I bought the panels from a company called Solarsparky, which is a division of Trade sparky. They've actually come down in price since i got them a couple of weeks ago I paid £167.75 +VAT and they're now £148.30, they also supplied the Solax inverter, AC and DC isolators and the meter. The mounting rails came from HDM solar, not the cheapest but the only people I could find that had them in stock. The cable came from TLC direct JA Solar JAM54S30-405/MR 405W Black Frame Half Cell (tradesparky.com) HDM Solar – HDMSolar Search Results (tlc-direct.co.uk)
Couldn't wait any longer for the Sparky as my impatience was bugging me and he can't finish until the end of next week So i've plugged into a nearby 3 pin socket to see if it all works, and....................it does . I waited for the sun to go behind a cloud, powered it up, switched on the DC and it burst into life with 800W of power. I've had it on for a few hours and produced 7.5KW, it peaks at 2950 but fortunately it's a bit cloudy so it doesn't stay at that level for long enough for the plug to get warm!! I'll only switch it on whilst I'm around and it's cloudy as I realise that it's not the most clever thing to do and I don't want a disaster. I've been logging my consumption on a daily basis and will produce a chart in a couple of weeks of it being connected properly to see how it's performing. If any Electricians see this, let me know if I should unplug it immediately and destry the evidence including this post
Seriously, it doesn't take much to get distracted and if you're getting near on 13 amps in cloudy conditions then you don't want it connected while you are in a sudden sunny spell. The fuse in the plug will only protect against a sudden overcurrent, not a slow climbing one.
Anyone know the answer to this? I can't see how something designed specifically to generate electricity will not be damaged in some way if the generated power has nowhere to go? Can you physically stop a solar panel from generating, other than covering it up?
Just like any generator, no current flow equals no heating equals little wear and tear. The effect of being blasted by solar radiation will age the panels with or without the current flow. The photons that whack an atom out of place rather than pump an electron up in energy will still be hammering into the panels. The heat cycles will fatigue fracture connections in dodgy panels with or without current flow. As the working voltage of panels is pretty close to the open circuit voltage, provided the downstream electronics can take the voltage nothing happens.
I did check with the supplier but was told it's fine, some people leave them for months on new builds inbetween building the roof and wiring the house. I went for decent branded panels with a 25 year guarantee so hopefullly all should be well.
Most solar charge controllers have a heatsink to lose power through via heat. Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk
Yup, Matt's answer is the simplest. Excess energy is lost as heat, so all I'll add is that controllers etc just need to be reasonably well ventilated
Great stuff! I have purchased 8 panels but looking at an inverter/control box where I could add batteries when I have the money, as not worried about feeding back to the grid. Also you mentioned that you put in cabling etc to allow for further panels in the future, is that 6mm instead of 4mm, or is there something else I need? Looking forward to seeing how much you are generating in a few weeks
Regarding FIT , I read that some countries don't need/want small producers supplying the grid, And will only pay for larger solar input...
Yes, I used 6mm cable as the price difference wasn't huge and it should hopefully minimise any losses and enable more panels at a later date if needed.
I now have a months worth of data from the panels but the numbers are quite confusing. I measure useage every day from my meter and solar generation from my inverter. I have a smart meter which also shows how much I have exported on a daily basis In summary from historical data we use 20Kw per day I changed my pond pump at the same time the solar was switched on which saved 4KW per day So without the pond pump my pre solar useage averaged at 16Kw per day My post solar useage averages at 10Kw which is a reduction of 6Kw However when I subtract what my meter tells me I've exported my net generation is only 4Kw For September Expected useage = 480Kw Actual useage = 299Kw Reduction of 181Kw Solar generation = 255Kw Solar export = 133Kw Net solar = 121Kw So where is the missing 60Kw ??? Does anyone know haw accurate the export numbers are on smart meters?
So should I ignore the meter export meter reading and assume that I've consumed the "missing" 60Kw and that my actual export is around 70Kw?
