Going Solar - advice please

[***super_nova***]

We are just about to start some extension, which means I will have nice north facing roof suitable for solar panels. 

Over the past few months we emailed several companies in Melbourne, and had not single answer.  Finally, yesterday we got one from EURO SOLAR, who with the first very basic quote (we are not sure exactly what we want) sent their banking details for deposit - bit too desperate for my liking.

Anybody in Melbourne has solar installed?  Can you recommend the company you dealt with?

[i-need-a-martini · Accepted solution]

I just googled off grid solar systems and found this: http://www.energymatters.com.au/stand-alone-power/offgrid-solar-faq/

[i-need-a-martini]

But reading up a bit more it does sound way more expensive. No subsidies from the energy providers I suppose...

[***super_nova***]

Thanks Martiny, yes that is the sot of thing I want.  I sort of read that info somewhere before.  What I am concerned about is choosing the  company, and of-course, if they actually contact me they will all say that the panels they provide are the best ones.  I just want to get a company that somebody else had a good experience with.  I hate dealing with these sorts of things.  🙂

[cezm]

We had 20 panels on our previous house and were getting 50c. We used as little power as possible during the day so we could sell it back to the grid and were usually in credit.

We are looking at getting solar on this house. Because we won't get the same return we'll just change our habits so that we use most of the power during daylight hours while the panels are generating. It'll be a longer term investment but I'd rather be paying money into something that will benefit me in the longer term (with lower power costs).

There are some comparison sites. 3quotes is one of them.

[colic2bullsgirlore · Accepted solution]

Best place to look for a company to deal with for stand alone solar is searching for companies that service areas where

linking to the grid in your state is expensive and then searching for suppliers of the same brands closer to you or use

'stand alone solar' in your internet solar search efforts. some local companies that I trust

http://solardepotbellingen-px.rtrk.com.au/

http://solardepotbellingen-px.rtrk.com.au/stand-alone-power

SA company below looks good. Solar water pumps are pretty well the 'new" technology at the moment

http://www.energymatters.com.au/stand-alone-power/

A reputable company will advise you to also install a back up generator to fully charge the batteries and use it

regularly.

Solar cells on their own cannot fully charge storage batteries.

Battery bank size is dependant on draw and also governs the 'bump' charge required.

You can easily 'experiment' cheaply now using led globes,  a voltage regulator with diode and just a vehicle battery

although they are not really designed as a storage battery ( and need regular bump charging to remain effective).

Real storage batteries are quite expensive.

[punch*drunk]

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@***super_nova*** wrote:

Thanks Martiny, yes that is the sot of thing I want.  I sort of read that info somewhere before.  What I am concerned about is choosing the  company, and of-course, if they actually contact me they will all say that the panels they provide are the best ones.  I just want to get a company that somebody else had a good experience with.  I hate dealing with these sorts of things.  🙂

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You couldnt possibly set up an off grid system for $10,000, you'd need a bank of batteries, a really large inverter, a backup generator etc. There are loads of appliances you would need to do without too, electric kettle, microwave, dishwasher etc, its even hard to run an electric fridge full time on solar, sucks too much energy, we had to have an LPG one.

I cant remember exactly what ours cost but it would have been well in excess of $50,000 and that was about 15 years ago.

I looked into getting panels where we are now and even with the rebates I worked out I needed to spend about $20,000 on panels to make a worthwhile dent in our bill. It just wasnt cost effective.

Solar hot water on the other hand paid for itself in 12 months.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

Typically an effective off grid system costs between 90 000 and 110 000. A neighbor up the road has that exact system(110 000).

He runs everything off solar from the fridge and washing machine to the welder.

He has an metal stand style installation rather than rooftop and a 'battery room'

I am at the end of the "grid"

My next door neighbor and great mate has 3 'traction' type batteries not deep cell. He has an 80 amp alternator fitted

to a 6 hp diesel stationary engine that I built for him with an auto start feature. He uses jumper leads to connect

batteries and alternator.

He uses a "repco" 1200 watt inverter to power his telly, lights,radio and puter. "Sometimes' he can use power tools up to

1000w on sun alone. Generally he needs to start the generator to keep an even AC leccy supply when using power

tools

He has 3 older panels on the roof and a cheap LED regulator with diode.

He has a gas fridge. stove and instant hot water system.

Mains connection costs to his house were quoted a few years ago at 75k for one pole and a transformer....

I can get some pics if you like of both systems. They are certainly  from opposite ends of the spectrum

[punch*drunk]

colic it sounds like ours was somewhere in between the 2 you've mentioned.

I just remembered another thing we had to do was turn everything off at the power points overnight so there was no constant drain on the batteries, so no cordless phones, no standby on appliances, no clock radios etc. We also had a touchpad inside the house which controlled the system and showed how much power was coimg in and being used. I could turn the generator on and off from inside too, our set up was down the hilll about 50 metres from the house.

[***super_nova***]

Thanks everybody, lots to think about. 

We did the "3 quote" thing months ago and only just got the one company contact us on Friday.  He called my daughter at work and she was too busy to talk,  so she just asked for the basic price and got a quote for 6 panels plus invertor for $2000 - all up including installation.  I saw somewhere that the batteries are about $250 each, and thought that dozen would do for me.  I saw recently some program about a guy with family of 3 teenagers, who said he pretty much runs his house from the panels  And manager of some bowling club who calculated that the panels he covered the club house roof with will pay for themselves within 3 years.

I hope it means that they are all  really busy; I mean more people are getting them more the prices are going down. 

We are still waiting for the council's final approval before we start even building.  But, I would like to have some idea if there is something to allow for while building. 

[punch*drunk]

I've been racking my brain trying to remember the name of the guy that did our system. If it comes to mind I'll message it to you. He didn't work for a big company, more of a sole trader, but he'd been in the industry forever and was really knowledgeable and helpful.