Random Renewables Thread

Cos EVs bad - and they don't work in winter , and you spend all day at a charge point , a

And you have to change the battery every 10 mins anyway ..

And you've had no power for two days and the nearest charger had no power either and your EV range was savaged by the frozen battery and the energy sapping drive through the snow to the nearest shop, so you turned back. I had no power but I have a genny, but after 5 hours I had to drive to get more petrol for it, and my nearest filling station had no power for the pumps, so I'd to go further. I'd plenty of fuel in the car though, plenty of heating oil, and logs.The genny wouldn't operate a heat pump, or charge an EV, but it can spin the oil boiler.

I was easily getting 360km out of an eNiro in winter. I didn't have home charging by the way. I don't know why you think EVs would be magically flat?

You didn't have enough genny petrol and needed more after 5 hours FFS.

The best ones are the cheapest you can find. But try make sure they use single prismatic cells not multiple pouches like Pylontech

Are you any way technically inclined, as in can you assemble an Ikea flatpack? Then look into self build from a complete package. I.e. the Fogstar kits. Or DIY from start to finish, see the DIY build thread here. Lots of fun and plenty help from us locals:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058246061/

Nice ,

There is bit of truth In a lot of those statements, but a little truth can cover a whole load of shite ..

Did you look at the thread I linked? Shows the whole process and all you need. As for cells, the consensus is to get the latest batch that NKON.nl is bringing in. Anything between 280Ah and 340Ah is fine, B choice is fine, just get them at a good price. Typically about €55 or so + VAT per cell give or take a few quid. You need 16 of them

I heard the same about last Monday. Nothing happened. Maybe it will tomorrow! I found that our Pinergy plan is still active and that you can actually renew it. Very tempted to do so as it has been far more lucrative than any other plan could have been. By a country mile.

Yep that is the new plan. Think will still suit those with smaller batteries. Personally will be staying with pinergy but definitely an option for many

Yeah pretty garbage, you'd need to export 27kwh a day to offset the import in those 4 hours vs only about 12kwh export needed with pinergy, assuming the poorer 20c FIT with energia.

Oh and actually a lot more since I forgot they charge extra when you go over 1000kwh

Do the sums. The €100 welcome bonus and 5c Pinergy rate might be more than enough to compensate for the cold days where the 3 hours is not enough and you would need to use expensive day rate. Also batteries are dirt cheap. You could add 15kWh to your battery for well under €1k incl VAT and delivery. If you could cylcle the extra battery once a day on the Pinergy plan, the pay back period is an insanely short 15 months after losses

So 16kVA? You could crank up the myenergi limit by a few amps. I have been running my 12kVA on 66A max on a 63A fuse for a year now, zero issues. Remember if you do this, you are not getting anywhere close to the ESB fuse (which would not be wise to pop)

Seriously, do the sums. The savings on the 5c rate are enormous (plus the 25c FIT which is the highest in the business). Even if you had 60-70 days of the year that you needed to buy day rate units, could be more than compensated

And 3h slot with EVs that average say 16kWh / 100km with 3h times 7.4kW minus losses, so say net 20kWh into the cars, is good for 46k km per year. Far more than 2 cars doing the national average. Do you do more than that?

It's all about the sums

A good point about the cars, any idea how you get the welcome credit from pinergy? Registering at the moment and can't see any reference.

You have to use the Cooline community plan. Incredibly, it is still active:

https://pinergy.ie/pinergy-lifestyle-for-cooline/

Moving half the 4am load to 3am.

Probably have more capacity after 3:40 all right but then again a second EV might take that

Batteries are the issue. Solaredge proprietary high voltage batteries unfortunately. $$$ for another 10kwh

Let's hope no ****ing idiots drag their anchors on the seabed floor, seems to be a trend these days. 😬

I saw a question asked about going over the 5kw inverter limit and loads of people answered yes no bother just go for an N7 install. However one answer was as follows

I have 2 systems in one house:- on grid (only for export)- off grid (11kw inverter + 40kwh battery + 16x 545w bifacial panels).Annual energy consumption ~ 16000kwhAnnual energy bill ~ 0€

Would this be a DIY upgrade after an NC6 install or would solar companies entertain this type of set up as it seems so very simple.

I'm thinking they have a new consumer box that is connected directly to the ESBN meter and the 5kw inverter and the solar panels and battery work with the 5kw inverter which communicates with the new consumer box

Then the 11kw inverter takes DC from the battery and converts it to AC which gets sent to the original consumer which has been disconnected from the ESBN meter and so powers the house.

The battery is topped up excess solar that can't be exported due to the limits of the 5kw inverter or cheap night time electricity.

Have you seperate strings from the two arrays. If so, does the inverter indicate which string input. Isolate them in turn and see if the inverter runs without fault. It could be scuffed cables lying across the metal of the roof, or the metal of the ground frame, making a path between the ground from the positive return cables. Water ingress migh cause this also. A loose cable flapping against a metal sheet edge would cut trough insulation in no time. A broken panel would probably ground the positive also, could they have got a smack of a branch during the storm. Be careful, strung panels will be active with DC even with the inverter powered off. You should be able to read the DC at the string isolaters if you're competent with electricals, but maybe just call the installers.

Ideal place for all these appliances is outside or in garages, whether that's an inverter, batteries, washing machines, fridges, dryers etc.

The example you found was a diy setup with cells bought online, crazy to have those in your home. I believe there was also a gas boiler in the same room. Speaking of gas boilers, amazing how some people are getting so worked up about batteries but have no issue with gas boilers in kitchens and utility rooms.

My mistake, I was thinking of a different one.

Gas boilers, like lfp batteries are generally safe, but make an awful mess when they go wrong.