Domestic Solar PV Quotes 2020

DrPhilG

DrPhilG wrote: »

Also my tumble dryer is clinging to life by a thread and has been for a while. So when I replace it I'll be getting one with smart control so I can turn it on remotely too.

Perhaps not, such a thing seems to be damn near impossible.

Most smart enabled washers and dryers aren't smart at all. They just let you connect via NFC to check status. Only a few let you actually connect via WiFi and remotely activate a cycle.

unkel

garo wrote: »

Note that the difference between this switch and iBoost/Eddi is that the switch is On/Off whereas the diverters only direct excess so can modulate amount of power going to your immersion. Still something is better than nothing. And you could set up some IFTTT rules if so inclined.

It makes sense to get one if you have a 6kwp system like DrPhilG. Just switch it on on a blue sky day where you are likely to produce well over 3kW in excess of what you are using for hours on end. Send 15kWh to your immersion like that. Worth €0.75. Do this on 15 days a year and the thing pays for itself after 4-5 years

In other words it doesn't really makes much sense but it's an interesting gadget for anyone who considers this renewables business their hobby

I put a sneaky €50 bid in for an iBoost on eBay the other day, obviously lost the auction but might do so again, but wouldn't pay much more than that and I will fit DIY. All for the craic of course

garo

Oh yes I agree it makes sense for someone who has oil/gas heating. I have been a manual "smart" switch for my immersion this summer as I have worked from home and have dumped 250kWh excess PV into the hot water cylinder. Of course I am only a little bit smart so sometimes I ended up drawing a few hundred watts from the grid but it is still cheaper than gas especially as my boiler is old and ~78% efficient.

phester28

Just a quick question.

I got the panels mounted as part of the install. Electrical to follow.

But I was told I was getting amerisolar panels. The panels that they have brought have passivehousesystem.ie branding as if the company are rebranding them themselves.

I have a serial number as it is behind the glass also on the frame and on the back. the format of the serial is: 998819071500070916. I have it from the company (family friend) that said they only buy amerisolar and he sent me a pic of a pallet of as-6m30-300W Black. But Ive no way of verifying. Amerisolar were no help saying ask the company. I could just be worrying over nothing

Can anyone shed any light on this. Even Amerisolar serial number format would verify the manufacturer.

Geeyfds53573

Hi,

I am still researching the market but can’t seem to decide so need you guys to help once more.

I have one goodish side on my roof SE125
but chimney and dormer will cause some shading after lunchtime on a good day. The bad side NW305 also some shading from 20:00 onwards.

What do you think would be the best solution and most price efficient. Any innovative solutions or advice please.

Put as many panels on both sides of roof, two arrays. (8-9 each side 310kw) cheaper panels more of them, more production spread out, more labour and take the loss on the shading.

Optimizers - only needed on panels that might get the shading? Are they worth it? As in goodish side only might be worth it?

SolarEdge looks interesting but sadly can’t get much info or prices anyone know who installs it? And costs in comparison to optimizers?

or could a solution like putting two small arrays most powerful panels I can get (400w expensive panels) on goodish roof one array near the chimney and dormer, inverter will take 2 arrays (4 -5 each) so one array at edge will get sun for maybe two hrs longer. Battery comes into play then.

Choices really are 4kw optimised on goodish side expensive equipment (panels optimizers) or cheaper panels both sides 5.5kw not optimised and take losses.

Both sides optimised would be expensive and NW bad output so not worth it. Maybe do this scrap battery.

Maybe someone is kind enough to run the simulation and tell me that the NW305 is worth considering?


Forgetting about usage of household just based on a combination of power and spend which option would win out?

Greentree_uk

Hey Guys, any opinions on JASolar 340w panels? had someone advise against.

garo

Geeyfds53573 wrote: »

Hi,

I am still researching the market but can’t seem to decide so need you guys to help once more.

I have one goodish side on my roof SE125
but chimney and dormer will cause some shading after lunchtime on a good day. The bad side NW305 also some shading from 20:00 onwards.

What do you think would be the best solution and most price efficient. Any innovative solutions or advice please.

Put as many panels on both sides of roof, two arrays. (8-9 each side 310kw) cheaper panels more of them, more production spread out, more labour and take the loss on the shading.

Optimizers - only needed on panels that might get the shading? Are they worth it? As in goodish side only might be worth it?

SolarEdge looks interesting but sadly can’t get much info or prices anyone know who installs it? And costs in comparison to optimizers?

or could a solution like putting two small arrays most powerful panels I can get (400w expensive panels) on goodish roof one array near the chimney and dormer, inverter will take 2 arrays (4 -5 each) so one array at edge will get sun for maybe two hrs longer. Battery comes into play then.

Choices really are 4kw optimised on goodish side expensive equipment (panels optimizers) or cheaper panels both sides 5.5kw not optimised and take losses.

Both sides optimised would be expensive and NW bad output so not worth it. Maybe do this scrap battery.

Maybe someone is kind enough to run the simulation and tell me that the NW305 is worth considering?


Forgetting about usage of household just based on a combination of power and spend which option would win out?

If I were you I would go for panels both sides and only get optimisers on the SE side. Shading after 20:00 will have such a small impact on production it is not worth the optimisers. Optimisers will make a big difference on your good side production. Also note that the higher rated panels are usually larger so you may not be able to fit the same amount as the smaller less powerful panels.

Geeyfds53573

Thank you Sir - decision made so - Do I need them on each panel or just affected ones? And what would the additional cost be? Any idea if microinverters would be an option?

garo wrote: »

If I were you I would go for panels both sides and only get optimisers on the SE side. Shading after 20:00 will have such a small impact on production it is not worth the optimisers. Optimisers will make a big difference on your good side production. Also note that the higher rated panels are usually larger so you may not be able to fit the same amount as the smaller less powerful panels.

garo

Geeyfds53573 wrote: »

Thank you Sir - decision made so - Do I need them on each panel or just affected ones? And what would the additional cost be? Any idea if microinverters would be an option?

Just the affected ones is fine. Cost is ~50 euro per panel. Unkel here bought them off eBay for 30 I think. Tigo is a popular brand.

Here is a good explainer: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/solar-panel-optimisation/

Micro-inverters would mean you need a AC-coupled battery as you won't be needing a hybrid inverter at all. But you will probably find this the msot expensive solution.

unkel

Micro inverters on your roof is a bad idea. Every time one pops you would have to go back up on the roof.

Greenbin

Hello all. Got this quote today for a two storey, slate roof installation. How does it look to ye? 4 panels on south(all I can fit) and 6 on west facing side.
Any comments on the Bisol panels - are they ok?
Having followed this thread for a while I’ve chosen not to include a battery or diverter.(Already have solar thermal for hot water, supplemented by oil when needed)
Hoping the FIT comes along!
Will try to increase overall size by getting larger panels if I can fit them - would like to get to 4kWp if possible.
All comments welcome, thanks!

3.1kWp of modules kitted to a 2.2kWp Inverter
10 x Bisol 310w Monocrystalline modules (All black modules)*
Bisol Mounting system on a natural slate roof
Santon Fire Safety Switch
Santon Switch Gear
Sofar 3.0kWp Inverter
Costing
€6200 (inclusive of VAT)
-€1800 (SEAI Grant)
€4400 Final cost after grant incentive

phester28

if all panels are in the same orientation then your inverter is a little undersized.

As for price. I got 2.1kwp with a 3.5 dual string inverter (smallest dual available in the range) for 4.3k pre grant on slate. I would estimate around 200 per panel after that. So the figure seems high to me. You may get a better estimate by digging through the last pages of quotes.

I'm in the south

DrPhilG

Are there any positives or negatives in terms of panel layout? If I'm putting 10 on a west facing roof, does it matter if they're 10 in a row, or 2 rows of 5 but 2 panels high?

Greenbin

phester28 wrote: »

if all panels are in the same orientation then your inverter is a little undersized.

As for price. I got 2.1kwp with a 3.5 dual string inverter (smallest dual available in the range) for 4.3k pre grant on slate. I would estimate around 200 per panel after that. So the figure seems high to me. You may get a better estimate by digging through the last pages of quotes.

I'm in the south

Thanks for that, I’m in Galway.
The panels are split between south and west. Is the inverter ok for that?
That was the best quote I got by some distance(3k cheaper that the next best one)
Thanks again.

garo

Greenbin wrote: »

Thanks for that, I’m in Galway.
The panels are split between south and west. Is the inverter ok for that?
That was the best quote I got by some distance(3k cheaper that the next best one)
Thanks again.

I assume the Sofar inverter is not a hybrid one. I think the quote is a bit high. Also, you say 2.2kWp inverter but the Sofar is 3kWp one.

garo

DrPhilG wrote: »

Are there any positives or negatives in terms of panel layout? If I'm putting 10 on a west facing roof, does it matter if they're 10 in a row, or 2 rows of 5 but 2 panels high?

None as long as shading and min distance from roof edge is maintained.

jspuds

garo wrote: »

None as long as shading and min distance from roof edge is maintained.

Would also recommend allowing for future addition of panels in your layout

MAULBROOK

All comments welcome, thanks!

3.1kWp of modules kitted to a 2.2kWp Inverter
10 x Bisol 310w Monocrystalline modules (All black modules)*
Bisol Mounting system on a natural slate roof
Santon Fire Safety Switch
Santon Switch Gear
Sofar 3.0kWp Inverter
Costing
€6200 (inclusive of VAT)
-€1800 (SEAI Grant)
€4400 Final cost after grant incentive[/QUOTE]

The south facing roof would be my main point to have lager output panels on them.
400 watt plus would be my call and 330 to 340 on the west.
south will give you production during the winter and you can make hay during the summer with the west facing.
Inverter is on the small side.
And the price is a little too high
Personally i would go with a battery.

PM sent

DrPhilG

First stage done, garage laid out with 9 panels.

Zappi in place.

Greenbin

garo wrote: »

I assume the Sofar inverter is not a hybrid one. I think the quote is a bit high. Also, you say 2.2kWp inverter but the Sofar is 3kWp one.

Thanks garo. Yes the Solar inverter is non hybrid and that’s an error regarding inverter size on the first line of my original post(I copied and pasted from the suppliers quote).
To be fair my south facing roof isn’t the easiest to get panels on as there are 3 velux windows as well as the solar thermal and it’s not big to begin with.
Turns out my ‘West’ facing roof is actually about 15 degrees north of west and supplier says this might be an issue with SEAI re grant - anyone hear of that before? He does say that we will prob have enough on the other roof to get most if not all of the €1800 available though.

Grumpypants

I'm trying to gauge what size I should look at. And if an inverter or battery would be of any use.

Would I be better to look at a 2kw system and try use a higher% of what is made, or go with a 4kw+ option. I might not use as high a% but I think I'd still use a good chunk and live with the loss to grid. Or try balance the extra with the inverter/battery.

I'm working from home for the foreseeable (so a pc, 3 monitors, games console, phone charging, coffee machine etc are on the go most of the day) , and even if I go back to the office the family are here 4 out of 7 days so tv and radio etc. So we have a decent amount of steady/consistent day time useage of 5-6kw without the car charging.

I have a phev that could take 8-10kw a day. A 4kw charge at 9:30 after I drop the kids to school and another 4 at either 6 (on 3 days) or 1pm (on 2days). Or a full charge if I go further. But that is a fasting Rolex charger so prob has too fast a draw to be able to charge from the pv panels anyway.

I've started looking at my day time usage. Yesterday 8:30am to 8:30 pm was 14kw (1 full car charge) and today was just over 10kw with only 1/2 charge for the car.

Also I do have solar tubes for hot water, so the hot days I get it up to 40 anyway. So it doesn't need much oil to push it up to 60, I guess this would reduce to value an inverter would have.

I'm leaning towards just a simple 2kw, no inverter, no battery. Maybe look at a battery in a few, years if prices drop.


Short version, what size would give me about 5-6kw for steady day time use.

Thoughts?

championc

You're wasting your time with 2kw. You appear to be basing that decision on the fact that you're expecting to be generating 2kw for large parts of the day. Even at solar noon on a perfect Blue Sky day, you'll only get possibly 1.7kw at best, do half that mid morning and mid afternoon.

But how often do you get perfect days ? You need to size the system moreso around middling to crappy days, and perfect days are the exception.

Look at the Monthly Generation Thread to get some idea of system sizes vs people's consumption

Given too that you have a PHEV, you're obviously partially "converted", but I'd bet you'll get a real EV within the next few years, and do you'll gladly use the excess on good days in that.

garo

Greenbin wrote: »

Thanks garo. Yes the Solar inverter is non hybrid and that’s an error regarding inverter size on the first line of my original post(I copied and pasted from the suppliers quote).
To be fair my south facing roof isn’t the easiest to get panels on as there are 3 velux windows as well as the solar thermal and it’s not big to begin with.
Turns out my ‘West’ facing roof is actually about 15 degrees north of west and supplier says this might be an issue with SEAI re grant - anyone hear of that before? He does say that we will prob have enough on the other roof to get most if not all of the €1800 available though.

He is talking rubbish. SEAI grant has nothing to do with orientation of the roof. My west facing roof is 10 degrees north of due west. It really makes very little difference. You want as many panels as you can fit. Ideally near 4kW as that means you will be able to cover your load not just in June but also October. If you go with a battery and hybrid inverter you get 1200 additional grant with a 4kW system so that reduces the cost. Alternatively go for a 4kW system with a non-hybrid inverter for 4500 or less installed.

tech

Just came across this link, from a customer of Enery Wise

will be an interesting series of videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE4NMDevsJc&t=0s

phester28

I would love to get a pic of between the panels and roof. I am trying to see if installers are using best practice in keeping cables off the roof. as my install has the mc4 from the panels sitting on the roof. SEAI said it was not a breach but not best practice.

Grumpypants

championc wrote: »

You're wasting your time with 2kw. You appear to be basing that decision on the fact that you're expecting to be generating 2kw for large parts of the day. Even at solar noon on a perfect Blue Sky day, you'll only get possibly 1.7kw at best, do half that mid morning and mid afternoon.

But how often do you get perfect days ? You need to size the system moreso around middling to crappy days, and perfect days are the exception.

Look at the Monthly Generation Thread to get some idea of system sizes vs people's consumption

Given too that you have a PHEV, you're obviously partially "converted", but I'd bet you'll get a real EV within the next few years, and do you'll gladly use the excess on good days in that.

I'm more thinking of how much of the PV Power I can use, rather than what I can just make. I'd rather maximise my use of what is produced than over size the system and end up sending a chunk to the grid.

I had a guy come to survey the house and he said that on average most people with a 2kw system will use 50% of it without even trying. If they put in the effort and turn things on at the right time, they can get that up to 90%. But when you double the size to 4kw the "not trying" use would drop to 25%. (double the size would half the ratio).

This average was for an average home where most people head off to work at 8 am and don't get home until after 6 and then stick on the washing machine dryer in the evening etc. So they miss the opportunity to use the power in the day, end up exporting it, and then use more grid power in the dark evening.

For me I'm at home all day so my use is more leaning towards day time use. I'm getting through 10-14 kw in day light hours and then only 3kw over night. So I reckon I'd actually get a decent amount of what was made used during the day.

So would a 4KW system without a battery/inverter be the best bang for buck.

unkel

Grumpypants wrote: »

I had a guy come to survey the house and he said that on average most people with a 2kw system will use 50% of it without even trying. If they put in the effort and turn things on at the right time, they can get that up to 90%.

Typical sales person bullsh1t. Don't believe a word of it.

You will not use anywhere near 50% of a 2kwp system unless you put a serious micro management effort in (run all your appliances only one at a time and only during blue sky hours, and only around mid day (between 11AM and 3PM)

KCross

Grumpypants wrote: »

I'm more thinking of how much of the PV Power I can use, rather than what I can just make. I'd rather maximise my use of what is produced than over size the system and end up sending a chunk to the grid.

I had a guy come to survey the house and he said that on average most people with a 2kw system will use 50% of it without even trying. If they put in the effort and turn things on at the right time, they can get that up to 90%. But when you double the size to 4kw the "not trying" use would drop to 25%. (double the size would half the ratio).

This average was for an average home where most people head off to work at 8 am and don't get home until after 6 and then stick on the washing machine dryer in the evening etc. So they miss the opportunity to use the power in the day, end up exporting it, and then use more grid power in the dark evening.

For me I'm at home all day so my use is more leaning towards day time use. I'm getting through 10-14 kw in day light hours and then only 3kw over night. So I reckon I'd actually get a decent amount of what was made used during the day.

So would a 4KW system without a battery/inverter be the best bang for buck.

It will be alot harder to self-consume than you think. Just because you are at home doesnt mean you will be able to get to 90% easily.

You could turn on a 2hr wash cycle and 10mins in the clouds roll over... what happens then... you spend the other 1hr50m pulling expensive day rate electricity! To use the power you need to have automation in place, not you looking out the window and making decisions to turn on/off appliances.


To get to 90% consumption you need 1+ of these...
- Hot water diverter
- Smart EV charge point to divert excess to your car
- A hybrid inverter with attached battery
- Feed-In-Tariff to come into law


Each of those will have different values to you depending on how you currently heat water, do you have an EV, when will FiT come in etc.


And as already pointed out, the reason for oversizing is so that you can cover more of your background load later into the year. If you put in a 4kWp system it will cover more of your background load into winter than a 2kWp system. You do, of course, have to tradeoff the extra cost of the system against what it will save you. Thats not an easy calculation to make as it depends on your daily usage, house orientation etc but there is a point upon which it doesnt make sense to add more panels.

Grumpypants

unkel wrote: »

Typical sales person bullsh1t. Don't believe a word of it.

You will not use anywhere near 50% of a 2kwp system unless you put a serious micro management effort in (run all your appliances only one at a time and only during blue sky hours, and only around mid day (between 11AM and 3PM)

Oh no, that was his point, he didn't want to sell me an oversized unit. He said if you only end up using 50% of what a 2kw system makes, then selling you a 4kw system is point less as you'll never use it. And will double the time it takes to get paid back.

That there is a big fall off in return once you go above 2kw. And unless you spend your life micromanaging everything you will be years waiting to pay it off.

Even told me not to bother with a battery that they will likely be half the price in two years and then might make sense.

But I see in the power generation thread lots of people with 4kw systems using the majority of it.

So it is all pretty confusing.

Grumpypants

KCross wrote: »

It will be alot harder to self-consume than you think. Just because you are at home doesnt mean you will be able to get to 90% easily.

You could turn on a 2hr wash cycle and 10mins in the clouds roll over... what happens then... you spend the other 1hr50m pulling expensive day rate electricity! To use the power you need to have automation in place, not you looking out the window and making decisions to turn on/off appliances.


To get to 90% consumption you need 1+ of these...
- Hot water diverter
- Smart EV charge point to divert excess to your car
- A hybrid inverter with attached battery
- Feed-In-Tariff to come into law


Each of those will have different values to you depending on how you currently heat water, do you have an EV, when will FiT come in etc.


And as already pointed out, the reason for oversizing is so that you can cover more of your background load later into the year. If you put in a 4kWp system it will cover more of your background load into winter than a 2kWp system. You do, of course, have to tradeoff the extra cost of the system against what it will save you. Thats not an easy calculation to make as it depends on your daily usage, house orientation etc but there is a point upon which it doesnt make sense to add more panels.

I do have a PHEV that takes 10kw a charge but I already have a Rolex charger so changing to something like a zappi would be expensive as there wouldn't be a grant.

I've got the Solar tubes for hot water, it usually gets the heat up to 40ish and then I top it up via the oil in the evenings.

DrPhilG

Another quick question on priorities, I've asked some of this before but just confirming and also understanding the output as well as the input.

When producing, the order for where power goes is:
1 - House/current usage
2 - battery storage
3 - car via Zappi (if over 1.4kw available)
4 - export to grid

When the sun has gone behind a cloud and power is needed, the source is:
1 - whatever is in the battery
2 - pull from the grid


So in theory on a typical Irish day where its sunny for an hour and then pishes rain for an hour then sunny again:
1 - solar runs house
2 - solar fills battery
3 - battery empties during cloudy spell
4 - solar refills battery again

Is this right? Or would that result in a lot of battery cycling and reduce its lifespan?

KCross

Grumpypants wrote: »

I do have a PHEV that takes 10kw a charge but I already have a Rolex charger so changing to something like a zappi would be expensive as there wouldn't be a grant.

A Rolex charger! Lucky you, you must be loaded!

You are right that swapping the Rolec out for a Zappi would not make financial sense either unless you could pick up a second hand one. That is a possibility
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=114045717&postcount=1988

Sell your Rolec and get the Zappi put in. Shouldnt cost much then.

Grumpypants wrote: »

I've got the Solar tubes for hot water, it usually gets the heat up to 40ish and then I top it up via the oil in the evenings.

That would rule out a water diverter in your case.

unkel

Grumpypants wrote: »

So it is all pretty confusing.

It is because you are incentivised to go for a 4kwp system over a 2kwp system. But only if you go for a battery as well

unkel

KCross wrote: »

A Rolex charger! Lucky you, you must be loaded!

I have one and it is truly self charging

Maybe I should sell it to Toyota so they can reverse engineer how it works :pac:

championc

DrPhilG wrote: »

Another quick question on priorities, I've asked some of this before but just confirming and also understanding the output as well as the input.

When producing, the order for where power goes is:
1 - House/current usage
2 - battery storage
3 - car via Zappi (if over 1.4kw available)
4 - export to grid

When the sun has gone behind a cloud and power is needed, the source is:
1 - whatever is in the battery
2 - pull from the grid


So in theory on a typical Irish day where its sunny for an hour and then pishes rain for an hour then sunny again:
1 - solar runs house
2 - solar fills battery
3 - battery empties during cloudy spell
4 - solar refills battery again

Is this right? Or would that result in a lot of battery cycling and reduce its lifespan?

Remember that during a cloudy day, the source could be a combination of both

And as for use, if a car was set to charge at a restricted rate of maybe 2kw, and if it was generating 2.5kw, the load could stop the battery from charging, thereby allowing the car to charge before the battery.

DrPhilG

The torturing of the installer has begun, lol.

I was held up at work today, only home half an hour, so I wasn't here to get a handover. He said he'll call up again in a few days to run me through it.

In the meantime I'll bombard him with text messages.

For example, according to my inverter, the current house usage is 0.8kw and that is being provided mostly from the battery which is at 91% and a little from the panels (its currently pushing rain).

But according to the clamped meter I have on my main incoming line, I'm still drawing 0.274kw. Which doesn't make a lot of sense as the inverter says I'm drawing nothing.

MAULBROOK

DrPhilG wrote: »

The torturing of the installer has begun, lol.


In the meantime I'll bombard him with text messages.

Ah give the man at least 24 hours rest. :P:P

Welcome to the Solar Gang

DrPhilG

MAULBROOK wrote: »

Ah give the man at least 24 hours rest. :P:P

Welcome to the Solar Gang

Lol, treat em mean, keep em keen.

Pity I got stuck in work, would have been much easier to sort it all now.

Need to get the Solis app and the myenergi hub up and running now.

MAULBROOK

I think you might be sending to the grid.

phester28

My experience with the owl at low power draws is that it is very inaccurate. I could have it bouncing from zero to 300w alot. I also think that generation could not distinguish direction so it could be export too

championc

With the sun now set, what is it looking like now ? Consider boiling the kettle and see what the inverter reading says, and maybe look at your owl, to get a better idea of what is correct and what's not.

Basically, look at the inverter with and without a large ish load (even a hairdryer)

You can never argue with live data

garo

championc wrote: »

You can never argue with live data

Except when it's a CT clamp and your load is reactive

But yes your suggestions are good and DrPhilG I would wait until you get your Solis app up before bothering your guy.

Also could the load have changed between you walking down from the attic to the meter? I drove myself crazy with all this in the first month before I figured out that the installer had wired the CT clamp incorrectly so was only measuring half the house load.

DrPhilG

Well the clamped monitor, hub and Solis app are now nearly on the same page.

Checked the monitor, it said 2.4kw. First thought was to wonder what the hell was pulling so much, then realised the missus had put thr dishwasher on.

Checked the Solis app, it was having a meltdown and claimed I was drawing 500w...

Myenergi app said 2.6kw so pretty close.

Then it hit midnight so I switched the car over to manual charging.
Clamp - 9.8kw
Solis - 9.7kw
Myenergi - 10kw (with the car using 7.2kw)

PS the installer is coming back at the weekend to give me a rundown so I'll leave him in peace and just start making a list of questions instead.

DrPhilG

And this morning it's loopy again.

Wife put the dryer on before we left, just checked the 2 apps.

Solis:
Current use - 2.03kw
Generating - 600w
From grid - 1.41kw

Myenergi:
Current use - 1.2kw
Generating - ?
From grid - 1.2kw

Is the myenergi hub app generally unreliable? It seems to jump all over the place. One minute it shows 1.2 current use and 1.2 coming from the grid. The next it says I'm exporting 0.3kw which makes no sense at all.

Also it doesn't seem to be reading my production at all, or am I using it wrong?

Mickeroo

The solis app only updates every 5 or 6 minutes from what I've seen, is it just a case the Myenergi set up is more realtime in what it's showing you?

E30M3

DrPhilG wrote: »

And this morning it's loopy again.

Wife put the dryer on before we left, just checked the 2 apps.

Solis:
Current use - 2.03kw
Generating - 600w
From grid - 1.41kw

Myenergi:
Current use - 1.2kw
Generating - ?
From grid - 1.2kw

Is the myenergi hub app generally unreliable? It seems to jump all over the place. One minute it shows 1.2 current use and 1.2 coming from the grid. The next it says I'm exporting 0.3kw which makes no sense at all.

Also it doesn't seem to be reading my production at all, or am I using it wrong?

Hi Dr Phil

Now that you have your install carried out might it be an idea to summarise what you got and what the cost was on this thread. Then maybe if you have specific questions re your install or related then you could start another thread n your specific issues. This thread was started to give people info on cost and system comparison

KCross

DrPhilG wrote: »

Is the myenergi hub app generally unreliable? It seems to jump all over the place. One minute it shows 1.2 current use and 1.2 coming from the grid. The next it says I'm exporting 0.3kw which makes no sense at all.

The values on the myenergi app are 5-10secs behind real time and as others said the Solis app is several mins behind so its going to be difficult to cross check them in that way.
The data is captured by the Zappi, sent to the hub, which sends them to the myenergi servers.
The app connects to the servers and pulls them down for display.... hence the delay while all that exchanging of data happens.

The app/hub are hit and miss. They have had several outages since I got it setup. Its working OK right now though. I believe they are updating it to make it more reliable and faster... "coming soon".

DrPhilG wrote: »

Also it doesn't seem to be reading my production at all, or am I using it wrong?

If the app isnt showing the Solar panel icon it means you dont have the second CT clamp connected to your incoming Solar feed and/or its not enabled in the admin menu on the Zappi.

DrPhilG

KCross wrote: »

The values on the myenergi app are 5-10secs behind real time and as others said the Solis app is several mins behind so its going to be difficult to cross check them in that way.

Cool, so in theory the myenergi app is more up to date, once it gets connected properly to read the solar production.

KCross wrote: »

If the app isnt showing the Solar panel icon it means you dont have the second CT clamp connected to your incoming Solar feed and/or its not enabled in the admin menu on the Zappi.

Ahh, excellent. I'll look into that one. Pretty sure the clamp should be there, but I'll check it out.

Thanks for that.

championc

DrPhilG wrote: »

Cool, so in theory the myenergi app is more up to date, once it gets connected properly to read the solar production.

Ahh, excellent. I'll look into that one. Pretty sure the clamp should be there, but I'll check it out.

Thanks for that.

On the Zappi, go to MENU > OTHER SETTINGS > ADVANCED > 0000 > CT CONFIG

or MENU > OTHER SETTINGS > ADVANCED > 0000 > LINKED DEVICES > DEVICES > HARVI

Whichever one of the CT Clamps, which is linked onto the AC link from the Inverter, should be set to Generation Only. You should then have another somewhere set to Grid

championc

KCross wrote: »

I believe they are updating it to make it more reliable and faster... "coming soon".

The new v3 Zappi2 (3.033) and Hub (3.021) software was finally released earlier this week, although I certainly never heard anything relating to it needing to resolve issues around making it more reliable or faster.