a 200amp hour battery discharged by 20 amps is 10% DOD.

If you never exceed 10% your batteries will last forever...(25 years+??)

Simply work out the KwH you need and multiply by 10.

In my case I need 6kw after the sun sets until it rises again....

So 60kwh (48v x 1200AH)
48v being 4x 12v 200AH batteries in series

then 6 parallel strings of 200AH @48v = about 60kw.

I run a 380L electric hot water system (3600w element) and a toaster at the same time this morning directly from batteries.

And only 4kw of panels installed so far....16kw to go...dunno if I'll bother?

[black13]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

just listening to Leon Byner (yeah I know!) but he had some sort of specialist on there, didn't catch who he was, but he reckons gas is the next thing we won't be able to afford, in fact there are folks now who are getting cut off.

He reckons the numbers are roughly, off the top of his head, are 40 households per day getting cut off electricity and about 2 per day, and rising, getting cut off gas.

I didn't hear whether this was SA only, figure seems rather high if it was, or whether that was nationally, either way that's disgusting.

What the hell is this world coming to.

On a good note just got my power account from Lumo, $760 in credit, thats after heavy use of our new ducted reverse cycle air con (very unsure as to the usage of that big bugger) and large stove.

I'm happy with that!

just seen this on the interweb

http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbu...oward-era-deal

[poppa smurf]

yeah!, look, honestly, its not funny any more, enough is enough.

had a feller here today who reckoned the number of houses in SA without power exceeds 45,000.

now they are going to do it with gas.

[ebxr8240]

How much are we selling it to China ?? Thanks Gov for looking after its people !!

[Agile]

I very strongly recommend that EVERYONE make a submission ASAP. Tomorrow is the last day. GET ON BOARD !!!!

http://www.solarcitizens.org.au/aemc...=solarcitizens

This a must do.

And yep, gas is going to be priced out of reach soon. Get ready for another bunch of gas reliant industries to close down. IE , glass manufactures.

[zeuss000]

[QUOTE=Agile;5353107]I very strongly recommend that EVERYONE make a submission ASAP. Tomorrow is the last day. GET ON BOARD !!!!

http://www.solarcitizens.org.au/aemc...=solarcitizens

As the man says, this is VERY IMPORTANT please take a minute or so to fill in the form above, really it will only take 60 seconds or so and should make a significant difference. These ever growing "Fixed charges" are only going to get worse and are eating into the savings you are making by using solar.
Cheers
Ed

[Mr Hardware]

Originally Posted by psychobimbo

A fact that most people are probably not aware of, but AGL is the second oldest continuous company listed on the Australian stock exchange! Anyone care to guess as to what is the oldest? (no cheating!)

Westpac? (ie Bank of NSW?)