Solar Power System Installed

[Tommy T.]

13 hours ago, hk blues said:

Even at 27 degrees I find it too cold in the middle of the night.  The bedroom is at the rear of the house and only gets a little sun early in the morning so that helps a lot.  The living room is at the front and gets the afternoon sun so is much warmer in general thus the need for A/C but only from 5pm or 6pm - we always have to turn it off around 11pm as it's too cold!    We don't have insulation which would reduce our bills even further, but do have window blinds and curtains etc as well as a concrete tile roof - every little helps!  

We do get the units serviced annually, and I clean the filters every quarter - it does make a difference and only takes me 15 minutes to clean each set of filters.  Well worth the little effort.

 

Yes to all of that. After a while of 26-27 in the living room/kitchen, it gets too cold - unless I am running the oven... So gradually we turn it up to maybe 28 or so. Of course, at bed time, the main room aircon is shut off and just the bedroom aircon has been running - for at least one hour before actual sleep time, otherwise it's just too hot...

And we either service the aircon filters ourselves, or hire guys - professionals, not cowboys - to completely clean the units every 6 months or less...

[Tommy T.]

18 hours ago, intrepid said:

That was my plan when we built our house and installed the grid tie system.  To off set the electric bill.  My 5.4 kWh system has saved me an average of P6,500 per month since in service Oct 2017.  There has been Zero maintenance or breakdowns.  At this rate it will pay for itself in just over 4 years.  I am considering adding another 20 panels in the near future.  No batteries, just sell back the excess and use it to lower the bill.  Also for those who don't know the Philippines has "net metering".  Your meter will not run backward.  You pay what you use and the excess that is put back into the grid is paid to you about half the price they sell to you.  I think I receive about p5.2 for what we sell.

That's a big monthly power bill... Ours approaches or exceeds that and my desire is to cut it way back. Electricity is the highest charge I see here and I really want to reduce that. Your payback schedule is not bad, so I will look into that here too.

The rate you state is about what I remember in USA they will only give you a fraction of their (power company) power cost. It always pissed me off that they took that cut... But I cannot change that so will just do what I can. Thanks for your comments, Intrepid!

[Marvin Boggs]

I am impressed at the amount of solar farms, wind farms, and even geothermal in PH.  I wish there was some way for local users to benefit from the lower costs, but as far as I know the power is just sucked up by the grid, and anyone tied into it pays the same.  Its been a sticking point with me for decades, the idea that you must pay a utility to survive, basically.  Like the air we breathe and the water we can pump from the ground, I don't want to be reliant on a utility for electric.  If only there was some kind of phone communicator that didn't need to rely on a network service :)

[intrepid]

7 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

It always pissed me off that they took that cut... But I cannot change that so will just do what I can.

Yes it upsets me too.  Once you decide to do a grid tie the power company sees you as a company and you must sign a contract with with them.  So to make myself feel a little better I consider the things I don't have to do to sell my excess.  Examples, no poles to plant and wires to run or employees to work on it.  No office and employee with which to my billing which would also include a meter reader also.  All this is taken care of by my parent company. 

Another thing that's nice with the grid tie is when traveling.  My business is working automatically as usual and our home is consuming very little electric.  After returning home and getting the next bill it sure is nice to see that large credit!

Attached is a photo taken just a few minutes ago of the readout on my inverter.  The upper right shows the dc voltages in both arrays and the ac voltage output.   P is the current kW it is producing. 4.340. E-Today is the amount energy produced since sunrise and at half a day almost 16 kWh.  E-Total is the amount produced since being in service Oct 2017. That is Mega Watts.  14.818.     Well worth the investment for me at least.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2019 by intrepid

[Tommy T.]

5 hours ago, Marvin Boggs said:

If only there was some kind of phone communicator that didn't need to rely on a network service

Ham radio... but then you cannot call everyone - only other hams...

[Tommy T.]

1 hour ago, intrepid said:

Examples, no poles to plant and wires to run or employees to work on it.  No office and employee with which to my billing which would also include a meter reader also.  All this is taken care of by my parent company.

Ah... but you have to deal with, manage and pay your wife, Intrepid? yes?

Could you please share with me the manufacture and model of your inverter? Hey... 16 kw in half a day is really amazing!

Your system will easily pay you back soon - good for you!!! Thanks for sharing that info!

[intrepid]

1 hour ago, Tommy T. said:

Ah... but you have to deal with, manage and pay your wife, Intrepid? yes?

Yes you are correct.  She handles all the bills/money.  I giver her the monthly budget and she takes care of it.  All I have to do is ask her for some pesos if I need some..  But I do have my stash and cc for the big ticket items I want.

Could you please share with me the manufacture and model of your inverter? Hey... 16 kw in half a day is really amazing! 

I average 30 kWh daily.  Even on all day rains I harvest about 9-12 kWh.  The inverter is Thinkpower which has a five year warranty but my installer says the lifespan is usually 10+ years.  Here's a link.  http://pemcorsolar.com/inverter/

Your system will easily pay you back soon - good for you!!! Thanks for sharing that info!   

Thanks.  It was a lot of research in a short time after starting building.  I should have planned earlier for the roof design for max sunlight.  My harvest could be 20% greater.

 

[Tommy T.]

48 minutes ago, intrepid said:

Thanks.  It was a lot of research in a short time after starting building.  I should have planned earlier for the roof design for max sunlight.  My harvest could be 20% greater.

Thanks for all the info, Intrepid! I will look into that inverter. Your system sounds really good - even only 5 kw on a day is a good day to me! So what you are getting seems to be a real bonus. Great use of the ubitquitous sunshine.

And it sounds like you have a great relationship with your supervisor... Good that she grants you some sheckles when you want to buy something...

Edited October 16, 2019 by Tommy T.

[hk blues]

12 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

And we either service the aircon filters ourselves, or hire guys - professionals, not cowboys - to completely clean the units every 6 months or less...

Yep, if you can I'd recommend you clean the filters yourself quarterly - it literally takes 10  minutes per unit and requires no tools etc. You may find that you can then have the full service done annually.  However, as I'm sure you know if you live in a dusty area you may need to increase the frequency.  

[Jollygoodfellow]

On 10/13/2019 at 2:25 PM, Marvin Boggs said:

or cell phone batteries,

Hmm well at least small enough to stack a huge amount