All things Solar (merged threads)

[poppa smurf]

yep! I've found that the accounts run later when they are in credit.....but I dont mind

but Rastus you will be awaiting your next account with baited breath.....way better than dreading the damn thing

[rancidpunx]

The Christmas period has been a killer for us. We have heaps of the missus family here and usage has been going through the roof on overcast days. Just have to keep my mouth shut lol

[sgt_doofey]

How often are you cleaning those panels there poppa_smurf? Seems like it's a regular things based on your posts?

[poppa smurf]

hard to say mate ......but it seems to be roughly (very roughly) once a month

pretty dusty and hot up here so I think I'm cleaning them more than the norm......the angle doesn't help, my neighbour has them on his house roof with a far greater angle and they seem to be a lot cleaner than mine

but his are not producing anywhere near as much as mine

the dust seems to really cling to these panels certainly through the summer, even when it rains they don't appear "clean"

[gtxb67]

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

How often are you cleaning those panels there poppa_smurf? Seems like it's a regular things based on your posts?

like poppa said, it is hard to tell, but we haven't cleaned ours yet and in 43 days they are averaging around 22kw a day on a 3kw system
by not cleaning ours they don't seem to have lost too much - plus we have a small tree from the neighbours putting a shadow across one of them

no doubt cleaning works, but it may not be too critical depending on how dusty and dry it is

[comagutsa]

Originally Posted by gtxb67

like poppa said, it is hard to tell, but we haven't cleaned ours yet and in 43 days they are averaging around 22kw a day on a 3kw system
by not cleaning ours they don't seem to have lost too much - plus we have a small tree from the neighbours putting a shadow across one of them

no doubt cleaning works, but it may not be too critical depending on how dusty and dry it is

WTF your getting 22kw a day out of your 3kw system i have hit a max 16kw a day out of my 3kw system and its been like that for a few months hasnt gone any higher ...while in roof i saw the panels are on the same angle as my tiled roof line (facing north)
should they be at a different angle???
oh and a bit more of our great WA synergy power company....while on holidays we exported 720 units of power and got a whole $60 credit ....gotta love getting back 8.4c for every unit you export to them ...bloody ripoff

[poppa smurf]

recommended angle for Perth is 26 degrees .....facing due north

depending on how far off this "ideal" you are will determine your output.....I would expect around 18kws - 20kws during summer.....all perfect would possibly give greater results

8.4c per kilowatt is simply not right

[lotus]

We had to contact them several times to get an account from Origin. It seems when they owe you they take their time to send it. Anyway when we had to contact them for the last account we also said we wanted the credits that we had deposited into our account ( you can get quaterly payments or yearly)since we decided to get it once a year.
The amount was for around 14/15 mths since we had solar installed. It only took them a couple of days and we got enough to register the wife's BMW and 6mths on my EB (around $1500.00). Good extra pickup but the main thing is we havn't had a bill since we installed solar which saves us around $3,000.00 to $3,500.00 a year which is what I wanted. Anything extra is just "cream" on top.

[comagutsa]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

recommended angle for Perth is 26 degrees .....facing due north

depending on how far off this "ideal" you are will determine your output.....I would expect around 18kws - 20kws during summer.....all perfect would possibly give greater results

8.4c per kilowatt is simply not right

ahhh sweet i will check the angle when i fly back home

[gtxb67]

Originally Posted by comagutsa

WTF your getting 22kw a day out of your 3kw system

it did sound like a lot when i typed it . . . . and obviously it was
next time i will divide our usage by 67 days, not 37
we are getting 14.5 kw on average in sunny melbourne
and exporting 11.5 kw on average

[comagutsa]

hahah and here i thought mine was just way under performing

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by gtxb67

it did sound like a lot when i typed it . . . . and obviously it was

Hah Hah Hah......thought it was a bit high but it is not unknown


next time i will divide our usage by 67 days, not 37
we are getting 14.5 kw on average in sunny melbourne
and exporting 11.5 kw on average

Originally Posted by lotus

We had to contact them several times to get an account from Origin. It seems when they owe you they take their time to send it. Anyway when we had to contact them for the last account we also said we wanted the credits that we had deposited into our account ( you can get quaterly payments or yearly)since we decided to get it once a year.
The amount was for around 14/15 mths since we had solar installed. It only took them a couple of days and we got enough to register the wife's BMW and 6mths on my EB (around $1500.00). Good extra pickup but the main thing is we havn't had a bill since we installed solar which saves us around $3,000.00 to $3,500.00 a year which is what I wanted. Anything extra is just "cream" on top.

well done, no bill with "freebies"....gotta love that

Originally Posted by comagutsa

ahhh sweet i will check the angle when i fly back home

no worries....you can get brackets to alter the angle but the price is not attractive

[davenl5l]

Originally Posted by lotus

We had to contact them several times to get an account from Origin. It seems when they owe you they take their time to send it. Anyway when we had to contact them for the last account we also said we wanted the credits that we had deposited into our account ( you can get quaterly payments or yearly)since we decided to get it once a year.
The amount was for around 14/15 mths since we had solar installed. It only took them a couple of days and we got enough to register the wife's BMW and 6mths on my EB (around $1500.00). Good extra pickup but the main thing is we havn't had a bill since we installed solar which saves us around $3,000.00 to $3,500.00 a year which is what I wanted. Anything extra is just "cream" on top.

make sure you dont have to pay tax on this income! govco will get you any way they can

[comagutsa]

yeah rang the company who installed mine and yeah they said it is a bit low
they want me to download the sunnyboy explorer to see whats its doing and they will send someone around when im home next

[davenl5l]

it's hot here damm hot. system still making 26kwh per day. no hot weather drop off so far. gotta be happy with that! (4kw system)

[poppa smurf]

yep in for a week of it apparently, looking at 44 degs according to the news,.......hate to break it to them but we've had between 38 and 45 for the last week as it is

funny how if it is not in the smoke it doesn't matter

been getting around 22kw's - 23 kw's......household is using roughly 6 kw's per day.......3.5 kw system ....

evaporative ducted system is handling the heat just fine, haven't had that QLD humidity down here yet.....so I'm a happy chook

bit frightened though, SHE wants ducted reverse cycle placed in shortly......YIKES!!!!.....my neighbour uses up to 30 kilowatts per day and he directly attributes that to his air con

had a look at the panels yesterday, they are filthy again.....but while I'm getting these figures they can stay dirty

[ute83]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

had a look at the panels yesterday, they are filthy again.....but while I'm getting these figures they can stay dirty

What causes your panels to get so dirty so quickly? Ours have been up for 15 months and are still perfectly clean.

[poppa smurf]

bulldust......



.................................................. .................................................. ......................................no .....not you .......but the air is full of it around here!.....angle of the things as well I guess

I will have to figure out a way of cleaning them easier.....maybe a set of sprays over the top

too damn old to be clambering about on ladders now.....and I cant get the wife up there

[ute83]

Ouch, be covering everything aswell and breathing it in. No good.

[poppa smurf]

yep! north wind here today so god help the asthmatics

just hope those firebugs dont get any ideas, gets going today there will be no stopping it

[prydey]

hit 45 degrees in adelaide yesterday. my 3.8kw system produced a touch over 23kwh. pretty happy with that since i thought performance would have dropped off substantially in such high heat.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by prydey

hit 45 degrees in adelaide yesterday. my 3.8kw system produced a touch over 23kwh. pretty happy with that since i thought performance would have dropped off substantially in such high heat.

yes, this is flying against my theories as well.....I'm producing maximum at the moment.......hit 48.7 here yesterday and still produced 22.90 kw's

[jmack]

3kw system here been producing roughly 20 to 22kw a day do notice a little drop in performance on the real hot ones,great getting a bill when they owe u or as in my last one i owed 71Cents ,think they would have just put it on the next bill,its been avg just over 1kw an hour since install in may

[usernametaken]

We got our bill for the last three months.

We used $300 of power and received credit of $312

So, $600 generated from our 3.2 system

Not too bad I thought

[poppa smurf]

is this your first account since install or is this a credit from a few quarters

[usernametaken]

first full account

last one was 50/50 plus reconfig stuff etc...

[poppa smurf]

ah okay.....pretty good result

jmack.....always good when a plan works out....well done

[supershifty]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

recommended angle for Perth is 26 degrees .....facing due north

depending on how far off this "ideal" you are will determine your output.....I would expect around 18kws - 20kws during summer.....all perfect would possibly give greater results

8.4c per kilowatt is simply not right

Poppa, just out of curiosity - where did you get the figures for optimal orientation of the solar panels? I'm not questioning them, just wanted to compare my setup with what is the ideal. There's no way known I'm gonna move the buggers!

If you've got the figures at hand for Brisbane, then post away mate! Mine are facing NNW at roughly 30 degrees.

Cheers!

[Rastus]

Supershifty, typically the optimal orientation for your panels is due north for day long results.
NNW, like mine, gives you a little less in the morning, but slightly more in the afternoon. So if where you are typically has foggy mornings then what you have is better. But, if the weather typically changes for the worse in the afternoon it's not as ideal.
As for pitch of the panels, they say the ideal pitch for year around production is equal to the latitude of your place. So Brisbane is ideal at 27.5 degrees. A flatter pitch would give you a little more in Summer, whereas a steeper pitch like you have should give better results in winter when the sun is lower.

[XD 351 Ute]

Interesting the comments regarding the panel angels, as I knew they had to be set up to certain figures, but I didn't know what.
When old matey came to measure my roof, he said they will go there, and the angle is pretty good.

So, on average my system gives me around 22kw a day, and produces for between 12 to 14 hours per day. I thought it might be a bit low for a 4.2kw system, but seems to maintain consistency.

I found this on a calculator, and was surprised to see the variance in the angle.



Ed