Small things matter

[Mr Gus]

I know you have said "if it all proves viable at no1 son's" joe, but logic & location say youve already got plenty pf Scottish locale readings, the turkish sunshine is on another level of intensity & delivery potential, somehow I dont think sons house set up is going to meet in the middle of the two extremes

You are slipping towards the inevitable conclusion, so Iwould start planning for it matey! ..starting with reassuring wife that the panels will be higher than normal to allow reflectivity & allow transmission to catch rays on the rebound.

Get a stick & plan the potential height of a bottom panel edge with a big piece of cardboard attached to visualise headroom & start eyeing up nice chandelry materials to make it more a living architectural feature as it would be stared at from loungers alot right?

After the quake how has structural material escalated in price? ..I anticipate thats going to be a big cost factor, & how do you envisage clamping uprights for your sun pergola? ..via a drilled boot per corner & additional belt & braces wall ties?

Before you go public to get the mrs consent, draw it out & show her some nice fittings if you come across some after doing a recce at a chandlery, treat it as if a boat deck design maybe to get your head round the boots you'd likely have to drill down, seal when fitting & soft cover to avoid bare toe gashes & ensure water proofing integrity (..paul f where are you) !? ..of course planning time is to your advantage in a long term possibilities scenario.

How does the turkish wind & rain come through the area & how would that affect sola-per-gola run off potentially?

I'm guessing due to space constraints posh thin metal uprights are the order of the day to minimise floor shadow & maximise solar bounceback gains, rather than much thicker wooden supports & the shadow they'd cast? but you'd also want to avoid burnt arms & fingers potential, soumds like you ought do a few bar recce's for info on whose got solar savvy out your way who knows the local market / local solar facebook group as to what meccano kit is within reach for future assessment & backgrou d detail as to the local grid out there.

[Mr Gus]

Oh man,stop posting pics ..you got me wondering how much effort to chill water from the room temp plastic water bottle to the chilled water dispensing sump is now, ..that would be an interesting thermal image joe

time for a foil cover or a tin foil hat!?

Apologies if it has just done the same to you

[Krill]

I know you have said "if it all proves viable at no1 son's" joe, but logic & location say youve already got plenty pf Scottish locale readings, the turkish sunshine is on another level of intensity & delivery potential, somehow I dont think sons house set up is going to meet in the middle of the two extremes

You are slipping towards the inevitable conclusion, so Iwould start planning for it matey! ..starting with reassuring wife that the panels will be higher than normal to allow reflectivity & allow transmission to catch rays on the rebound.

Get a stick & plan the potential height of a bottom panel edge with a big piece of cardboard attached to visualise headroom & start eyeing up nice chandelry materials to make it more a living architectural feature as it would be stared at from loungers alot right?

After the quake how has structural material escalated in price? ..I anticipate thats going to be a big cost factor, & how do you envisage clamping uprights for your sun pergola? ..via a drilled boot per corner & additional belt & braces wall ties?

Before you go public to get the mrs consent, draw it out & show her some nice fittings if you come across some after doing a recce at a chandlery, treat it as if a boat deck design maybe to get your head round the boots you'd likely have to drill down, seal when fitting & soft cover to avoid bare toe gashes & ensure water proofing integrity (..paul f where are you) !? ..of course planning time is to your advantage in a long term possibilities scenario.

How does the turkish wind & rain come through the area & how would that affect sola-per-gola run off potentially?

I'm guessing due to space constraints posh thin metal uprights are the order of the day to minimise floor shadow & maximise solar bounceback gains, rather than much thicker wooden supports & the shadow they'd cast? but you'd also want to avoid burnt arms & fingers potential, soumds like you ought do a few bar recce's for info on whose got solar savvy out your way who knows the local market / local solar facebook group as to what meccano kit is within reach for future assessment & backgrou d detail as to the local grid out there.

Playing devils advocate, because I agree that small scale solar PV without a battery should be installed on every house and apartment, but there is a difference between the investment in a property that is occupied close to 100% of the time (especially when looking at such low loads) and a holiday home that is occupied maybe 10 weeks of the year (guessing on this, but the point holds).

Joe, what's the usage like when you aren't at the property, and are there any feed in tariffs available?

[Joeboy]

I know you have said "if it all proves viable at no1 son's" joe, but logic & location say youve already got plenty pf Scottish locale readings, the turkish sunshine is on another level of intensity & delivery potential, somehow I dont think sons house set up is going to meet in the middle of the two extremes

You are slipping towards the inevitable conclusion, so Iwould start planning for it matey! ..starting with reassuring wife that the panels will be higher than normal to allow reflectivity & allow transmission to catch rays on the rebound.

Get a stick & plan the potential height of a bottom panel edge with a big piece of cardboard attached to visualise headroom & start eyeing up nice chandelry materials to make it more a living architectural feature as it would be stared at from loungers alot right?

After the quake how has structural material escalated in price? ..I anticipate thats going to be a big cost factor, & how do you envisage clamping uprights for your sun pergola? ..via a drilled boot per corner & additional belt & braces wall ties?

Before you go public to get the mrs consent, draw it out & show her some nice fittings if you come across some after doing a recce at a chandlery, treat it as if a boat deck design maybe to get your head round the boots you'd likely have to drill down, seal when fitting & soft cover to avoid bare toe gashes & ensure water proofing integrity (..paul f where are you) !? ..of course planning time is to your advantage in a long term possibilities scenario.

How does the turkish wind & rain come through the area & how would that affect sola-per-gola run off potentially?

I'm guessing due to space constraints posh thin metal uprights are the order of the day to minimise floor shadow & maximise solar bounceback gains, rather than much thicker wooden supports & the shadow they'd cast? but you'd also want to avoid burnt arms & fingers potential, soumds like you ought do a few bar recce's for info on whose got solar savvy out your way who knows the local market / local solar facebook group as to what meccano kit is within reach for future assessment & backgrou d detail as to the local grid out there.

Playing devils advocate, because I agree that small scale solar PV without a battery should be installed on every house and apartment, but there is a difference between the investment in a property that is occupied close to 100% of the time (especially when looking at such low loads) and a holiday home that is occupied maybe 10 weeks of the year (guessing on this, but the point holds).

Joe, what's the usage like when you aren't at the property, and are there any feed in tariffs available?

There are fit's here but I wouldn't pursue them as it would be a heavy investment and not quite in line with my small scale goals.

I Don't actually know the usage. Genuinely the first time I've looked at the meter was this morning. There are meter people who take readings each month and it comes off dd. I'd guess £20 a month across 7 or 8 months occupied? Nothing really and I'd do it not for financial reasons but to be self sufficient to a greater degree and because the suns there every day. I'll know in the next few days our average Summer day use. It won't be much!

[Mr Gus]

My biggest sticking point is the inverter cost to purchase & install (& yes I agree, re partial occupancy etc) which is where a canny government might make use of grid spare via houses merely ticking over & generally in partial occupancy, bumps up the local grid (but it also means lack of occupancy may mean an exterior reset button has to be fitted too ,...no idea of how safety inclined Turkey is.

Self sustaining is where we all want to be going, & holiday homes are yet another angle of approach.
However I think joe is in this for a long haul perspective with more time spent out there in which case the split becomes more 50-50 with all that work done at home, AND joe has a 3rd property in sunny edinburgh so there is always cost out, all depends on how much & how much for kit, how much for tax etc as to the math, as its either coming from china directly, another EU country but certainly not via the UK, nor in hand luggage.

This link whilst old, is an eye opener, go straight to the last paragraph ..
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2018/05/18/ ... -to-10-kw/

Looks like turkey had a bit of a free for all back in 2018, if still in place, might be to your advantage Joe.

[Stinsy]

If I were Joe here is what I’d do:

- Chuck up a couple/few panels.
- Build an 8S “24V” LFP battery pack.
- Buy a cheap Hybrid inverter.

That way the “remote location” could possibly be entirely off-grid! Even if there was a grid connection still he would easily have the lights and TV in addition to the fridge-freezer running as normal in the case of extended outages.

[Krill]

I know you have said "if it all proves viable at no1 son's" joe, but logic & location say youve already got plenty pf Scottish locale readings, the turkish sunshine is on another level of intensity & delivery potential, somehow I dont think sons house set up is going to meet in the middle of the two extremes

You are slipping towards the inevitable conclusion, so Iwould start planning for it matey! ..starting with reassuring wife that the panels will be higher than normal to allow reflectivity & allow transmission to catch rays on the rebound.

Get a stick & plan the potential height of a bottom panel edge with a big piece of cardboard attached to visualise headroom & start eyeing up nice chandelry materials to make it more a living architectural feature as it would be stared at from loungers alot right?

After the quake how has structural material escalated in price? ..I anticipate thats going to be a big cost factor, & how do you envisage clamping uprights for your sun pergola? ..via a drilled boot per corner & additional belt & braces wall ties?

Before you go public to get the mrs consent, draw it out & show her some nice fittings if you come across some after doing a recce at a chandlery, treat it as if a boat deck design maybe to get your head round the boots you'd likely have to drill down, seal when fitting & soft cover to avoid bare toe gashes & ensure water proofing integrity (..paul f where are you) !? ..of course planning time is to your advantage in a long term possibilities scenario.

How does the turkish wind & rain come through the area & how would that affect sola-per-gola run off potentially?

I'm guessing due to space constraints posh thin metal uprights are the order of the day to minimise floor shadow & maximise solar bounceback gains, rather than much thicker wooden supports & the shadow they'd cast? but you'd also want to avoid burnt arms & fingers potential, soumds like you ought do a few bar recce's for info on whose got solar savvy out your way who knows the local market / local solar facebook group as to what meccano kit is within reach for future assessment & backgrou d detail as to the local grid out there.

Playing devils advocate, because I agree that small scale solar PV without a battery should be installed on every house and apartment, but there is a difference between the investment in a property that is occupied close to 100% of the time (especially when looking at such low loads) and a holiday home that is occupied maybe 10 weeks of the year (guessing on this, but the point holds).

Joe, what's the usage like when you aren't at the property, and are there any feed in tariffs available?

There are fit's here but I wouldn't pursue them as it would be a heavy investment and not quite in line with my small scale goals.

I Don't actually know the usage. Genuinely the first time I've looked at the meter was this morning. There are meter people who take readings each month and it comes off dd. I'd guess £20 a month across 7 or 8 months occupied? Nothing really and I'd do it not for financial reasons but to be self sufficient to a greater degree and because the suns there every day. I'll know in the next few days our average Summer day use. It won't be much!

Without looking at any figures, it seems like the test case in a permenantly occupied home seems wisest, work out the potential pitfalls and then roll it out to other properties as resources allow when you can weight up if it is better to do something else first? Looking at this as a resource allocation issue, rather than viability.

Partly wondering because I have family that have properties in France and the resource allocation is a real point. The property in the UK needs renovation but they would not do that, and solar PV places a barrier to what needs to be done, but the property in France is done and would generate roughly 30% more power for the same kWp installed.

I don't think anyone on this forum would argue with putting up more panels, but the question of "At what cost?" is always worth discussing, even if in none financial perspectives. For example, the factories only make so many panels a week, only so many get transported to X location, so prioritisation matters.

[Mr Gus]

If he is not corrupt then the local mayors office might divulge some decent info (there's just no telling)

[Joeboy]

The attraction for me is the simplicity of the microinverter hook in and no rails or roof access needed. I'll be keeping an eye out for balcony pv systems here on the supermarket fliers. A plug in standalone battery pack could come later.

There seems to be less hurdles by far going this route than involving payment schemes & govt officials. That leaves me cold.

Bear in mind that I'm doing it (if I ever do) to bring an existing engineering solution to a ff issue. I am not actually looking for it to 'do a turn'.

[AGT]

Couple of panels fitted with a French cleat, same in the wall.

Easy to fit, lift on and off…