Finally did Solar, one for our 2019 Bucket List

[Ray Speed]

Well 2019 has been an up and a down year, many many things happening, we wanted the fireplace and put that in, cant wait to use it when it chills down, and we wanted to put Solar up this year but with everything happening family wise, wasnt sure if we would get around to it, but Tony our Solar guy was awesome worked in with us a few times and finally 4 days ago, bham in she went.
looking forward in seeing what this does for us, we run massive fishtanks so in winter cost us a heap to heat (hence the fireplace) and in summer cost us a heap to cool down (Air cons) so fingers crossed we will see a nice little reduction.
JUst loaded the wifi up and will get onto the lappy to see what it does for us daily

 

[ClissAT]

Looking good Ray. Is that 24 panels? Will you get a battery as well?

 

[Ray Speed]

Looking good Ray. Is that 24 panels? Will you get a battery as well?

HI There
yepo 24 panels,
no to batteries at this stage, wasnt sold on them just yet, still think they have a way to go before I will look at them system fired up and ready for action

 

[DTK]

SNAP - parallels with you are entertaining at the moment. We commissioned an upgraded solar panel system on 01 Oct so have been monitoring it on laptop and phone of late. So glad we upgraded - AND changed providers (which might have been the best thing!).

 

[Ray Speed]

SNAP - parallels with you are entertaining at the moment. We commissioned an upgraded solar panel system on 01 Oct so have been monitoring it on laptop and phone of late. So glad we upgraded - AND changed providers (which might have been the best thing!).

hahaha
love the lappy and phone app getting some great figures thus far, cant wait to see what it does to our bills over the next year

 

[GKW]

I sorted out panel and battery install for the in-laws last Nov. Can't wait to see their electricity bill (maybe even a credit note) in the next month or so. Panels pumping out good level of watts per day (noting it's summer and dry), surplus to grid (and credits for future use) and the battery powers the whole house overnight, then recharges when the sun comes up.

I can understand @Ray Speed 's position on the battery tech but given the battery kicks in when the power supply goes down and with energy supply in NSW not as guaranteed as it once was due to some flagged power station closures and no replacements defined...I thought the battery was both useful and provides some peace of mind with the lights go out. A interesting thing about the Tesla battery & system is apart from the good data you get to see from it, it also receives storm warning advice from the BOM and if a storm is forecast to head their way in the coming hours, the Tesla system will ensure the battery is fully charged (well as much as possible before the storm hits) in the event of a blackout which can happen during a Sydney summer when the big afternoon thunderstorms roll in (at least until this summer anyway). The storm that hit NW Sydney last Dec left many suburbs without power for 1,2,3 days + so with the battery the house could be powered overnight no issues, recharge next day and repeat.

Now looking to do same myself.

 

[Matthew Duke]

Good luck! Let us know if you find that you've saved $$ overall despite the larger up front costs.

What made you decide not to proceed with the batteries? To my knowledge, battery technology isn't great but the self-sufficiency of having one if the power cut out always appeals to me; I'm with GKW on that one.

~Matt

 

[DTK]

A friend of ours installed new panels and a battery a little while back. From memory he paid about $16K for the battery. I agree it would be nice to have power available at night if grid fails or really all the time, but not sure the cost benefits weigh out in our favour just yet. I would very much like to be self sufficient with respect to power (and water). In the interim, I have settled with feeding significantly more power into the grid than what I am buying from them on most days. On low sun days I am still just in front at worst, keeping in mind the differential between supply rate and feed-in tariff.

Happy New Year everyone!

Dan

 

[Ray Speed]

Batteries are way over priced and looking into them just wasnt anough bang for buck so to speak, I have a 11kva Diesel generator on the house switched in, so if i need something I flick the switch and away I go

 

[reeeen4]

If your looking for a decent battery have a look at these one's https://batterytestcentre.com.au/batteries/pylontech-us2000b/, (also have a look at that site too they are an independent company that did tests on all the major batteries) this particular one is on my to buy list!! They are 2.4kwh each and they are stackable sort of like a computer server rack, you can keep expanding as you can afford to buy one this place sells them for $1697 https://solarbatteriesonline.com.au/product/pylontech-us2000b-2-4kwh-lithium-ion-solar-battery-plus/. I'm saving to buy these ones myself for my 6.4kwh setup at home. A tesla powerwall would be great but way to expensive, this battery works out to be a lot cheaper then a powerwall when you calculate them $per kwh and during the tests they did at that battery centre it came in 1st with 2 others as the most reliable batteries.