Home Solar Upgrade

[Bandersnatch]

Day 1 on my Home Solar Upgrade adding 10 x 535 Watt solar panels to the roof of the third floor of my house.

 

 

Edited October 26, 2021 by Bandersnatch

[Bandersnatch]

Home solar upgrade Day 2

 

 

 

[KhunLA]

Very nicely done.

 

Do you have a link to your supplier ?

 

[Bandersnatch]

38 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

 

Do you have a link to your supplier ?

The panels are pretty standard and I purchased them at my local solarshop in Surin www.solarshop-th.com

 

You can import the batteries directly from China https://www.facebook.com/NRUIT.Thailand

but I chose to use a Thai Reseller. He is a Thai Pilot and EV YouTuber. I have known him for a while and we chat occasionally about green tech in Thailand

He also imported my Growatts for me: Captain DIY

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KhunLA]

Thanks ????

 

My future installer uses solar-shop also, and going with Solax inverter & ESS.  Panel choice so far is Longi 455w

[patman30]

how much are you paying for labour and additional bits (frame) to fit?

i am planning to add solar to a new house


for others looking
Nruit are also distributers of growatt so should be straight forward to import both items from same supplier
the Growatt 5kw invertor is available on lazada for 32k baht

Edited October 29, 2021 by patman30

[Bandersnatch]

20 hours ago, patman30 said:

how much are you paying for labour and additional bits (frame) to fit?

Will do  a video on cost when it's all done. 

[Bandersnatch]

Home Solar Upgrade Day 3

 

 

[Bandersnatch]

It's up and running now. Some final configuration still to do, so will post a final video in a few days.

 

[Bandersnatch]

Got the app up and running

 

 

 

[Bandersnatch]

GROWATT SPF 5000 ES Inverter

 

 

Edited November 6, 2021 by Bandersnatch

[Bandersnatch]

My solar upgrade is not 100% complete as I am having to work around the availability of my installer. 

 

I have decided to install a Home Energy Monitoring System to give me more data. The system allows me to see when and where energy is being used in my home and as it focuses on my solar system I thought the video I made about it might be of interest.

 

 

 

[Bandersnatch]

Now have 20kw of solar on the house.

 

 

[Crossy]

11 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

Now have 20kw of solar on the house.

 

And still space for more should it prove necessary

 

Very nice job!

 

[Bandersnatch]

17 hours ago, Crossy said:

And still space for more should it prove necessary

 

Very nice job!

Thanks @Crossy

 

People were commenting that my house was way too white so I added a bit of blue for contrast

[merijn]

I'm thinking to install solar for mine own house.

Is it possible to supply to the grit if you produce to much electricity for your own usage ?

And if so how is this metered ?

[blackprince]

52 minutes ago, merijn said:

I'm thinking to install solar for mine own house.

Is it possible to supply to the grit if you produce to much electricity for your own usage ?

And if so how is this metered ?

In our case the PEA (Provinclal Electricity Authority) installed a separate meter. It cost us a few thousand baht.

[Crossy]

1 hour ago, merijn said:

I'm thinking to install solar for mine own house.

Is it possible to supply to the grit if you produce to much electricity for your own usage ?

And if so how is this metered ?

 

Yes, as @blackprince notes.

 

BUT (there's always a BUT), you must use approved everything including installer which pushes up the cost significantly and the feed-in rate isn't exactly attractive. There's also a massive stack of paperwork required of course.

 

Another member @Thaifish has been waiting a l-o-n-g time for his feed in meter.

[blackprince]

Following on from @crossy

 

Re the meter itself, it was installed by the PEA. They paid for the meter and their labour - it cost us nothing for parts or labour (my earlier post was incorrect as I've just been advised!) and we had no waiting time - it was synchronised with the work being done by the installation company, which is  licensed to do solar installations.

 

It doesn't surprise me that there might be regional variations in waiting time etc, that seems to pretty normal across the board.

 

[sanuk711]

1/ What do you think will be the finale cost figure when completed  Blackprince?

2/ What sort of monthly  Power bills were you getting before this installation?

 

Your  work looks very professional.---thanks for the video and explaining it all.

[Bandersnatch]

2 hours ago, merijn said:

I'm thinking to install solar for mine own house.

Is it possible to supply to the grit if you produce to much electricity for your own usage ?

And if so how is this metered ?

I looked at the program when I first installed solar 3 years ago. Then the feed in credit was 1.68 baht per kilowatt-hour now I think it's 2.2. There was a cap of 5kW solar PV for single phase and 10kW for 3 phase. Your solar equipment had to be on the PEA approved list. I have 4 inverters and none of them are on the list.

 

The final reason I didn't go for it was that as I am off-grid,  PEA credits are not much use to me.

 

Disclaimer: The information above have changed over the last 3 years 

  

[blackprince]

8 minutes ago, sanuk711 said:

1/ What do you think will be the finale cost figure when completed  Blackprince?

2/ What sort of monthly  Power bills were you getting before this installation?

 

Your  work looks very professional.---thanks for the video and explaining it all.

1. My final cost figure wouldn't help as I got the parts virtually free.

 

2. I have two installations. One for a business premises, the other for home. The PEA have provided a discount for the business premises for the last 10 years. So again, comparisons with what other people may be paying wouldn't help.

 

I haven't posted any videos of this, so I think you must be confusing me with someone else.

 

I know nothing about electrical engineering, or even basic electrical maintenance, which is why I haven't got involved in any of the technical discussions here.

[Bandersnatch]

50 minutes ago, sanuk711 said:

1/ What do you think will be the finale cost figure when completed  Blackprince?

2/ What sort of monthly  Power bills were you getting before this installation?

 

Your  work looks very professional.---thanks for the video and explaining it all.

Hi @sanuk711 I think you meant me, but I would love to see some videos from @blackprince as he has made some valuable contributions over in the EV discussion https://aseannow.com/topic/1233709-electric-vehicles-of-all-kinds 

 

I will do a detailed video about cost when the setup is complete but I can give you some ideas now. 

 

Q2. To understand how I can calculate my electric bill without having an electric bill, you may want to view my video on energy monitoring: YouTube.com/HomeEnergyMonitoringSystem I was able to calculate that my house uses less than 1kWh/hour so powering that via solar saves me ฿3,000 a month.

 

If you have solar an EV it is a natural next step.  I charge my plugin hybrid every day, sometimes twice a day  - saving me ฿5,000 a month I would have spent on gasohol. 

 

So in total I save ฿8,000 a month. Add to that always having power when everyone nearby is in darkness - priceless ???? 

 

Solar Panels:  Cheapest way to buy panels is bring a full container over from China - as I wasn't going to do that I bought them locally from Solarshop which meant free delivery. Panels cost about ฿10/Watt 

https://www.facebook.com/โซล่าช็อป-สุรินทร์-Solarshop-Surin-102039561782848

 

Inverters: Less than ฿10,000 per kW - I paid ฿36,000 for my 5kW Growatts I used the same Thai importer that I used for my batteries.

GROWATT SPF 5000 ES 
https://www.ginverter.com/Off-Grid-Storage-Inverters/44-625.html

 

Batteries: Definitely the most expensive part. I got quoted a great Ex Factory price by https://www.facebook.com/NRUIT.Thailand but I left the importing hassles to my Thai importer and I paid ฿68,000 each

https://www.nruitpower.com/product/powerporter-9kwh/

 

Installation: Just a matter of how much you can do yourself and how much problem solving you can do. The least stressful but by far the most expensive is have a single company supply and fit everything.

 

I used an installer local to me in Surin, but I had to do a lot of problem solving myself and I spent a lot of time on the WeChat app with companies in China:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Encid]

@Bandersnatch Great topic and good to see your system's evolution!

 

Does your system have a BMS that monitors the batteries, provides battery protection, estimates the batteries' operational state, continuously optimizes battery performance, and reports operational status?

Or do the Growatt inverters do that for you?

[Bandersnatch]

2 hours ago, Encid said:

@Bandersnatch Great topic and good to see your system's evolution!

 

Does your system have a BMS that monitors the batteries, provides battery protection, estimates the batteries' operational state, continuously optimizes battery performance, and reports operational status?

Or do the Growatt inverters do that for you?

nRuit and Growatt are designed to work together. The Growatts manage the batteries and I can monitor their status though the Growatt app.

 

The video below was filmed during the testing and debugging phase just after installation and it will give you a better idea of the nRuit and Growatt interface 

 

I apologise in advance for possibly the most boring video on YouTube 

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by Bandersnatch

[Pink7]

On 11/24/2021 at 10:26 AM, Bandersnatch said:

Batteries: Definitely the most expensive part. I got quoted a great Ex Factory price by https://www.facebook.com/NRUIT.Thailand but I left the importing hassles to my Thai importer and I paid ฿68,000 each

https://www.nruitpower.com/product/powerporter-9kwh/

 

 

 

 

That was not too bad price, You know what batteries they used in the unit? Do you feel any benefits to have communication between inverter and battery?

 

Pink

[Bandersnatch]

1 hour ago, Pink7 said:

That was not too bad price, You know what batteries they used in the unit? Do you feel any benefits to have communication between inverter and battery?

 

Pink

I get accurate information on the condition of the batteries on my phone and on a day like today when it has been raining all day that it very helpful 

 

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, Bandersnatch said:

 

I get accurate information on the condition of the batteries on my phone and on a day like today when it has been raining all day that it very helpful 

As you can't change anything, it's more OCD than helpful IMHO.

[Bandersnatch]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

As you can't change anything, it's more OCD than helpful IMHO.

Changes I can make: 

 

- change loads. If I'm charging my EV I might decide to leave the car at 50% state of charge and try again tomorrow. 

 

 - Increase power input : I have 3 sources of power:- Solar PV; Feed in from my backup solar system and PEA. So today am running my backup solar system down to 50% and will switch over to PEA as my standby backup overnight.

[Pink7]

On 11/24/2021 at 8:37 AM, Bandersnatch said:

I looked at the program when I first installed solar 3 years ago. Then the feed in credit was 1.68 baht per kilowatt-hour now I think it's 2.2. There was a cap of 5kW solar PV for single phase and 10kW for 3 phase. Your solar equipment had to be on the PEA approved list. I have 4 inverters and none of them are on the list.

 

The final reason I didn't go for it was that as I am off-grid,  PEA credits are not much use to me.

 

Disclaimer: The information above have changed over the last 3 years 

  

Hi Bandersnatch. Can you share some info on Inverter and battery capacity vs ability to fully offgrid? 

 

Pink

Edited January 12, 2023 by Pink7