Renewables: "talking 'bout my generation"

mac2008

Hello all - as of this morning I'm the proud owner of a shiny new 2.5kWp system - can I join your club please?

Of course, I've now jinxed the weather in my area for the next 20 years, but even with today's heavy cloud cover, I was outputting 6-800W.

System details: 10x Trina panels with a Fronius IG20, perfectly South facing, 35 degree pitched roof. Installers did a great job with my slightly difficult roof, and a really tidy job on the electrical installation - very pleased so far.

Whilst it doesn't look like the Fronius does much in the way of data logging without optional accessories, I do have a Geo Solo PV meter with an SD card, which allegedly allows me to download the data as .csv. Watch this space!

k66

mac2008 wrote: »

Hello all - as of this morning I'm the proud owner of a shiny new 2.5kWp system - can I join your club please?


Welcome to the club! Weather has been rubbish here too but when the sun is shining it's :j

tunnel

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Nah, I'm the same, since having PV I stopped mowing it at night in the rain and only mow the lawn when it's warm dry and sunny now. [Sorry, but you walked into that one!]

Mart.

Ha Ha , very funny, you know you can go off people you know:p

EricMears wrote: »

Alas, I'll have to wait a very long time before my free electricity can be used to generate petrol for my tractor !

We have electric cars, who knows we may eventually get ride on electric mowers, just watch the cable!:eek:

mac2008 wrote: »

Hello all - as of this morning I'm the proud owner of a shiny new 2.5kWp system - can I join your club please?

Of course, I've now jinxed the weather in my area for the next 20 years, but even with today's heavy cloud cover, I was outputting 6-800W.

System details: 10x Trina panels with a Fronius IG20, perfectly South facing, 35 degree pitched roof. Installers did a great job with my slightly difficult roof, and a really tidy job on the electrical installation - very pleased so far.

Whilst it doesn't look like the Fronius does much in the way of data logging without optional accessories, I do have a Geo Solo PV meter with an SD card, which allegedly allows me to download the data as .csv. Watch this space!

After generating only 7kWh(1.75 O'S) me thinks you've jinxed the weather everywhere:rotfl:

As for my grass......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCWD0pdfokc

legoman62

mac2008 wrote: »

Hello all - as of this morning I'm the proud owner of a shiny new 2.5kWp system - can I join your club please?

Hi and welcome:T
Weather here today was dire with virtually no sun.
Feels more like Feb than late May:D
Lots of posters put their system size/roof angle/invertor/etc and maybe a rough location in their signature for comparison.

2.15 O's for me today

mac2008

Thanks for the welcome. Sig details added, thanks legoman62.

Quick question - where do you all get weather data from? I see Metcheck gives cloud levels - any other good sites?

EricMears

mac2008 wrote: »

Thanks for the welcome. Sig details added, thanks legoman62.

Quick question - where do you all get weather data from? I see Metcheck gives cloud levels - any other good sites?

I read forecasts from Metcheck, Met Office & BBC. Never fails to amaze me that they all give different forecasts for this postcode and that none of them often get it right.

Metcheck does indeed give expected % cloud cover but (a) that's seldom correct and (b) it's not quite as helpful as it might first seem. 100% cloud cover is obviously bad for generation and 0% should be good. However, 50% cloud cover doesn't mean that sun will be at half strength - it just means that half the sky will be covered by cloud. If that happens to mean the sun is behind a cloud you might as well have had 100% cover or if it means you can see the sun between clouds it's effectively the same as 0% cover.

And there's another complication : if the sun is indeed shining through a gap in the clouds it might mean the gap is surrounded by thin clouds acting as a secondary light source so you might even generate more than if sky was completely cloudless !

Oscargrouch

mac2008 wrote: »

Hello all - as of this morning I'm the proud owner of a shiny new 2.5kWp system - can I join your club please?

A very warm welcome to the Solar Anorak thread.

mac2008 wrote: »

Quick question - where do you all get weather data from? I see Metcheck gives cloud levels - any other good sites?

You could try and find a local weather station, which is your best bet....but as can be seen form the earlier post; you pays your money and you takes your choice. Best bet: look out of your window, and trust nobody.

A very sad 1.44 O's for me today, what more can be said apart from.............:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Martyn1981

mac2008 wrote: »

Hello all - as of this morning I'm the proud owner of a shiny new 2.5kWp system - can I join your club please?

Hiya mac, and welcome to the slippery slope of PV madness! :beer:

In case you're not sure what half of us are talking about, we sometimes divide our generation by system size to get a very basic comparison, so for me today I got 13.1kWh's which is 2.35kWh's/kWp (13.1/5.58). In tribute to Oscargrouch we've shortened kWh's/kWp down to Oscars or O's. So I got 2.35 O's today.

O's are voluntary, but Oscar has been known to 'flip his lid' clean off his dustbin when peeps won't play with him! :rotfl:

All the best.

Mart.

[Deleted User]

5kWh yesterday and 0kWh the day before

sly_dog_jonah

jeepjunkie wrote: »

5kWh yesterday and 0kWh the day before

A big fat zero? Some problem with the inverter or power supply?

Rubbish day until the sun broke through about 5ish, but still made 7kWh.