- Joined
- Mar 26, 2015
- Messages
- 679
- Location
- Preston, QLD
- Website
- asmedical.webege.com
- Climate
- Temperate (all seasons)
Mentioned briefly in another thread in this forum, I thought I'd dedicate a thread to the product itself and give a preliminary (and progressive) working review on the product for what will continue to be an important part of self-sufficiency and energy-smart living. I would like to give an unbiased, non-marketing style report on this system for the benefit of those who are interested in solar power and its pros and cons in the current environment.
The non-technical stuff: it's a solar power generator like most others we know, but with a battery backup service and the ability to provide real-time and long term reports on energy generation and consumption. The battery backup serves to charge during the day from the excess energy being generated by the solar panels that is not used by the household, and then kick in seamlessly whenever power consumption exceeds power generation. This is typically in the evening and night but may be during the day when there are multiple high energy appliances being used (one large fridge, ceramic cooktop and washing machine working simultaneously may be enough to exceed the energy being generated through the panels for example).
Solax produced a short video that explains this quite well:
The theory of it sounds great, but the Australian set up seems to have a crippled Emergency Power System (EPS) that cannot kick in automatically when grid power goes down, whether day or night. This requires a switch to be activated before the batteries supply the household so someone has to be physically present when this happens so the essential equipment can keep running. No good for computer systems requiring a seamless electricity supply.
The limitations on my part were further that Origin refused to allow for energy export, even at their measly 7c/kWh, so any excess energy I generate is wasted, and any supply I require from the grid because I use more at night than what my batteries can cope with will be added onto my energy bill. Lots of places there of squandered opportunity for self-sufficiency, and I have to be extra savvy with energy generation AND consumption for this to be financially worthwhile.
More later.
The non-technical stuff: it's a solar power generator like most others we know, but with a battery backup service and the ability to provide real-time and long term reports on energy generation and consumption. The battery backup serves to charge during the day from the excess energy being generated by the solar panels that is not used by the household, and then kick in seamlessly whenever power consumption exceeds power generation. This is typically in the evening and night but may be during the day when there are multiple high energy appliances being used (one large fridge, ceramic cooktop and washing machine working simultaneously may be enough to exceed the energy being generated through the panels for example).
Solax produced a short video that explains this quite well:
The theory of it sounds great, but the Australian set up seems to have a crippled Emergency Power System (EPS) that cannot kick in automatically when grid power goes down, whether day or night. This requires a switch to be activated before the batteries supply the household so someone has to be physically present when this happens so the essential equipment can keep running. No good for computer systems requiring a seamless electricity supply.
The limitations on my part were further that Origin refused to allow for energy export, even at their measly 7c/kWh, so any excess energy I generate is wasted, and any supply I require from the grid because I use more at night than what my batteries can cope with will be added onto my energy bill. Lots of places there of squandered opportunity for self-sufficiency, and I have to be extra savvy with energy generation AND consumption for this to be financially worthwhile.
More later.