House solar

[xvprado]

Thinking of taking the plunge, just solar not batteries

Anyone got any experience with a good supplier/installer in NSW (western Sydney)

Different brand inverters and panels, any feedback. It seems that most unemployed used car salespersons have currently found a home in the solar industry, seems to be a bit difficult to get a straight answer

Thanks for any feedback and assistance

Glen

[ronmac]

Hi Glen, Give "Solar online Australia" a call on 0249543310 a call or go to there web site, They are a Newcastle based firm in Cardiff. Have used them for 12 volt gear and they are easy to deal with. cheers Ron.

[Alan Loy]

Hi Glen

I used https://www.solarquotes.com.au/ to get quotes for our system.  The website also has a lot of info which I found useful.

[Fizzie]

Hi Glen

Can't help you in Sydney, but Whirlpool is always a good place for this sort of question (sometimes even better than MySwag!!! ) It's also a great way of wasting spending even more hours a day on line reading & chatting!

Check out https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/143 & have a look for references to Sydney, or simply sign up & ask the question

[glenm64]

Get as big a system as you can first up.

The leading inverter manufacturers have high efficiency and reliability.
SMA
Fronius
Solar Edge
ABB
Delta
Power One(Aurora)

The solar panel market is very crowded, with many manufacturers of varying prices and effiency. Try and balance efficiency with price.
Leading solar panel manufacturers are (theres lots of others too)
Sunpower
LG
Winaico
Canadian Solar
Jinko
Suntech
Panasonic
LG

Over size your panels to inverter up to 133% to maximize your average output. This helps neutralise 2 weaknesses in solar systems. Firstly solar panels rarely perform to their stated output, and secondly earlier and later in the day your system wont be performing at its peak.
Check your inverter for its maximum input capacity.
Also to be noted if you go over 133% you wont get any rebate (used to be the rule, need to check)
Also check what your inverters actual output is. Even some leading manufacturers "5kw" inverters are actually 4.6kw.
Overclocking can also improve your inverters output, due to some brands efficiency declining at low inputs.





Cheers Glen

[chester ver2.0]

Sorry to Hijack but a general question

If both of us work so there is no one home during the daytime to use the power the panels generate is Solar actually worth it unless i get a battery to store the power so we can use it at night???

[Bunyip]

Anyone got any experience with a good supplier/installer in NSW (western Sydney)

When we lived in Kings Langley we used LJW Solar http://www.ljwsolar.com.au/ and they were fantastic.

Everyone else came in and I counted my fingers after the handshake. They all talked the same rubbish and made big promises.

Then LJW came in, before coming out they had looked at the house on google maps, when they got there they did further checks before saying anything. They recommended a solution and gave us a figure it would output. Once installed it regularly got better than they quoted so they didn't over promise.
They were professional, did what they said they would do, when they said they would do it and I couldn't recommend them highly enough.

Bunyip

[briann532]

Only commenting, not trying to sell anything as this is what I do,

BUT...……………

Go with someone you can trust, usually a local smaller operation that relies on word of mouth is the way to go.
Check products and compare price.
If it's a "can only do this week" price, show them the door.
SMA inverter or Fronius. No seriously nothing else matches.
Reputable panels, and Yes they are all made in China now...…. but there is good and bad.
No LG panels are not worth the extra money, and batteries...…… yeah NO!
Not yet anyway. still takes to long for R.O.I.
If it seems to good to be true, it is.
Retaillers offering installs "free" or at cost for a higher feed in tarrif are a complete rip off. There is always a catch

If you aren't home to use it, don't bother unless you have pool pumps etc that are consuming the power.
Feed in will never give you a return

And finally warranty is only as good as the person standing behind it.

ALWAYS ask for references.
An honest tradie should have plenty.
(You can get all the info you need and get prices from - 3 quotes, but I'd probably remember that these people "Pay" for the leads and are salespeople.)
That said, Neil Finn knows pretty much everything about solar and the site has awesome info, calculators and costs.

Cheers and good luck,
Brian

[rags]

Sorry to Hijack but a general question

If both of us work so there is no one home during the daytime to use the power the panels generate is Solar actually worth it unless i get a battery to store the power so we can use it at night???

There is some good technology nowadays for directing the power to electric water heater elements. It is a genuine option instead of a $4500 solar water heater.

[lloydus67]

There is some good technology nowadays for directing the power to electric water heater elements. It is a genuine option instead of a $4500 solar water heater.

I save $100 a quarter, by not having 2 tariffs and running my hot water on a timer. (9am until 3pm peak solar time) I never run out of hot water, but I can just switch it on if I did and run it any hours of the day. I think it’s a 360 litre water heater


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bird]

Go with someone you can trust, usually a local smaller operation that relies on word of mouth is the way to go.

Thats what stopped me years back..
You hear lots of reports of people being quoted stuff at stupid prices, and then not a big enough system for their requirements.

[sparksy]

Get as big a system as you can first up.

The leading inverter manufacturers have high efficiency and reliability.
SMA
Fronius
Solar Edge
ABB
Delta
Power One(Aurora)

The solar panel market is very crowded, with many manufacturers of varying prices and effiency. Try and balance efficiency with price.
Leading solar panel manufacturers are (theres lots of others too)
Sunpower
LG
Winaico
Canadian Solar
Jinko
Suntech
Panasonic
LG

Over size your panels to inverter up to 133% to maximize your average output. This helps neutralise 2 weaknesses in solar systems. Firstly solar panels rarely perform to their stated output, and secondly earlier and later in the day your system wont be performing at its peak.
Check your inverter for its maximum input capacity.
Also to be noted if you go over 133% you wont get any rebate (used to be the rule, need to check)
Also check what your inverters actual output is. Even some leading manufacturers "5kw" inverters are actually 4.6kw.
Overclocking can also improve your inverters output, due to some brands efficiency declining at low inputs.





Cheers Glen

Hi Glen
In process of replacing our old 1.5 system for a 6.55kw  here in Perth.
Been quoted $3800 for a 6.55  system  with a 5kw fronius Symo inverter and 23 x 285w  RISEN panels.
Do you know anything about this brand.

Thanks
Wayne

[glenm64]

Hi Wayne
The Fronius are  reputable bra d.
Never heard of Risen but with so many brands of panels now its hard to tell.
Like most things only time will tell.

Cheers Glen

[briann532]

Hi Glen
In process of replacing our old 1.5 system for a 6.55kw  here in Perth.
Been quoted $3800 for a 6.55  system  with a 5kw fronius Symo inverter and 23 x 285w  RISEN panels.
Do you know anything about this brand.

Thanks
Wayne

Wayne, Id go for it.
Fronius is brilliant gear, in fact its the best, and Risen are great panels too.
I couldn't install it for that price, I'd lose money, so I'd take it.
Just check that there is no hidden contract to sign up for a couple of years of trading the feed in supply or payment fees.
There have plenty scams like that going on in NSW.
Promise the world, Oh except for that little catch in the fine print.

Cheers
Brian

[rags]

Hi Wayne
The Fronius are  reputable bra d.
Never heard of Risen but with so many brands of panels now its hard to tell.
Like most things only time will tell.

Cheers Glen

That's nearly cheaper than putting 400 watts of solar onto the caravan.

[Bird]

Wayne, Id go for it.
Fronius is brilliant gear, in fact its the best, and Risen are great panels too.
I couldn't install it for that price, I'd lose money, so I'd take it.
Just check that there is no hidden contract to sign up for a couple of years of trading the feed in supply or payment fees.
There have plenty scams like that going on in NSW.
Promise the world, Oh except for that little catch in the fine print.

Cheers
Brian

when are you in Melbourne next with a week or so to spare

[sparksy]

Thanks guys for the advice. Ill look further into going that way.
next cheapest quote but using trina panels is $4700 the there is  Jinco panels at $5000 and then LG at $7500.   
cost to have the old system removed is $250, even though I'm a sparky I'm getting too old to haul panels off the roof so its worth  every cent.
One thing I found interesting with the Risen panels is that they are a split cell so basically 2 circuits in each panel to reduce effect of shading.

[Craig Tomkinson]

Hi Sparky, I have an old second hand 240 watt 60volt Risen house panel for camping, it just flogged the new 240 watt 12 volt set up I had in bright sun light and in low light, it was always had 5 to 6 amps better all day, Craig   

[Symon]

If you aren't home to use it, don't bother unless you have pool pumps etc that are consuming the power.
Feed in will never give you a return

I'll disagree with you there.  If you have storage hot water then you can have it on a timer to heat the water during the day and have it switched off at night.  This way you have your water heated for free which is a significant saving.  We have been running like this for a year now and have only run out of hot water a couple of times, but if we anticipate using a lot of hot water (ie, guests staying over) then we bypass the timer and let it run overnight so there is hot water in the morning.

The main thing is to know your usage patterns and typical consumption so you can run the numbers and work out the most suitable configuration.  This includes the plan you have with the energy retailer.  For example when I changed retailers recently I went for a plan that had a lower FIT but had a higher discount as it worked out being a better deal for us.  We have had credits for the past 3 quarters since the change.

The other thing I would say is to always oversize your array.  Don't put in a 5kW array with a 5kW inverter, you will never really get the value out of your inverter if you do that.  I put a 6.6kW array on my 5kW Fronius inverter and it is maxed out for about 4-5 hours a day in summer, that will never happen with a smaller array.  From looking back on it I could have squeezed another two panels on the roof to give 7.2kW - good in hindsight.

Since export limiting inverters have come down in price now if you have the spare cash I would also look seriously at going bigger.  If you are on single phase then have 10kW of panels (if you have the space) on a 7kW inverter that is export limited to 5kW.  You can then run your house and export at the same time to maximise the benefit.

I will agree on battery systems not being quite worth it yet - maybe in another 5 years or so.

[Swannie]

Just put 13kw fronius system on the house eke Tru ty bills were $650pm after first month with solar $92pm

Swannie

[Bad Scott]

Just put 13kw fronius system on the house eke Tru ty bills were $650pm after first month with solar $92pm

Swannie

13kw. How much roof space was required. Who did you use?

[Swannie]

13kw. How much roof space was required. Who did you use?

Used a local guy
Don’t k ow roof space but I’ll text you a photo it’s was 48 270 panels with fronius inverters

[Bird]

Don’t k ow roof space but I’ll text you a photo it’s was 48 270 panels with fronius inverters

48 panels?? Wow.. that must be massive.. do your roof tiles get wet when it rains LOL!

Batteries??

Rough cost on that setup?

[Craig Tomkinson]

no good to anybody with single phase power in put, Got to have 3 phase for a system like that, as I was going to do the same when I build my next bigger shed hook up 3 phase at the same time, Craig

[Bird]

Used a local guy
Don’t k ow roof space but I’ll text you a photo it’s was 48 270 panels with fronius inverters

Those fotos are impressive.. but hate to be flyin over your joint.. the reflection would blind aliens... LOL