Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

Ron-ski said:
@Troop I presume it can't be configured for specific alarms then?
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I found it emailed me every alarm state no matter how trivial. but yes, you can set up your own alarm for individual components that are connected via the VRM.
You can also turn off the email notifications, it will show and log alarms/notifications then only via the portal or Remote console.
 
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@Ron-ski

In the VRM portal, when you are setting it up.

Go to settings......Alarm rules, then you will see this.

Just then choose any device that's connected to set up an alarm for that device (Add new alarm rule, it will ask you to choose which device the alarm is for)


1ta0c2I.jpg
 
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Anyone know of any online retailers or similar where you can buy solar equipment?

I am half tempted to DIY a couple more panels onto the back of my garage roof, I'd need to measure but reckon I could get 3 panels on it.

My current install consists of a 5kw inverter and 4.5kw of panels, the panels are wired into one string on the inverter, meaning I could pretty easily wire up another few panels on the other string. It might underspec the inverter, say 5.3 kw of solar vs 5kw inverter but it'll only be like the middle of the day during the middle of the summer it'll really go over. I believe it is ok to do that?

That part of the roof is south west facing and gets a lot of sun in the afternoon/evening so would compliment the rest of my install nicely, and give me a much wider generation curve.

The most tricky bit will be mouting the panels, its a garage roof so only single story so wouldnt need scaffolding, but would need the right mounting kit for "wavy" roof tiles and ive never done any kind of roofing work before - you can tell as I am sure they are not called "wavy" lol.
 
That'll be fine adding more panels going over the rating. Very common to do that, and plan on doing it myself as my inverter installed this year is the same, and it's specs actually allow for 7kWp panels on a 3.6kW inverter, with a 5kW battery charge rate. Like you say, its not often the solar will go way over the max rating, but it'll add a lot more to the shoulder seasons when solar isnt that strong. Bumble, ITS, tradesparky/solar for purchases are some off the top of my head.
 
1pudding1 said:
That'll be fine adding more panels going over the rating. Very common to do that, and plan on doing it myself as my inverter installed this year is the same, and it's specs actually allow for 7kWp panels on a 3.6kW inverter, with a 5kW battery charge rate. Like you say, its not often the solar will go way over the max rating, but it'll add a lot more to the shoulder seasons when solar isnt that strong. Bumble, ITS, tradesparky/solar for purchases are some off the top of my head.
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If it's on separate string won't it need a minimum number of panels to hit the voltage required to start up the inverter?
 
1pudding1 said:
Yup, there will be a min voltage spec for your inverter.
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Ok thanks I'll see if I can find it.

2.5-6kW PV string inverter_ Residential inverters - Solis solar inverter

S5-GR1P(2.5-6)K series inverter is designed for residential PV plants. The maximum input current per string is 14A, which is compatible with high-efficiency modules and bi-facial modules. Compact and lightweight design, bring easy installation. The protection level is increased to IP66...
www.ginlong.com www.ginlong.com

60v start up, but not sure if that is per string or total.

EDIT2: going by my existing panels, looks like they put out 40.5v each, so I reckon if I have minimum 2 panels should work?

To be honest, if I can get 2 or 3 panels up there ill try and see if I can find some really good ones, 400w+ it'll be worth it and if I can get 3 will put another 1.2kw taking the system up to 5.7kw (all be it capped at 5).
 
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I roughly measured the roof, it's about 2.5m wide, and 3m tall (probably 10% more each way) the type of tiles as per the pictures and the underside is exposed already as it's a garage so it has the wooden supports running down with a membrane in between. The lower photo was taken at a dodgy angle but it is all straight.

IMG-20221014-124930.jpg


IMG-20221014-125010.jpg
 
You'll want to leave a good 30-50cm on any edge if you can, so once measured you'd have a central bit to play with in terms of space. I have 40CM to the edges on my roof but it's a little tight if you want to be able to traverse the edges once they're up.

Top and bottom I have less but it's just due to space constraints, I probably went a bit too close for comfort but it seems OK.
 
In which case I may only get 2 on there if they are "standard" size, and then I am not sure about the start up voltage, most panels I can find state an output voltage of 30v, if the inverter requires 60v that's cutting it a little close.
 
If it's 3M tall and 2.5M wide and you have a bit of fat in that, my 370W panels are about 1M * 1.7M in size, you could in theory get 3 panels horizontally orientated?

If it's a little over 3M in height to work with that I think that might just fit.
 
BUDFORCE said:
The most tricky bit will be mouting the panels, its a garage roof so only single story so wouldnt need scaffolding, but would need the right mounting kit for "wavy" roof tiles and ive never done any kind of roofing work before - you can tell as I am sure they are not called "wavy" lol.
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For roof mounting, then you would use proper mounting hooks and rails. You need to remove the tiles fasten the hooks to the roof rafters, and then cut a gap in the tiles for the rail support, then put the tile back in place. It really isn't hard, you just measure 37 times cut once, and make sure you've got the correct amount of hooks per panel row.
 
Journey said:
For roof mounting, then you would use proper mounting hooks and rails. You need to remove the tiles fasten the hooks to the roof rafters, and then cut a gap in the tiles for the rail support, then put the tile back in place. It really isn't hard, you just measure 37 times cut once, and make sure you've got the correct amount of hooks per panel row.
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When I saw the roofer doing the original intall he was using a multitool I guess to chisel/file away a bit of the roof tile underneath so the metal support will fit under without pushing the roof tile up out of its normal angle.
 
BUDFORCE said:
When I saw the roofer doing the original intall he was using a multitool I guess to chisel/file away a bit of the roof tile underneath so the metal support will fit under without pushing the roof tile up out of its normal angle.
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Yes that is the idea, you keep the integrity of the tile/roof covering but have access to the hook for the rails. When I was doing mine I used a small 18v grinder, and that was for two full roof sides worth of tiles, but you could use a multitool with the correct fitting.
 
I measured again a bit more accurately, still not precise mind you I'd need to get up on there properly.

The roof is about 3500mm tall. Thats from the very bottom of the bottom roof tile up to the point at the top. The only thing is though, I am not sure how easy it would be to moved the very top roof tile if I needed as its set in concrete/morter to the point of the roof (you can see on the photo earlier), I will have to see if I can find panels that ideally are a meter wide or less and might squeez 3 on in a horizontal orientation, there would be plenty of room down the sides thoough.
 
Could get three of these type maybe....

www.theoffgridengineer.co.uk

Canadian Solar 410W Super High Power Mono PERC HiKU with MC4-EVO2

Key Features:Rating: 410W Efficiency: 20.4% Width: 1,048mm Height: 1,940mm Price per Watt: (30.0p/Wp)
www.theoffgridengineer.co.uk www.theoffgridengineer.co.uk

They are longer and thinner than most, 1048mm, is 3144mm total, which might give me a little wiggle room. They are 410w I dont mind the silver look im not fussy about that, apparently the silver ones suffer a bit less from heat effeciency loss as well.

This site also does a mounting kit: https://www.theoffgridengineer.co.u...d-slate-roof-mounting-kit-3-solar-panels-p635
 
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