Solar PV Hints, Tips & Troubleshooting

championc

cubatahavana wrote: »

just visited my new build yesterday and saw the solar control panel. its a white box with Omnik on it. I have zero idea ablout solar. We have 5 PV panels facing south on the roof. Does anyone know if theres an app to control them or have any other tips?

Can they add a few more ? You won't cover your base load on a mediocre day. And I sincerely hope that they haven't been positioned symmetrically in the centre of the roof. You want them up in one corner, to allow you to add more later

idc

cubatahavana wrote: »

just visited my new build yesterday and saw the solar control panel. its a white box with Omnik on it. I have zero idea ablout solar. We have 5 PV panels facing south on the roof. Does anyone know if theres an app to control them or have any other tips?

Is this like a new build in a housing estate with every house with Solar PV ?


Never heard of Omnik. but quick google led to https://www.omnikportal.com/

slave1

garo wrote: »

Mine was under the old process. You must be in the new process with some pre-approval steps. In the old system you had to get the full install done and then apply. Also, I got unlucky with the inspection which added a month or two.

Ah, hopefully sooner for me so, my installer just waiting on formal BER report and then everything ready to upload (he doing all that bit).
I'll post back here on timelines

cubatahavana

idc wrote: »

Is this like a new build in a housing estate with every house with Solar PV ?


Never heard of Omnik. but quick google led to https://www.omnikportal.com/

I saw that website and the poor reviews of their app. It is a new build in a new estate and all houses have solar

cubatahavana

championc wrote: »

Can they add a few more ? You won't cover your base load on a mediocre day. And I sincerely hope that they haven't been positioned symmetrically in the centre of the roof. You want them up in one corner, to allow you to add more later

These are the houses behind mine

championc

cubatahavana wrote: »

These are the houses behind mine

Therefore yours will be on the front side, which hopefully won't have those dome vents. That's a nice decent pitch and buckets of space too. But sounds like you're too far gone if they've plonked them in the middle to "look nice"

cubatahavana

championc wrote: »

Therefore yours will be on the front side, which hopefully won't have those dome vents. That's a nice decent pitch and buckets of space too. But sounds like you're too far gone if they've plonked them in the middle to "look nice"

Those ones are north faced, mine are south faced. All houses have them on the rear

garo

Those panels look tiny. Don't get your hopes up too much. Those panels are there because they are the cheapest way for the builder to improve the energy rating of the house. That's their sole purpose. That you may get a small reduction in your electricity bill - really small mind you - is incidental.

Zzippy

cubatahavana wrote: »

Those ones are north faced, mine are south faced. All houses have them on the rear

They put panels facing... north???

slave1

Zzippy wrote: »

They put panels facing... north???

Lazy builder, put blanket plans in for all houses with panels on the back rather than go to the "trouble" to have them on the front for houses facing South

cubatahavana

garo wrote: »

Those panels look tiny. Don't get your hopes up too much. Those panels are there because they are the cheapest way for the builder to improve the energy rating of the house. That's their sole purpose. That you may get a small reduction in your electricity bill - really small mind you - is incidental.

Id reckon they are 1 meter wide, as the house is in around 6.5-7 meter wide. I think the perspective makes them look smaller

cubatahavana

slave1 wrote: »

Lazy builder, put blanket plans in for all houses with panels on the back rather than go to the "trouble" to have them on the front for houses facing South

To be honest, they are northwest and mine south east-ish

cubatahavana

According to the regulations, solar panels should provide 4 kWh/m2/annum of electrical energy. Again I’ve no idea what this means, but you think those ones are not compliant?

Bobeagleburger

cubatahavana wrote: »

These are the houses behind mine

What size system is that?

graememk

6 wrote: »

What size system is that?

5 panels, 1.5kwp if 300w panels or 2kwp if 400w panels

unkel

Zzippy wrote: »

They put panels facing... north???

There is not an awful lot wrong with putting panels facing north (if south doesn't work for various reasons). They get about 55% of the production of panels facing south. You will need to add a few extra panels to compensate, but panels are cheap

MAULBROOK

cubatahavana wrote: »

According to the regulations, solar panels should provide 4 kWh/m2/annum of electrical energy. Again I’ve no idea what this means, but you think those ones are not compliant?

Find out who installed them and fill the roof. Sadly that is the minimum to satisfy planning. Panels are fairly cheep.

garo

cubatahavana wrote: »

Id reckon they are 1 meter wide, as the house is in around 6.5-7 meter wide. I think the perspective makes them look smaller

Sorry you are right it was the perspective. Saw the photo from another device and they look pretty standard.

cubatahavana

MAULBROOK wrote: »

Find out who installed them and fill the roof. Sadly that is the minimum to satisfy planning. Panels are fairly cheep.

So, adding panels is not much of a job?

championc

cubatahavana wrote: »

So, adding panels is not much of a job?

The hardest part is attaching the brackets to the roof. Is the guys are still on-site somewhere, it could be a grand nixer for them

Otherwise, find a foreman and ask who they were

cubatahavana

championc wrote: »

The hardest part is attaching the brackets to the roof. Is the guys are still on-site somewhere, it could be a grand nixer for them

Otherwise, find a foreman and ask who they were

How much would it be, more or less to add extra panels?

daughy

cubatahavana wrote: »

How much would it be, more or less to add extra panels?

Don't be disheartened just yet, don't rush yourself into anything with builders,You can check the forum here for solar quotes and rebuild your system if you have the cash, your house is brand new so it will be covered for the grant. Just see what price if even they give you, you will need a new inverter if your going for more panels, and possible bigger cable coming from the inverter to the main board, plus a larger ac circuit breaker, I would say they used 2.5mm cable.
You have everything in place though except the extra rails, you could whip off that system and sell it all and restart if you choose, it's 110 euro for a 350 watt panel before vat.. That's if your purchasing them yourself.
I myself would contact a solar company and get a few quotes.. The builders will definitely jump on your side to do that for you but where is your warranty? For your roof etc? I wouldn't trust anyone doing a nixer on my roof. No offence guys..

cubatahavana

daughy wrote: »

Don't be disheartened just yet, don't rush yourself into anything with builders,You can check the forum here for solar quotes and rebuild your system if you have the cash, your house is brand new so it will be covered for the grant. Just see what price if even they give you, you will need a new inverter if your going for more panels, and possible bigger cable coming from the inverter to the main board, plus a larger ac circuit breaker, I would say they used 2.5mm cable.
You have everything in place though except the extra rails, you could whip off that system and sell it all and restart if you choose, it's 110 euro for a 350 watt panel before vat.. That's if your purchasing them yourself.
I myself would contact a solar company and get a few quotes.. The builders will definitely jump on your side to do that for you but where is your warranty? For your roof etc? I wouldn't trust anyone doing a nixer on my roof. No offence guys..

Not going to do anything until I live in the property for a while. Let’s see first what the bills are like! I would like a panel to monitor solar energy use. Could anyone know if something like that is easy to set up?

daughy

I have found big discrepancies between the Solis hybrid recording grid data and the myenergi ct clamp and I can't distinguish which is the correct one. I will take a meter reading at my old wind up meter to clarify but has anyone experienced this.
MyEnergi recorded 5.4kwh from midnight till now.
The Solis has 9.4kwh, it was updated 1 hour ago, piece of sh×t data logging to be honest. The site is always down.
The Solis is hardwired to the board but I'm unsure if it updates when it comes online.
I don't have batteries connected to the Solis so it goes to sleep when the sun goes down.
Anyone else get different figures?

gomamochi1

daughy wrote: »

I have found big discrepancies between the Solis hybrid recording grid data and the myenergi ct clamp and I can't distinguish which is the correct one. I will take a meter reading at my old wind up meter to clarify but has anyone experienced this.
MyEnergi recorded 5.4kwh from midnight till now.
The Solis has 9.4kwh, it was updated 1 hour ago, piece of sh×t data logging to be honest. The site is always down.
The Solis is hardwired to the board but I'm unsure if it updates when it comes online.
I don't have batteries connected to the Solis so it goes to sleep when the sun goes down.
Anyone else get different figures?

I find the same issues you are having. though think folk said on here that the Solis should be acurate as its hard wired to the Mains etc

daughy

gomamochi1 wrote: »

I find the same issues you are having. though think folk said on here that the Solis should be acurate as its hard wired to the Mains etc

That's true, it is hard wired, I'm unsure though as it doesn't stay awake as there are no batteries connected.
Big difference in the data though. 4kwh in the difference.

daughy

The confusing part is the myenergi data doesn't show any drops in signal, if the Solis is correct, looking at the myenergi data from midnight till now it's a constant flow of energy, very strange indeed. Anyway the weather is absolute sh×te these days.
Buyers remorse in winter

garo

cubatahavana wrote: »

Not going to do anything until I live in the property for a while. Let’s see first what the bills are like! I would like a panel to monitor solar energy use. Could anyone know if something like that is easy to set up?

https://guide.openenergymonitor.org/applications/solar-pv/


This is probably the cheapest option. You will need to put a CT clamp on. Should be fine to do yourself.

graememk

garo wrote: »

https://guide.openenergymonitor.org/applications/solar-pv/


This is probably the cheapest option. You will need to put a CT clamp on. Should be fine to do yourself.

I'm using the openenergy stuff to monitor things.

If you can get a socket wired up beside your consumer unit using the emonpi is very easy. ( It needs ac power for the reference voltage)

I think owl do a monitor too, which is in the same price range.

idc

I have this monitor as well as the built in cloud monitoring that comes with my inverter


https://www.eco-eye.com/product-monitor-solar-smartpv