Crossy

For flip's sake guys, it's a ruddy warship!! Things get a bit "bumpy" you button up tight! But not having enough life preservers / rafts ... What The Heck!

Yeah, that would be @Thaifish. IIRC he got a bit blasé about spinning his meter backwards because he was booked for a proper export meter and his meter-man knew all about it. Enter the substitute meter reader ... ????

Of course, there's always that old adage "If it looks too good to be true ...". Should have gone to Specsavers. "You'll find a god in every golden cloister, and if you're lucky then the god's a she" (Murray Head - One Night in Bangkok). Hope you've found one of the rare ones ????

Yeah, I went direct to Sofar service in China and got excellent responses. Sadly, their initial attempt to fix what was a minor annoyance turned my beast into a 45,000 Baht brick. They did the right thing and replaced the unit with a new one at zero cost (all duties and VAT paid too). No complaints whatever about their service or warranty.

No issue with weather effects (panels are designed to be outdoors in all weathers), provided your mounting / roof are up to the load. They do get dusty, ours get the garden hose and pool brush (no soap) when I think they look dirty. To be honest it's difficult to quantify just how much output is lost due to the dirt as the sunshine is also a variable.

Not really a reliability issue. Our 5kW unit is a hybrid like the one Jas21 has. It failed (bricked) during a Sofar initiated firmware update. Sofar supplied a replacement inverter under warranty (didn't want the old unit back).

The type of system (and therefore the cost) you install depends greatly upon your intention and your usage pattern. For example: - You have a retail outlet and an EV which you can charge during the day. A basic grid-tie system whereby the energy is used as soon as it's made (running the A/C and charging the car) would make sense (even with no export/net-metering in place). At the other end of the scale. You have a home that's empty all day with only minimal daytime consumption (fridge/freezer, fish tank pump etc.), so you need to time-shift your energy. You can do this with an ESS (Energy Storage System = Batteries = $$$) or by exporting to the grid during the day and re-importing at night ** Most of us fall somewhere in between the two extremes. ** The official way of doing this is to have a Feed in Tariff (FIT) which currently pays about 50% of the retail cost for each kWh you export, of course you pay full retail cost when you re-import that kWh. Unfortunately, the restrictions on installation contractors, equipment approval and the like mean that this is a non-starter for DIY and therefore significantly increases the system cost (to the point where DIY with a decent sized ESS could be economical). ** The rather less official way of doing this (assuming you have a conventional disc-type meter) is to simply spin the meter backwards whilst exporting, you effectively get the full retail value of every kWh you export. This is of course illegal, but it's how probably millions of small systems operate in Thailand and to a large degree the authorities tolerate it. It's how we operate once our batteries are full, it's a shame to waste our excess production ???? Just ensure that you never actually end up as a net-exporter (-ve monthly use) and that the meter reader never sees the meter going backwards. I've never heard of anyone who got caught out getting more than a slapped wrist and the installation of a no-reverse meter.

Real world numbers from our DIY 10.6kWp system, you decide if it's going to be worth it. I've deliberately left the actual cost out, mainly because I've lost track. The system keeps evolving with "adjustments", but Madam is happy to see the small power bills (she doesn't see what I actually spend on hardware or my time).

Nike!! (Just Do It). Or as I'm forever telling my contractors "JFDI" (add whatever "F" you like, "flipping" works OK)

Yeah, we got our bill today, 161kWh with a 148.18 Baht FT discount. Must get more panels.

Let's drop this over to the dedicated Alternative Energy forum.

With the recent night-time temperatures "frozen" is very apt

Yeah ^^^. We have the 6kW version of the same inverter which generally behaves in the same way. BUT I've noticed that if it's in no-export with a low load it will shut down one of the two MPPTs. If you then enable export that MPPT will NOT re-start until the inverter has had a snooze (overnight or a reboot). It's also worth noting that the Sofar on-grid hybrids don't like having the CT disconnected at all and will throw an error and fail to start.

A nasty, racist post and sensible replies have been removed. Let's keep it on-topic and within the forum rules shall we?

You mean something akin to the Isle of Wight ferry (steams and comes out of Cowes backwards)?

An off-topic attempt to de-rail the thread has been removed.

Try this https://pureinfotech.com/disable-pin-signin-windows-10/

Your second post came up in German! I've seen this before, could be related to the locale settings of your PC.

I think the police need a new "expert". If it really was just solar panels the chances of anything untoward happening with them not connected is vanishingly small.

The major fuel sources, LNG, oil and coal, are in a global market, pretty much one price for all (over simplified, but you get the idea).

Posted before I'm sure but ...