Thinking about going solar

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SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3116578 16-Aug-2023 09:32

Shindig:

Who are the go to installers for Auckland? All the decent installers appear to service outside of this area!

We purchased our system through Mercury, but the actual install was done by Super City Solar. They were very professional and did a tidy job.

I was much more impressed with them than the crowd who did my neighbour's install.

neb

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#3116589 16-Aug-2023 09:46

billgates:
Our home and contents insurance covers our Solar PV system to full value. We did not have to pay anything extra as the existing policies had ample cover in there. Our panels on the roof survived Gabrielle so heavy winds should not be an issue at least.

Did you have to do anything extra to notify the insurers and/or provide paperwork? Will be facing this for our install in the near future.

billgates

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#3116609 16-Aug-2023 10:08

@neb yeah, I had to email our insurance broker the full specs of the panels and inverters and advise them I have COC, Approval paperwork etc from lines company. The yearly policy renewal we received last week has all the info I emailed about panels listed at bottom.

Do whatever you want to do man.

jpwise

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#3116717 16-Aug-2023 13:06

Re: insurance from what i've read you do need to notify them so they can add it to the policy, but it also typically comes under the 'home' insurance rather than the 'contents' insurance as it's essentially part of a fixed installation.

I asked for a quote from ZenEnergy (who do the redback systems) the other day and emailed them all the information, still waiting on the reply though, and still talk to a few more installers including SolarMan that was recommended earlier.

For my purposes, I'd ideally like something I can expand the storage on later which means separate battery unit, possibly Pylontech, or BYD based. But also been reading the AS/NZS 5139:2019 stuff which appears to indicate the battery unit can't be installed below a habitable room either which may pose a few issues with choices of location. Summary article at AU site: https://www.evergreenelectrical.com.au/blog/best-location-solar-battery - there's also copies of the full PDF online.

In terms of inverters, so far the RedBack ones have caught my eye, but I've also partially cycled back to looking at the Fronius ones with the BYD battery boxes. I have noted however that they're selling it in 2 variants, the Gen24, and Gen24 Plus with the battery management support.

From what I've seen on the Gen24 it's a purchase you can make through the solar web management App - but not a lot of details on the actual pricing. Has anyone had any experience with actually purchasing the Fronius UP license to upgrade the firmware from Gen24 to Gen24 Plus? A few stills in a Fronius Video that missed blurring it out showed $248 AU, but some of the NZ sites also indicate ~$1100 to upgrade?

Thx

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billgates

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#3116722 16-Aug-2023 13:10

IIRC it was around NZD$800 to upgrade to the Gen 24+ firmware

Do whatever you want to do man.

neb

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#3116741 16-Aug-2023 13:59

jpwise:
In terms of inverters, so far the RedBack ones have caught my eye, but I've also partially cycled back to looking at the Fronius ones with the BYD battery boxes. I have noted however that they're selling it in 2 variants, the Gen24, and Gen24 Plus with the battery management support.

The Fronius Gen24 has a 20s switchover time which pretty much makes it a non-starter for power-outage protection, everything is still going to go down while you wait for the Fronius to start providing power.

The BYD stackable batteries are nice, just make sure you get HV ones and not LV ones so you're not incurring significant losses over the cable run. In any case they're the only ones the Fronius supports so you have to go with them.

You could also look at the Victron which does zero-crossing (i.e. no-break) switching, but it's indoors only.

Shindig

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#3116778 16-Aug-2023 14:41

SirHumphreyAppleby:

Shindig:

Who are the go to installers for Auckland? All the decent installers appear to service outside of this area!

We purchased our system through Mercury, but the actual install was done by Super City Solar. They were very professional and did a tidy job.

I was much more impressed with them than the crowd who did my neighbour's install.

Was Mercury running a promotion? My current provider is Merc. Tempted to contact them.

The little things make the biggest difference.

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SirHumphreyAppleby

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#3116779 16-Aug-2023 14:46

Shindig:

Was Mercury running a promotion? My current provider is Marc. Tempted to contact them.

Mercury offered the best overall package at the time (three years ago), but I don't think they are offering solar at the moment. They handed that side of the business off to another company, but as of a few weeks ago, Mercury is again our point of contact.

Shindig

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#3116780 16-Aug-2023 14:49

Got Harrisons coming round early September, but have put a call out to Super City Solar as well based off comments here.

The little things make the biggest difference.

Shindig

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#3116782 16-Aug-2023 14:53

SirHumphreyAppleby:

Shindig:

Was Mercury running a promotion? My current provider is Marc. Tempted to contact them.

Mercury offered the best overall package at the time (three years ago), but I don't think they are offering solar at the moment. They handed that side of the business off to another company, but as of a few weeks ago, Mercury is again our point of contact.

Yes just seen that in the FAQ.

The little things make the biggest difference.

jpwise

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#3116895 16-Aug-2023 19:40

neb: The Fronius Gen24 has a 20s switchover time which pretty much makes it a non-starter for power-outage protection, everything is still going to go down while you wait for the Fronius to start providing power. The BYD stackable batteries are nice, just make sure you get HV ones and not LV ones so you're not incurring significant losses over the cable run. In any case they're the only ones the Fronius supports so you have to go with them. You could also look at the Victron which does zero-crossing (i.e. no-break) switching, but it's indoors only.

Thx for the heads up, I assume the ~20s transition is in full backup mode rather than the PV Point ~3kw port? Looks like Victron doesn't support the BYD HV batteries either, but I'll look a little closer at the Victron options as well.

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neb

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#3116897 16-Aug-2023 19:43

Another thing to look at, and this requires quite a bit of digging into the manuals and, in the case of Enphase, the non-public installer's manuals, is what extra capabilities the system provides. For example the Enphase controller can drive a changeover relay that will automatically switch circuits to and from the grid when required, which isn't advertised anywhere but something I found out from talking to the installer. This means you can run a HWC off solar when you've got excess capacity and switch it back to grid when the solar output drops below more-than-enough. Also check for other functionality like the ability to charge the batteries at set times if you're on one of the free-power plans, so you fill up from 9-12pm and then run off stored charge and solar the rest of the time (I suspect these plans are going to be factored out at some point when too many people on them end up paying close to zero for their power by doing this).

neb

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#3116902 16-Aug-2023 20:03

jpwise:
Thx for the heads up, I assume the ~20s transition is in full backup mode rather than the PV Point ~3kw port?

Ah, good question, I assume so but didn't check since I don't have any easy way to split off essential-load circuits (internet, WiFi) from less-essential (fridge) ones, so I needed a mostly all-or-nothing solution.

jpwise

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#3116975 17-Aug-2023 09:08

@neb - yeah, my best guess is that's the delay between detecting grid outage and then triggering a grid disconnect to isolate the system and stop it back feeding. Is there a similar delay for reconnect as well?
Viewerd in comparison to loads that are fed directly from the inverter, so no need to isolate them from grid itself.

Mines likely to be a similar set up. Most likely while house less 1 of 2 circuits (oven, laundry, dvs, etc). But still very much scoping. The SunGrow gear apparently supports up to 6kw routed via the inverted and their PID tuning for panel aging looks interesting too, but realistically we also only have like 1 power cut every couple of years, so something like a 20s switch over us is by no means a show stopper.

Re the 20s switch over, and whole home backup, how well does the Fronius handle over capacity situations? Does it just shut down and require manual power on again after some of the load has been disconnected?

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neb

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#3117035 17-Aug-2023 09:53

I didn't look too much at the Fronius since the long switchover ruled it out, but typically the delay is due to it taking some time to make sure everything is set up for the switchover before it energises the circuit.

You also need to check what they're switching with, the no-break switchers will use solid-state relays or IGBTs but the slower switchers use eletromechanical relays circa 1920, dunno how they deal with contact welding if they're switching large loads in and out.

For overcapacity, they all have protection circuits where they'll shut down if overloaded, but you also need to check individual devices since they'll be specced for 150% load for 2s, 200% load for 1s, and similar, which allows you to use things like induction motors. Most will auto-restart once the overload condition is corrected.

For other devices, the GoodWe doesn't give a switchover time but it's pretty close to zero, however it's rather light and passively cooled so may need external active cooling if it's in an enclosed space, Huawei is even lighter with 3s switchover time and needs an external transfer switch (ATS), Victron is no-break, and SMA is both built like a tank and has single-cycle switchover, i.e. switches on the zero crossing. That last bit is important since it doesn't introduce glitches or lead to contact welding if a mechanical relay is used.

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