You mean a clamp metre… yes they exist. I have one in the garage somewhere.
Ah! I knew someone would know! However, what I was hoping for was something I could clamp around the supply wire for say a day/week or so and understand what the consumption was over that period. So rather than just confirming what the draw was when it was on which I assume is what a clamp meter would do, it would tell me what my usage of the item was over that period. Maybe clamp meter can do that?
All the ones I’ve seen are as hand held testers but I’ll be surprised if someone out there doesn’t make something similar to what you need.
Oh… btw. You need to clamp the live wire only on the mains cable. I’ve seen gadgets that you plug into a mains socket and they split the live and neutral so you can then use the clamp metre over the live.
I installed 14 panels on a South facing roof at the end of January. That amounts to a 4.2Kw capacity at full tilt. There are 4.8Kw batteries in the attic. The system first powers the house, then feeds the batteries. If batteries are full it then powers the immersion hot water heater. When that reaches its limit it returns any further surplus to the grid.
I’m in Ireland, where the installer is obliged to inform the Grid Utilty about a new ‘microgenerator’.
Hotfoot, (about a month later) the Grid boys arrived to replace my electromechanical meter with a new ‘smart meter’. Objective is that they could separate incoming from outgoing electricity, charging full whack for the former, while paying a pittance (if anything?) for the latter.
They had a look at the meter installation and concluded that it was a large job to replace, so took some photos to bring back to the office.
Haven’t seen them since. Meantime, many days the meter has gone backwards!
My objective was to reduce CO2 emissions rather than to save money, but I seem to be achieving both comfortably. My meter reading today is 89529 vs 88522 on Feb 1st. That’s about 6 units a day, compared to 29 units a day in 2017, although admittedly my son has moved out since, and I also made other changes which would have reduced electricity consumption.
I think this technology is wonderful and it gives a great sense of satisfaction to see it working. One difficulty is the need to retrain ‘her indoors’ to work to the rhythm of the sun, operating the the heavy users (Oven, Dryer, Washing Machine, Dishwasher) while the sun is shining strongly. The heaviest use is the ‘Self Cleaning’ oven.
Still, until the ‘Grid boys’ come back, I’m getting credit for everything, whether I use it or not!
Today we generated 20kw and consumed 14kw. Result, happiness!
4 Likes
Have a look at the intuition OWL-PV app; it helps to show when one is exporting so is a good time to put the washing machine on.
I have an app called ShinePhone which shows me exactly what is going on all the time and accumulates daily statistics.
Have you carried out a cost benefit analysis? I know you say you’re doing it for environmental reasons but I’d be interested to know how it pans out financially over time
I reckon I’ll get my money back in about 8 or 9 years. Given that the opportunity cost is close to zero (bank interest rate), I’m happy with that, but for me the return is the reduction in CO2 and the satisfaction of not paying the utility company.
1 Like
We’ll pay our installation off within 7-8 years, and then it’ll be gravy all the way from there. But I reckon we actually save more by just being much more aware of electrical use, and using less.
So what’s the lifespan of these products and how long do they remain serviceable?
That remains to be seen. My expectation is that it will start to dip in performance close to the ‘cash recovery’ point, but that by then the technology will have advanced significantly, making the next round cheaper (without a subsidy) , always assuming The Planet survives!
1 Like
25 to 30 years. Of course, that is a projection based on accelerated life testing, it will be a couple of decades before we know for sure.
Regardless of the replacement cost of panels and invertors, there is quite a high cost to install the required amount of scaffolding so that the replacement / servicing of the panels can be done safely.
Our panels went live in November 2011, so we get the good FIT rate, however we paid a premium to get it installed before the rate changed.
The FIT payments have now paid for the initial install, plus the reduction in electricity use costs. However we spent quite a chunk of cash in 2016 to replace the invertor and to rewire the panels in parallel to improve power. So it will be a couple of years to be fully in profit (unless something breaks or needs work).
The whole project is a bit of a gamble of yield versus the number of years left to enjoy it.
That was 8 years ago, and things have moved on hugely since then. There was no scaffolding involved in my installation, for instance. Within another 8 years there will be another quantum leap.
My point as elucidated earlier is that enough of us have to do this to make a difference, regardless of payback.
2 Likes
I suppose powerful drones could be used to place the panels on the sloping roof to avoid the need for scaffolding to support the people installing or maintaining the panels.
There was scaffolding delivered to the house, but the installers found that they didn’t need it. They were humans, not drones!
We’ve had a 2.9kw system since 2013. It has now paid for itself so pure profit. Luckily we got in on the highest FIT tariff.
Best investment ever made getting a return of about 12% on our investment.
Get a Solar Iboost box that goes in line with your immersion heater. Then when you’re not using electricity it’s heating your water. So double benefit.
Have thought about getting one of these smart batteries that powers your inverter when the dun goes down from stored energy but capital cost is about £3k . Has anyone gone down this road?
It all depends on the pricing in your market, and your generation capacity. If you are getting a decent rate for your excess (I.e. something close to what you are paying per unit purchased) , then there is no good reason for you to put in storage.
In Ireland we currently(!) get no credit for feed in, so battery storage makes sense to the individual, to minimise export.
Public policy ought to be taking a lead here. Is it better for the Environment that microgenerators should have storage or not? The answer should determine what regulators force on the Electricity Utility.
Can anyone here who may be familiar with the Irish situation tell me whether feeding excess back to the Grid happens automatically without the need to install additional equipment? Is my backwards (at times) running electromechanical meter actually feeding back to the Grid, or just reducing my bill?
Just checked when I had solar panels installed and it was 2012. They are the maximum that could be installed for FIT generation which was around 4kw I believe. They deliver an income of about £1,800 a year which more than covers all my gas and electricity usage. Actually, they cost £13,000 to install so have just about broken even this year.