diy solar

diy solar

hi my brain is frying please help

bigsegs

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Dec 29, 2022
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equation wrong quick edit hang on right sorted i think... carry on

Hi all and please let me appologise for my ignorance.. i have so many questions but first, because im reading all kinds of potential issues before i even start to try and blow myself up can i clarify a few points?
btw i just had a look at this video posted by eagleguy
and thats kind of where i was going..
we have solar panels on our roof that we do not own. neither does the landlord. they are owned by a private company. There is a meter in the loft with an inverter and a breaker in our consumer unit marked pv. Thus i believe is a grid connected system.
I also assume the following. If i were to put a clamp power meter over the live between inverter and pv breaker that would tell me exactly what those panels are putting out in watts ac correct?
So if i put another one between the main house meter and the consumer unit that would tell me what im drawing from the grid and paying 34p a kwh for correct?

So if i put a load on the circuit say 2000w, couple of rings on the cooker say, and thats it then with the inverter switched off the main house power meter should read 2000w being drawn correct?
And when i turn on the inverter bringing the solar panels into play, that meter reads 1000w (sunny day 6m2 of panels) so the main house meter should now also read 1000w totalling the 2000w i am using but only being billed for 1000w is this all correct so far?

Now the ONLY time any current/electricity/widgets goes back into the grid is when my pv power output is greater than my usage as a consumer yes?
And if I WERE the owner of the panels that is what i would get back from the grid as a FIT payment... about 5pkwh as it stands at the minute...

Am i right so far?

And if so, what is to stop me doing this....

Lets just say the owner of the panels is Bob, my next door neighbour...
the deal went something like this...
bob - i wanna put some panels on your roof..
me - o yeh?whats in it for me?
bob - you get to use the leccy they generate
me - wow cool, whats in it for you then?
bob - well i get whatever you dont use..
me - what if i use it all?
bob - you wont
me - but what if i do
bob - you wont
anyway me n bob are still stood like like a couple of lemons when the missus comes over and asks why dont i just sell it back to bob?

so...
"The grid" Pays bob 25p per kwh of whatever power is produced by my panels that i DONT use lets call that 1000kwh
Now lets say i measure at 2 points and switch on a circuit connected to bills house (bill happens to live in a big battery but stay with it) only when my pv power>my demand+whatever it takes to charge a big battery
ive got a shelley ev thing that would probably do excatly that.
0k
So the kwh that has supplied bill is the same number bob would have been paid for... as in my spare leccy ->1000kwh
except the grid dont have it to sell, ive got it, me.
So i sell it back to bill for 34p
you see bill normally pays 34p per kwh off the grid like me ive just given him a garden socket... except i sell him the leccy
I then go and pay Bob 30p per kwh those panels have generated

Bob happy cos he gets 5p per kwh more than what the grid pays him
ive just made 4pkwh for being the "infrastructure"
Bills happy cos if theres ever a power cut, hes got a battery backup...

that 9p is the difference between what "the grid" pay for leccy going their way and what they charge to send exactly the same bloody stuff back our way again...

and before anyone says theyre (the grid) entitled to it for maintaining the infrastructure...service charge is already on the bill


Now im struggling to get my head around how this all actually works even before ive thought about the details of using an inverter to charge a battery and discharge back into system like matey in the video (all ive got so far is what he calls his control unit) ive got 2 sensors and a shelly ev that is basically a wireless app monitored 2 sensor programmable relay...

its just connecting a solar system to the grid in my mind at the minute makes very little sense at all?
 
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All you have to do is start a civil war and win.

The government is not going to let you become a power company and not use the grid. That is what you are proposing.

But you are right that it doesn't make sense to sell back to the grid. You are helping the existing power company make profit on your power plant usually to the tune of 3-10x what you make "selling" it to them. Because they are a monopoly in bed with government fixing the pricing.
 
All you have to do is start a civil war and win.

The government is not going to let you become a power company and not use the grid. That is what you are proposing.

But you are right that it doesn't make sense to sell back to the grid. You are helping the existing power company make profit on your power plant usually to the tune of 3-10x what you make "selling" it to them. Because they are a monopoly in bed with government fixing the pricing.
So thats it? I almost cannot believe how they do that it makes absolutely no sense and the fact that i can make money out of thin air just proves it.
the way i see it its not whoever generates the power whether thats my panels or sizewell b power station, its whover owns the network of cables we call the insfrastructure (which admitedly is complicated directing power where its needed at the right time etc) who has the "power"
The infrastructure was set up to supply us and the service charge on the bill along with any profit they make is what maintains it.

So if that is all correct then, whats to stop the council installing an led powered battery backup streetlight right outside my house that would ordinarily cost 34p kwh to charge from the grid, and connect it to my (well the owner of the panels) system similar to how ive described and buy the leccy to charge the street lights at 30p from matey who normally only gets 25p?

its just that 9p is pure profit and now theyve abolished fit tariffs completely... what?
The obvious answer is clearly the biggest blooming battery you can afford to set up but they arent cheap are they...

But just to confirm.. 2 sensors, 1 app monitoring both, programmed to open a charging/battery circuit when condition pv_output>consumer_use = true
is technically, free leccy? or matey whos panels they are does it belong to him? where to draw the line as "leccy i dont use = bobs leccy"?
 
You somehow think government cares about saving money. They don't. That's why budgets and taxes go up.
 
i wish...
what think is rishi sunak invested in air source heat pumps and solar about 10 years ago, Paid the feed in tariff about 40pkwh actully more than was being charged retail.. started telling everybody to invest in solar and heat pumps...
and banned wind farms...

now weve all worked out that heat pumps are crap cop1.5 at best in winter when you need em and so slow to heat up a house you may as well light a few candles... ooh look, wind powers back on the agenda all of a sudden...

and that lucrative original feed in tariff as been abolished..
 
its this capitalist growth system thats responsible for the climate crisis and by the law of capitalism yo have to profit from it so its an ever ticking bomb which unfortunately cannot be stopped so the next question is...
12v lead acid say 60ah car batteries evenly matched or identical 4s4p 48v with required charger,bms,inverter etc...
wow many usuable amps@240v (kwh) would that give me back and how many to charge them?
 
12v lead acid say 60ah car batteries evenly matched or identical 4s4p 48v with required charger,bms,inverter etc...
wow many usuable amps@240v (kwh) would that give me back and how many to charge them?
Usable amps would be 120 60x4=240 with 50% dod=120, power in vrs power out same less systems inefficiency approximately 15% ie 100amps in 85amps out
lifepo batts 80 to 90 dod capacity better choice in long term
 
All you have to do is start a civil war and win.

The government is not going to let you become a power company and not use the grid. That is what you are proposing.

But you are right that it doesn't make sense to sell back to the grid. You are helping the existing power company make profit on your power plant usually to the tune of 3-10x what you make "selling" it to them. Because they are a monopoly in bed with government fixing the pricing.
Sounds like the cell companies with there “extenders”
 
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