Solar Panel Guide Discussion

mardycow

The 13 panels were based on the rough calculations by salesman - (JR as you call him), when calculating my roof space. it was his second day on job i think, also his £1700 figure is reduced on the quote to more or less what you have said, maths not bein his strong point obviously!

solarfriend

There is now a consumer driven solar site that will post reviews of all installs for solar panels. You can choose a higher star rated installer and search the full solar approved database. Wickipedia has more info on the site if you type mcs and google search. Only companies who are solar approved mcs installers are on it and all reviews are checked before posting the rating. Great news for the consumer and about time to. So if you have had a good or a bad experience let people looking for an installer know directly. The beginers guide section suited me to the ground. thank you for solar approved:beer: dot com

solarfriend

There is now a consumer driven solar site that will post reviews of all installs for solar panels. You can choose a higher star rated installer and search the full solar approved database. Wickipedia has more info on the site if you type mcs and google search. Only companies who are solar approved mcs installers are on it and all reviews are checked before posting the rating. Great news for the consumer and about time to. So if you have had a good or a bad experience let people looking for an installer know directly. The beginers guide section suited me to the ground. thank you for solar approved:beer: dot com
they have all sorts of info to send consumers wanting to know the facts.

zeupater

solarfriend wrote: »

There is now a consumer driven solar site that will post reviews of all installs for solar panels. You can choose a higher star rated installer and search the full solar approved database. Wickipedia has more info on the site if you type mcs and google search. Only companies who are solar approved mcs installers are on it and all reviews are checked before posting the rating. Great news for the consumer and about time to. So if you have had a good or a bad experience let people looking for an installer know directly. The beginers guide section suited me to the ground. thank you for solar approved:beer: dot com
they have all sorts of info to send consumers wanting to know the facts.

Hi

Welcome to the forum ....

Looks like there's a lot of sales links on there too, so the 'consumer driven' claim may not be entirely ingenuous ! ..... anyway, looking at the feedback/review method, what is to stop the installers reviewing themselves as I could see no obvious way to do this ?

As an aside, my security systems didn't particularly like the site, perhaps the web-designers need to do a little more work ...

At the moment I'd consider this to be a straightforward sales tool operated on a commercial basis .....

HTH
Z

Gizmosmum_2

Elainemary wrote: »

Just a quick question for Gizmosmum - have you reached your target of wind and water tight by September 2011? Because if you haven't you're running out of time.

Well yes, but only because I haven't started the loft conversion yet :rotfl:

Gizmosmum_2

mardycow wrote: »

hi, quote states: click fit mounting rails and hooks, and the inverter states PVI 3000 power one. eco eye monitoring meter, haven't had a survey yet may try for another quote or 2., thanks for your input so far

Click Fit - cheap and nasty, SEN won't have been offered because it's about £700 more expensive than others. Schletter, renusol and K2 all good roof kits at a decent price. Schucho a bit more expensive but not much better quality and SEN top notch but you have to pay for it. We have SEN because we live in a very exposed area and we've also had the hooks installed at 800mm on the top and bottom instead of 1200mm - just to make sure.

Z - before you say anything, I'm no expert it's just what my clients are telling me and they still say that Schott performs better than Sharp according to PVSOL

zeupater

Gizmosmum wrote: »

Click Fit - cheap and nasty, SEN won't have been offered because it's about £700 more expensive than others. Schletter, renusol and K2 all good roof kits at a decent price. Schucho a bit more expensive but not much better quality and SEN top notch but you have to pay for it. We have SEN because we live in a very exposed area and we've also had the hooks installed at 800mm on the top and bottom instead of 1200mm - just to make sure.

Z - before you say anything, I'm no expert it's just what my clients are telling me and they still say that Schott performs better than Sharp according to PVSOL

Hi

At least we agree on the SEN system ...

On the panels, do the clients say what the difference in performance for the relevant panels are, and what models (part numbers) are being compared ? ...

I'm not anti Schott, however the software I have access to shows the Sharp to have a marginal advantage over Schott on the panels I've compared but, as mentioned previously, this difference could easily be overturned by panel manufacturing tolerances therefore, from the difference between the two panels I compared, absolutely no-one would guarantee that a set of panels as supplied from either manufacturer would outperform the other .... in the meantime I'll just continue to help support British manufacturing jobs over what is very likely to be a ploy to maintain/increase the margins of a distributor and an installer of imported product, especially so when the margins are already likely to be huge .

Z

bjohnson

If we get the gales that we are promised over the next couple of days then maybe we will see just how good some of the mounting systems are!

Gizmosmum_2

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

At least we agree on the SEN system ...

On the panels, do the clients say what the difference in performance for the relevant panels are, and what models (part numbers) are being compared ? ...

I'm not anti Schott, however the software I have access to shows the Sharp to have a marginal advantage over Schott on the panels I've compared but, as mentioned previously, this difference could easily be overturned by panel manufacturing tolerances therefore, from the difference between the two panels I compared, absolutely no-one would guarantee that a set of panels as supplied from either manufacturer would outperform the other .... in the meantime I'll just continue to help support British manufacturing jobs over what is very likely to be a ploy to maintain/increase the margins of a distributor and an installer of imported product, especially so when the margins are already likely to be huge .

Z

PVSOL says:

16 panels, due South, 30 degree pitch.

Sunnyboy 3800 on 2 strings:

Schott 240p - 3251kwh
Sharp NU240 R - 3036kwh

Fronius 3.6TL on 1 string

Schott 240p - 3355kwh
Sharp NU240R - 3161 kwh

I'd say that the panels were comparable, actually on paper you'd think that the Sharp would be better because they're mono rather than poly but apparently Schott poly are better in our cloudier conditions. Both have positive tolerances on power of 0-5%. Schott warranty is better for performance and product.

We have Sharp but the I know the guys I work with are tearing their hair out trying to get decent quality, robust panels from Sharp with consistent supply - apparently it's not happening yet.

I bought Sharp because I wanted to do my bit for the economy but I was a bit peed off that the installer had to ship them over from Germany!! It's a while ago now so maybe it isn't happening but at the time they were getting the components from China, making the panels in Wrexham and shipping them to Germany for testing. Still generating some work in Wrexham which is important but not particularly cheap or green, there are loads oa manufacturers out there who provide a more green, ethical panel - I guess it just depends on where your loyalty lies.

mickyduck

Hi is there an affordable alternative to this product, read a few threads from electricians forums saying it possible and some evn have circuit diagrams but I am no expert with a soldering iron so would never tackle this myself.......
I am out most of the day so export most of my power but like most only get paid for using half of it. Would be good to heat my water using a 1 Kw immersion if I could smartly switch it on and off when the PV is generating excess so I am exporting.