Solar panels.

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wobblysauce
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Re: Solar panels.

Post by wobblysauce »

Still can't get over how the other panels were disconnected for so long.
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Re: Solar panels.

Post by norbs »

Finally got my new system all up and running. Still some wrinkles, but it is nearly there.

Yesterday, a near perfect day, I produced 47Kwh between my 2 systems.. Booyah!

Not hard to tell the difference.

Image

I reckon in Oct/Nov I might be able to crack 50KWh.
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Re: Solar panels.

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You're becoming quite a solar mogul :) Looking nice.
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Re: Solar panels.

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I'm happy with mine!
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Re: Solar panels.

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norbs wrote:Finally got my new system all up and running. Still some wrinkles, but it is nearly there.
it's amazing what action a facebook rant can get :)
eek
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Re: Solar panels.

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Hey guys, looks like we might finally get a new smart meter next month to allow us to move to net metering. Is there anything I should be making sure we do in terms of meter type or settings, to ensure its compatible with getting batteries later?

Ideally, I want to use our panel power to run our home first, then have the remainder feed the grid; then when we have a battery, to feed our house first, charge battery second and then feed balance into the grid.
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Re: Solar panels.

Post by nutty »

Brought my first house last week, Time to look at Solar.

Our powerbill is ~300-450 a quarter, so not huge, but my new job is working from home so it allows me to do things like washing/dishwasher during the day.

I did notice the QLD gov are about to do a rebate, so I might wait to see what that is
https://www.qld.gov.au/community/cost-o ... ery-rebate
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Re: Solar panels.

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smithcorp wrote:Hey guys, looks like we might finally get a new smart meter next month to allow us to move to net metering. Is there anything I should be making sure we do in terms of meter type or settings, to ensure its compatible with getting batteries later?

Ideally, I want to use our panel power to run our home first, then have the remainder feed the grid; then when we have a battery, to feed our house first, charge battery second and then feed balance into the grid.
Smiss, as far as I knolw, and I may be wrong, but your house will use anything you produce first, before pulling from the grid. That is how it works here for me.

The battery should do something pretty similar.
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Re: Solar panels.

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So no special settings i need to ask for?
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Re: Solar panels.

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smithcorp wrote:So no special settings i need to ask for?

I wouldn't expect so, but you can always download the instruction manual for your inverter and see if anything stands out.
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Re: Solar panels.

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So, Origin will be installing our net meter in the next 30 days, prompting me to think about (and ask for advice on) what we should be doing as a household to get the most out of our panels. We have gas hot water, gas cooktop and gas for heating (though we have no gas heater installed yet). Later in the year, or next year, we are likely to get a battery installed, but in the meantime...

We are not big power users, but i figure we can run our washing machine and dishwasher during the day rather than at night in off-peak time as we do now, and get electric mower and line trimmer to replace the petrol ones; and use electric heaters (during the day), but what other things are clever?

I doubt the sums add up to replace our perfectly fine gas water heater, but are there any clever ideas?
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Re: Solar panels.

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electric heater

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Re: Solar panels.

Post by ysu »

Crypto mining is the best use for free power ;).
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Re: Solar panels.

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ysu wrote:Crypto mining is the best use for free power ;).

Will be using it as a heater in the brides office soon. 2 x 1080 should warm it up nicely, and make me profit :)
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Re: Solar panels.

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norbs wrote:
ysu wrote:Crypto mining is the best use for free power ;).

Will be using it as a heater in the brides office soon. 2 x 1080 should warm it up nicely, and make me profit :)
Yeah, it's not bad - my office, small as it is, is very nice and cozy with the server & the desktop running; and I'm not even mining!
But keep in mind, a computer running full tilt for mining can be noisy...you need good water cooling and a silent case.
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Re: Solar panels.

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ysu wrote:
norbs wrote:
ysu wrote:Crypto mining is the best use for free power ;).

Will be using it as a heater in the brides office soon. 2 x 1080 should warm it up nicely, and make me profit :)
Yeah, it's not bad - my office, small as it is, is very nice and cozy with the server & the desktop running; and I'm not even mining!
But keep in mind, a computer running full tilt for mining can be noisy...you need good water cooling and a silent case.
I only GPU mine, so it is pretty quiet.

The PC with 2 x 1070s in it is noisy, but I dont have any case fan management on that one. Too lazy. :)
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Re: Solar panels.

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So, net metering is working. Just reviewed our profile in power use from the grid versus solar feed-in for one day (May 29th). We are on a FIT of $0.15 per kw/h which is one of the highest we could find. On that day we were charged $2.31 for power and generated $2.86 for a profit of $.55.

That day our 5kw panels generated 14.31kw/h which is a pretty ordinary day (the original 1.6kw panels (which I can't monitor remotely) seem to have contributed only about 4.75kwh). On a good summer day, the 5kw panels pump out 40+ kwh. I did some (probably incorrect) quick calcs that suggest our new panels will pay themselves off in less than 5 years.

Our electricity bills since we changed over to Origin in July last year (to March 2018) were $316.85 and our panels (at a lower rate then of $0.09) generated $1295 in FIT, for a credit over 8 months of more than $300!

Pretty happy with the decision to increase the solar we have.
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Re: Solar panels.

Post by norbs »

If you can afford the initial outlay, it is a no brainer.

3 more weeks Smiss, and the days will start getting longer again. Fuck winter ;)
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Re: Solar panels.

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https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal ... 4zixo.html


I cant believe one guys panels were dead for 4 months, and her didnt realise! FFS.
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Re: Solar panels.

Post by wobblysauce »

Wow, did not think it was that high... Knew of some.
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Re: Solar panels.

Post by smithcorp »

Been looking at our solar generation and power use and figure its time to get a battery. One of the interesting things is that even in winter, on crappy days (we had two days of pretty solid rain here last week), our solar generates 4-5 kw/h per day. Our daily use is 4.5-6 kw/h on a weekday and 6-8 on a weekend, so a modest battery should cover our needs even if we get a few days of overcast. Not planning to go off the grid, but panels plus battery should drop our power costs by 80-90% and my company will give me an interest free, pre-tax loan that will cover half the cost of a battery!
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Re: Solar panels.

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I reckon you will beat me to the punch here Smiss.

I cant believe how little energy you guys use. I suppose the big difference is that we are home working here, but on an average day when the bride is home, we get through about 15-20kw/h. Since I am Bitcoin mining that has gone up a bit, but we are still close to even in winter. Unless it is a shitty day. But summer more than covers it, so I am not worried. Plus, I have made a tidy little profit out of crypto mining.

Keep us informed Smiss.
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Re: Solar panels.

Post by Sarsippius »

It's interesting, having the 1:1 buyback here is really good but it kinda rules out or at least lessens the benefits of battery storage or getting into things like crypto mining.

I've had my system for a touch over a year now and it's generated about $2,200 so it's well on it's way to paying for itself in four years.
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Re: Solar panels.

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Sarsippius wrote:It's interesting, having the 1:1 buyback here is really good but it kinda rules out or at least lessens the benefits of battery storage or getting into things like crypto mining.

I've had my system for a touch over a year now and it's generated about $2,200 so it's well on it's way to paying for itself in four years.

I will have to add that to my spreadsheet to see the benefits. But if you are concerned with ROI, yes, it is better for sure.

I have switched from wanting to pay the system off as quickly as possible to balancing it a bit with generating crypto currencies. Just this year, I have taken $1100 out of mining to buy toys, and even with the market in the shitter like today, I have another $1200 worth of coins sitting there.

That said, I have 4 GPUs working away. So there is that investment. But I have only bought 2 since I started mining, and they have paid for themselves already. :)

I think you get a shit ton more sun than us too Sarsi. ;)
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Re: Solar panels.

Post by Sarsippius »

norbs wrote:I think you get a shit ton more sun than us too Sarsi. ;)
Yeah on balance we have it pretty good but there is still quite a bit of seasonal variation that you might not expect
Solar-01.JPG
You can see quite a drastic change from June compared to the latter months of the year, mostly due to the sun's inclination and shorter days, then Jan and Feb took quite a hit from all the rain.

Solar-02.JPG
This is the daily for Jan which is a pretty good indication of how the rain can set in, especially near the end of the month where some days I can barely generate 3-4kWh, then it's suddenly clear on the 31st and bam it's back up over 35kWh.

Solar-03.JPG
Last month you can see it's clear and sunny everyday, it's just the max per day has dropped to the 20-25kWh range.


I jumped on the roof over the weekend, it's been a good few months since the last rain and the panels were filthy with dust. It may not be 100% of the difference but after spraying them down with the hose the following day was up 1kWh :yes:
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