Vector solar setup came in handy last night!

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Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek

#147177 11-Jun-2014 12:43

I've had the Vector Sungenie system installed but on standby (two way meter was only installed this morning), but it came in real handy last night! Power went but we didn't notice until we went in the kitchen and noticed the oven clock was off :-)

Now the two-way meter has been in for 2 hours and the solar system was brought online .. and according to it I've saved $1.32 already even with the naff weather ... yay!

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110 posts

Master Geek

#1063599 11-Jun-2014 19:37

That's the great advantage of the Vector setup with batteries versus my grid tied non battery setup. Our power did not fail last night in the storm but it did this afternoon and the inverter shut off automatically, no power even though the panels were generating. This is the built in safety interlock to protect lines workers from reverse fed power in an outage. The Vector scheme must isolate the grid in a power supply failure.

wongtop

565 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1063602 11-Jun-2014 19:45

Hi Mark,

Sounds interesting. Is the Vector system set up to supply the whole house in the event of a power outage, or is it only certain circuits that are effectively on a UPS (e.g. the lights and sockets, but not the range or the hot water heater)?

Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek

#1063649 11-Jun-2014 21:39

The Vector setup is very well put together (they've subcontracted the design and installs to Astech), I've not got a photo of the panels (16 of them on the roof) but here is one of the inside of the battery cabinet, includes all the smarts gear as well.

Vector Sungenie cabinet

10KW of Lithium Ion batteries doesn't take much space! (I think it's actually 12KW but they only present 10KW to end users, something about keeping capacity in reserve for emergencies). The wiring work has been done very well, they can't cover our entire house, the system has a maximum load of 4.5KW (I think) so in my house they've covered the important items :

Water pump
Gas hot water
Lights
Garage door openers
About half of the power points (for TV :-)
and the internet router in my comms cupboard (they need this one so they can manage the system)

The system can be expanded to take power in from sources other than solar (like wind turbines) but Vector have no plans for that yet (and probably won't have any), and they provide a reasonable dashboard so you can see what is going on ... I'd like more direct access to the stats coming format he built in Linux PC will have to see what Vector allow ... all still in development.

You do have to do a fair bit of prep work before going solar, I don't think it'll work so great if you just plopped it on a roof and changed nothing in the house. I went all LED lighting, there is no hot water cylinder it's gas hot water on demand, I'm sure I'll find lots more ways to keep power draw low (like banning the wife from using fan heaters!!!)

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#1063652 11-Jun-2014 21:47

very nice setup.. what did that cost to have put in?

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Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek

#1063668 11-Jun-2014 21:55

hio77: very nice setup.. what did that cost to have put in?

I took the 4KW system which is $2499 plus $92.50 per month for the next decade or so ;-) Doing the sums it looks to "pay for itself" in the next 2.5 to 3 years. I live in Mangawhai and power he is flakey so for us its not just the power bill savings it's the UPS for when power goes out (and it goes out if the wind even thinks of blowing!)

And if anyone is still interested this is what the dashboard looks like :

Sungenie Dashboard

It got taken out of standby at about 11:30am today. Green is where you are using solar generated power, blue is where power is going back to the grid and grey is power used from the grid, the line is an indication of solar generation.

hio77

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#1063680 11-Jun-2014 21:58

Mark:
hio77: very nice setup.. what did that cost to have put in?

I took the 4KW system which is $2499 plus $92.50 per month for the next decade or so ;-) Doing the sums it looks to "pay for itself" in the next 2.5 to 3 years. I live in Mangawhai and power he is flakey so for us its not just the power bill savings it's the UPS for when power goes out (and it goes out if the wind even thinks of blowing!)

And if anyone is still interested this is what the dashboard looks like :

It got taken out of standby at about 11:30am today. Green is where you are using solar generated power, blue is where power is going back to the grid and grey is power used from the grid, the line is an indication of solar generation.

4KW? i thought you said 10 in the last post!

doesnt sound TOOOO expensive really, something ild consider at some point..

image didnt seem to go :c

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Niel

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#1063684 11-Jun-2014 22:04

The reserved capacity is to make the batteries last longer which by far is the most expensive part of the system, nothing to do with emergencies.
Good quality gear in that cabinet. Wonder what the pipe on top of the battery box is, a controlled vent for if things go wrong?

You can never have enough Volvos!

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blakamin

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#1063686 11-Jun-2014 22:04

hio77:
Mark:
hio77: very nice setup.. what did that cost to have put in?

I took the 4KW system which is $2499 plus $92.50 per month for the next decade or so ;-) Doing the sums it looks to "pay for itself" in the next 2.5 to 3 years. I live in Mangawhai and power he is flakey so for us its not just the power bill savings it's the UPS for when power goes out (and it goes out if the wind even thinks of blowing!)

And if anyone is still interested this is what the dashboard looks like :

It got taken out of standby at about 11:30am today. Green is where you are using solar generated power, blue is where power is going back to the grid and grey is power used from the grid, the line is an indication of solar generation.

4KW? i thought you said 10 in the last post!

10Kw batteries, 4Kw inverter/panels... you have to remember the rating on the panels is per hour. They can recharge those batteries from dead in under 3 hours on a sunny day (have spent the last 2 weeks researching solar as we just bought a house).

hio77

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#1063697 11-Jun-2014 22:17

blakamin:
hio77:
Mark:
hio77: very nice setup.. what did that cost to have put in?

I took the 4KW system which is $2499 plus $92.50 per month for the next decade or so ;-) Doing the sums it looks to "pay for itself" in the next 2.5 to 3 years. I live in Mangawhai and power he is flakey so for us its not just the power bill savings it's the UPS for when power goes out (and it goes out if the wind even thinks of blowing!)

And if anyone is still interested this is what the dashboard looks like :

It got taken out of standby at about 11:30am today. Green is where you are using solar generated power, blue is where power is going back to the grid and grey is power used from the grid, the line is an indication of solar generation.

4KW? i thought you said 10 in the last post!

10Kw batteries, 4Kw inverter/panels... you have to remember the rating on the panels is per hour. They can recharge those batteries from dead in under 3 hours on a sunny day (have spent the last 2 weeks researching solar as we just bought a house).

ahhh, miss understood that we were talking inverters and not the batterys!

in under 3 hours? thats pretty fast!

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insane

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#1063739 11-Jun-2014 23:00

Does this system use a central controller and inverter or do each of the panals have their own micro inverters and mppt circuitry?

Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek

#1063745 11-Jun-2014 23:09

insane: Does this system use a central controller and inverter or do each of the panals have their own micro inverters and mppt circuitry?

No clue :-) I'd guess central controller and inverter, less to manage and less to go wrong for Vector .. the system is theirs (I'm leasing it) I can't imagine they'd want too many points of failure or things to micro manage.

Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek

#1063747 11-Jun-2014 23:11

hio77:

ahhh, miss understood that we were talking inverters and not the batterys!

in under 3 hours? thats pretty fast!

You know how you can lick a 9V battery and get that horrible tingly taste ? You'd not want to do that to the DC output of these panels :-)

hio77

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#1063770 11-Jun-2014 23:50

Mark:
hio77:

ahhh, miss understood that we were talking inverters and not the batterys!

in under 3 hours? thats pretty fast!

You know how you can lick a 9V battery and get that horrible tingly taste ? You'd not want to do that to the DC output of these panels :-)

not really... i always considered it stupid to do that, so ild get someone else to do it ;)

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graemeh

2078 posts

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#1063844 12-Jun-2014 10:01

Mark:I took the 4KW system which is $2499 plus $92.50 per month for the next decade or so ;-) Doing the sums it looks to "pay for itself" in the next 2.5 to 3 years. I live in Mangawhai and power he is flakey so for us its not just the power bill savings it's the UPS for when power goes out (and it goes out if the wind even thinks of blowing!)

What a great idea, I wonder if Vector will start selling them as a "self charging UPS".

trig42

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#1063850 12-Jun-2014 10:13

How long have you had the system in?

Any ideas what it is saving you in power? I'd like to go solar, we have the perfect roof area for it (North Facing, about 20 degree angle). I'd get the middle of the three they are offering, but it'f be a hard sell if our power bills did not drop by more than the cost of the lease (currently we pay about $160 per month - elec hot water).

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