Solar Panel Megathread

[El Cid 214]

 

I know I sound like a broken record here, but for the love of god don't forget storage. You can't use that electricity for anything unless it's needed right at the moment it's generated.

 

 

I dont need to store it, I have mains power too

[Cyclone 10]

We have an increasing amount of "rapid switching" capacity which is expensive, inefficient and only necessary because of intermittent renewables. It's still a waste of money and fuel.

 

No disagreement on that.

[El Cid 214]

A traditional (incandescent) light bulb might draw 60 watts, so it would run 1 lightbulb for 161 hours.

Your kettle might draw 2kw, so it would run that for about 4.75 hrs.

 

A PC probably draws 500 watts so you could run that for 18 hrs.

 

 

Thanks, that is more helpful than the anti, anything to do with climate change spiel.

But what I need to work out, is how much power they are producing per hour.

So if I have the PC and radio on, is there still power left for the washer and kettle on a sunny and cloudy day.

[unbeliever 10]

Thanks, that is more helpful than the anti, anything to do with climate change spiel.

But what I need to work out, is how much power they are producing per hour.

So if I have the PC and radio on, is there still power left for the washer and kettle on a sunny and cloudy day.

 

That can't be definitively determined from an average.

[truman 10]

Thanks, that is more helpful than the anti, anything to do with climate change spiel.

But what I need to work out, is how much power they are producing per hour.

So if I have the PC and radio on, is there still power left for the washer and kettle on a sunny and cloudy day.

 

if you're only making 3 and a bit kilowatt hours a day then no there won't be..I don't think anyway...

[Cyclone 10]

Thanks, that is more helpful than the anti, anything to do with climate change spiel.

But what I need to work out, is how much power they are producing per hour.

So if I have the PC and radio on, is there still power left for the washer and kettle on a sunny and cloudy day.

 

Didn't the whole system come with some sort of spot metering?

 

If you can't accurately measure how much the PC is using, then at best anything else is a guess.

The kettle should be entirely predictable, and the radio might as well be ignored.

 

The generation over 3 days is obviously only an average though, but basically the PC alone will have used all the power that your solar system generated I think. Going to just calc that and double check.

 

---------- Post added 20-10-2015 at 13:12 ----------

 

9.7 in 3 days.

Assuming 8 hours a day of generation, that's 0.4 kwh per hour.

 

Your PC and monitor are probably drawing 350 watts, or 350wh/h, so pretty much using up all the power your system can provide.

[truman 10]

Didn't the whole system come with some sort of spot metering?

 

If you can't accurately measure how much the PC is using, then at best anything else is a guess.

The kettle should be entirely predictable, and the radio might as well be ignored.

 

The generation over 3 days is obviously only an average though, but basically the PC alone will have used all the power that your solar system generated I think. Going to just calc that and double check.

 

---------- Post added 20-10-2015 at 13:12 ----------

 

9.7 in 3 days.

Assuming 8 hours a day of generation, that's 0.4 kwh per hour.

 

Your PC and monitor are probably drawing 350 watts, or 350wh/h, so pretty much using up all the power your system can provide.

 

It doesn't seem a very big system...I thought most were around 4Kw?

[Cyclone 10]

4Kw is a theoretical maximum under perfect conditions.

[truman 10]

4Kw is a theoretical maximum under perfect conditions.

 

I would have expected to get more than 9kwh over 3 days... that's only about 2 quid's worth of leccy..take a while to get any investment back...

[unbeliever 10]

I dont need to store it, I have mains power too

 

Heres an idea.

 

Why don't you use the mains power to run some big electric lights?

You can mount them on your roof and point them at the solar panels all day and night.

That way you're guaranteed to be generating the full 4kW and you can probably save the planet single handed.

 

 

---------- Post added 20-10-2015 at 13:29 ----------

 

I would have expected to get more than 9kwh over 3 days... that's only about 2 quid's worth of leccy..take a while to get any investment back...

 

To be honest, they'll probably pick up in summer.

The sun never gets overhead at this time of year.

[El Cid 214]

I would have expected to get more than 9kwh over 3 days... that's only about 2 quid's worth of leccy..take a while to get any investment back...

 

Bird poo on them already, perhaps that is it

 

I will have another look at the readout near the inverter, some electric will BE used straight away by myself, and some into the grid when I am out.

[Cyclone 10]

What's the situation now El Cid?