We're going solar!

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#3390113 5-Jul-2025 21:22

Thanks - hopefully Aug gets you on the right side if filling things up... [we're still waiting for our system to be commisioned/switched on - but hopefully there's enough generation in Aug+ to justify an expansion pack].

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kiwifidget

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#3391251 6-Jul-2025 16:57

Full uninterrupted sun today, managed to get to 91% charge across 2 batteries.

Also did some laundry, ran the dishwasher, and exported a wee bit!

Still a bit of daylight left today, but house use now exceeding solar production so will start eating into the battery any minute now.

EDIT: now to see if we can make it to daytime before the battery runs out (5% remaining is the baseline). Never managed that so far.

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demeter23

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#3391256 6-Jul-2025 17:51

Been reading this thread with interest. Just purchased a house on the Kapiti Coast, with a north facing roof which seems perfect for a solar array.

Any particular firms in the area to approach? I tried Lightforce but they've been very quiet (slow?) in responding, so may look elsewhere. No plans for a battery for now, more a standard 4/5kWh system.

Welcome any advice/recommendations. Cheers.

Stu1

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#3391306 6-Jul-2025 19:01

demeter23:

Been reading this thread with interest. Just purchased a house on the Kapiti Coast, with a north facing roof which seems perfect for a solar array.

Any particular firms in the area to approach? I tried Lightforce but they've been very quiet (slow?) in responding, so may look elsewhere. No plans for a battery for now, more a standard 4/5kWh system.

Welcome any advice/recommendations. Cheers.

Try Solarman , Tony’s really good

hairy1

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#3391307 6-Jul-2025 19:03

For Kapiti Coast it has to be SolarWorx. They did my install in Pukekohe but are based in Wellington. Recommended.

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

timmmay

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#3391365 6-Jul-2025 20:41

Tony / Solarman did a good job for us. I wonder if it's worth going for a larger firm / franchise to give a bit more piece of mind in case something goes wrong in 10 years.

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Jase2985

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#3391369 6-Jul-2025 20:54

demeter23:

No plans for a battery for now, more a standard 4/5kWh system.

Welcome any advice/recommendations. Cheers.

Definitely go bigger than 4/5kWh

6+kW inverter with 8+kWh of panels

timmmay

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#3391373 6-Jul-2025 21:50

I agree, the higher power the system, the more money you save long term - assuming buyback rates stay high, or if you can use most of the power yourself. We have 9kw of panels with a 6kw inverter - the inverter is fine in winter but a few months a year it'll be limiting our output. Oversizing is fine, but 50% oversizing is a bit much - in Australia there's a regulation you can oversize your panels by at most 33% - so with a 6kw inverter you can use 6 x 1.33 = 8kw of panels. I should've gotten a couple more panels and the next size up inverter, but 6kw is still a pretty good output. In winter hot water uses a chunk of our generation, 3.3kw for 3.5h per day.

richrdh18

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#3391392 7-Jul-2025 08:20

demeter23:

Been reading this thread with interest. Just purchased a house on the Kapiti Coast, with a north facing roof which seems perfect for a solar array.

Any particular firms in the area to approach? I tried Lightforce but they've been very quiet (slow?) in responding, so may look elsewhere. No plans for a battery for now, more a standard 4/5kWh system.

Welcome any advice/recommendations. Cheers.

I recently got a system and bty installed, been running for about 2 months now. I went with Sunshine Solar.

They are a local NZ firm out of Chch who have been around awhile now and used a Kapiti installer Star Delta. I'm in PN.

Very happy with the install, support and Solar. May the sun shine :-)

demeter23

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#3391393 7-Jul-2025 08:31

Thanks for the recommendations. I've put enquiries out to Star Delta and Solarworx for now. Will see what they come back with!

Certainly keen to get into the detail. Appreciate the guidance on the sizing of the panels....will keep that in mind.

Ge0rge

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#3391399 7-Jul-2025 08:39

Northstar would be another one worth getting in touch with. They're in Upper Hutt and service Kapiti.

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timmmay

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#3391405 7-Jul-2025 09:00

Northstar did the installation for Solarman. They caused more damage than I expected. They used my office roof as a staging area for the main roof and scratched the hell out of it, down to the metal, so badly I had to paint it. I didn't have matching paint so I used a different color, so it looks fairly poor now. Fortunately it's not visible from my property because of the angles. Also they tried to put the inverter somewhere, discovered a bit of rot in the weatherboards, so without consulting with me they moved the inverter 30cm to the left so that the inverter partially covered the area they think had rot. That means if I want to fix that area I need to have the inverter removed.

All in all I wouldn't use Northstar because of their sub-standard performance. In fact I should contact Solarman to get the office roof painted since their subcontractor did the damage.