Photovoltaic systems (and other renewable energy's) discussion and show-off thread

[Deuce]

In the current age it seems very common and also appropriate for some of us to have renewable energy's attached to our residences.
Go forth and discuss the system you have, or had, or want to get.

Everyone enjoys pictures of your system also.

 

[Deuce]

@J_D 2.0
@VFSV6FORME
@Mickcc
@Baldoldfart

 

[J_D 2.0]

Looking forward to see what my system generates. Not using the data tracking/wifi on it though as it’s a Chinese inverter and a Chinese app so I’m not handing my data to the CCP!

 

[Deuce]

The apps are a novelty.
You don't need it day to day once you get a hang of what it's doing and when it's doing it.

 

[J_D 2.0]

The apps are a novelty.
You don't need it day to day once you get a hang of what it's doing and when it's doing it.

It’s not that hard to go outside and have a guernsey at the LCD screen.

 

[the_boozer]

I went to a home with a 4kw solar system that was instlled maybe 7 years ago the invertor had died the energy company replaced the invertor at no cost now they want to charge the owner to replace 2 cells that aren't working. The owner found his bills for the last few years the solar system makes maybe $10 worth of power when I compiared his bills from the last 5 years. How many systems are as much use as that one? How do you recycle a solar cell what happens to all the redundent cells ?

 

[J_D 2.0]

It’s not that hard to go outside and have a guernsey at the LCD screen.

Went out and had a guernsey at 7:15 and it was already generating 1.4kw.

 

[J_D 2.0]

I went to a home with a 4kw solar system that was instlled maybe 7 years ago the invertor had died the energy company replaced the invertor at no cost now they want to charge the owner to replace 2 cells that aren't working. The owner found his bills for the last few years the solar system makes maybe $10 worth of power when I compiared his bills from the last 5 years. How many systems are as much use as that one? How do you recycle a solar cell what happens to all the redundent cells ?

My house already had an existing 1.5kw system on it that wasn’t working from the previous owners. They had a 1.5kw solar system an 8.5kw air conditioner and zero insulation in the roof!

The first thing I did when I bought the property is put insulation in the roof as it was a hotbox in summer and even with the 8.5kw aircon going full blast it couldn’t even keep up, although the aircon was quite old and probably flogged out by being on a 100% duty cycle.

Now I only have a 7kw aircon and it works well without going full blast because there’s actually some roof insulation to keep the heat out and the aircon in. That should be improved again now with 7.96kw of solar on the roof as most of the roof space is covered in panels now, which insulates the tin roof from the direct sun.

 

[J_D 2.0]

How do you recycle a solar cell what happens to all the redundent

That’s going to become a major problem in the future. The very early systems (like my old one) are progressively coming up for replacement which is going to see solar panel waste increase exponentially.

They all contain heavy metals like nickel and cobalt so shouldn’t really be going into landfill but I’m pretty sure that is where most of them end up at the moment.

 

[Baldoldfart]

Insulation is very important including double glazing. Not so much for heating as cooling. Solar cells are starting to be recycled and as more is learned will be utilised more for the components. There is a lot of bullshit about batteries, the technology is progressing fast and changing. Like most stuff in life you get what you pay for, buy a cheaparse component and that's what you'll get. We started with some secondhand lead acid batteries with the intention of getting new ones when needed, been 6 years and they are still working well. I was worried about how the batteries were cycling to start with now I never look at it, power has never been a problem.