All things Solar (merged threads)

[Blue Ice]

So far, thrown a few feelers out using online quotes, will be interesting to see what comes of it.

[davenl5l]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

3 separate installs now......No 1 has problems (over consumption)......No 2 had a couple of breakdowns but is working well now.......No 3 is brilliant, more money spent initially and it shows.

looking at another now, trouble is the travel and freight on this stuff.

hey poppa just wondering what the added cost is of your stand alone add on ?

[ThornyBob]

G'day,

Originally Posted by Blue Ice

Some interesting reading here, I'm currently debating going solar myself, mainly for feed in but also to help offset some of my usage.......

In Victoria, forget it unless someone is at home to use the power you generate. You will get back a lousy 8 cents a unit, go to work all day and you will feed it into the grid for them to onsell at 30 cents....

We suffered a total con job here, signed sealed and delivered before the cut off date, BUT, the cut off date is a moveable feast as it applies to when your supplier can bothered going out to check the install. They came three months later here so we missed the cut off, and gave us a bill for looking at the meter as well - government sponsored con job.

So, we make the most of it. All the power sucking we can do is done when the sun is shining, yep, like a previous poster, I'd like a changeover switch for the HWS as well. We have a 4kW system which gets up to those numbers in the middle of the day at the right time of year, Munsterland panels & SMA inverter which I can log into with the PC.

cheers,
Bob

[poppa smurf]

all depends on peak usage mate, I havent gone stand alone yet because of council reg's (noise abatement ruling from generator as well as fire reg's).

but the one's I have planned and helped install vary greatly, one had his own genny and found inverter/converter, panels and batteries online close by cheap.

to buy everything brand new for even a 15 kilowatt system would be well up there, probably, and i'm guessing here, around $30,000 if you do most of it yourself.

it would vary as to battery type, whether you went 24 volt pre converter or 12v, 6 volt batteries or 12v.

size and type of genny, so many variables.

[Pepscobra]

I got a question regarding solar power, not for my house, but for a set of automatic gates at the front; I've found a kit online that is solar powered, which I thinks a good idea as it means I don't have to pull up paving to lay power from the house.

Anyone else got one of these setups and is it reliable?

Cheers, Joe.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by Pepscobra

I got a question regarding solar power, not for my house, but for a set of automatic gates at the front; I've found a kit online that is solar powered, which I thinks a good idea as it means I don't have to pull up paving to lay power from the house.

Anyone else got one of these setups and is it reliable?

Cheers, Joe.

I reckon Yeti either had one of these installed or knew of someone who did......I recall reading about it ....send him a PM.

[Blue Ice]

Originally Posted by ThornyBob

G'day,



In Victoria, forget it unless someone is at home to use the power you generate. You will get back a lousy 8 cents a unit, go to work all day and you will feed it into the grid for them to onsell at 30 cents....

We suffered a total con job here, signed sealed and delivered before the cut off date, BUT, the cut off date is a moveable feast as it applies to when your supplier can bothered going out to check the install. They came three months later here so we missed the cut off, and gave us a bill for looking at the meter as well - government sponsored con job.

So, we make the most of it. All the power sucking we can do is done when the sun is shining, yep, like a previous poster, I'd like a changeover switch for the HWS as well. We have a 4kW system which gets up to those numbers in the middle of the day at the right time of year, Munsterland panels & SMA inverter which I can log into with the PC.

cheers,
Bob

Fair point, 8c per kwH probably makes it hardly worth it from a feed in point of view, however it'll help offset my use during the day as I have a few things that run periodically, mainly a spa and a few odds and ends.

[sgt_doofey]

Other things you can do during the day is run things like washing machines, dishwashers and dryers. All of those appliances that use a lot of power.
A lot of these appliances have time delay functions on them and it'll save you in the long run.

I generally set them to run from about midday to best utilise the solar setup.

[LG17]

Got on to Energy Matters as Poppa Smurf suggested and got this quote:

I don't know if the stuff they use is any good or not but I do know they're over 2 grand cheaper...

5.00kW Daqo Panels / Phono-Sumec Panels, Aurora 5.0kW Inverter
Performance Range: 20 x Daqo Panel / Phono Sumec 250W Panels, built to Energy Matters endorsed specifications.*
Aurora PVI-5.0-OUTD Italian-Made Inverter
SunLock Australian Made Mounting System *Daqo or Phono Sumec will be installed based on stock availability.


$8477.00

[poppa smurf]

well thats a good first step, grab half a dozen other quotes and you will be on your way.

make sure you compare apples with apples though.....

my inverter is an S.M.A. and my panels are R.E.C.

my eluding to EM solar was for the purposes of a "starting" point for quotes, not a full blown reference to buy from them.

however I am very happy with them and their gear. (I have no association with EM solar)

[prydey]

as a guide to how much difference to price different brands can make, an SMA (sunny boy) inverter would have bumped the price of my system up by $3k. they are arguably the best inverter on the market, but they don't get given away.

this is why there is a huge amount of variation in the prices you will come across. rarely are you comparing apples with apples.

[LG17]

I have 3 other quotes - one I'm ignoring; let's just call it sales attitude
It's very difficult to get similar quotes because they all seem to plug what they want to sell. It's hard to find a true "independent."

[poppa smurf]

a good starting point is the guarantee, most will give 25 years warranty, albeit on a sliding production scale I.E. solar production is guaranteed to go no lower than say 75% after 25 years.

No 1 is to trust your instinct, if it doesn't "sound" or indeed "feel" right, it probably isn't.

dont take pushy salesman.......get references from actual installs in your area.

how long has the company been in business, will it still be there in 25 years time?......probably not but if the system is backed by a large corporation then maybe it will still be covered.

dont go in "on a whim", do your math's and your homework.......I know i go on about the "homework" but this is a big decision and one that should not be taken lightly.

[zeuss000]

Just got my first power bill since having solar fitted to the roof and i must say I'm pretty happy.. $232 all up less $85 for the FIT, was pleasantly surprised as there are 2 of us home all day, I have now changed from Origin to Click to get the extra 8 cents per kw FIT so should be even better next time..
Cheers
Ed

[LG17]

I've always ignored pushy salesmen - just look at my response to the "attitude" salesman previously.

It's a bit difficult checking with others in the area as the house in line for the solar is about 1600km from where I live now. I'll have a chat though to people I know here and see what brands they've gone with and how happy they are.

[poppa smurf]

in the end we can only do what we can do, there are a lot of online solar quoting sites that could be used for comparison.

here is one place ... http://www.solarquotes.com.au/index_a.html

you could also "google" the name of any given company in the hope of finding a bit of info on them, a lot of dissatisfied customers often take to the airwaves now, hopefully you may find some recommendations for your area as well.

this http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2063848 is a good site for info, it would appear that Daqo are not too bad but have only been on the market for 5 years.

REC are bankrupt apparently.

[sgt_doofey]

Went up on to the roof to clean out the evaporative air conditioner today, to get ready for summer and discovered this!





Buggered if I know how long its been like that for as it still works! I've turned it off at the other isolator and the mains though, just in case.

We've had a fair bit of rain lately too!

As it's a public holiday here in SA, I won't be able to get on to the installer until tomorrow. Fingers crossed they'll sort it out pretty quick as we got some good solar weather at the moment!

[poppa smurf]

Oh! ****.......close call there, been a couple of fires caused through exactly this recently.

I know there was a recall on some of these isolation boxes but I cant for the life of me remember what brand they were.

make sure you isolate your inverter and pull the fuse as well.

[zeuss000]

Went up on to the roof to clean out the evaporative air conditioner today, to get ready for summer and discovered this!

Bloody hell mate!! That looks like it could have been nasty.. Please keep us up to date when you find what caused it..
Cheers
Ed

[sgt_doofey]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

make sure you isolate your inverter and pull the fuse as well.

Bit hard when you have circuit breakers

I've turned off the isolator at the inverter and turned off the circuit breaker for the mains feed as well.

Looks like this is the recall you were talking about: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1948110

[peaterj]

I've had a 1.9 system installed since August 2011 cost was $3400 back then and my quarterly bills were just over $300.

I haven't paid an electricity bill since and currently have a $73 credit after winter ,jumps up to over $200 in summer.

My system was one of the cheapies and i am on my third inverter , originally had 2 klne sunteams first lasted 3 months 2nd lasted about twice that and have had a JFY fitted for well over 15 months.

There was no hassle getting them changed under warranty , another 12 months and i will be in front on my purchase price.

[prydey]

i've noticed a few pics now where the system has the isolator up on the roof with the panels. my system doesn't. i have a main switch and isolator switch on the wall of the house near the inverter.

is this just different ways of installing things?

[peaterj]

Originally Posted by prydey

i've noticed a few pics now where the system has the isolator up on the roof with the panels. my system doesn't. i have a main switch and isolator switch on the wall of the house near the inverter.

is this just different ways of installing things?

My system is the same as yours isolator near the inverter, yet my next door neighbour has an isolator near the panels plus another near the inverter.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by prydey

i've noticed a few pics now where the system has the isolator up on the roof with the panels. my system doesn't. i have a main switch and isolator switch on the wall of the house near the inverter.

is this just different ways of installing things?

different way I guess, the one on the roof may be simply a "handier" place to have it.

most that I've seen have rooftop isolator, main and solar isolator next to inverter, circuit breaker for solar, and another in the fuse box.


sgtDoofey, all you can do is to throw the breakers I guess, wonder why they didn't cut out, power didn't go to ground I suppose.

[davenl5l]

Originally Posted by peaterj

I've had a 1.9 system installed since August 2011 cost was $3400 back then and my quarterly bills were just over $300.

I haven't paid an electricity bill since and currently have a $73 credit after winter ,jumps up to over $200 in summer.

My system was one of the cheapies and i am on my third inverter , originally had 2 klne sunteams first lasted 3 months 2nd lasted about twice that and have had a JFY fitted for well over 15 months.

There was no hassle getting them changed under warranty , another 12 months and i will be in front on my purchase price.

my inverter is jfy . same here about 15 months no problems

[Blue Ice]

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

Went up on to the roof to clean out the evaporative air conditioner today, to get ready for summer and discovered this!

image

image

Buggered if I know how long its been like that for as it still works! I've turned it off at the other isolator and the mains though, just in case.

We've had a fair bit of rain lately too!

As it's a public holiday here in SA, I won't be able to get on to the installer until tomorrow. Fingers crossed they'll sort it out pretty quick as we got some good solar weather at the moment!

Doesn't look too good! Wonder why it let go?

[sgt_doofey]

The guys came out and fixed it up today. Great service!

They've just attributed it to a faulty isolator.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

[poppa smurf]

good news, always make's me smile when I hear of decent service, unfortunately becoming a rarity these days.

[Bearman]

A good mate had installed solar. Unsure of the details but he has lots of panels.

The payback for the power returned to the grid is not what he was quoted from his energy company and they managed to slap a few "admin charges" on him to further diminish his return. It'll take twice as long to pay itself off.

Basically he was ripped off.

Solar?? Wouldn't bother.

[LG17]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

in the end we can only do what we can do, there are a lot of online solar quoting sites that could be used for comparison.

here is one place ... http://www.solarquotes.com.au/index_a.html

you could also "google" the name of any given company in the hope of finding a bit of info on them, a lot of dissatisfied customers often take to the airwaves now, hopefully you may find some recommendations for your area as well.

this http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2063848 is a good site for info, it would appear that Daqo are not too bad but have only been on the market for 5 years.

REC are bankrupt apparently.

Interestingly enough I used solarquotes.com and have had 3 responses - one an email directing me to their useless website which doesn't appear to work, two a phone call asking what I wanted and where (I'm sure I stated that in the initial contact) and then saying to contact them when I take possession of the house and three, an email followed by a phone call and further emails asking/informing me about NMI and an IES form for Ergon - things that I had no idea about. They are finding out some info and I expect a proper quote this week. I hope it's good as a bit of old fashioned service goes a long way.