Random Renewables Thread

The problem with the showers is less likely to be PV limited and more inverter+battery limited.

So you can have 15kWp PV available but if you're only generating 0-5kW lets say (most showers are morning or evening), where does the other 5-10kW come from if your inverter(s) and/or batteries can only give 5kW-10kW total.

This is why I'm looking at the likes of Victron Quattro 15kva.

I've an 80A fuse in the ESB box for a 16kVA connection, and a 63A in the CU. I'm guessing the electrical wholesalers ran out of 80A fuses the day my house was being wired 🙄

My moving 7 day average on the heat pump has rocketed up to around 38 kWh over the last few days....yesterday alone the 12th I put 58 kWh into the heat pump eek! that has been by far my most expensive day....had builders in the house yesterday and they kept leaving the door open on the coldest day of the year (or the coldest day since 2010 according to Met Eireann)3! so had a big impact. I kinda wanted to see how it performed and left some room temp settings maybe a bit too high...but listen we rarely get days like that..

They can feck off with their €2k. I'd also much rather upgrade my equipment. For €2k you'd have 15kWh of batteries. Or a very serious inverter upgrade or doubling up. Or a ton of extra PV panels. 15kW O'clock for 9 hours will do me just fine.

Of course the game would change if we are eventually forced onto a smart meter and the off peak rate period shrinks to just a few hours...

Don't forget though that they run 110v albeit most of them have 2 phases going into their gaffs, so their 200A at 110v isn't that much more .... and they have AC to contend with usually.

Strictly speaking they run 180 degree split phase 220-240v, to the breaker, and have either 110-120v and or 220-240v circuits off the breaker. I'd much much much prefer the US spec to what we have here. Despite the weird setup with hot wires etc that goes with split phases. It's a lot easier to get to higher power stuff in the US

My ESB fuse has the same 80/60A marking, but I'm 90% sure the new connection letter said 16kVA

80A should be enough for 18kW so maybe they were using 80A fuses and decided to switch to 100A at some point in the past few years 🤔

Power flicker in my estate. Seems like I may have a chance to put my changeover switch into actual use... not that I wish for it. 😬 especially with a temperamental battery

3rd brownout here in a week. power went for around 3 seconds. checked with a neighbour no not just us.

It won’t stop at €2k. That only covers ESB, you’ll more than likely have electrician work too (upgrade tails, upgrade consumer unit, testing, sign off etc), all of which is your responsibility and has to be done before ESB will upgrade your fuse.

Are you on the same line as Lusk? They've been getting a lot of power cuts recently from the line going down

@redmagic68 - "If it does come to pass as you suggest however we might all be better having a container of calb cells sent over and have battery building weekend parties in each others houses. "

Yes. But hopefully our smart meters are still a few years away and buy then we can have a low cost V2H solution available to us. I know someone (in Ireland) who is working on a commercially available solution for this right now. If you have a 50-60kWh EV sitting in your drive, you need a lot less of a home attached battery.

Ohh I know it well mate......but you get into all other kind of issues that certain power outlets can't power heavy duty loads and that if you want to move things around in the house (like moving a tumble dryer etc) that you may not be able to do that without potentially re-wiring circuits (behind walls etc) back to the fuseboard. They have different plugs too don't they etc. I can see both sides, and while that split phase system does have some flexibility, I think all the house at 220v is marginally better. Obviously it works well, as you have 350 million people living with it in the US - but it does seem more of a afterthought introduced in the 50's and 60's when they started to realize that a single phase of 110v wasn't enough for your average house.

We in Europe decided 220v was the way to go as we're cheap gits and didn't want to spend money on copper (thicker wires)