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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="gollum" data-cid="555896" data-time="1454406885">
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<p><strong>Setup a website detailing stuff you are doing. Have links to retailers.</strong> You can get that down to 15 years with click thrus. This stuff is going to get more & more mainstream & folks will always want to have a read about what people are doing with their houses, I've book marked half your stuff & I'm probably not building for 5 years </p>
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<p>Great idea - you should be all over this Nick. Add a few sneaky links to the fern for shits and giggles too!</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Paekakboyz" data-cid="555962" data-time="1454451499">
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<p>Great idea - you should be all over this Nick. Add a few sneaky links to the fern for shits and giggles too!</p>
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<p>If I reference "interested fluffybunnies in FNQ" you'll know I'm speaking about Mariner ;)</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="555967" data-time="1454452314">
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<p>If I reference "interesting fluffybunnys in FNQ" you'll know I'm speaking about Mariner ;)</p>
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<p>fixed</p> -
<p>Not sure if its geo-blocked for some, but last night on ABC their resident science show, Catalyst, were looking at home storage. Besides a lot of stuff I've covered here, they had a more in-depth look at Reposit, and also the future of batteries: zinc-bromine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/catalyst/SC1502H001S00'>http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/catalyst/SC1502H001S00</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>If you can't see it - the Zinc-bromine stuff is great, because its quick to charge and about as efficient as lithium, BUT being liquid in the current configuration, not very small or practical for some application.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Except some smart cookie at Sydney University has thought about making the liquid into a gel - WHICH IS ALSO FIRE RETARDANT - which means they can make the scale much smaller. And cheaper than lithium.</p>
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<p>Advantages? Well, what about 5 minutes to charge your smartphone, on a battery that lasts days instead of hours? Could be integrated into buildings and make superstructure a storage medium in itself. Fucking rad.</p> -
<p>Overcast nearly all day today, still drew off just over 14kWh - enough to fill the battery almost twice, considering efficiency ratio.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Have signed up with Reposit, and will change energy providers to one that has GridCredits as part of their scheme. In essence, this is the "selling" bit where I get more than the 5-8c / kWh off my current energy provider. When an "event" happens, I can sell for up to $1 per kWh.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It'll be interesting to see what we use out of the battery. It is quoted as "5 hours of the average house" but what if they mean the average house in the USA?</p>
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<p>Dunno. Sitting tight, waiting for the last technical bit to be fitted. Then the stats will flow for all devices.</p> -
<p>Will do.</p>
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<p>BTW if you're looking at Solar and maybe want to see what someone in your area is doing, check this out:</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://pvoutput.org/listmap.jsp?sid=17459'>http://pvoutput.org/listmap.jsp?sid=17459</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>PV output uses the API interface for some of the more modern inverters, allowing people to see what everyone else is doing. I found a random Kiwi generator, and clicked on the "map" option to see he's in Whanganui (nice town).</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You can look through all these people who have put up stats, maybe find someone in your region, and see how they're operating. Depending on aspect, shade, landscape etc you might get similar results.</p>
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<p>This is a link for NZ:</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://pvoutput.org/map.jsp?country=167'>http://pvoutput.org/map.jsp?country=167</a></p>
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<p>I'll be putting my system up on PV Output at some point, once I figure out the API doco (Postman not helping me - keeps returning errors).</p> -
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/05/welsh-home-installs-uks-first-tesla-powerwall-storage-battery'>http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/05/welsh-home-installs-uks-first-tesla-powerwall-storage-battery</a></p>
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<p>Definition of optimism - someone put in a powerwall & solar.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In Wales.</p> -
<p>Just had a completely random call from some old fluffybunny in Melbourne. He had our number, and I wondered why - after we moved house, we kept the same ISP, who does our landline, and I asked for silent number years ago.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>So this prick had left a message, and the only reason I called him back was to find out how the got the number.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Then I remembered that we had to get a new number (moved exchanges) and therefore all the settings were blown away as it was technically a new account. FFS. I also discovered the guys who can help with that are only Mon-Fri business hours. Gah!</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Anyway, he had a good old rant and rave about the Powerwall and why did I choose it, how did I know it would do what they said, what about Depth of Discharge factors and all that shit. Then he finished off by calling the government fucking fluffybunnys and how he'd tried to set up his own 100kW solar farm but got blocked at every stage by bureaucrats.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Fucking stalkers!</p> -
<p>Today was generation of 24.7kWh - not bad as, looking at the bills, my summer is peak at around 25kWh on average, and that was with the old pool pump and old habits.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I thought I'd grab some of the output (screenshots) of the online tool that the SolarEdge inverter provides. At some point I really need to get that API going...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In any case - see attached image:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>[attachment=1960:timeofday.png]</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Left image is today. You can see a few dips here and there, as cloud cover moved around the place and interrupted the level of light. But overall, once it hits what I call "useful light" at around 11AM, its still delivering fairly consistently at that 2kW+ level.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Right image is the best to date (2nd Feb) which basically had no cloud, and wasn't too hot. That thing just cranks up to over 3kWh from 10AM - 4PM, with the odd dip due to reading inconsistencies, or sometimes excessive temperature. Bloody amazing that its still picking up good light (over 1kW) until 6PM then trailing off.</p>
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<p>The key thing to note is that lab testing of a 5kW system like mine for a Sydney latitude are rated at 19.5kWh per day generated across the year. Most of those calculations are done on a 3.9 "peak sun hour" average. I believe that figure does take weather (cloud) into account, but I've also seen calculators that quote Sydney sun as 4.8 hours per day.</p>
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<p>The lab tests are a few years old now, and I think the technology, particularly micro-inverters, has nudged that figure up a little because panels are simply better at catching the light. My array faces almost right on NNW, and to the east is the ridge I've mentioned which basically excludes morning sun. However, being northwest I reckon I've got the best of sun from about 10AM onwards, year-round. If I make 5+ hours a day, the ROI will be a doddle.</p>
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<p>But those wet weeks we sometimes get here .... :ireful: When that sort of thing happens, it'll be a case of tightening the belt a little on power usage, and selling what I can out of the battery to maximise income versus spend on grid.</p> -
<p>Hit 31.86kWh today, despite a little cloud between midday and 2PM. Main thing was air temp didn't get up past about 28C allowing the panels to get near their most efficient output.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Autumn and Spring should actually be quite good months for power reselling, given I use about 25% less power than summer and the temperatures are actually better for solar panel peak efficiency. Less daylight of course, but maybe better bang for buck overall.</p> -
<p>Here's a bit on the Reposit thing I keep talking about in regard to GridCredits:</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/resposit-power-gridcredits-trade-homes-energy-on-grid'>http://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/resposit-power-gridcredits-trade-homes-energy-on-grid</a></p>
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<p>So the feed-in tariff for most electricity companies are 5-8c / kWh under current rules (older schemes, which are expiring this year, were 40-60c! Then again their systems were more expensive, and quite a bit smaller). If I can start selling at a higher rate than I pay, then I can use the battery purely for generating profit, and buy power back in the evening, knowing I'm still net zero.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We'll see.</p> -
<p>Got the battery management hardware installed and firmware update to the router today, so I can actually track input/output rather than just power generation</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Only been running a couple of hours all up after being out of commission all day (lot of wiring for the sparkies) so the power stats today aren't great.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But now I can see consumption, I can start looking at habits. And I tell you, that fucking ducted air con is a big threat at this point. The fluffybunny who built this house probably bought the cheapest, nastiest piece of inefficient shit he could find, based on what he did with the other bits and pieces.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>[attachment=1962:20160209_solaredge.png]</p> -
<p>Along with changing habits do you reckon you'll end up replacing other gear to get more efficiency? Guess it'd be tempting if you had some appliances that were juice monsters... hope the air con isn't as big an issue as feared.</p>
Solar Power and Storage - a nerd's view