Solar System
Essential Check List
Subjects
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Examples
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Descriptions
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Solar Inverter
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SMA
ABB ( Powerone)
Omron
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Big 3 companies market share is more than 70-90% of the Solar
inverter system market because of the system stability and performance during
15~20 years
- Other unpopular brands may work well 3~5 years but it had many
serious issues on the actual user market and many of them was already insolvency.
- The 10 ~ 15 years product
warranty is only available from the major solar brand.
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Solar Panels
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LG
REC
TRINA
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1) There are more than 150 solar panel brands in Australia and the
example 3 brands left would be the reliable product. It is Tier 1 grade
quality
2) This 3 brand has very good user reputation from the actual user
market.
3) The price of the cheaper solar panel can be 50-60% of the high
quality panel as it can be made with the cheaper material without reliability
test during manufacturing process.
4) Made in Germany or Korea – It is beneficial to verify whether the
product is actually made in the county above or use the machine only.
- some brand mislead the customer by using their web-site
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Reference :
User market: forums.whirlpool.net.au › Green tech
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Solar DC Switch
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*ABB –rotary switch
- roof top
*Schineider – Clipsal
-DC switches next of the Inverter
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1) QLD government regulated the solar Switch types to use rotary type
on the roof top the as the Circuit Breaker(CB) type can be tripped over on
the roof. But low quality & cheap rotary switch ignited the fires more
than 53 houses in QLD homes recent 2014.
2) Many Solar installer didn’t know the Government regulations or
don’t keep the regulations.
3) It is crucial to ensure using the certified product by the solar
installers.
4) Please note that certified product requires around total coast
$150~$250 dearer than uncertified product as the quality is long lasting for
15 years and the uncertified product may okay 3~5 years term.
* Example of the AU Standard certified product:
Clipsal: 4sw1000/6dc,
ABB: otdcp32sa22m
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Grounding of
Solar Panels
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solar panel should be connected to ground
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1) To prevent the electrical fault of the solar system , grounding of
all Solar panels is crucial.
2) Grounding all solar panels requires around 1 hour extra
installation time and extra cost, solar installer may connect ground line to
the some solar panel only.
3) Please ask the solar
installer to check the connectivity to the ground line of all solar panels.
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Reputation of
Solar company
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Solar Engineering
Origin Solar
Energy Australia Solar
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1) From my understating 99% big solar companies use sub-contractor
solar installers
2) It is essential to use the reliable solar product and ensure the
correct installation procedure because the reliability of the system &
proper installation would be the two main key factors of value.
3) Surprisingly, major energy retailer use very cheap and unreliable
solar products as they need decent
profit for their marketing and the unreliable product may work for 3-5
years. Please note that the solar
company can avoid the responsibility if the solar system fail in few years
and the solar inverter or panel companies were already insolvency.
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Suitable size of
Solar system
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3kw ~ 4 kw systems regarding the current Solar feed-in tariffs
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1) Solar investment return time would be 5~6 years if you utilise the
solar during daytime.
2) Using timer for hot water boiler, Running the cooking oven,
washing machine and dishwasher during daytime. etc
3) Around 3.5 kw system could cover daily usage and common hot water
boiler power (3 kw)
4) It very pleasant to have solar power in a long term as we could
think that it seems like a free power source although we paid the solar
system.
5) Please find the smart meter graph attached
- daytime usage average : 0.5-0.6
kw/hour
- Hot water boiler : 3.5kw – 5 kw
( ours is 10 year old model)
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Date of the writing : 30 July 2014
Attachment of the solar and general power
* Solar Power output *
Daily usage example without solar
LG Solar 4 kw system : winter time around 15~18 kw per day
The previous German brand Chinese system (Munsterland) 5kw
has 15 ~ 18 kw power output
per day
LG is the better performance system compare to the Munsterland
Maximum power : 3.3kw ~3.5 kw – winter time
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Daily power usage : around Total 11kw ~ 25 kw per day
Average power usage : 0.4 ~ 05 kw per hour
Maximum power usage : 4 kw by hot water boiler
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