Is it just me? (Poor solar weather)

[STG]

Hi all,

Is it just me or are we fed up with the rubbish weather this year, the solar is taking the micky or what.

Any other year it's all OK with long hot July days etc but this year the sun has gone on holiday yearly. I did read today the Sunday was the hottest day on record for the entire planet since records began, so climate change is here.... yet we (at least me) have not had a single day this year when it has been clear of clouds all day.

Is it just me but when the Sun does pop out from behind the clouds my MG is nowhere near my house for free solar top ups or it is at home but the house batteries take preference and as so as the house batteries go 100% SoC then clouds reappear like magic.

Lets hope the jet stream moves soon....

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

Think yourself lucky pal! ?

I live completely off grid and am only powered by the Sun (read rain) at the moment.

But, no problem at all powering my home.

Granted I wouldn't use all my high power appliances at the same time while the weathers this poor, but I manage much better than I would have thought before I started this venture. (5 years ago)

Also a 500AH battery bank, means I can go quite a few days without any meaningful Sun.

 

[Rolfe]

Do you have wind as well as solar? I think @QLeo has, and he's in the same position as you.

 

[Bricktop X PWR]

Sadly no.
I live in a secluded wooded valley, so it wouldn't be any good to me 99% of the time.

What's been an absolute revelation for me is the car, which I used as my own personal power station last winter.

Saved a shed load on running my petrol and LPG generators.

 

[gazza487]

Sorry it’s 100% my fault. Solar went in on 21st of May and with how my luck is it’s me. I assumed there would just be a single black cloud above my house but don’t think the powers that be would allow that (may look a bit suspicious).

As for charging from solar must admit I’ve not bothered to set it up. The house sucks in huge amounts of power and export at 15p vs night time charge of 7.9p doesn’t reaaaaallly make any sense to my circumstances.

 

[Rolfe]

Sadly no.
I live in a secluded wooded valley, so it wouldn't be any good to me 99% of the time.

What's been an absolute revelation for me is the car, which I used as my own personal power station last winter.

Saved a shed load on running my petrol and LPG generators.

That's more or less what @QLeo said. He can only charge on public chargers (you too, I think?) and at one point he said he was eyeing up the car's battery like a fox eyeing up the chicken shed, but then when he actually did it it turned out to be really advantageous - as well as massively improving his carbon footprint, which I think is important to him and his wife.

Of course his nearest charger is 7 miles away and costs 70p a unit, so it isn't ideal. If charging is cheaper and more convenient it must be even better.

Sorry it’s 100% my fault. Solar went in on 21st of May and with how my luck is it’s me. I assumed there would just be a single black cloud above my house but don’t think the powers that be would allow that (may look a bit suspicious).

As for charging from solar must admit I’ve not bothered to set it up. The house sucks in huge amounts of power and export at 15p vs night time charge of 7.9p doesn’t reaaaaallly make any sense to my circumstances.

It's not just you, I have to take equal responsibility. My system was commissioned on 15th May. On 18th May, well, lookie here.

Yes, that pale yellow part is round the clock sunshine with only a couple of small clouds marring the perfection of the trace. The green spikes are just the Eddi water heater, as the car was already at 100%. (OK, maybe I ran the washing machine late morning, and used the cooker or microwave about six.) So the darker yellow part is all export to the grid, for which I was not being paid. Total solar 44.92 kwh, of which 23.63 kwh was a free gift. (The rest charged up the home battery, which started the day empty because reasons, and ran the Eddi etc.) It really got my hopes up for the summer to come.

But that was it. One more day that was nearly as good in early June, and two or three more in the high 30s for generation, but mostly I've been lucky if it's been half that. On 22nd May it was a magnificent 5.09 kwh and the home battery didn't even make it to 100%. Last year I was lying in the sun in the garden looking at a blue sky and thinking how well my neighbours were doing with their new PV system. So I decided to get one of my own. And now look.

It's as much my fault as yours.

 

[QLeo]

Do you have wind as well as solar? I think @QLeo has, and he's in the same position as you.

I concluded we could charge the car a bit, during summer only, with a full revamp of the solar array, and controllers and a separate battery, and an uprated inverter, priced it, and realised we could drive for years using public chargers on the cost. It's ironic that being on the grid makes solar much more usable for car charging.

 

[Rolfe]

You sound like my first post in my thread about my solar installation, initially entitled "circular reasoning". I wanted an EV charger to hurry things up a bit, partly because the 50 kw DC charger five minutes walk from my house doubled in price last winter. Then of course I wanted a variable tariff. Put that in place and of course it's a no-brainer to get a home battery. Finally, looking at my huge expanse of south-facing roof, it seemed an absolute crime against nature not to install solar. Then I added up the price, the thick end of £14,000, and thought, how much electricity could I buy for that, then?

But I still wanted that Zappi.

In the end I went for it, and the projections that came with the quote said I should have it paid off ad be into profit in six or seven years. I'm still not quite sure how, but I'm getting quite a lot of fun out of it anyway.

 

[QLeo]

You sound like my first post in my thread about my solar installation, initially entitled "circular reasoning". I wanted an EV charger to hurry things up a bit, partly because the 50 kw DC charger five minutes walk from my house doubled in price last winter. Then of course I wanted a variable tariff. Put that in place and of course it's a no-brainer to get a home battery. Finally, looking at my huge expanse of south-facing roof, it seemed an absolute crime against nature not to install solar. Then I added up the price, the thick end of £14,000, and thought, how much electricity could I buy for that, then?

But I still wanted that Zappi.

In the end I went for it, and the projections that came with the quote said I should have it paid off ad be into profit in six or seven years. I'm still not quite sure how, but I'm getting quite a lot of fun out of it anyway.

That makes sense. But you wouldn't believe how many people, seeing we are off grid, then ask "Do you sell your excess power to the grid?"
Er.....

 

[GaryMG4]

Hi all,

Is it just me or are we fed up with the rubbish weather this year, the solar is taking the micky or what.



Lets hope the jet stream moves soon....

I've just looked back over the last 8 years and this quarter is panning out to be the worst since 2016 and looks as though it might even be worse than that with only 6 days left.

 

[Rolfe]

That makes sense. But you wouldn't believe how many people, seeing we are off grid, then ask "Do you sell your excess power to the grid?"
Er.....

Oh for crying out loud! I suppose a really big battery would help. How big do you have? What about a battery reclaimed from a wrecked car?

 

[QLeo]

Oh for crying out loud! I suppose a really big battery would help. How big do you have? What about a battery reclaimed from a wrecked car?

Sorry - I didn't see this earlier. The battery is, well, big enough. It consists of individual 2v cells, each weighing 55kg. We don't stress it much and expect it to last another 10 years or so. The capacity is affected by the amount you draw, but it holds enough for about a week. But it doesn't really make sense to have a mindset that power potentially generated after the battery is full is somehow wasted. We're not trying to power a town.
Interestingly, BYD now sell a complete battery system, at a remarkably good price. What's more, it's modular, from what I understand, so you can size up if that's what you want. If we were starting from scratch it would be high on the list for storage. But, in the old saying, if we wanted to start from scratch, we wouldn't start from what we have! Our system is fine for our needs.

 

[Rolfe]

If it holds enough for a week it must be pretty big.

It still annoys me to see power going to the grid, because I'm still waiting for that MPAN paperwork so I'm still not being paid for it. Apparently my supplier has had an apology and an assurance that it should be with him by the end of next week at the latest. Honestly.

Still, I have a car on 41% waiting for tomorrow's ration of sunshine.

 

[QLeo]

If it holds enough for a week it must be pretty big.

Goth Leo's battery is at least double the capacity, of course, but then the car's energy is used in a completely different way. But as my back is reminding me that today was battery watering day for the big lead-acids (13 litres of water added!) I'm glad MG chose a rather more impressive battery chemistry.

 

[Gomev]

..

It still annoys me to see power going to the grid, because I'm still waiting for that MPAN paperwork so I'm still not being paid for it. Apparently my supplier has had an apology and an assurance that it should be with him by the end of next week at the latest. Honestly.

Still, I have a car on 41% waiting for tomorrow's ration of sunshine.

I and millions of others that are reliant on the grid thank you for your generous, even though reluctant contribution.

 

[GaryMG4]

Still, I have a car on 41% waiting for tomorrow's ration of sunshine.

Lovely clear blue sky here in Norfolk, just waiting for the excess to reach 2kW so I can turn on the granny charger to see what I can gain today.

 

[Rolfe]

Oh, I play that game sometimes too! If the solar is hovering around 2 kw I'll just use the granny charger rather than have the Zappi constantly ramping up and down and playing pass-the-parcel with the house battery. But today was better than that with some clear blue between the white fluffy clouds, so there were times when I was seeing 7.5 kw generated. So I let the Zappi have its way, but protecting 93% of the house battery in case the clouds thickened. So far so good though, pass-the-parcel has kept the whole thing going despite the cloud accumulating a bit in the afternoon and so far (2.30pm) the car has had 13.6 kwh added, which comes to 26% of its battery or getting on for 50 miles, after losses.

I was hoping to get 15-20 kwh today, so there's a decent chance. Ideally I'd hope to get the car back to 100% before I leave for the cinema late tomorrow afternoon. Then it'll be back to grabbing whatever sunshine I can get on Wednesday.

 

[STG]

Got mine up to 100% after yesterday and today, now it looks like sunshine all day tomorrow.... Duh!!! argh well at least it will get exported.

 

[Rolfe]

Which is fine if they're paying you for it! The latest on my thrice-damned MPAN is "by the end of next week (this week, now) at the latest."

Still, I have so far avoided taking anything from the grid voluntarily during this period, so as to use as much solar as possible. The car twice helped itself to some off-peak electricity due to there being charges set in apps I didn't know were there, but it was about 35p the first time and 20p the second time, so hardly high finance. Other than that, and the use of public chargers when on a road trip, the car has had nothing but solar since the system was activated. Which is quite a good feeling, even though it's not how I'll be using it once the paperwork comes through.

 

[Rolfe]

Goth Leo's battery is at least double the capacity, of course, but then the car's energy is used in a completely different way. But as my back is reminding me that today was battery watering day for the big lead-acids (13 litres of water added!) I'm glad MG chose a rather more impressive battery chemistry.

Lead acids? For crying out loud, again! One day you're going to have to save up for some hands-off, labour non-intensive LFP chemistry.