The Boy That Cried PV Extension

[Joeboy]

I'm going to the pub in a couple of hours. Looking forward to seeing the photos then. Are you generating off the new gear already Mart?

[Mart]

I'm going to the pub in a couple of hours. Looking forward to seeing the photos then. Are you generating off the new gear already Mart?

Sadly, not.

I've condensed the true story down into one day, but in reality it's taken far longer ......... I'm sure that's no surprise to anyone!

Frame went up in April ready, so I could liaise with the installer and select suitable sized panels. Batteries and new inverter went in in late June, but issues with the PO's slowed things down. That seemed to be a complete coincidence with me spotting two failing in late May (and having a replacement for the 3rd on a shelf in the garage since Feb, whilst I waited for better weather). So I said let me have a go with the PO's first and see if that solves the problem (which it did), or else we'll get the scaffolding in, and might as well replace the 13 small panels on the upper roof, with 5 or 6 new shiny ones ...... with all the PO's mounted within reach of the Velux.

Next, the second battery refused to chat with the inverter, which seemed unnecessarily rude. So multiple attempts with various engineers were made to resolve without any joy. But I did have one working battery, so July was great fun, with only minimal import when it snuck past us. There were a few occasions where demand exceeded the inverters output of 3.68kW, and also (as expected) issues with the microwave and induction hob, where the pulsing of demand made it tricky. So looked like July import would be ~10kWh.

Then on Tuesday it was time for the ground mount and low roof panels, which went well. But, the engineer working on the inverter/battery issue again had a breakthrough, when some senior staff at Solaredge (on the phone) suggested swopping the second battery connections with the first, and the second battery immediately connected. So, it turns out it wasn't the battery but a fault with the inverter, which couldn't cope with more than one battery.

At this point Solaredge advised that they were seeing odd 'stuff', so Tuesday ended without the ground mount being connected, without the new lower roof panels being connected, and the upper roof playing funny games, so all shutdown.

Tomorrow the replacement inverter gets installed. And that's a very simple and fast swop. So fingers crossed, if the batteries feel chatty, then all should be good. The cables from the ground mount have been run up the garden, and I cut a channel in the concrete (hidden under the plank seen in some pics), so just needs to be connected up to the low roof panels for a string of 9, and the upper roof string of 13 also connected, and Robert's your Auntie's husband.

From what I've seen so far, and the ability to charge ~20kWh from the grid at night if I need to, I optimistically don't think I'll need to buy any day rate leccy going forward. So if ~10kWh per month sneaks through, then that might be about it.

What I'm most looking forward to though, is the ability to use the A2A units far more for heating. Not only will I have more PV generation, but the batts mean it no longer has to time match, so that might provide all heating necessary in Mch and Oct. And charging the batts from night rate should massively reduce GCH needs Nov through to Feb too, after my succesful trialing this year of running an A2A unit all night on cheap rate.

Been a slow summer, especially as I so wanted to finally share the changes. Hope that it goes well tomorrow, but at least I'm finally at the stage where I could post the finished visuals.


Just a thought, in case anyone is wondering, the pics show that next door is quite a bit higher than us. Each house on the hill is about 2ft lower than the one before it. So standing on the path in front of the panels (or where they would be) back in late Dec, the hill allowed me to see the sun from its rise in the SE to its setting in the SW. So I expect very little shading issues in those poorest months, for which the ground mount was designed (at ~60d pitch). It will get shading in the summer before SE (due to a large mature Magnolia tree), and after SW from our house, but that again was expected and planned(?) and we have loads of PV gen then, anyway.

[Joeboy]

Sounds like a grand adventure Mart, glad to hear it's coming to the terminus. Well, the current terminus.

[nowty]

These things rarely go without problems to solve , but once its done.

[Joeboy]

Ironically, I've got a long Covid Zoom meeting coming up in 15mins, so had to rush the rest of the work,

Nice Mart, well played!

[Mart]

These things rarely go without problems to solve , but once its done.

It got worse, had cat ass trophic shading problems last evening.

the new inverter will arrive in about an hour and the real fun will begin.

[Moxi]

Mart,

You might want to get the chimney sorted before the roots wreck the mortar and you get bricks on the panels instead

Moxi

[Mart]

Mart,

You might want to get the chimney sorted before the roots wreck the mortar and you get bricks on the panels instead

Moxi

It is a job I've been pondering now I have the harness. Plus the panels and their mounting rails make access very easy. Throw a strap around the chimney and then reconnect the lanyard ...... plus I can see my house from up there!


Anyone done similar? I was thinking re-cement the top/pots and a 'quick' buzz along the joints with a small angle grinder, but rather than cement the joints, are their specialized jointing compounds for use with sealant guns?

[Adokforme]

Great job Mart, it'll be well worth the wait effort, endeavour and endurance. So especially creditable when shackled with LC alongside it all.

[Moxi]

Hmm,

Not sure about using the chimney as the anchor point, especially while you are re-pointing the same, then again I am useless with heights these days, despite being an EOT crane driver in my youth and having to walk along an unguarded 1 meters wide beam at 36meters height to access the cranes while they were moving - I imagine H&S has improved that procedure these days.

https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/advice/r ... -a-chimney - thats a basic but informative article on repointing a chimney, for myself - even as a tight long pocketed Yorkshireman - I would pay others to do it, especially if you can go halves on the cost with the neighbour. Otherwise I don't suppose you can get a cherry picker in the front garden to do it ? Last resort would be the roof ladder properly tied off and some good knee pads, bucket in the gap in the rungs in front of you and harness clipped on to the ladder but only if your initial survey shows that there's only minimal pointing needed anything more and I would still pay the professionals.

I used to work with a guy in Surrey who tied off his ladder to the car on the drive, he was up the ladder when his wife went to the shops. Broken arm, collar bone etc etc was off work for ages but one of the luckiest fella's I know because he got away with his life! Be really careful Mart

Moxi