Balcony solar PV

Moxi
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Re: Balcony solar PV

#781

Post by Moxi »

:lol:

Moxi
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Joeboy
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Re: Balcony solar PV

#782

Post by Joeboy »

AE-NMidlands wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2024 7:02 pm
Moxi wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2024 3:22 pm JB,
Like the latest panel addition but what's the wood screw doing underneath the box (looks like its only just holding in the wood?)
Moxi
Obviously it is keeping the base in the air while the varnish dries...
Lightning rod. I forgot to take it off. :oops: It was the clamp point in vise. :D

Rained almost the whole day here. 7kWh only across it all.
19.7kW PV SE, VI, HM, EN & DW
Ripple 7kW WT & Gen to date 19MWh
42kWh LFPO4 storage
95kWh Heater storage
12kWh 210ltr HWT.
73kWh HI5
Deep insulation, air leak ct'd home
Zoned GCH & Hive 2
WBSx2
Low energy bulbs
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Moxi
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Re: Balcony solar PV

#783

Post by Moxi »

Managed 8.4kW here which was very welcome, looking at tomorrows weather make me feel less hopeful of a repeat but you can’t have your cake everyday can you 😁.

Thanks JB I will sleep better knowing what that screw was for now 👍🏼.

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Joeboy
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Re: Balcony solar PV

#784

Post by Joeboy »

Glad to hear it Moxi, I slept well myself too. :D

A cloudy/sunny start to the day but we are generating North of 1.2kW. I was cooking last week with SWMBO and it hit me that we had an induction ring, air fryer, microwave and 800W kettle all on the go and no grid.

Doesn't seem that long ago that a 3kW kettle and just looking at another appliance would have been wakening the grid. Definitely worth looking at the RE solution from both ends and replacing the high draw items.

We brought the WBS into the game the other day and batchcooked chilli Con. In the end after boxing up and freezing we had enough for 27 people. Instead of firing up the big oven for the nachos we squeezed them onto a smaller baking tray with sliced jalapeños and mozzarella. Into the airfryer they went. No worse for the experience! We also did potato wedges in olive oil and chilli flakes and rice cooked via the 800W kettle on the induction hob.

Didn't touch the grid once. Empty beer can for scale. :lol:

Image

Image
19.7kW PV SE, VI, HM, EN & DW
Ripple 7kW WT & Gen to date 19MWh
42kWh LFPO4 storage
95kWh Heater storage
12kWh 210ltr HWT.
73kWh HI5
Deep insulation, air leak ct'd home
Zoned GCH & Hive 2
WBSx2
Low energy bulbs
Veg patches & fruit trees
Moxi
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Re: Balcony solar PV

#785

Post by Moxi »

Its really impressive what can be done with solar PV and the benefits of having just a few more panels here and there seems to yield returns beyond expectation time and again.

We woke up to the last gasp of winter today (hopefully)

Image

I'm just off out to put my two extra panels on the system :D

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Joeboy
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Re: Balcony solar PV

#786

Post by Joeboy »

Moxi wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:02 am Its really impressive what can be done with solar PV and the benefits of having just a few more panels here and there seems to yield returns beyond expectation time and again.

We woke up to the last gasp of winter today (hopefully)

Image

I'm just off out to put my two extra panels on the system :D

Moxi
JIngs, Nae guid! :o
I bought another Enphase 215W micro t'other day, £50. I'll have a dawdle about Marmaris one of these days and see whats what for a small form fixed voltage qualifying panel on the upper balcony. Do you use the Enphase units Moxi?
19.7kW PV SE, VI, HM, EN & DW
Ripple 7kW WT & Gen to date 19MWh
42kWh LFPO4 storage
95kWh Heater storage
12kWh 210ltr HWT.
73kWh HI5
Deep insulation, air leak ct'd home
Zoned GCH & Hive 2
WBSx2
Low energy bulbs
Veg patches & fruit trees
Moxi
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Re: Balcony solar PV

#787

Post by Moxi »

Would you believe just three minutes after that photo the cloud slid away up the Nantille Valley and left is with bright blue skies !

Bitterly cold but I don't care because that means better panel efficiency :lol:

Half term here so the kids are running amuck around the house, hopefully we can get them out in the snow in a bit before it melts away or the next rain front arrives.

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Re: Balcony solar PV

#788

Post by Joeboy »

Moxi wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:07 am Would you believe just three minutes after that photo the cloud slid away up the Nantille Valley and left is with bright blue skies !

Bitterly cold but I don't care because that means better panel efficiency :lol:

Half term here so the kids are running amuck around the house, hopefully we can get them out in the snow in a bit before it melts away or the next rain front arrives.

Moxi
Glad to hear it! We are down to 750W incoming and a deepening sky. No worries, classic fm on and enough to run house and trickle into the stack.

Image
19.7kW PV SE, VI, HM, EN & DW
Ripple 7kW WT & Gen to date 19MWh
42kWh LFPO4 storage
95kWh Heater storage
12kWh 210ltr HWT.
73kWh HI5
Deep insulation, air leak ct'd home
Zoned GCH & Hive 2
WBSx2
Low energy bulbs
Veg patches & fruit trees
AE-NMidlands
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Re: Balcony solar PV

#789

Post by AE-NMidlands »

Joeboy wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:10 am Glad to hear it! We are down to 750W incoming and a deepening sky. No worries, classic fm on and enough to run house and trickle into the stack.
Quite cold, bright blue sky and nice sun here too, also a trickle going in to the stack. It's odd that, while I am currently getting 500W off the West-facing roof, this time yesterday we were getting about 900W. I put it down to last night's rain washing the air so no reflection or diffraction back off atmospheric particulate.
I suppose that after a full year when (I hope) I shall have seen solid 3.6kW clipped output from the inverter through the summer I shan't even be thinking twice about these small variations. OTOH, I agree that watching the details at the edges and avoiding grid import is very satisfying, so I probably shall!
2.0 kW/4.62 MWh pa in Ripples, 4.5 kWp W-facing pv, 9.5 kWh batt
30 solar thermal tubes, 2MWh pa in Stockport, plus Congleton and Kinlochbervie Hydros,
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Joeboy
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Re: Balcony solar PV

#790

Post by Joeboy »

AE-NMidlands wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:25 am
Joeboy wrote: Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:10 am Glad to hear it! We are down to 750W incoming and a deepening sky. No worries, classic fm on and enough to run house and trickle into the stack.
Quite cold, bright blue sky and nice sun here too, also a trickle going in to the stack. It's odd that, while I am currently getting 500W off the West-facing roof, this time yesterday we were getting about 900W. I put it down to last night's rain washing the air so no reflection or diffraction back off atmospheric particulate.
I suppose that after a full year when (I hope) I shall have seen solid 3.6kW clipped output from the inverter through the summer I shan't even be thinking twice about these small variations. OTOH, I agree that watching the details at the edges and avoiding grid import is very satisfying, so I probably shall!
We are back up at 1.6kW incoming as i type. Agree on the satisfaction of getting it done ourselves, same when i fire up power tools and I know that after the momentary spike of demand its all me. Actually that's a point, another reason to use battery power tools. No inverter lag.

Being on IO and its higher dayrate plus the fall away in GF cash generation its worth keeping an eye on the demands of the house. Biggest hurdle for me was SWMBO coming to the understanding herself with no counter productive input from me. 900W is good! Plenty days im happy to see that. :D 8-)
19.7kW PV SE, VI, HM, EN & DW
Ripple 7kW WT & Gen to date 19MWh
42kWh LFPO4 storage
95kWh Heater storage
12kWh 210ltr HWT.
73kWh HI5
Deep insulation, air leak ct'd home
Zoned GCH & Hive 2
WBSx2
Low energy bulbs
Veg patches & fruit trees
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