Ground mounted solar PV installation project

[brewdexta]

If you just want summer hot water wouldn't roof mounted water thermal panels be better? Almost every house in Spain and Portugal uses them. Not much good when it's overcast though.

I did consider them, along with the "biodynamic" panel or whatever they call them, filled with freon and with a compressor. Both are a bit of a one trick pony, this can do more.

 

[Maker]

Yes I did try it. Not looking good for our place as its down in a valley. I would consider it for my warehouse but we get awful winds right by the sea. Roof sheets often get blown off so I doubt it would be safe.

The wind took this off the roof where my dad works in February, lucky it didn't hit anyone really.

 

[brewdexta]

Well, I've started on the fuse board, I'm following the IET guide to the letter as you can see. it will be better once the heat shrink is on

 

[daleyd]

Well, I've started on the fuse board, I'm following the IET guide to the letter as you can see. it will be better once the heat shrink is on

View attachment 362126

I'm guessing you have seen the video that's from?

 

[mike os]

are those pliers vde rated?

 

[m_c]

Looks good to me.

Now where did I put my cane?
Oh there it is...

 

[brewdexta]

The battery didn't appear yesterday, "courier couldn't find your address" AKA another new driver overloaded with drops prioritised easier deliveries in the valley rather than spend 10 minutes hunting for our farm in the hills.

Anyway, I've been trawling through various sites to find the best DC isolators/fuses. I've sorted the battery side out, I'll be using one of these. They are sold at a few places, I bought this from solartradesales.co.uk

its a KETO Battery Disconnector with 80A Fuses so is a double pole isolator with fuses in one. I can change out the fuses for larger, up to 160A I believe however as the Inverter limits charge to 65A and discharge to 70A, 80A should be enough. Looking at other solutions like DC MCBs on various solar sites, the majority available seem to be 80A so I am guessing this is because most G98 compliant hybrid inverters will have similar performance.

I've sorted out the DC isolators for the PV, I'm using a double pole isolator on each string, they are Craig & Derricott PVP162 16A isolators. from Solarsparky I just need to sort out fusing for the PV and I'm just about done in terms of ordering kit. I have the 4mm PV cable and MC4 connectors on order too.

Cheers
Andy

 

[brewdexta]

Solar PV fuses sorted, TOMZN TOPV-32 DIN rail mounted fuse holders so can put them in a nice box. The fuses are 1000V rated, I'll be using 16A. I've bought two so both legs of each string fused as per some recommendations I've seen.

Just buying a couple of metres of 16mm cable then the DC side purchasing is all done, bar a DIN enclosure and some clips.

 

[brewdexta]

A bit of light reading, MCS guide to the installation of PV systems, 2012

https://mcscertified.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/PV-Book-ELECTRONIC.pdf

 

[brewdexta]

Earthing is more complex than I thought, especially with a ground mounted solution.

I'm going through the various docs for the kit and the MCS doc and a few other sources and will be chatting to the spark.

The inverter is class 1 protection so will need an earth, but the panels and battery are a bit more problematic. I shall come back when I've come to some sort of conclusion

 

[brewdexta]

Earthing sorted, I've just had a brew with the spark. I only need to extend the house earth to the inverter.

The ground mount, given it has 6 (or possibly 8) steel posts buried 500mm in to the ground that the rest of the ironwork and panels are bolted to means its well grounded. The case of the battery can be earthed to that structure too. I will be adding a few earth straps here and there to make sure things are consistent but that's easy.

 

[Justme]

You will get more total energy with one less row giving less shading.

Shade is the enemy.

Even a little virtually knocks out all the power from that panel. 10% shade on a panel does not = 10% less energy.

 

[brewdexta]

I'm hoping I can get an extra metre of length to the frame by dog legging the most northerly panels where the plot narrows to avoid shading. I can also lower the angle from 38 degrees a bit. If I still get shading other than really early and late in the day then removing a row is an option. I'll then find somewhere else to put the last two panels.

Where the plot narrows, I may be able to put two panels, one per row.

I have spare unistrut, just need a few more brackets.

 

[Justme]

Have you looked at changing landscape to portrait & getting 3 or 4 on each row?

 

[brewdexta]

Yes, but then the neighbours are more likely to moan as they are more visible and they will shade the ones behind more.

The way I'm building it with two longitudinal unistrut rails mean I can slide the rows up and down a bit to avoid shade.

Just been talking to my sister in law. She's arranging 90 panels on their barn roof to power their ground source heat pumps

 

[Kayos]

Yes, but then the neighbours are more likely to moan as they are more visible and they will shade the ones behind more.

The way I'm building it with two longitudinal unistrut rails mean I can slide the rows up and down a bit to avoid shade.

Just been talking to my sister in law. She's arranging 90 panels on their barn roof to power their ground source heat pumps

We do this quite a lot, usually increase the PV as the self consumption goes up with the heat pumps.

No point having a big array and exporting for pennies

 

[brewdexta]

I stayed overnight at my brothers farm over in North Yorkshire. Last night we had lamb shanks, half a dozen pints and some whisky, I feel somewhat jaded today. I didn't feel like doing much today but managed to move some stone out of the way, clear our all the carp in the equipment room and drill holes for cables.

I need four so drilled 8 x 22mm holes in case I add to the system in the future. I'll line them with some conduit. Next I'll put the roof on.

 

[brewdexta]

I've started on the system diagram, not much more to do. I haven't looked into the Eddi solar diverter much yet but that will come later. I also need to check out the BMS cabling between battery and inverter but most of it is complete. I may need to up the size of the battery fuse a bit, I'll see how it goes.
.

 

[brewdexta]

More gear has arrived. Apart from PV cable, the PV fuses/holders and the battery fuse/isolators arrived.

Here's the Solar fuses and holders, they are the same format as a double MCB, Standard 240v plug fuse for scale. I'll get a 4 way DIN rail box to take them, there's one for each string, the fuses are 15A

And the battery fuses and isolators. You pull the handle at the top to pull down the front cover, this cover holds the fuses and opening it pulls the blades of the fuses from the contacts

Here's where the fuses go when the cover is closed, fuse removed from cover for visibility,

And the fuses in place in the cover. Its a 3 way fuse/isolator but I'm just using the two.

It's a bit like a modern version of the big switch used in Frankenstein movies

Cheers
Andy

 

[mike os]

So similar to the old “mcb” style fuseholders?

Battery fuses similar to the old heavy fused isolators ?