Solar for Beginners [ask your questions here]

This thread makes for interesting reading and there is a lot to take in.

I'm currently planning a solar install along with battery and when we change the car going with a one that offers us at least V2L (V2G would be preferred).

My house and the outbuilding are orientated on a SW/NE axis and would likely split the panels to gain maximum utility.

I do have a lot of relative low and indeed low pitched SE facing roof on the outbuilding along with a consumer unit that's wired back to the main house consumer unit via 10sq dual core and 10sqearth.

I know this is a discussion for the installer when I move ahead, but, would it be possible to utilise the existing cabling on the outbuilding to back to main board and avail of FiT and indeed to allow a battery back up supply to feed the house? Or would that require new cables?

Main reason for asking is convenience, insofar as the cable run to the shed can't be added to as it's now buried beneath a patio and split level garden. So if those existing cables can't be used?

It would be a case of panels on the house roof only.

Is there an ideal location for battery /inverter? How important is it to have access to same? We would have a choice of attic or downstairs room where meter board is located. There is also a utility room off kitchen where the gas boiler is located and an empty former oil boiler house beyond.

So hoping this is the right place to drop the following queries:

1 I’ve been reading loads in the threads here last few weeks and they’re great. Automation is the most recent. Its way over my head and seems to be for network techs and programmers. So how difficult is it to set up your system to have the investor charge a battery at a specific time On night rate and then to discharge at a specific time say if a peak tarrif was introduced? Secondly is it simple for the home owner to change the times themselves for summer use for example

2 is it possible for someone with no previous knowledge or experience to set up an automated control system themselves or is this a service that can be purchased?? Having read the automation thread here it’s Phd for solar stuff as another poster said.

3 given that solar is much better in summer has anyone managed to, or given thought to supplementing the winter months with a micro wind turbine or are the systems even compatible? Or is it even worth considering? In terms of cost, equipment etc.

Sweet, I was there a month ago

On point 3. A decent small wind turbine can be very expensive and you would need a decent sized site to mount it properly. You are also very unlikely to have the average wind speed you would need.

If you are interested in wind power you could mount a wind logger. Over a period of time you would at least know if you had the wind speed at the height and location you are planning. At least you would have only a small initial cost to do this.

I’m out the country but if Karen is called Theresa. I think I’ll get stage one which is the solar instal complete and boil a few guilt free kettles.

learn to manage the consumption to maximise and find a network guru to learn from.

I like Mr Q’s idea if measuring it so I’ll look into that. I’ll camouflage it from Theresa of course.

thank you all for the feed back, look forward to checking out the threads. Initially when we built I had hoped to put in a proven turbine but the cost was prohibitive and the battery tech non existent.

When discussing wind turbines, most folk automatically think of the 'windmill' horizontal axis types. For domestic situations where planning/space considerations are met, to say nothing of the economics of purchase and maintenance, the Vertical Axis wind turbines have a lot to offer. The main one being that wind turbulence has little effect on them - they continue to turn no matter what direction the wind comes from. HAWTs on the other hand hunt in the turbulence, reducing efficiency and hasten bearing failure. They also require more space to install.

VAWTs may be slightly less efficient than the opposition theoretically, but when the problems of the HAWTs are taken into account, there probably is very little difference in overall performance.

Here's a link to one European manufacturer: http://wind-of-change.org/index.php/technology.html

For those with PV systems and considering wind turbines, the PV inverter is not compatible with the turbine (and vise-versa) with present technology or so I was informed.

Having a quick look at the SEAI site, I can't see whether grants are available for wind turbines, so that may be a serious disadvantage for purchasing one.

Dave

Hey but they start working at 2.8m/s and produce a whopping 7w 🤣

Dublin has the worst avg speed, about 6m but most areas are about 3m/s in reality so this would be useless.

You basically need "hurricane" winds to get anywhere near 1kwh

And if you check the average wind in Ireland it's actually quite low (even though in winter feels like the winds at the north pole when the lovely storms come by)

Got my email yesterday, KB will be installing next week, anything I should be aware of in advance or questions to ask them. They will have some extra panels in the van, getting circ 4.5kW with 5kW battery No eddi needed,

half thinking about EV charger, applied for grant 2 weeks ago approved but as yet have not got an EV, so should I wait on this or go ahead and install say a Zappi?

Any comments on what to look out for or ask the lads based on previous experience