Thread: Solar panel positioning

Be aware that many "German Manufactured" inverters have their circuit-boards built etc in CHINA. They are then sent to Germany, to be installed in German-built (?) boxes.
Some boards are built it Taiwan. - A wholesaler I got chatting with was more than happy to spill the beans, named them and showed me a couple in his back-store. (I was chasing up Solar Hot water systems.) His advice was to buy on features/performance, and not to pay heaps more just because of a "Made" in Germany sticker.

- Nothing intrinsically wrong with them, just a point for the sales-Liars to be challenged on...

The other thing to watch, is the quality of the panels, and their 'tolerance'. I paid more for my REC brand, could have had the AstroEnergy for much less, but the REC's were described as xxx watts, -0 to +5% tolerance. The Astro's were something like +/- 10%.
Point there is, my panels have sometimes put out way more Watts than they should in theory... and compared to a couple of AstroEnergy systems on trackers, the extra $$$ are paying off. - Mine produce closer to their 'rated' output despite being on 18 degress pitch and facing NE. In short, my $$$$ panels outperform the cheaper ones on a full-monty tracker, Both systems run the same brand/family of inverters, Motech.

My 5 cents worth

Well the installers rocked up today, - rained out last Wednesday- & I got them up on the roof to measure first & sure enough, not enough room for the unit they brought out
So it looks like instead of the 12 x 250w panels I needed, it might go to 10 ( they think maybe less) or 14x 190w panels ( they can put them side on they say) or go for the 318w panels & pay a (lot) more. I suspect I wont hear from them again as they grumbled a fair bit about access plus the Sales person who made the committment is "no longer employed by us"
In fairness, the Sales Manager appears to be very helpfull and has been put in this position by a rogue salesman. The price went from $6914 to $6419 based on a different inverter & a $300.00 reduction for the inconvenience - but this was on Friday, so I figure he forsaw this happening.
So now they have to get back to me with pricing & options, now they have measured the roof.

David, why not 14x200watt suntech Pluto's, they are the same size as the 190watt., so you will get 2.8kw vinstead of 2.66kw

Just an update, they got back to me shortly after my last post & are coming out on the 16th with 15x 190w Hanwa panels & the same Aurora Inverter & keeping the price at $6419.
That sounds pretty fair to me.
I also think it hits the sweet spot, all things considered..

Your question regarding can they over hang the edge of the roof. No, at least not anywhere in Qld

Angle of the panel is determined by your Latitude, the further south you are the greater the angle. But it's not guess work this is why by law only electricians with the cert IV photovoltaic qual are allowed to install them. Unless the total voltage is below 120VDC and stand alone not connected to mains supply

From memory the unit which explains about angle is UEENEEK035B design grid connected power supply systems

It is a science not guess work, but having said that google is you friend

Good luck with it

Blythe

Well they got installed during the week & finished off Sat Morning.

N/East side



N/West side



Inverter




Hopefully they can simply push a button to initiate to the meter, the installer was a bit vague, he says some do, others need upgrading to smart meters & I really don't want one of them. This fairly new anyway.




So now we wait on the Electrical inspector & he sends off the connection request to AGL. They say could be 6 weeks before feeding back in to the grid ( not to optimistic about that one).

So - Deejay, You have half your panels facing NW and the other half facing NE?

We had our solar installer come out today. I mentioned going half/half as we also have NE & NW facing roofs. He said I would need a (much more expensive) dual inverter???

Sounded like BS to me??? - I am sure it is cheaper for them to install them all in one spot.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

So - Deejay, You have half your panels facing NW and the other half facing NE?

We had our solar installer come out today. I mentioned going half/half as we also have NE & NW facing roofs. He said I would need a (much more expensive) dual inverter???

Sounded like BS to me??? - I am sure it is cheaper for them to install them all in one spot.

That will be why he has an aurora, dual mppt, as running 2 strings at differing azimuth will not work well at all, they are correct