Solar

[Mrcoolabah1au]

Thinking of re doing my solar taking the 10 year old panels off and putting new 60 amp got heaps of room on the roof now just need to know we’re you buy your make and model And we’re from recon I need a dozen or more to make 1000 watt recon just hooked them all together so only have two wires going through the roof

[T1 Terry]

A lot more to it than just linking them all together Wayne. You need to know the maximum solar voltage the chosen MPPT controller can handle, then add up all the open circuit voltages from the panels until you get the number of panels added together that the open circuit voltage is less than the maximum voltage the controller is designed to accept. It only needs to be a few volts more than the controllers maximum acceptance voltage before the controller will not accept any of the solar in, so you end up with no charging. So all .2v etc need to be added into the total.
The next thing, look at the price of each Victron MPPT controller as the acceptance voltage goes up, the first number is the maximum open circuit voltage, the second number is the maximum amps you can get out of that controller ..... that gets even more complicated to explain.
There is a big price difference between a 100/50 and a 150/50 and a huge difference when you get up to the 250/100 ... these are very big controllers and very expensive .... and 250vdc open circuit voltage will kill, so not something to be messing with unless you have the skills and knowledge to work with these high voltages. 50vdc hurts, 150vdc really hurts and sits you on your bum puffing and panting, 250vdc will put you in the ground, 6ft down and a grave stone to mark the spot ... so be aware of the dangers. It is worse than a 240vac shock because it won't throw you off, it locks all your muscles and you can't move or let go ...... they rarely bring you back to life after a high voltage DC shock because of the internal damage it does, so best not to mess with these high voltages.

You can not buy the panels the way we buy these panels unless you buy a lot each time and regularly throughout the yr, yr after yr. We couldn't get a good price in the first 12 mths of buying them because we had not established a buyer history, we paid exactly the same as you would pay. We still have to negotiate with every purchase and the price discount isn't anything like what people seem to think the profit margin would be. Margins on all this stuff is tight, you would need to arrange contracts with the Chinese factories to buy thousands of panels to get a better price and these people only sell at a better price to us so they can improve their buying power with the factory, so they have to know the purchases will be regular and just how many each time .... it is a tough world making $$ from reselling this gear so we don't even try, we buy for what we need for each job because it is just too expensive to have stock sitting on the floor waiting to be sold.

T1 Terry

[Dot]

What about the "free" solar set ups seen being advertised (SA)? We are still getting 58c(approx) for selling back to the grid, if we changed or added we would lose that and go down to the lower rate.

[T1 Terry]

What about the "free" solar set ups seen being advertised (SA)? We are still getting 58c(approx) for selling back to the grid, if we changed or added we would lose that and go down to the lower rate.

How long have they guaranteed the .58c for Dottie, and have they mentioned the limits they plan to put on any exports to the grid from household solar?

T1 Terry

[Dot]

What about the "free" solar set ups seen being advertised (SA)? We are still getting 58c(approx) for selling back to the grid, if we changed or added we would lose that and go down to the lower rate.

How long have they guaranteed the .58c for Dottie, and have they mentioned the limits they plan to put on any exports to the grid from household solar?

T1 Terry

George here, We have had the present solar is a little system of 1kw. have had this since time began roughly 20yrs ago. On our 2017 account it has feed in tariff of 52c BUT the last bill (this week) it has 2 feed in tariffs, 1 at 56c and 1 at 52c. Also included on the bill they said the feed in tariff would be going from 12c to 8c on the 1st of April 2021.????? Not going to say a word as long as the 52c is happening.

[T1 Terry]

As soon as they realise the error, they will debit you for what they, in their view, over paid you ..... in the very fine print it is in part of the contract in legal speech so only a QC could decipher it and no doubt argue it was not a legal document or act...... but who is going to the pay the $1,000 a day plus for a QC to even look at it ....... the energy company has a crowd of QC's and down the line to legal secretaries, on retainer and they wrote it so only one of them could decipher it ....... they know it wouldn't stand up to very close scrutiny ..... but who is going to challenge it ..... even if you did, they would settle out of court on the court room steps to avoid a precedent being made .....

Basically, a contract stands until both parties agree the contract can be made null and void or a breach of contract has occurred or the agreed period the contract ran for has been exceeded........ but for 56cents a kWh from a 1,000w system, there is no way to win financially unless you start a class action .......

What it does do is release you from the contract to sell you solar energy to the grid. If you wanted to you could add more solar, an off grid battery system and tell them to come a remove their poles and wires. You might even be able to argue the pole in front of your place restricts your access to your property ......

T1 Terry