Renewables: "talking 'bout my generation"

DREKLY

Hi Martin, I fully agree with Crowmann, the loft is my least favorite choice of location, mainly due to access, so I chose to have my Solaredge inverter in the kitchen, where i can watch it over cups of tea, at any time, and pulse the program switch underneath to see other information.

At the moment, it is mounted on an obligatory ply panel along with both DC and AC isolation switches, plus the TGM, but I plan to create a fake kitchen wall cupboard, open topped, so it can be concealed behind a hinged cupboard door, with adequate ventilation.

This is in a bungalow, as shown in my Avatar, so the DC cable run is not very long, and the massive heatsink barely gets warm.

I hasten to add, I have NO wi-fi at this property, or phone line, hence my choice of its positioning ( it is in deepest darkest Cornwall, where even electricity from Western Power Distribution is a "luxury" ) !

Crowmann

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Hiya. Like everything in life, nothing is that simple. Firstly those high temps relate to sun on slate/tile not ambient temps, so by blocking the direct sunlight with ...... say ..... PV panels, you will only really get ambient temps. But still quite high. [Obviously, if you have a massive south facing roof, only partially covered in panels, then it will still get dam hot.]

Next, I have an insulated loft, and a Velux which gets vented or cracked (opened 1 or 2 inches) for most of the BST period, so no high temps.

Also, depends on the inverter. In my loft I have a SE2200 which is around 97/98% efficient. But in my downstairs loo (northern side of house) I have my SMA's which are 92% and 95% efficient, giving off proportionately 2 to 4 times as much waste heat.

Also (lots of also's, sorry!) the loft inverter reports all data to the SolarEdge monitoring site so I can see it easily, though I do have stairs for a simple visual inspection too.

Also (last time) the loft is a simple location for installation and panel cabling, so whilst temp and accesability may be issues, there is a logical reason for it as a first choice, though a better cooler location may be worth considering.

Back to gen, got a lovely 0.29 O's yesterday, woohoo!

Mart.

Firstly an array of panels will reduce the ambient temp I agree but not by much so that's not valid and secondly you have a semi habitable space - insulation, glazing and I suspect flooring LOL.


So not really what I was referring to.... I was describing the fitment of an inverter on typically a gable wall with no access beyond tip toeing between the ceiling joists. Pretty much inaccessible to all but a trained ballerina.

Martyn1981

Crowmann wrote: »

Firstly an array of panels will reduce the ambient temp I agree but not by much so that's not valid

I didn't say reduce the ambient temp, I said reduce it to ambient temp. The reason lofts generally get so hot in the sunshine is that the slates and tiles are being heated by the sun, in the same way a black car is very hot to touch in direct sunlight.

Remove direct sunlight from the equation by adding panels, and then the slates/tiles and inside of roof will reflect (no pun intended) ambient temps, perhaps 30C peaks, rather than 50C+ sunlight temps.

Crowmann wrote: »

So not really what I was referring to.... I was describing the fitment of an inverter on typically a gable wall with no access beyond tip toeing between the ceiling joists. Pretty much inaccessible to all but a trained ballerina.

Actually you didn't refer to, nor set any specific criteria in your post, you simply asked why people might tolerate fitting an inverter in the loft, and I gave a few reasons/examples.

Anyway, I was just explaining why it might not be as simple as just choosing a cooler location, though that would normally make most sense.

Mart.

PS. For goodness sake don't tip toe between the ceiling joists, that's gonna end in tears. M.

pinnks

Interesting discussion. For me the logical place is in the loft, not least for keeping the aesthetics.

My loft is floored but otherwise untouched. One of the first things I noticed was how much cooler the loft space is in summer because there is no longer direct sunlight only most of the west-facing roof.

The south-facing roof is insulated and roomed out for storage, with Velux window and heater for the winter etc, so not a fair comparison, thought that said, it too is cooler in summer.

ajbell

Only 0.51 Os today.


The coming week looks brighter.

Oscargrouch

Better than yesterday....just.. 2.32 O's....:D...

Merlin139

Poor day here.

0.44 O's

Notified that FIT payment in the bank tomorrow. Lowest ever only £86.15 :eek:

DREKLY

Martyn, quick question, how does your Solar Edge send info to you from the loft installation?
Do you have to install a "dongle" , as Jonokimber has with his Growatt invertor, or is it all built in ?

My solar edge says "no wi-fi" as i scroll through the push button data, but also "zigbee" is mentioned... can you explain please ??

p.s. - I have no wifi in the house, but do have a new not-so-smart-Anne Droid phone, can it communicate with that, somehow ???
-perhaps I should get a dancing ballerina too....

EricMears

Our inverter is in the loft. It seemed a perfectly reasonable place to put it given that the DC arrives through the roof and the AC needs to go downstairs via the TGM & CU. And of course getting the TGM as close as possible to the roof will minimise any cable losses.

The inverter is attached to a solid wall in the centre of the roofspace and underneath tiles which are shielded from direct sunshine by the solar panels. It's above an insulated floor and next door to approximately half a tonne of water that acts as a heatsink (not its real purpose of course).

I have occasionally visited it on a hot day and not found the environment that unpleasant.

But there's really no need to go up there to check out the inverter - thanks to 'Bluetooth' I get a complete view of what's going on from my computer.

Crowmann

7Kw today - pretty much overcast but with a moment (well probably more than a moment) of warm sunshine when the solar meter said 4310 watts.


Now this is more than the panels can in theory chuck out and when I checked the inverter it said 3600 watts.


Perplexing, my hunch is the power meter is correct (wishful thinking perhaps?) as the system records always more production on the wired meter than the inverter records.


Anyone know which is the truth?