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

John_Pierpoint

Plot_Vendor wrote: »

Thanks, sly_dog_jonah.

I finally got round to acquainting myself with my Aurora Power-One today. Not an easy task as it's located in the most inaccessible part of the loft possible: the installer must have been a contortionist in a previous life!

The front panel was blank, so no numbers to read (cos it was after dark?) and I didn't want to start pressing any of the buttons in case it exploded :rotfl:

Thanks.

Yes it goes to sleep at night.
It seems to have a battery:eek: that it can call upon at dawn to boot it into action, as soon as the panels offer it > 200V DC.

If you are present when it wakes up (06:40?), you will hear some relays making "fridge" noises and then it just "hums" quietly for the rest of the day. If the sun comes out you can warm your hands on the fins.:D

The American version of the manual talks about working on it at night or after covering the panels - I think this is because in some places it is legal to use the internal switches to isolate the inverter, rather than have 3 EU-mandatory big chunky lockable rotary external switches, to isolate the beast.

The buttons are mainly for the initial set up (or perhaps when the battery goes phut) It needs to be told the date and some other initial parameters.

I had quite a long discussion with my installer's electrician about where to route the cables. My initial choice did not offer enough clear space round the inverter; which must be mounted in portrait rather than landscape, to get adequate ventilation.
We settled on the gable wall at the top of the retractable loft ladder into a storeroom/office.
[This year's apple crop will need to be stacked somewhere less convenient]

The fog lasted all day and I've had my worst result so far. The inverter ambitiously thinks it manufactured 2.1kWh, but my generation meter made it 1.98kWh.

It seems that Wales had hours of sunshine !

grahamc2003

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Yes it goes to sleep at night.
It seems to have a battery:eek: that it can call upon at dawn to boot it into action, as soon as the panels offer it > 200V DC.

!

Hi John, I came to the opposite conclusion with mine - i.e. that it doesn't have an internal battery. I think this because at night it's dead - tapping on the display to light it up has no effect. Even a tiny battery could keep the display on constantly for a couple of years, so it's puzzled me why it doesn't have a battery just to provide that functionality.

When you have 200V dc (open circuit, or tiny load), you certainly have enough power to throw a couple of relays, even if you have to charge a capacitor to do so. Before the unit is synched to the grid, the computers have been booted for half an hour in my case (powered by the panels of course, well before it starts pumping power to the house wiring).

GaryMo_2

Do you not have the unit set to automatically sleep when not generating? Mine is set that way though I can choose to have the display on constantly. Pointless though.
The display is supplied from the AC supply to the inverter.

EricMears

don0301 wrote: »

Just to help your off the top of your head Facts its 200mm

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/solarpanels/

That of course is the total distance from surface of roof to 'front' of panel. Unless you've got a radically new design of panel, they'll have a finite thickness and will have an air gap between roof surface and 'back' of panel so most of us would have nowhere near 200mm of adjustment before needing planning permission; indeed, my original 100mm is probably a considerable over-estimate.

If you move one end of a panel (assumed mounted in landscape mode and approx 800mm wide) by 100mm it would move through an angle of approx 7 degrees - which isn't going to be a great deal of help to anyone. That drops to around 3 degrees for an individual panel mounted in portrait mode or less than one degree for a block of four such panels.

EricMears

don0301 wrote: »

Actually a tracking array is just not viable in the UK cost wise

Actually, a tracking array isn't all that expensive and of course by fitting your panels at ground level you would avoid the significant cost of scaffolding that H&S regulations oblige installers to use when fitting to a roof.

This is a photo of one such installation just a few hundred yards from my house :-


Fitted same month and using same type of panels as my roof-mounted ones. Forecast was that it would produce around 20% more output per year than mine

Martyn1981

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

The fog lasted all day and I've had my worst result so far. The inverter ambitiously thinks it manufactured 2.1kWh, but my generation meter made it 1.98kWh.

It seems that Wales had hours of sunshine !

seagull09 wrote: »

Yes it was not bad at all, but we're paying for it today with some heavy rain and hail showers.

Though with clouds around I think my system prefers it, it certainly has a better morning when its lightly cloudy. I can only think this is simply the reflected light doing better than a clear sky would, when panels are not in direct sunlight.

Victory is mine!

Finally some days where I've not only done ok, but possibly better than someone (anyone!) else. Got 6, 5 and so far 8 this month.

Probably have to give an IOU to Essex!

John, my TGM over-reads the inverters slightly, about 1.5%. Hooray. The inverters do tend to state that their displays are for information purposes only.

Seagull. Only happened once so far, but one day when the sky was absolutely clear, and I mean completely clear, we had great generation with our ESE panels, then the sun went over, and I normally get 200-400W till close to sunset, but that day the inverters shut down. They tried valiantly to re-start, clicking and flashing furiously, but couldn't quite manage it. I assume that the sun from the West was shining up and over the roof, but hardly any was being reflected back down, by the perfectly clear sky. As I said only the once so far (since August), maybe lots more when the weather gets nice.

Mart.

John_Pierpoint

grahamc2003 wrote: »

Hi John, I came to the opposite conclusion with mine - i.e. that it doesn't have an internal battery. I think this because at night it's dead - tapping on the display to light it up has no effect. Even a tiny battery could keep the display on constantly for a couple of years, so it's puzzled me why it doesn't have a battery just to provide that functionality.

When you have 200V dc (open circuit, or tiny load), you certainly have enough power to throw a couple of relays, even if you have to charge a capacitor to do so. Before the unit is synched to the grid, the computers have been booted for half an hour in my case (powered by the panels of course, well before it starts pumping power to the house wiring).

The function of the battery in the Aurora, which is just a large watch battery, is to keep the firmware ticking over during the night.
I think it is analogous to the engine management system in a car (presumably that sips from the car battery even when the engine is not firing?)
Anyway the manual has a diagram showing that the replacement, when "low battery" comes up on the display, needs to be slid sideways into position not rammed down from the top of its slot. Because this is inside the cover panel, the manual helpfully insists that this is a task for qualified personnel - I've got a microwave like that from Toshiba; do they really expect me to pay £2.50 for the replacement part and then pay an electrician at least £25 to insert the replacement battery/light bulb?

John_Pierpoint

Plot_Vendor wrote: »

Looked at the Android marketplace and the apps all seem to be company/equipment-specific, e.g SMA, SunPower. Similar to the sky+ app that lets you interface with your box wherever you are, I'm after a solution that would let me read, say, the SoloPV data wherever I am in the country.

Thanks.

Do you have the CD with the Power One Aurora documentation on it ? (actually there is all sort of bumph on the CD, including how to monitor your wind turbine in half a dozen languages).

There is stuff in there about remote monitoring - but it is a bit beyond my skill set and it might assume you are monitoring with a Windows lap top - perhaps https://www.power-one.com has more information and offers software downloads?

EricMears

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

do they really expect me to pay £2.50 for the replacement part and then pay an electrician at least £25 to insert the replacement battery/light bulb?

Probably not. But having suggested that to you, they probably feel protected against any claim you might be encouraged to make if it all goes horribly wrong as a result of your doing the job wrongly.

Kernel_Sanders

EricMears wrote: »

Does anyone else get as annoyed with weather forecasts as I do ?
Yesterday, forecast was for thick cloud all morning with possibility of a little sun after lunch. What actually happened was brilliant sunshine first thing with perhaps 10% cloud cover developing late afternoon.

Yes, I had the exact same experience (I'm only about ten miles from you BTW). In fact it was Wednesday that I arranged to be at home to take advantage of promised prolonged lunchtime sunshine in near cloudless skies (as predicted by Metcheck on Monday). I could have had the immersion heater on for the first time on Thursday!