Solar Panel Guide Discussion

Dave_Fowler

orrery wrote: »

Just a warning...

It is said that the data won't go through mains trips, so you may need them on the same ring main.

Get the data sockets and try them in place before you have the system installed.

I must be lucky here, I've got 2 ring mains (upstairs / downstairs) and a separate cable out to the garage and workshop. All are on separate current trips, and the one to the garage is on an earth leakage trip too. I've had no problem using the Homeplug system over the entire mains wiring.

Dave F

larkim

Me too, I've got a mess of electrics around my house, and have never had a problem with data over the mains in any socket, either directly in the wall or via one of my many adaptors or mutli-way gangs.

But I have heard of other people with problems. YMMV as they helpfully say!

Matt

RoxyK

Many thanks to everyone Hopefully we'll be ok with the current set.

Not long to go now. Can't wait!

sly_dog_jonah

I thought this graph might be of interest. The blue line is our electricity consumption (kWh not £) in the past 6months. The white line is the previous year for the same period, but only starts in December 2010 when we moved in.




Our panels were installed end of October and are beating PVGIS by 20-25% most months.

In the two comparable periods, our import is 27% less than last year. This is of course over the winter period, when generation time is shorter per day.

I've also tried to do some rough guestimations of what % of generated power we are using, and how much is being exported. Assuming our consumption is the same as last year, I reckon so far we have used approximately 64% of what we've generated and exported about 36%. I'm sure in summer that will skew in favour of export though.

PS the app is called 'Meter Readings' and is available from the App Store.

PPS I'm not entirely sure what the cause of the increased usage in Jan/Feb 2011 was. We didn't actually start living in the house until the week before Christmas, although the first reading was about 10 days earlier so this might have distorted the December consumption.

orrery

I've just noticed that our main consumption meter is flashing between the reading and the message 'rEd'.
It makes no difference whether I'm importing or exporting. It is working OK - the red light comes on when exporting and the digits climb when I'm consuming.
Of course, it may have done this all the time but I've never noticed before.

Anyone know what it means?

Edit: apparently reverse energy detected, so normal I'd guess.

EricMears

orrery wrote: »

I've just noticed that our main consumption meter is flashing between the reading and the message 'rEd'.
It makes no difference whether I'm importing or exporting. It is working OK - the red light comes on when exporting and the digits climb when I'm consuming.
Of course, it may have done this all the time but I've never noticed before.

Anyone know what it means?

Edit: apparently reverse energy detected, so normal I'd guess.

Not quite 'normal' - the meter has been programmed to detect illegal attempts to force it to run backwards and 'thinks' you're doing that.

Nothing to worry about though - you have an alibi !

However, well worth checking that your meter actually stops when you're generating more than you're using as some meters will keep adding all units that pass through meter regardless of direction when that situation is detected.

orrery

EricMears wrote: »

Not quite 'normal' - the meter has been programmed to detect illegal attempts to force it to run backwards and 'thinks' you're doing that.
Nothing to worry about though - you have an alibi !

It looks like it is working fine, as far as I can tell. A quick Google search indicates that the 'rEd' alert displays once the reverse current goes over 10A. As my background consumption is 500W, this would require about 3kW generation to trip it - which explains why I haven't seen it until recently. I've only recently seen it generating over 3kW for any sustained period, although it has peaked over that previously..

grumpyoldsteve

sly_dog_jonah wrote: »

Our panels were installed end of October and are beating PVGIS by 20-25% most months.

Same here, in fact the average generation since commissioning has beat PVGIS by 25% overall to date, and that's over the 6 months of the shortest days of the year. Looking forward to seeing how it compares over the next 6 months.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Environergy wrote: »

Hi

A little bit of clarification about FREE Solar Panels and Buying your own panels.

A little bit of :spam: you mean.

newbie8

Hi All,

PArents recently installed Solar Panels. Bosch ones? When it was installed there were problems at first the power kept cutting out. but all fixed now. During the day the main electric metre stops with the odd occasion when kettle is boiling or someone using the electric shower then the main electric meter moves. My uncle also had panels installed and he said that his electric meter goes backwards and so do his neighbours that have installed panels many moons ago. Spoke to our installer and he said ours is running correctly and that we both have different electric meters. Ours is a more modern one, but I believe my parents house was built before my uncles house! If its going backwards will my uncle not get a refund from the electric company as well as a 3month cheque from selling units to them?

The big white box |(sorry not v.techno) is quite warm during the day is this ok? My uncle also has 4 switches to switch off the meter which says how much has been sold to the grid, the big white thing, and the panels so it stops generating electric (if someone needs to go onto the roof). whereas we can only see 2 (one black and one red) one by the white box and one by the meter which says how much electric has been sold to the grid.

So who is correct and will my parents get a cheque in the post in 3 months time?