All things Solar (merged threads)

[MDS69]

Originally Posted by comagutsa

hey Sparky ..what did yo umean by this

Imagine a full 20L jerry can of fuel and a empty 20L jerry can of fuel. If you put a hose between the two fuel taps and turned them both on the full can will drain into the empty one until the fuel level is equal between the two ie each half full

[comagutsa]

Originally Posted by MDS69

Imagine a full 20L jerry can of fuel and a empty 20L jerry can of fuel. If you put a hose between the two fuel taps and turned them both on the full can will drain into the empty one until the fuel level is equal between the two ie each half full

haha yeah im a knob head
yeah i new about that, but when i posted that other stuff i read his post again and was thinking about something else when i read just that and confused myself thought it had to do with something else ...thank god its fly out day, 9 days of work is doing my head in

[Stagg]

Originally Posted by comagutsa

welll i spoke the the installer again today
and he is telling me that my system is performing like it should be and me getting max 16odd units a day is normal
i did ask him how he set it up and he said it was connected up in 5 panel lots (i fly home today so i will check it later)
he doesnt believe people are getting 18 to 20 units a day out of 3kw system, just keeps saying they must have better panels etc
he keeps going on about what the average system will do in a year blah blah
i dont know what to do next

16kWh seems about right for a 3kW system but moreso as an average over 12 months, so in my opinion you should be expecting more while its summer but definitely expect less than you are making now in the middle of winter.

That said, a few years back when I was selling SunPower systems a SunPower 3kW would be averaging between 18-20kWh in Perth over a 12 month period. It is to do with the broad spectral response of the panel i.e. even though the maximum power is 3kW, different panels can make different amounts of power in different light conditions.

Originally Posted by comagutsa

hey Sparky ..what did yo umean by this

Imagine batteries like a series of rainwater tanks. Just like when all the tanks are connected, as you draw water off, the water inside the tanks will naturally find its own level and they will all have the exact same amount of water in them at any given time, electricity stred in batteries is pretty much the same (if that makes sense lol)

[poppa smurf]

6 hours per day is the accepted yearly average of usable solar hours per day,....assuming you are in the "central" band through australia......to get your "average" kilowatt output, you times your kilowatts by usable solar hours

if you are in "the central band" then you work it out by 3 kilowatts X 6 hours per day = 18 kilowatts

remember this is an average and will vary,....... summer you should be getting a lot higher (more solar hours per day) winter less (less solar hours) hence the "average"

in "the zone" the average will apply, below "the zone"...will be less and above (toward banana bender country) it will be more

this time of year, in an "ideal" situation i would expect 20 kilowatts out of your system, winter it may drop to as low as 12 kilowatts, perhaps even less........but without taking many measurements, including angle, northern exposure ETC...... it is extremely difficult to say if you are below "spec"

my GUESS is yes it is not performing as it should

[SPArKy_Dave]

We really need to know how the Panel strings are connected - 3x5 or 1x7+1x8.

Let us know if you can tell, without digging too deep into the system.

[comagutsa]

yeah i will get on in the roof tomorrow and check out how they hooked it up, but they did tell me it was hooked up in 3x5 panels
i kept telling him i was hitting 16 units a day in the beginning of sept on some days and it hasnt gotten any higher even though there is more sun now than in sept?? he didnt have an answer for it
i will get a few pics tomorrow and see what angle the panels are etc
the highest i have seen from my is 16.7 units for a day and that was the other week

[poppa smurf]

not enough mate.......I'd expect a couple of 20's in there.......but as sparky says..... really hard to tell from a distance

[kennyboy]

this usefull to the discussion?

http://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/t...d-temperature/

[sgt_doofey]

Any chance the panels are dirty and just need a good clean to up the kW/h? Is there a spot above them where birds can sit and crap on them?

[Stagg]

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

Any chance the panels are dirty and just need a good clean to up the kW/h? Is there a spot above them where birds can sit and crap on them?

Possibly, but only if a whole cell is completely in shade it shouldn't be making a difference... Although Suntech also has 3 bypass diodes per panel so even still the rest of the panels should be producing power at max capacity for the current light conditions.

What has not been suggested is perhaps a hot spot on one of the panels i.e. busbar has lifted off one of the cells causing it to become much hotter than the rest of the cells and acting as a resistor... If you're game enough to you would have to hop up on the roof and inspect every solar cell and look for any bubbles in the busbars (15 panels @ 72 cells per panel, might take a while!)

Originally Posted by kennyboy

this usefull to the discussion?

http://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/t...d-temperature/

Every panel has a different temperature coefficient i.e. they lose a certain percentage for every degree over 25 degrees celsius. Trina is 0.32% for every degree over 25, from memory SunPower is 0.38. Not sure what Suntech panels are but shouldnt be too hard to find out

[Stagg]

Also I just got back from my Bathurst road trip and found out the BDM is working a sustainable festival in Seymour for the rest of the weekend so won't get to work on that bulk buy deal until next week sorry guys!

We'll get one organised soon enough

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Stagg

Every panel has a different temperature coefficient i.e. they lose a certain percentage for every degree over 25 degrees celsius. Trina is 0.32% for every degree over 25, from memory SunPower is 0.38. Not sure what Suntech panels are but shouldnt be too hard to find out

its a fairly insignificant amount regardless. if you look back to post 1581 and 1582, you'll notice a couple of us had very high outputs on a 44+degree day here in adelaide.

according to you, my system is rubbish (TVS - made in china) so i'm pretty happy with how my rubbish system is going at the moment.

[comagutsa]

i did a bit of adding up and for 5 months from july to the end of december i made a total of 2333kwh total didnt get june as they were installed towards the end of the month
i think Jan total for the month was 470kwh odd i think

the panels are clean i washed them a couple of weeks ago and it made no real difference

i didnt get time to get up there as i had a few ute problems today but thats another story

[poppa smurf]

yeah! thats around 15.5 KW average.......without seeing your system i still say thats a bit low

Jan. 15.6 KW......should have been higher than your previous average......

cleaning can give you a few hundred watts but not a hell of a lot, depending on the amount of grime present

mine are close to brown at the moment and it shows......16 KW produced and dropping after producing a consistent 20 KW until the last dust storm

gotta get off my bum and give them a scrub

[devilcv8]

Originally Posted by Stagg

16kWh seems about right for a 3kW system but moreso as an average over 12 months, so in my opinion you should be expecting more while its summer but definitely expect less than you are making now in the middle of winter.

That said, a few years back when I was selling SunPower systems a SunPower 3kW would be averaging between 18-20kWh in Perth over a 12 month period. It is to do with the broad spectral response of the panel i.e. even though the maximum power is 3kW, different panels can make different amounts of power in different light conditions.

Im in Goulburn and most sunny days I get 25 to 28Kwh out of a 3Kw system

Not happy now a smart meter has been installed. used to enjoy the back spinning disc of the old meter.

[deesun]

Originally Posted by devilcv8

Im in Goulburn and most sunny days I get 25 to 28Kwh out of a 3Kw system

Not happy now a smart meter has been installed. used to enjoy the back spinning disc of the old meter.

I'm surprised you get any sunny days in Goulburn, lol. My bil +sil are building in Goulburn atm and have decided not to go the solar route. I think they will be sorry in the long run. Big house, 4 very young kids and its their family home probably forever. Whats the FIT in NSW nowadays?

[Captain Stubing]

Originally Posted by devilcv8

Im in Goulburn and most sunny days I get 25 to 28Kwh out of a 3Kw system

Not happy now a smart meter has been installed. used to enjoy the back spinning disc of the old meter.

I'm getting similar figures out of my 3kw system. I have 16 panels, 10 facing north, and 6 facing west.

On a good sunny day I've seen up to 30kwh a day, on a cloudy rainy day I've seen it as low as 13kwh (mind you I haven't documented anything, and don't check every day).

I know Brisbane is a different latitude to Perth, I'm not sure if that makes a difference to Comagutsa's figures.

[comagutsa]

righto i have gotten into the roof and stuff noes what im looking at haha

on top





bugger if i know whats happening with the wiring here as i cant get under there










ok this is in the roof



and then those wires that come out of the white conduit go into this box and then they come out and go over to the garage





the wires that are not in the white conduit you see in the pic 3 up that come from the bottom panels also then meet up with the one that comes out of the box (above pic) and go into the garage together



found this text on some stuff sent to me when i brought it

System overview
15 x Suntech STP200S-24/Ad+ (North)
Azimuth angle: -180°, Inclination: 25°, Mounting type: Roof, PV peak power: 3.00 kWp
1 x SB 3000TL-20
Technical data
Total number of PV modules: 15
PV peak power: 3.00 kWp
Number of inverters: 1
Nominal AC power: 3.00 kW
Annual energy yield (approx.)*: 5076.10 kWh
Energy usability factor: 100 %
Performance ratio (approx.)*: 83.3 %
Spec. energy yield (approx.)*: 1692 kWh/kWp
Line losses (in % of PV energy): 0.46 %
Unbalanced load: 3.00 kVA
*Important: The yield values displayed are estimates. They are determined mathematically. SMA Solar Technology AG accepts no responsibility for the real
yield value which can deviate from the yield values displayed here. Reasons for deviations are various outside conditions, such as soiling of the PV Modules or
fluctuations in the efficiency of the PV modules.
Sunny Design 2.20.1.


they are telling me its hooked in 3x 5 panels but i cant tell ????

any ideas

[SPArKy_Dave]

From the looks of the cabling, they could be 3x5.

Which way do the panels face?

North, East, West (or god forbid..... South)

[SPArKy_Dave]

Have you got any pics of the inverter setup?

[SPArKy_Dave]

Originally Posted by comagutsa

bugger if i know whats happening with the wiring here as i cant get under there
image


any ideas

Where about's in the solar system, was this picture taken?
On one end, or in the middle?

I could be wrong, but if the panel on the r/h side of the pic, is an end panel........
it appears that it's just plugged into itself, without being a part of the system.

Can you take another pic showing where the wires go for that panel?

[poppa smurf]

oh boy.....I can see a multiple of failings here.......junction boxes zip tied to bearers?

wiring able to rub on different surfaces

unsupported wires

wiring sitting on the roof.......I dont know much about the solar wiring side, I'll leave that to the qualified, but I would not be real pleased with the install

[Stagg]

Yeah they have gone a little crazy with those cable ties...

[Stagg]

This is what it should look like behind the panels, this is one of the commercial systems that we have installed






















And of course, Stagg specialises in Sexy Solar ahahahahah

[poppa smurf]

much better, however you do have far more room under yours to tidy up!

[Stagg]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

much better, however you do have far more room under yours to tidy up!

That is true lol

I could be a little sneaky as I'm going out to quote a previous PV customer on a SHW system, I could ask if I can climb up on the roof and inspect his system and get some photos. That particular home might have some interesting photos, as the customer has a slate roof of 35 degrees and with slate roofs we have to make perforations using a specialist slate roof tiler. We also had to use a cherry picker and he has high ceilings. I haven't been out to look at his system but let's hope that my sparkies did a good job!

[poppa smurf]

yeah! I'm still not sure about this solar hot water.......had a call from Origin last week with a very good offer......I just dont know!

[Stagg]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

yeah! I'm still not sure about this solar hot water.......had a call from Origin last week with a very good offer......I just dont know!

Solar hot water does work espacially for somewhere like SA... However I am aware that SA has fairly hard water as compared to Melbourne, so if I was in SA and wanted to go solar hot water I would go for a Vitreous Enamel tank and remember to replace the anode every four years, as opposed to going Stainless Steel.

However, expect to pay anywhere from about $4000 to $6000 for a system. I believe Origin is offering the Dux Sunpro systems too?

[comagutsa]

Originally Posted by SPArKy_Dave

Where about's in the solar system, was this picture taken?
On one end, or in the middle?

I could be wrong, but if the panel on the r/h side of the pic, is an end panel........
it appears that it's just plugged into itself, without being a part of the system.

Can you take another pic showing where the wires go for that panel?

yeah its an end one ..i will get back up there later and get some more pics for you

panels are facing north

and i will get a pic of the inverter for you also later today

yeah not really happy with the wiring job

[Stagg]

Originally Posted by comagutsa

yeah not really happy with the wiring job

Wiring seems that everything is in place, but whether it looks sloppy or not shouldn't really affect the performance of the system.. As long as everything is actually wired correctly it shouldnt matter how it looks

That said if I got solar panels put on my roof (if I could afford a house lol) I would still want a clean job.