Solar Panel Guide Discussion

orrery

keith_r59 wrote: »

The FSCS will aim to pay compensation in the majority of cases within seven days of a bank, building society or credit union failing. Any remaining claims, which are likely to be more complex, will be paid within 20 working days .... As you are guaranteed to get all of your money back it is zero risk.

I guess we are way off topic here, but as someone who has made a claim I can tell you that it was more problematic than you imply and way outside of those time-scales - it didn't appear to us to be zero risk (and absolutely not zero stress) at the time. Give me solar any day - and, yes, I am putting my money where my mouth is (on the roof).

hambrook

I have just had a 4kW System installed consisting of 16 x Suntech STP250s-WD+ Panels (rarer than chickens teeth) and a Fronius 4.0 IG TL Inverter fitted. The inverter has the ability for a USB stick to be plugged in which I then plug into PC and download all the data into the Fronius Solar.access software and this works just fine.

What I would like to do is view the status of the inverter from PC's, iPhone etc (there is a Fronius App) - but this requires another box called a data logger. Fronius do a couple of boxes but they aint cheap - £500 for the Fronius Data Logger web which basically enables an ethernet socket!

Are dataloggers propriety or can you use different makes to provide datalogging and remote data display?

Le_Chuck

Have I got this right,

The government pay you 43p for every Kwh that you generate that you use.
And if you don't use it you just get 3p from selling it back to the national grid.

Now as the sun shines during the day & the house is empty during the day, I wouldn't be using much electric, so for the excess I'd only be making the 3p but if say, I just left all the lights on during the day wasting the electric that was being generated I would actually be paid more?

zeupater

Le_Chuck wrote: »

Have I got this right,

The government pay you 43p for every Kwh that you generate that you use.
And if you don't use it you just get 3p from selling it back to the national grid.

Now as the sun shines during the day & the house is empty during the day, I wouldn't be using much electric, so for the excess I'd only be making the 3p but if say, I just left all the lights on during the day wasting the electric that was being generated I would actually be paid more?

Hi

Not quite right ... on a retrofit system up to 4kWp you get the 43.3p/kWh for everything you produce and would get an additional 3.1p/kWh for everything you export, this being financed by a levy by the electricity suppliers on all supplies. However, the industry isn't really prepared to go around changing existing meters for those having solar pv unless they are really old and run backwards, this is due to there being a plan to replace all meters with smart meters within a few years anyway. In the meantime the proportion of generated energy exported is 'deemed' to be 50% of total generation, so look at this as being an extra 1.55p/kWh on total generation ... of course, in most areas you can opt to pay for the export meter to be fitted and/or pay a quarterly rental, if you're really lucky your DNO could provide the meter for free, but I believe this is/was done by just one particular supplier.

HTH
Z

KevinG

Le_Chuck wrote: »

if say, I just left all the lights on during the day wasting the electric that was being generated I would actually be paid more?

Notwithstanding the previous answer, I cannot work out how you get to this. By leaving everything switched on you would export less, so, if you had an export meter, you would be paid less.

Edit: OK, worked it out from your "The government pay you 43p for every Kwh that you generate that you use." - it's the bit in bold that's incorrect, which zeupater has explained.

anselld

hambrook wrote: »

I have just had a 4kW System installed consisting of 16 x Suntech STP250s-WD+ Panels (rarer than chickens teeth) and a Fronius 4.0 IG TL Inverter fitted. The inverter has the ability for a USB stick to be plugged in which I then plug into PC and download all the data into the Fronius Solar.access software and this works just fine.

What I would like to do is view the status of the inverter from PC's, iPhone etc (there is a Fronius App) - but this requires another box called a data logger. Fronius do a couple of boxes but they aint cheap - £500 for the Fronius Data Logger web which basically enables an ethernet socket!

Are dataloggers propriety or can you use different makes to provide datalogging and remote data display?

You can use this for real time display, logging, web interface, iPhone app, etc. All for £50.

It is designed for consumption, but it works just as well for generation.

Le_Chuck

zeupater wrote: »

Hi

Not quite right ... on a retrofit system up to 4kWp you get the 43.3p/kWh for everything you produce and would get an additional 3.1p/kWh for everything you export, this being financed by a levy by the electricity suppliers on all supplies. However, the industry isn't really prepared to go around changing existing meters for those having solar pv unless they are really old and run backwards, this is due to there being a plan to replace all meters with smart meters within a few years anyway. In the meantime the proportion of generated energy exported is 'deemed' to be 50% of total generation, so look at this as being an extra 1.55p/kWh on total generation ... of course, in most areas you can opt to pay for the export meter to be fitted and/or pay a quarterly rental, if you're really lucky your DNO could provide the meter for free, but I believe this is/was done by just one particular supplier.

HTH
Z

Thanks, it was the way it was worded on BG website. Thought it would have been a stange way of doing things

lanstrom

anselld wrote: »

You can use this for real time display, logging, web interface, iPhone app, etc. All for £50.

It is designed for consumption, but it works just as well for generation.

Can this differentiate between incoming and outgoing electric ? My current meter doesn't work any more as it shows the total used and generated now. I have tried putting it around the AC cable coming out of the inverter but it didn't register anything

hambrook

lanstrom wrote: »

Can this differentiate between incoming and outgoing electric ? My current meter doesn't work any more as it shows the total used and generated now. I have tried putting it around the AC cable coming out of the inverter but it didn't register anything

Exactly the same issue I am having. I have 2 x Eco Eyes and the one around the Ac cable going to the fuse box displays £0. The other one shows values but you cant tell if this is power you are importing or exporting......

Hungerdunger

Le_Chuck wrote: »

Thanks, it was the way it was worded on BG website.

Are you sure? I've looked at the British Gas web site and can't see it, but if it is there, they really need to take it down and correct it.