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

Lemoncurd

We had a new high too - 18.5 (ish) kWh on a 2.96kWp system. The next highest was 17.4 so it seemed like quite a jump, the morning hadn't been great either.

dobbers

New high here yesterday as well in sunny Yorkshire with 21.999kWh from a 3.44kWp system.

The sun did not feel any stronger than recent days but I did notice that the time when the inverter starts and ends generation is getting longer now that the days start to stretch out. First recorded activity in the morning is now 06:10 and the last in the evening at 20:10 so in total 14 hours. At the same point in March it was 07:10-18:10.

free_juice?

Can anyone join the braggers club?

My 3.2 system scored 21.37, the first time I got over 20. It did seem an exceptionally long clear evening. I was 60 miles away for most of the day so can't comment in detail but where I was there was some thin white cloud.

keith_r59

I don't know what my daily figures are as I don't have a monitor but I do know that my system has already generated 30% more than anticipated this month with 2 days still to go.

free_juice?

keith_r59 wrote: »

I don't know what my daily figures are as I don't have a monitor but I do know that my system has already generated 30% more than anticipated this month with 2 days still to go.

I will sound mean if I mention this but I am not so very far from Buckinghamshire and I'm currently at 48% above the April prediction. With two days to go things will have to be very poor indeed if April isn't higher than the first three months combined.

By the time I reach one third of the way through my solar year (which began on 7th January) I should be above one third of my predicted annual output with the summer still to come.

keith_r59

free_juice? wrote: »

I will sound mean if I mention this but I am not so very far from Buckinghamshire and I'm currently at 48% above the April prediction. With two days to go things will have to be very poor indeed if April isn't higher than the first three months combined.

By the time I reach one third of the way through my solar year (which began on 7th January) I should be above one third of my predicted annual output with the summer still to come.

Far enough away to get more sunshine according to the Met Office web site.

themaverick1953

My Solar PV went in today and this thread was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for so I will read it eagerly. I am very disappointed that I get no information with my system as to output. If I have one electrical item running during the day I have no idea whether I can switch another on and use my own electricity.

themaverick1953

Cardew wrote: »

The point made above about not being tempted to run part loads is important.

Modern washing machines for example don't use much electricity(0.4kWh or 0.6kWh) is typical. So the savings on electricity will often only be a couple of pence - or nothing on a dull winter's day - and there will be no saving on the cost of water and detergent.

The same principle applies to dishwashers. When we had economy 7 it was a temptation to run them at night when there was still space for, say, breakfast dishes.

Does that take into account a cold water feed wsher?

themaverick1953

Jon_Tiffany wrote: »

Excellent post. Just to add, its really good to have an energy monitor to get a feel for what sort of leccy appliances are using and when. I had a monitor for some time before I had the panels so I had a really good feel for what uses the most electric.

Note that if you use an energy monitor once you have panels fitted it will only be measuring your net import or export - this will not be the same as what you are using in the house.

E.g An energy monitor would only read 100w if you were consuming 800w in the house and your panels are producing 700w (import of 100w). It would also read 100w if you panels are producing 900w and you are using 800w (export of 100w)

Where can I get one of these monitors? Are they expensive to fir?

stoozey

themaverick1953 wrote: »

My Solar PV went in today and this thread was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for so I will read it eagerly. I am very disappointed that I get no information with my system as to output. If I have one electrical item running during the day I have no idea whether I can switch another on and use my own electricity.

Couple of ways you can check, first look at the meter wheel on your mains supply. Stopped = good.

Second you can check your generation meter, it reads in KWH.

What make of inverter do you have - it may be possible to buy a bluetooth monitor.