Solar Panel Guide Discussion

Yut_Man

Drusy if you fit the smartpower meter to the normal cable going from your meter it cannot tell if the power is incoming or outgoing. so the reading you get is not a true reading of your solar panel generation. You can tell however quite easily on any reasonable day tell which way the power is going and after a little while you can even compensate for the amount of power that varios item through out the house uses. Its just the dull days like where getting at present that make it difficult. If say your showing 800w and you know that only your fridge is runnnig which takes 200w then you know you will are exporting 800w to the grid and therefore would be generating 800w from your panels. If your not sure which way the electric is going turn on a applience and look to see if reading goes up or down.

Im not aware of any major pitfalls in the application form. Im with NPower myself. The only problem I have heard of is with the certificate itself. You should chase up the certificate after the week, Some supplies will print the certificate out at your house but most seem to prefer doing it at the office once the final payment has been made. Nearly all of them will e-mail a copy to you on request.

You ask about the option for the 3.1p. Seemed silly to me also. From your invertor you say the electrician showed you which cable carried the power. is it 2 seperate single core cables. If only one cable comes out of the invertor as is usually the case then your monitor will not work on the cable since it carries both live and neutral. Living near the NPower office is a great boost.

John_Pierpoint

meerustar wrote: »

... I am planning to buy this house in the next few years and would also like to convert the loft. Is this possible after having panels etc ....

Does anyone know if this local authority will meet the 12 December deadline to spend the council tax payer's money?

What rights does a tenant have to refuse an "improvement" instigated by his landlord?

What roof and loft shape are we discussing?
(basic choice mansard hipped & gable) Many local authority properties are "gable" ended as this is the cheapest form of roof to build (and gives lots of loft space).

What is the pitch of the roof?
What is the potential headroom at the top of the proposed stairs?
Is the house terrace/semi/detached?

If it has a steeply (45 degree) pitched gable roof, I would not settle for NORTH facing dormer/"Velux" windows for 70 quid a year off the electricity bill.

orrery

drusy wrote: »

I have tried fitting Npowers Smartpower meter, to the cable the engineer identified as carrying the generated power from the system, but it shows a blank screen.

Not sure what you mean by 'blank screen'. If it is a clip-on sensor then it must be round one conductor of the cable - either the brown or the blue, but not both, so you can't clip it round the whole cable.

drusy_2

orrery wrote: »

Not sure what you mean by 'blank screen'. If it is a clip-on sensor then it must be round one conductor of the cable - either the brown or the blue, but not both, so you can't clip it round the whole cable.

The engineer merely pointed out a grey cable at the meter and a grey cable coming from the inverters, which now seems rather unhelpfull. However, I think I will make the best of a bad job and fit the Smartmeter on the cable at the meter and monitor the juice as it comes into the house.
Thanks for your your input.

Regards Drusy

orrery

drusy wrote: »

...I think I will make the best of a bad job and fit the Smartmeter on the cable at the meter and monitor the juice as it comes into the house.

Sadly, it tells you nothing of use. I have one at each point. I'm looking at mine now. It is a crisp bright sunny morning, the sun is reflecting off the houses opposite and I'm measuring 0.470 at the main meter. So, 470W - but which way?

Looking at the other screen I can see that I'm only generating 150W, so the 470W must be importing. Without the measurement at the generation meter I just can't tell.

So, if you're not confident get a friend who knows about electricity to do it...

Wait until night time so there is no generation.
Turn the mains solar isolator off nearest the fuse box (the power to the inverter should be off and there should be no signs of life from the inverter at all)
find the mains cable that goes back to the inverter
remove the cover from the isolator nearest to the inverter
check the exposed terminals with a neon test screwdriver to see where the voltages are - both cables should be safe
Look to see if either cable has lengths of exposed brown or blue insulated cables where the outer insulation is missing (not bare copper wire!!!) as it enters the isolator switch
If necessary ease the insulation back beyond the outer cover
Attach the sensor there.
Put the cover back on
turn the isolator back on
job done

meerustar

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Does anyone know if this local authority will meet the 12 December deadline to spend the council tax payer's money? The guy who called said he could see them putting the panels on asap as the tariff changes soon. At the time I didn't know what he meant, but do now. It is Carillion that have the excess energy not the council, they are just giving permission if we decide we want them. So your council tax money (or mine) has nothing to do with it.

What rights does a tenant have to refuse an "improvement" instigated by his landlord? We are given the choice whether we want these panels or not.

What roof and loft shape are we discussing?
(basic choice mansard hipped & gable) Many local authority properties are "gable" ended as this is the cheapest form of roof to build (and gives lots of loft space). Yes, gable end, loft space, I don't know.

What is the pitch of the roof? 45degrees
What is the potential headroom at the top of the proposed stairs? I dont know
Is the house terrace/semi/detached? Semi

If it has a steeply (45 degree) pitched gable roof, I would not settle for NORTH facing dormer/"Velux" windows for 70 quid a year off the electricity bill.

...................................

John_Pierpoint

The government has (almost no) money of its own, only what it can tax or borrow from the future.
The same particularly applies to local Government.
I just question the economics of fitting panels to your roof after 12 December, and paying for the installation with your and my money.

I would not want panels on my south facing high headroom roof, especially if I was thinking of buying the house from the local authority with the sort of discount being proposed by the current Government.

The choice is yours.

Dave_Fowler

zeupater wrote: »

Is that £50 per recommendation whiich results in a enquiry, or £50 per recommendation which results in an installation ..... if it's the first I'd start talking to everyone I know and split the £50 with them

Panic measure ... they may just make a mistake ... it'd pull the payback date forward a little for you

Z

Got my first £50 today! My friends did not take up the PV installation but said they were impressed by the clear information received from the salesman.

Dave F

meerustar

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

The government has (almost no) money of its own, only what it can tax or borrow from the future.
The same particularly applies to local Government.
I just question the economics of fitting panels to your roof after 12 December, and paying for the installation with your and my money.

I would not want panels on my south facing high headroom roof, especially if I was thinking of buying the house from the local authority with the sort of discount being proposed by the current Government.

The choice is yours.

They are supposed to be coming on monday and fitting them. I have had phone call after phone call from them .. getting the feeling I'm being bullied into it at the moment

furndire

If they don't get fitted in the next week - the FiT payment drops - so hence Panel suppliers desperate to get as many as possible fitted. They need to get the certificates in to claim the FiT before then as well. If you aren't 100% sure, don't do it.
If the FiT payment had been as low as its going to be, I wouldn't have invested in panels - it would have taken far too long to get money back - the only thing dropping the FiT payment "might" do is to fetch down the price of the panels short term, & kill them off completely long term imo.