A quick question about Owls

Usky

Dave_Fowler wrote: »

All the black cables I see in your picture are 3 core. You won't get any reading clipping round them. It's only after the gen. meter where you appear to have separate live and neutral and earth wires.

Dave F

Ah, right... thanks Dave. Good to have had confirmation from Owl about readings being the same either side of the meter, so I'm happily clipped and monitoring now.

HalloweenJack

i shouldnt laugh but there i was thinking that AMPS = watts/volts therefore 4kw with 20v would give (as don said) 200A....


last time i checked theres not 200 AMPS running into my fusebox from the solar panel

Dave_Fowler

HalloweenJack wrote: »

i shouldnt laugh but there i was thinking that AMPS = watts/volts therefore 4kw with 20v would give (as don said) 200A....


last time i checked theres not 200 AMPS running into my fusebox from the solar panel

4kW and 20V would require 200 Amps - your equation is correct. However the PV panels are connected in a string with an output voltage between 300V and 500V. So the DC current is around 10Amps.

Dave F

Martyn1981

Usky wrote: »

Hi Mart,

Things are really buzzing now we've got some sunshine; I recorded 9.55Kwh yesterday and expect something similar today too. Two loads of washing yesterday, one on the go now, and in between I've run the dish washer and put the vacuum round - how come housewives complain? I'm having a ball... just call me Cinders! :rotfl:

Cinders, you're a real PV convert I see. Another week or two and we'll all be turning to you for the answers.

Funny how free(ish) leccy makes jobs so much more fun. Even mowing the lawn when the sun's shining (why do it any other time now I think about it) is good fun when the inverter's buzzing.

Buttons.

grahamc2003

Dave_Fowler wrote: »

4kW and 20V would require 200 Amps - your equation is correct. However the PV panels are connected in a string with an output voltage between 300V and 500V. So the DC current is around 10Amps.

Dave F

Thanks - yeah today with grid tie the panels are wired in series (to keep the current low and the voltage high on the dc side), I should have realised. I was thinking back to the days when they were wired in parallel for the opposite reason (to keep the voltage low) for battery charging and other dc applications etc. in generally smaller non-grid tie systems.

Usky

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Cinders, you're a real PV convert I see. Another week or two and we'll all be turning to you for the answers.

Funny how free(ish) leccy makes jobs so much more fun. Even mowing the lawn when the sun's shining (why do it any other time now I think about it) is good fun when the inverter's buzzing.

Buttons.

I've been a recycling convert for a long, long time, but yes now I'm a solar pv convert too. I'm considering installing a small wind-turbine next, or possibly a small free-standing array to power my koi pond.

Funny you should say, but I dug up my lawn in favour of a veg patch - I'll have to lay turf now just so I can mow it in the sunshine!

Beggar me Buttons, we shall go to the ball! :rotfl:

Martyn1981

Usky, well slap my thigh, and call me Shirley!

Anyways, back to reality. I thought about a little wind turbine myself, but when I ran the postcode through the EST site it said I didn't have enough wind. Plenty of hot air, but not enough wind, boom boom! Shame, I was hoping for PV in the summer and during the day, and wind in the night and winter. Back to the drawing board on that one.

If prices keep falling, I might recycle some of the generous FITs to put panels on the WNW roof in the future, even if FITs is gone. Jealous of all the sunlight up to 8 or 9pm, and I'm only getting about 200watts.

Thinking way ahead, but with a 1.2 and a 2.4 system, I could wait for an inverter to die (10 years or so) then hope that there is a suitable MPPT model to add 1.5kWp to the front (WNW) without needing to buy an extra inverter. Thinking too much?

Mart.

don0301

you should think about trained tracking sheep with a panel on their back.

Usky

don0301 wrote: »

you should think about trained tracking sheep with a panel on their back.

Now that's an excellent idea... except think of all the grass cutting we'd miss out on with the damn sheep eating all the green shoots?

Usky

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Usky, well slap my thigh, and call me Shirley!

Anyways, back to reality. I thought about a little wind turbine myself, but when I ran the postcode through the EST site it said I didn't have enough wind. Plenty of hot air, but not enough wind, boom boom! Shame, I was hoping for PV in the summer and during the day, and wind in the night and winter. Back to the drawing board on that one.

If prices keep falling, I might recycle some of the generous FITs to put panels on the WNW roof in the future, even if FITs is gone. Jealous of all the sunlight up to 8 or 9pm, and I'm only getting about 200watts.

Thinking way ahead, but with a 1.2 and a 2.4 system, I could wait for an inverter to die (10 years or so) then hope that there is a suitable MPPT model to add 1.5kWp to the front (WNW) without needing to buy an extra inverter. Thinking too much?

Mart.

That is a lot of thinking Shirley... shows advanced intelligence, but I like that in a woman

There must be an argument for fitting a PV array on the WNW facing roof. I was mulling the idea over with the surveyor prior to my install; he suggested it would never pay for itself, but I can't really see that. I accept it'll never make any money, but it'd have to break even eventually wouldn't it Shirl? It would... yes it would... wouldn't it? Oh tell me it's so or my name's not Cinders!