Soldato
Mine took a week in contrast…western power
Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?
- Thread starter GinG
- Start date
Soldato
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cant they install it set up for G98 and then move it over once the paperwork comes through?
(G98 i think anyone can get without applying (please correct me if i am wrong) and it still allows a fairly decent 3.5kwhish export.
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Soldato
Everybody has the right to export 3.68 kWh, but if the inverter is rated higher then it needs G99, but I think there is a fast track option where it can be installed and limited to 3.68kW and altered once approved.
Man of Honour
You don't really want to do a G98 then find out after the install that the grid won't let you go over 3.68kWh
good point - makes a big difference on who your local network is, worth asking the installer what their recent experience has been
good point - makes a big difference on who your local network is, worth asking the installer what their recent experience has been
Soldato
It’s a strange one though as my mate got his install a week earlier, same company, same supplier - western power, but he’s still waiting to be signed off! I think it may be regional/demand relatedYou don't really want to do a G98 then find out after the install that the grid won't let you go over 3.68kWh
good point - makes a big difference on who your local network is, worth asking the installer what their recent experience has been
Soldato
Bear in mind the 3.68 is only the export limitation and you can have a larger array and hence may need a larger inverter, you just may be limited to 3.68 export.
It still makes sense to get say a 5kw inverter if you have more than 3.68kw of panels and just accept that there could be some small chance of clipping as you cannot export all your producing.
It still makes sense to get say a 5kw inverter if you have more than 3.68kw of panels and just accept that there could be some small chance of clipping as you cannot export all your producing.
Associate
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Looks like can only get 10 panels on my roof 
All the guy done was measure length of house, nothing with how much distance there is from centre of roof to front of house to see if two rows would fit so I got no idea of what panels might fit cause I dont know distance from middle to front of house on roof.
All the guy done was measure length of house, nothing with how much distance there is from centre of roof to front of house to see if two rows would fit so I got no idea of what panels might fit cause I dont know distance from middle to front of house on roof.
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Soldato
Battery update. (kind of)
They failed to meet the requested and agreed come back to me by Friday.
Today I asked for some evidence of the same install elsewhere, do they see the same issue, or is it limited to mine.
Today they semi proposed changing BMS, I am not sure if this is a specific proposal or stage 1 in regards trying to problem solve depending if the other sites show the same issue as mine.
Obviously if other sites have the same issue its more likely a more serious manufacturer issue, if not then its a localised issue of one or more of inverter/matebox (unlikely I think), BMS, 1-4 batteries
The manufacturer has failed to come back to them. I am not surprised, I am starting to think this could be repeated elsewhere.
These are new fast charging batteries (2 will charge in an hour with my inverter) and my suspicion is they haven't got something quite right and as Ronski pointed out before, they quite a powerful balancing current in order to keep the cells in line if they charge faster.
I will go back and say sure in regards BMS. the BMS retail is about £330 so its not a big amount they are swapping in/out in the grand scheme of things.
I guess they can always swap it back out quite quickly if it doesn't help.
Part of my annoyance now is that with generation being as high as it is the batteries are rarely going to be empty enough to see proper charging issues, which are far more obvious when charging from "empty".
They were over 80% last night when they hit the charge window.
They failed to meet the requested and agreed come back to me by Friday.
Today I asked for some evidence of the same install elsewhere, do they see the same issue, or is it limited to mine.
Today they semi proposed changing BMS, I am not sure if this is a specific proposal or stage 1 in regards trying to problem solve depending if the other sites show the same issue as mine.
Obviously if other sites have the same issue its more likely a more serious manufacturer issue, if not then its a localised issue of one or more of inverter/matebox (unlikely I think), BMS, 1-4 batteries
The manufacturer has failed to come back to them. I am not surprised, I am starting to think this could be repeated elsewhere.
These are new fast charging batteries (2 will charge in an hour with my inverter) and my suspicion is they haven't got something quite right and as Ronski pointed out before, they quite a powerful balancing current in order to keep the cells in line if they charge faster.
I will go back and say sure in regards BMS. the BMS retail is about £330 so its not a big amount they are swapping in/out in the grand scheme of things.
I guess they can always swap it back out quite quickly if it doesn't help.
Part of my annoyance now is that with generation being as high as it is the batteries are rarely going to be empty enough to see proper charging issues, which are far more obvious when charging from "empty".
They were over 80% last night when they hit the charge window.
Soldato
Can you not measure it yourself?Looks like can only get 10 panels on my roof
All the guy done was measure length of house, nothing with how much distance there is from centre of roof to front of house to see if two rows would fit so I got no idea of what panels might fit cause I dont know distance from middle to front of house on roof.
Associate
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Nope, 2 story house and cant get in the loft myself.
Associate
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Jinko do 470w panels but im never breaking a 5kw system unless I can get 2 rows of 500w panels.
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Soldato
City plumbing do 500w panels @ 200 bucks a piece……actually 540w at 250
Sharp 540W Silver Frame White Back Sheet Pv Module Nujd540
This 144 half cell, high wattage solar panel is optimised for long term performance and reliability.
www.cityplumbing.co.uk
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Soldato
You can get a pretty decent measurement just using Google Maps satellite view tbh, use the measure distance tool.
Soldato
If you can get ground measurements and a side on picture you can work out the roof space fairly easily.
Just 1) measure front and side
2) get a side photo (from perfect side position) and manually measure the angle on a photo
3) use front plus half side and angle of roof to give you missing roof dimension
If that sounds tricky get 1 and 2 and we can help you here in regards 3
Soldato
So whats the length of the house??
Associate
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20ft
Terraced house, connected door-door on one side and arched alley on other side. Recent cladding on home will not give accurate measurements.
Doesn't sloping skew that?
Going to have to get him to make sure what he proposes will actually fit before handing over any money.
Soldato
Your not fitting 10panels in two rows of five if the property length is only 20ft……
panels are 1.77m long and 1.07m wide…….so in landscape, thats two rows of 4 or in portrait it would be tough to fit two rows unless the roof is at least 3.6mtrs to the peak due to not being allowed to go above and i think within 300mm of the peak and 300mm from the front…so only giving you 3 usable metres and you would need over 3.4mtrs to put two rows in portrait.
Thats so that wind doesnt get up under the panels and help to lift them off the roof.
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Soldato
You can do the ball of string measure if you can easily access both front and back.
1) get ball of string, "peg it to front ground"
2) throw ball over roof.
3) mark front and rear points it touches the ground with a slight tension applied.
4) pull it over to the back and measure the length. deduct 2x height of house and half the remainder for "length of roof from gutter to peak"
4b) if you do not know height of house. Mark the ground at the back then pull it back towards the front until that mark is level with the bottom edge of the roof at the back, again mark at ground level. For this the first mark is probably going to need to be something tied to the string so you can see if from ground level.
This should give you a reasonably accurate length, certainly close enough to work out if panels will fit or not.
As welshman says you typically need to leave 30cm around the edges, for wind sheer and also working space for people going up. Some will cut that a little closer but you cannot literally fill the roof.
1) get ball of string, "peg it to front ground"
2) throw ball over roof.
3) mark front and rear points it touches the ground with a slight tension applied.
4) pull it over to the back and measure the length. deduct 2x height of house and half the remainder for "length of roof from gutter to peak"
4b) if you do not know height of house. Mark the ground at the back then pull it back towards the front until that mark is level with the bottom edge of the roof at the back, again mark at ground level. For this the first mark is probably going to need to be something tied to the string so you can see if from ground level.
This should give you a reasonably accurate length, certainly close enough to work out if panels will fit or not.
As welshman says you typically need to leave 30cm around the edges, for wind sheer and also working space for people going up. Some will cut that a little closer but you cannot literally fill the roof.
Associate
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distance on maps says this
So by the sounds of it im going to have trouble getting even a 4kw system up there
435w panels are 1,722mm long
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