Solar hybrid advice
- Thread starter speccy
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You'll find some useful threads here: https://www.speakev.com/forums/power/
did you find a good forum in the end. I've always got decent advice from here but solar seems to be a whole other thing
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Try here. Don't know if it is good or not.
electricianforum.co.uk
Solar PV Forum
Photovoltaic / Solar Panels Forum. Questions and Answers relating to Solar PV, Photovoltaic & Green Energy in this forum, including feed-in tariffs, inverters, panels, calculations, schematics, installation, maintenance & fault finding.
electricianforum.co.uk
They should just create one shouldn't they? Lots of youtube channels that you want to check out:
Not so many for UK but try this:
Not so many for UK but try this:
thanks for the links, I think they should. That being said it's a pretty massive topic as i'm just finding out, and opinions are subjective.
If you listed your requirements, people could suggest hundreds or permutations with believable arguments for each. It would also seem that lots of companies are currently profiteering from the current panic associated to energy prices. Whilst a one-stop shop for supply, fit and set-up is preferable, it's looking like there might be a 35%-40% premium for this service, and that's not factoring then buying the parts wholesale.
It is a big topic but it may be worth just sticking to one brand. For instance Victron have a pretty active forum:
community.victronenergy.com
And they supply most (probably all) the parts you need with the necessary protocols to connect them all. If they don't support a configuration you may want to reconsider whether you should run it. If your spark can't deal with Victron you may want to find another one.
But then again, if you don't want batteries (at all) then there may be cheaper options.
All Posts - Victron Community
community.victronenergy.com
Product Type Inverter Chargers Victron Energy
If you are looking for Product Type Inverter Chargers Victron Energy then Battery Megastore have you covered. See all our Product Type Inverter Chargers Victron Energy products here.
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Funnily enough, my brother was looking at a Victron inverter as it does most things and removes the need for additional gear. I see this as good and bad. It's great from a compatibility POV but if it breaks then the whole thing will need replacing.It is a big topic but it may be worth just sticking to one brand. For instance Victron have a pretty active forum:
And they supply most (probably all) the parts you need with the necessary protocols to connect them all. If they don't support a configuration you may want to reconsider whether you should run it. If your spark can't deal with Victron you may want to find another one.All Posts - Victron Community
But then again, if you don't want batteries (at all) then there may be cheaper options.Product Type Inverter Chargers Victron Energy
If you are looking for Product Type Inverter Chargers Victron Energy then Battery Megastore have you covered. See all our Product Type Inverter Chargers Victron Energy products here.www.batterymegastore.co.uk
Not sure I follow you. There's a 5-yr warranty on most of their stuff and then are you saying it can never be repaired after? I think I'd want to see some evidence of that. Note: I haven't bought any of their kit, or any solar kit for that matter, I'm just interested in the subject.
I agree that a forum on here for Solar Panels would be good. I've just had a quote for fitting them on my house and with the increasing costs I wonder if I should spend the money. I trust this forum to be honest and not controlled by one company.
I’m thinking of having them.
I can’t decide whether to have solar electric, with or without batteries and or solar thermal.
For Solar thermal you get 70% vs 25% efficiency with PV, which means three-times the panels for the equivalent PV power, so sounds great if you're short of roof space, but OTOH you must pay for un-vented tank with possibly multiple coils which is expensive and then to stop it scaling up and needing to replace it after 5-10 years you then need to consider a water softener which is not only extra money but you have to fill it with salt once in a while, store said salt somewhere and (literally) bags of hassle. The one (really big) benefit is that your energy storage is otherwise cheap and environmentally friendly (water), - even if somewhat short-term - and it's flexible, because you can put that tank in an attic, which you probably don't want to do with LiFePO4 cells.
I think with all that taken into account this is why nobody seems to be fitting solar thermal anymore. If you have some Heath Robinson solar thermal affair with some vacuum tubes on a shed roof and a shower in said shed that you use just in the summer... well you might be on to something because you can probably make do with a cheaper vented tank that you clean once in a while to avoid Legionnaires. The cheapest solar thermal shower is a black bag of water left in the sun somewhere, after all.
When you do the maths it may be cheaper to just forget the solar cells and purchase cheap energy in the small hours to fill a bank of LiFePO4 cells which you discharge through the day. At 6000 cycle life that's a good many years. It's not going to power an electric cooker or shower for long but might be OK for everything else, and has the benefit of some protection from blackouts. Consider the inverter + charge + discharge losses for LiFePO4, they are pretty damned low, and favourable in comparison to alternative off-peak tech such as electric storage heaters.
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Agreed. My solar thermal collection system is pressurised, but the tank is vented. I've had many years of trouble-free free hot water. However it is rather more complex a system than simply using electricity from PV panels fed to an immersion heater. It's easier to switch off when it gets too hot when using PV.
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