- Thread starter brewdexta
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dyno-tron
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For anyone needing some real world info for solar panel “effectiveness” to help with decision making here is my latest stats page.
System is 7kw installed panels (don’t remember the brand).
SolarEdge 8000h inverter. Enough headroom to add more panels in future if necessary.
SolarEdge optimisers on each panel.
SolarEdge 10kw battery.
In short,at the moment, solar is providing about 75% of our consumption.
System is 7kw installed panels (don’t remember the brand).
SolarEdge 8000h inverter. Enough headroom to add more panels in future if necessary.
SolarEdge optimisers on each panel.
SolarEdge 10kw battery.
In short,at the moment, solar is providing about 75% of our consumption.
gaz1
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can you give your monthly and yearly quota by any chance
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This guy reckons the sun destroys solar panels??? skip to 2:25
Kayos
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Solar edge are fantastic, great inverters and the dashboard is one of the best
However I've just been quoted 8 months lead time for inverters
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brewdexta
The biggest tool in the box
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The panel degrades slightly in terms of efficiency over time. The manufacturers publish figures for this. So destroy is the wrong word.
daleyd
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I’m sure someone will be along shortly to tell you not to bother as solar doesn’t work in Britain 
Fantastic job as always @brewdexta - can’t wait to see the results.
Fantastic job as always @brewdexta - can’t wait to see the results.
Agree, good info, well presented.I’m sure someone will be along shortly to tell you not to bother as solar doesn’t work in Britain
Fantastic job as always @brewdexta - can’t wait to see the results.
dyno-tron
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Here y go. Unfortunately the data isn’t probably what you are after as it’s not been in long, installed end of May 22 and the battery was installed 9 days ago.
dyno-tron
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Solarsparky (tradesparky) are listing about 6-10 weeks for inverters.
But they have 100+ batteries in stock:-)
Kayos
Gone......
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I always forget when replying to these I'm not looking at domestic stuff, usually it's 50kw+ inverters
brewdexta
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After bottling 150 bottles of ale, I set to turning the fag packet diagrams into something a bit more detailed so I could order the rest of the bits for the panel mounting.
The site is sloping about 10 degrees towards the south which helps stop shading, plus after talking to the missus, some honeysuckle has been sacrificed to provide an extra 2m of length to the plot, The plot is now 8.1m long and 3.8m wide. Tomorrow I'll be removing a couple of trees and skimming some of the turf off before digging holes for the mounting posts. Below is a 6m length of double unistrut on the plot
The aerial view now looks like this.
I need to keep the profile of the panels down, ideally mostly behind the wall, so after looking at a few options, this is the one I'll be going with. I may raise the wall an additional 300mm if I can get my hands on some suitable dry stone walling. The wall is the East so not a big provider of shade when it matters most. The dotted line shows that the sun isn't shaded by the panels in front at mid day, but probably will be morning and afternoon. By dog legging the most northerly panels to the west a little, I'm hoping to gain another metre or so, that way I can space the panels further apart and reduce the shade. The other alternative is to lay the panels down a bit more, most UK roofs don't offer 38 degrees from the horizontal so this is not a big deal and may reduce shading further.
Looking at the ironwork in more detail, I hit a small snag but there's no point ordering until Tuesday so will think on it a little, its not a big issue and I'll probably come up with an alternative over a beer this evening,
Here's the first tentative detailed design just showing one bank of panels. After looking at various clamps and possibly making them out of some aluminium profile, I have decided to bolt them down. This saves quite a lot of money and its still not difficult to swap out a panel. Each panels is fixed with 2 bolts at the top and bottom to the 20 x 41 unistrut that runs horizontally, the panel manual shows this as a viable option.
If I ever did want to do any automated tracking, which I doubt, then by attaching the top of each row to all the others with unistrut and removing the tie bar would mean that the angle could be changed by pushing or pulling this piece of unistrut. This means only one set of adjustment mechanism needed for all 6 rows of panels.
Tomorrow will be less pontificating, more action and less trawling the internet for suppliers who have stock.
Cheers
Andy
The site is sloping about 10 degrees towards the south which helps stop shading, plus after talking to the missus, some honeysuckle has been sacrificed to provide an extra 2m of length to the plot, The plot is now 8.1m long and 3.8m wide. Tomorrow I'll be removing a couple of trees and skimming some of the turf off before digging holes for the mounting posts. Below is a 6m length of double unistrut on the plot
The aerial view now looks like this.
I need to keep the profile of the panels down, ideally mostly behind the wall, so after looking at a few options, this is the one I'll be going with. I may raise the wall an additional 300mm if I can get my hands on some suitable dry stone walling. The wall is the East so not a big provider of shade when it matters most. The dotted line shows that the sun isn't shaded by the panels in front at mid day, but probably will be morning and afternoon. By dog legging the most northerly panels to the west a little, I'm hoping to gain another metre or so, that way I can space the panels further apart and reduce the shade. The other alternative is to lay the panels down a bit more, most UK roofs don't offer 38 degrees from the horizontal so this is not a big deal and may reduce shading further.
Looking at the ironwork in more detail, I hit a small snag but there's no point ordering until Tuesday so will think on it a little, its not a big issue and I'll probably come up with an alternative over a beer this evening,
Here's the first tentative detailed design just showing one bank of panels. After looking at various clamps and possibly making them out of some aluminium profile, I have decided to bolt them down. This saves quite a lot of money and its still not difficult to swap out a panel. Each panels is fixed with 2 bolts at the top and bottom to the 20 x 41 unistrut that runs horizontally, the panel manual shows this as a viable option.
If I ever did want to do any automated tracking, which I doubt, then by attaching the top of each row to all the others with unistrut and removing the tie bar would mean that the angle could be changed by pushing or pulling this piece of unistrut. This means only one set of adjustment mechanism needed for all 6 rows of panels.
Tomorrow will be less pontificating, more action and less trawling the internet for suppliers who have stock.
Cheers
Andy
dyno-tron
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They are showing 10 weeks for the big one (82kw) too. But worth calling to check
brewdexta
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I'm not sure what digging in the fronts means! The panel won't work if covered in soil
However, I did consider a centre bar on my fag packet drawings. The problem is that the site is narrow, part of the panels go over a steep banking so the frame is limited to being underneath the panels and the easiest way to do a centre bar is to have the hub on either side. If I turned the panels form landscape to portrait I could it that way, but then the panels would be higher and create more shade. I could still put a centre bar underneath the panel, here's a very rough drawing modified form the one before. There are benefits in that force to adjust the angle is less, but its more complex to build, uses more unistrut and to allow the panel to swivel on the axis, I have to raise them a little otherwise the front of the panel hits the frame. The drawing is only indicative, I would probably use something a bit meatier for the swivel if I went this way, but probably won't because, as I keep repeating, it is very unlikely I will do any tracking.
The wife pointed out that a pile of stone left over from dry stone walling was currently above the proposed site and needed to be below the site for a planned retaining wall on the patio. There's no easy access with the bobcat to where it needed to be, and a barrow load of stone on a steep slope with a 6 foot drop at the end is asking for trouble so had to hand ball it.
Doesn't look like much.
But looks can be deceiving, its about 15m between the two sites, took me a couple of hours, mainly because its on the road side and neighbours kept stopping for a natter
There was some big lumps, I left the 3 biggest behind until my next door neighbour comes around, he built like a battleship. Its a pity I didn't have anybody to catch them as I dropped them over the 6 foot wall, I'll have to move them again as they are in the way of the footings for the retaining wall and I hate moving stuff twice.
This is looking south from above the plot, the tree on the left is being relocated. The plot is behind the tree, as you can see quite narrow, The steep banking is behind the small block/stone construction in the foreground, the missus is hacking back the self seeded willow and other vegetation this afternoon while I fill a couple of IBCs with logs from coppicing our small wood while the field is dry and firm enough to get the bobcat down the hill and back.
I'm putting a catenary wire between the site and the house to take mains power from the inverter to our consumer unit, plus Cat 5 etc. for comms etc. I'm not sure whether to use hi-tuff or SWA cable on the catenary. it only goes above the passageway down the side of the house and it will be at almost apex height at that point so no need for armour there and on the plot side as its elevated from the house on a banking, it only needs a short pole, probably 1.5 to 2m then it will be into the small hut so not a lot to protect, I could put this bit into some conduit. Its 16A max output from the inverter so probably go with 4.0mm cable, I'm leaning towards hi-tuff.
Cheers
Andy
brewdexta
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Thanks gaz but seen most of them before, none would work easily, in my tiny plot between a steep banking and a road, they all have loads of room around them and don't care about height/shading.
Tilting/tracking is not priority for me. Low profile and easy to build in a suboptimal site is.
So lets park the angle adjustment.
Tilting/tracking is not priority for me. Low profile and easy to build in a suboptimal site is.
So lets park the angle adjustment.
addjunkie
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Is that sheet metal roof your barn? What direction does that face? I wonder if my live stock building is strong enough for panels one side is about 5 degrees off due south!
AmI correct in thinking that if I have batteries and dont export any more juice than my existing 4kw system I could have as much as I wanted.
AmI correct in thinking that if I have batteries and dont export any more juice than my existing 4kw system I could have as much as I wanted.
gaz1
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i believe from his other thread posts that was his barn/workshop that hes posted on here
as goes for your reference you may have to fix another frame at side of the existing a frame to strengthen the roof at alternative points along the roof at bolt points
the panels are lightweight to a degree so not much in weight to them
