Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

What are you folks that have solar systems installed getting as an output in watts compared to the system max wattage. I dont think ours is putting out as much as it should. For a start the system is about 30 degrees east of North in aspect and on a 13 deg slant.
Its a 3.3kw system and the best we have seen is 1900W and that is only for breif periods. Today at midday in full sun and not hot, 1500W.
BIL has a 1.8kw system and can get 1600W, work mate has a 2.3kw system and can get 2200W
One school system I have seen is a 5kw system and the vice principal says he has seen it in the high 4000's W
Going to contact the company that installled it and ask some questions

about 80 to 85% Max depending on temperature facing north-west on 30 degree slope

Yeah thats what I am hearing, but 55% on a mild day ,with full sun, is crap with our system
If the dude doesn't return my call tomorow I will visit them again

Hi Mantis

I have almost 2kW System in Mitcham... 10 x 1950w panels. I have seen output as high as 1840w but mostly around 1400w.
If you want to see output for many systems...
http://pvoutput.org/daily.jsp

Regards - ColinW

In Melbourne you should average 3.6kwh per day for a 1kw system, so a 3.3kw system should average 11.8kwh a day. That is for a true north system at 20 degres angle. Remember this is an average for the year.

How many kwh per day are you producing?

You will find lot of data on Solar Energy Output,
Many with the "http://pvoutput.org/" listed

Arrow over the systems size (3.600kW), just under the graph will show you the system’s details.

We have had two days of 10.4kwh and the rest way below that, and this is summer.

yeah so looks like most systems in my sort of area generate around 6kwh/kw which means mine should produce 19kwh on a good day like today, but it will just get over 10
Installer still hasnt returned my calls

I get 10-12KWh from a 1.8K during summer, averaged 6 during winter here in WA.
Think the highest output Ive noticed was in the 1600w range.

We had one guy here locally trying to sell panels using their short circuit current x voltage instead of the correct ratings as the higher wattage value sounded better..

Being slightly east you are going to get some drop in production during the afternoon.
From what I know the slant is less critical. In fact in cloudy conditions flatter is apparently better.

Was the company a well known local company?? I have been getting quotes lately and half of them are working out of their car boots and have no showroom. I'm going to part with some of my hard earned cash this week for a system. I think I'm going to go with a local company that has been around the coast for quite a while, -middle of the range on price, but hopefuly back up service will count for that.

Getting my system put up right now

very excited

Hi mantis

Are your pannels getting any shade on them?

Our grid system is producing around 13kw a day for a 1.5kw system since i have put trackers on

My 1950w (almost 2kWh) Solar System is producing an average of 230kWh per month... with an average of 120kWh per month going back to grid.
If my math is correct... I believe that equates to an average of just over 7.5kWh per day production... and approx 4kWh back to grid.

I have 8 panels facing North... and 2 panels facing West.
Solar production readings taken from CMS 2000 Inverter... Grid Feed readings taken from "Smart Meter".

(Average worked out from meter readings taken over 4 months - apparently the "Smart Meter" was programmed to read "Grid Feed" on 28 Sep 2010 - I had previously been advised that the meter was changed on 4 Nov 2010).

Regards - ColinW

Turns out after they checked the system that one plug wasnt connected properly. So probably canceling out several panels. Today was heavy cloud for most of the morning and it produced 11.1kwh which is the highest ever. Also the wattage wasnt jumping all over the place like before, with it jumping around by hundreds of watts.

What are you getting Snags?