Solar system check list

 

 

 

Solar System Essential Check List

Subjects	Examples	Descriptions
Solar Inverter	SMA ABB ( Powerone) Omron	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.
Solar Panels	LG REC TRINA	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    ·         Reference : User market: forums.whirlpool.net.au › Green tech
Solar DC Switch	*ABB –rotary switch - roof top *Schineider – Clipsal -DC switches next of the Inverter	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
Grounding of Solar Panels	solar panel should be connected to ground	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.
Reputation of Solar company	Solar Engineering  Origin Solar Energy Australia Solar	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.
Suitable size of Solar system	3kw ~ 4 kw systems regarding the current Solar feed-in tariffs	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)

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	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
Based on the graph above around 3 ~ 4 kw system is suitable system in the common electricity usage

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