Second hand panels - how much would you pay?

[Stinsy]

Thanks guys, some good points here! Enjoying the input.

So by the sounds of it the second hand panels just aren't worth it. They're of unknown age, could easily be halfway through their working life. And I suspect newer mono panels will have better performance in the shade? Here's the listing for the curious. https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-househo ... 1445008057 - I think I'll pass anyway.

Yes I'm pretty close to Bimble, I've been over already to pick up a few bits. So I guess the decision is just small or large panels. The smaller ones will be easier to mount and get in the car. I guess the only advantage to the huge 600W ones is a slight economy of scale so reducing the cost/watt a bit? bimble seem reasonably competitive on panel prices too, I've not found anywhere significantly cheaper?

I'm thinking I can DC couple this setup as I already have the 48V DIY stack, so probably a Victron SmartSolar controller and hook it directly into my DC bus. That keeps it all out of eyesight of DNO and I can legit DIY it all with no problems. No need for a new inverter and it keeps working in a powercut, all positives in my view.

Sounds good to me!

[dangermouse]

I recently got some of the Canadian Solar 410W panels from Bimble, they are reasonably large and unwieldy. The 600W ones would be even more awkward!

[openspaceman]

I'm thinking I can DC couple this setup as I already have the 48V DIY stack, so probably a Victron SmartSolar controller and hook it directly into my DC bus. That keeps it all out of eyesight of DNO and I can legit DIY it all with no problems. No need for a new inverter and it keeps working in a powercut, all positives in my view.

This is what I have done, the smart solar charger is a bit ott for my three jumbo panels. It's all well and good that the battery will stay charging in a power cut but I have still got to get round the problem that none of my two inverters recognise my generator so I cannot keep my original panels working nor make use of my battery. Ideas welcome for working around this.

[Joeboy]

I'm thinking I can DC couple this setup as I already have the 48V DIY stack, so probably a Victron SmartSolar controller and hook it directly into my DC bus. That keeps it all out of eyesight of DNO and I can legit DIY it all with no problems. No need for a new inverter and it keeps working in a powercut, all positives in my view.

This is what I have done, the smart solar charger is a bit ott for my three jumbo panels. It's all well and good that the battery will stay charging in a power cut but I have still got to get round the problem that none of my two inverters recognise my generator so I cannot keep my original panels working nor make use of my battery. Ideas welcome for working around this.

It worked for me and others here.

For powercuts I piggybacked in a 2kW inverter running a 3 pin 230V socket, nice and simple. Gives me full battery stack potential if grid drops out and hybrid inverter shuts down.

[openspaceman]

For powercuts I piggybacked in a 2kW inverter running a 3 pin 230V socket, nice and simple. Gives me full battery stack potential if grid drops out and hybrid inverter shuts down.

It took me ages to follow your original idea but it works well [1], albeit with some curtailment as the battery reaches full charge.

As my battery is ac coupled I cannot see how I could do it other than having an off grid inverter directly drawing off the battery and feeding in to my consumer unit via the generator mains isolation switch.

[1] In the fortnight the new panels have been charging the battery they seem to be working better than predicted compared with the existing ones. I keep a spreadsheet with a graphic showing solar generation and grid electricity imports and there is a definite uptick but that may be the exceptional clear days we are having.

[Joeboy]

For powercuts I piggybacked in a 2kW inverter running a 3 pin 230V socket, nice and simple. Gives me full battery stack potential if grid drops out and hybrid inverter shuts down.

It took me ages to follow your original idea but it works well [1], albeit with some curtailment as the battery reaches full charge.

As my battery is ac coupled I cannot see how I could do it other than having an off grid inverter directly drawing off the battery and feeding in to my consumer unit via the generator mains isolation switch.

[1] In the fortnight the new panels have been charging the battery they seem to be working better than predicted compared with the existing ones. I keep a spreadsheet with a graphic showing solar generation and grid electricity imports and there is a definite uptick but that may be the exceptional clear days we are having.

That's good to hear, i try and keep my batteries a little low when the weather is favourable so I rarely have curtailment. Having remote access to some gear (hwt/Storage heaters) means you can dump the excess power as heat and keep the systems running?

I agree on the inverter back to CU conundrum. My rationale is that we rarely get powercuts and if we do I can just run an extension reel from battery pack inverter to the spot I need it in house. Its not elegant but it works and coupled with the 3.6kW output of the car covers us well.

This is the inverter. 48V version, it isnt fancy but it does get the job done.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07GFK ... asin_title

[Stinsy]

This is what I have done, the smart solar charger is a bit ott for my three jumbo panels. It's all well and good that the battery will stay charging in a power cut but I have still got to get round the problem that none of my two inverters recognise my generator so I cannot keep my original panels working nor make use of my battery. Ideas welcome for working around this.

My hybrid inverter continues to charge batteries in the event of a power cut…

[openspaceman]

My hybrid inverter continues to charge batteries in the event of a power cut…

Ah but does it still keep the house going?

[marshman]

__

[Stinsy]

My hybrid inverter continues to charge batteries in the event of a power cut…

Ah but does it still keep the house going?

It can do. But it isn't set up to do that currently. I've spent a lot of time thinking about it and know exactly how I'd do it, but power cuts are a once-in-a-decade thing round our way so no-need.