Renewables: "talking 'bout my generation"

groovyf

10.32kWh / 2.6 O's... awful start to the day, yesterday, according to the pvoutput live graph. Was expecting more of the same today, but looks like I might get home to be pleasantly surprised!

zeupater

iantowns wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the world of PV (had my system fitted yesterday!) so please be gentle with me.

I woke this morning to find a beautiful sunny day so I'm eagerly reading through the thread for tips. I've done 3 loads of washing and now cooking tonight's chicken.

I notice quite a few posters mentioning 'PVOutput', can someone explain for a beginner like me what that site is useful for?

I've also got a GEO Solo PV monitor fixed to the generation meter which I've been watching nearly non-stop all morning.

Hi

Welcome to the forum ....

In order to keep an eye on their own system, many compare their system performance to others, both locally & nationally by using PVOutput (http://pvoutput.org/).... I don't know if you are also familiar with PVGIS (http://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvgis/apps4/pvest.php) which is good for setting a monthly target for your specific system.

Some of us initially get a little obsessed with monitoring our systems, but after a while you'll become familiar with what your own system's doing by simply looking at the sky ..... but in the meantime, enjoy watching the Watts rolling in and continue to make the best use of them that you can ....

HTH
Z

groovyf

Hi, and welcome!

iantowns wrote: »

I notice quite a few posters mentioning 'PVOutput', can someone explain for a beginner like me what that site is useful for?

PVOutput allows you to input your daily generation total and creates nice, neat graphs and a whole bunch of other useful info and statistics. Over time you can get an overall idea how the system is performing at various times of the year - assuming you're diligent at keeping it updated, and also compare days.

iantowns wrote: »

I've also got a GEO Solo PV monitor fixed to the generation meter which I've been watching nearly non-stop all morning.

Yes, I was like that too... and still keep tabs on it a few months down the line. At the end of each day, I upload the card's data to the GEO website, then download the daily total's, input into Excel and with a bit of jiggery-pokery with a formula, get an output I can upload to PVOutput to get the Live daily graphs. These are useful and you see when the sun was out and when clouds came over and ruined the day!

iantowns

Many thanks groovy and zeupater.

I'll be doing some digging around PVOutput and PVGIS to see what I find useful.

I think this'll be very bad news for my OCD.

tunnel

Don't bank on the newness wearing off anytime soon... and welcome


Got an HAWAII in the bag already for today with a couple of hours of decent generation to come(hopefully)

iantowns

I've a 3.92Kw system that's already produced 22.21kWh today so far, so I think that puts me in Hawaii territory on my very first day.

At least I know the thing is wired up correctly!

Is it always this easy?

tunnel

iantowns wrote: »

Is it always this easy?

Wait till the depths of winter when you have 4" of snow covering your panels with zero generation....then ask that again.

groovyf

I'm dreading that. Why hasn't anyone thought up a panel that has something like you get in car rear windows for demisting?! With a switch near the inverter you can use to get it going
PS: If I see any of you lot on Dragon's Den with that, there'll be trouble :P

groovyf

Oh, and got surfing in Hawaii-land at around 6pm, so with the last couple of hours of sun available, I may hit a new high today...

nigelpm

iantowns wrote: »

I've a 3.92Kw system that's already produced 22.21kWh today so far, so I think that puts me in Hawaii territory on my very first day.

At least I know the thing is wired up correctly!

Is it always this easy?

Yes, in the sense that you have very little maintenance costs but just sit back and watch the generation meter roll on.