So now I have a solar PV system how do I make the most of it???

orrery

grahamc2003 wrote: »

...knowing that the Owl can display down to 35W...

Mine will not display a reading of less than 101W, which it shows from an actual of 10W. Less than an actual of 10W it displays 0.

KevinG

Further to this "entertaining" exchange, I checked the accuracy of my OWL against the inverter display this morning. I have mine set to 250V as I believe this fairly accurately reflects the voltage being generated. For a high reading on the inverter, e.g. 1.7kW (I have a 2kWp system) it was under-reading and showing about 1.6kW. For lower readings on the inverter it was over-reading. I think I was allowing for the time lag before the OWL updates, but it's tricky when the readings are so variable and the inverter display updates a lot faster than the OWL. Anyway, I'm perfectly happy with OWL for giving me a quick spot-check of the rough amount being generated. I obviously wouldn't even consider using it to meter the output, I have a perfectly good generation meter for that!

Martyn1981

Back when I too had the 'clamp', I found it fine for choosing when to run devices etc. Handy little gadgets, especially if you get cheap ones 2nd hand.

M.

don0301

HalloweenJack wrote: »

hmmm dont your invertors switch off at night/ no output? mine does...

mine doesnt switch off, it goes into "night mode" with a night consumption of 0.23W, according to the destruction manual.

HalloweenJack

oooh reading my manual mine does the same - with a consumption of 0.1w (SMA 1700)

don0301

8.7kWh today

well past my PVGIS estimate for the month

Martyn1981

Got 5.2 today. And held 1.54kW for about an hour, edging up slowly as angles improve.

3.7 from Phase 1 2.4kWp at 30deg, and
1.5 from P2 1.2kWp at 20deg.

P2 should match (well 50%) P1 around April I think. Will be interesting to see if P2 exceeds 50% of P1 in May - July, when it's angle is better.

Got 69 so far, need another 3 to hit target. Should do it, but no good weather, so marginal. Also interesting.

Well, interesting to me that is, not to normal people.

M.

larkim

First thing I did when I had my installation up and running was to put the Owl next to the inverter, and the readings were more or less the same (i.e. the instantaneous generation figure), so I'm happy it gives me a good rule of thumb measure. Overnight it reads permanently either 0.081kW or 0.064kW permanent consumption (and ditto during the day when it is cloudy enough not to be generating anything). Slightly irritating as getting into the loft is a bit of a hassle, but I now tend to pop up every couple of weeks or so just to keep an eye on total generation.

Matt

don0301

some nice piccies from today

jimjames

don0301 wrote: »

8.7kWh today

well past my PVGIS estimate for the month

Disappointed today. I was expecting another good day but cloud came over just after 10am so we only got 2kWh today - yesterday was over 9.

Well above the SAP estimate of 93 and very close to PV-GIS so expect to reach that before end of month.