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

John_Pierpoint

Yes I have now found it, the above link goes to "fundire's" thread.

Careful of your privacy, I used to be pleased that "streetview" had missed me out, but they have re jigged their views - a lot of posh people, including the now owners of my late mother's house, have been taken off . Why??????

and I have been added on :mad::mad::mad::mad:

This week will be a personal record for me, as I only got started on Valentine's day. My peak out put 3.583 kWp this week is also a new record - not bad for a nominally 3.6 kWp inverter - enough to boil a big kettle or even the immersion heater.
Desk top gizmo currently displaying 689 watts.

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

:beer:


Interesting to see if the government attempts to pick out < 2011-12-12 & < 2012-03-03 commissioning dates any further news of legal developments?

Looks like the Government has been forced to accept defeat and a finding of mal-administration.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/52007895#Comment_52007895

John_Pierpoint

It is "localism" innit ?

The middle class NIMBYs could create expensive hassle and the jealous "chavs" might resort to a catapault and ball bearings.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2115850/Council-orders-pensioners-remove-solar-panels-worth-13-000-theyre-reflective-obtrusive.html

Martyn1981

Question, can I please ask for some feedback (negative as well as positive).

I've noticed how often the same questions keep coming up, such as backwards running meters, and I was wondering if a 'PV tips and help' thread, rather than a discussion thread might be useful for new PV'ers, or wanna be PV'ers?

I've been thinking about this for a few weeks, and don't think it would take much effort if a couple of people are willing to help me.

My thought was a new thread, with an explanation followed by an index page.

The index page would have a short list of major topics, and give the post ref (eg #09) for the information. New info could be added, or additional posts referenced, eg see posts #3, #11, #57.

The list of subjects I've thought of so far (not proper titles yet) are:

Should I consider PV - with a post explaining orientation, shading, FITs etc.

Getting PV - with a post of tips, thoughts, steps etc

Using PV - a short (if that's possible) summary of tips from this thread, and a disclaimer not to get too obsessive.

Backwards meters - what it means, what to do. Plus a note on meters that can clock up export as import.

Generation estimates - explain how to use PVGIS (or similar) and weather sites, MET office sunshine results etc.

I appreciate that all of this exists already, but across multiple threads, hard to find after a while, and regularly repeated.

It might also help those who often start of their post with, 'sorry if this is a daft question' or 'sorry if this has been asked before'.

There's no intention of preventing ongoing discussions, just a 'help' thread that people could be directed too. Could solve simple queries and help newbies get up to speed.

Anyone think this is worthwhile? Willing to do some proof reading or compile some posts? Suggestions for additional subjects? Complete waste of time (even if it does keep me out of the local park with my bottles of cider for a while!)?

Mart.

The_Green_Hornet

I think it a great idea but instead of a new thread, which will probably be flooded with the usual pro and anti Solar PV (anti FIT) banter, I would suggest you create a wiki website and post a link to it.

It would give you more control and you could allow other like minded posters editor access. There are a number of free wiki sites available that you could use.

Here is one site and I'm sure there are many more out there.

http://www.wiki-site.com/index.php/Wiki_Creation_-_Create_A_Wiki_For_Free!

Good luck!

EricMears

Would be pleased to see either an index page or a wiki link - but neither would be effective unless you can persuade mods to make it a 'sticky' topic on The Green & Ethical MoneySaving Board list

John_Pierpoint

I had a dream of doing this with my late Uncle's probate, tax and estate issues (and boy did I have them all !).
But I found the effort of trying to index every thing, just became too much of a mill stone. so I resolved to tag them all by referring to him as "Mr Dog".
Perhaps the easiest way would be to go back and find the most thoughtful posting and add a similar "tag".

Then advise the the person asking the same old chestnut query to do a tag search, by copying and pasting a tag into Google, such as this example:
“Mr Dog” site: forums.moneysavingexpert.com

To produce something like this:
Mr Dog's Estate: It is in the IHT - Forum - Money Saving Expert[IMG]chrome://searchshield/content/safe.gif[/IMG]

forums.moneysavingexpert.com › ... › Pure Money › Cutting Tax
4 Jun 2009 – Main site > MoneySavingExpert.com Forums > Pure Money > Cutting Tax > Mr Dog's Estate: It is in the IHT "Black hol... (Page 1) ...
Mr Dog - the final furlong. - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums‎ - 21 Oct 2011
Mr Dog's estate goes to Belfast. - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums‎ - 16 May 2010
questions about Mr Dog's estate etc. - Forum - Money Saving ...‎ - 16 May 2010
Mr Dog's Estate: Losses on sale of equities and confusing IHT35 ...‎ - 8 Sep 2009
More results from forums.moneysavingexpert.com »

John_Pierpoint

EricMears wrote: »

Would be pleased to see either an index page or a wiki link - but neither would be effective unless you can persuade mods to make it a 'sticky' topic on The Green & Ethical MoneySaving Board list

Good point, some of my finest postings have been "locked" and then of course they disappear with the passage of time.

There were two in particular, one where I was spot on about the developing financial collapse and another where I tried to ridicule the advice of a "gold bug". I would love to be able to go back and apologise to him/her.

The tax saving part of the forum desperately needs something similar,
especially for the threads started by what were originally un-intentional landlords.

Martyn1981

Cheers John, Eric and GH.

Thanks for the feedback. I think the simplest thing here is to get the ball rolling, whilst I ask about 'stickyness'. If it works, then over to the 'alpha geeks' for Wiki'ing or more.

Maybe tomorrow I'll make a start and set up a 'draft' thread, perhaps PV Q&A's Beta version, slap on (all drafts) an index page and cut and paste some posts on each subject.

Then if you, and hopefully others are willing, you could each adopt a subject and amend, alter, or start again, plus loads of posts with people suggesting improvements.

Once they come together, and I've spoken to the moderators/administrators we can create a new thread, post the polished items and index them on the first post.

As and when common questions are asked, people can be directed to the thread, and as posts get added and newer info appears, key posts can be added to the index, E.g Backwards meters - see posts #3, #17, #58 and so on. That way, even if people chat on it, and why not, the index should hold it all together.

Hope this will work and help, also thought of 2 more possible items, 1. Energy monitors and 2. Possibly a brief explanation of what the PV kit entails, as a few people do seem a little confused about what is an inverter, or what's the difference between the import meter and the TGM and so on.

Any other key items? Trying to keep it short to start, but no reason why it can't grow bigger.

Thanks again. Time for tea now, or maybe in an hour, strange day!

Mart.

Hobbo2006

buzzy37 wrote: »

I have had a 4kw system installed since October and keep a daily log of solar output and electricity use.
My electricity use is not as low as I expected - with the excess solar input it should be lower.
I searched the internet and found one post that may explain it.
Can my electricity meter distinguish between the flow of electricity into my house and the flow when I am exporting to the grid?
As an experiment today at midday when the sun was shining I switched off every electrical device in the house except the inverter.
The Led on my pv input meter flashed at the same rate as my electric meter. Over a period of 40 minutes the electric meter reading (Siemens meter) increased by 2 units.
I then cut off the pv input at the isolator and the led on the electric meter stopped.
Is it possible that the meter cannot distinguish between electricity flowing from the grid and electricity flowing to the grid but just clocks up a positive flow of electricity for which my supplier will charge me.
In other words whenever the sun shines and my system generates excess electricity to the grid I am being charged by my supplier at the retail tariff for the electricity I am supplying to them!!!!
I have queried this with my installer who says the electric meter is the problem of the supplier.
I have spoken to my supplier Scottish Power's call centre with a young lady who couldn't understand what I was talking about but passed my details on to discuss having a new meter (presumably a one way one) installed.
Does anybody know whether it is possible for a digital electric meter to operate like this or am I paranoid?

Ps If I have been charged for the electricity I have generated I would also expect a credit for 50% of my pv output to date at the retail tariff.

I had the exact same thing with my meter, a Siemens S2AS-100. I phoned Southern Electric and they came out within a week to replace it.

The guy that came out to replace said that these have a life span of about 8 years and should have been replaced some time ago.

Coincidentally, in a sarcastic way, my usage has gone down from an average of 19kW's per day to around 11 since the meter was changed. Not sure whether all that saving is due to our PV system and the extra awareness it has created, or whether the old meter was just out of sync and racking up the units.

I've put in a claim for the exported units so we'll see how that goes. It's not much as we haven't had the panels for long.

John_Pierpoint

Martyn1981 wrote: »

The index page would have a short list of major topics, and give the post ref (eg #09) for the information. New info could be added, or additional posts referenced, eg see posts #3, #11, #57.

Mart.

I think I would put a unique "tag" on an existing post and then use the tag method to find it, rather than try to maintain the hard coded links.
It was this problem that drove Tim Berners-Lee to create the world wide web at CERN in Switzerland in the first place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee