If you replace a small system with a larger and better one, what does an ethical way to dispose of your old devices, then out? Read on while we can continue to lead a few ways like old solar.
Realistically speaking, the used solar equipment in Australia, which in equal parts to the work rates of the first world and the STC incentive scheme, which delivers new glass on its roof, is almost worthless.
We have already described it in detail, but if you have to remove a solar power system, it is often better to replace it with a new one than reinstall the Legacy technology.
Gumtree geezers caution
Do you remember that you have paid $ 12,000 for your one-kilowatt-six panel sun flow system? You have to subtract Two zeros For a quick second -hand sale. It is becoming increasingly rare that people need similar replacements, so that inverters are unfortunately scrapped for cent per kilogram.
Panels can be worth more depending on their age. Some people offer 10 or 20 US dollars for old modules. They are packed in approximately in shipping containers and sent to developing countries.
Although this can be a great reuse of resources, it was also argued that it was only the e-waste against people who are poorly equipped to recycle it properly. New panel prices become so low that it is hardly worth sending them now.
Newer modules that have retired from larger systems are of a certain value for ATG-GRID applications. The 20-kilowatt systems of 20 panel that can be modest for a modern house can now produce Grand Battery charging systems for a weekend campsite or a tiny house with a low budget.
Solar depreciation is worse than luxury cars
A guy I know bought a new Aston Martin with free flights to England a few years ago so that he can build it.
Amazing the jewelry that you get when the trade-in value for your low mileage has burned $ 145,000 in four years. My heart bleeding around him when he complained that it is too shady for Solar in his house.
Since the rules change continuously, solar technology moves faster than any performance car.
Connection permits, updated Australian and international IEC standards, guarantees and the need for specialists to comply with the installation means that new solar collectors are difficult to give away as soon as they have been screwed onto a roof.
Even electricians pay solar installers
Electricians all understand the cabling rules (AS3000), but industrialists, mining, process control, line work or home fighting are themselves craft. They demand different standards, which means that qualified electricians are looking for help for specialties with which they do not work.
Recently posted on one of my professional groups. It is a great example that a budget system is oversized by an end user and that an electrician confuses megawatt with kilowatts.
A qualified and insured local solar installation program that makes a well -founded offer to remove a system professionally and dress it away. He was happy not to win it.
The period that bought this asset at the top should be aware that it can still cost real money to legally reinstall.
Electrical work over 50 volts AC or 120 volt DC must be carried out by qualified people.
DIY enthusiasts will not receive any insurance for your houses if you work over these threshold values, but as we have already written, a motorhome can be a good learning experience. Even those who think about a small house could handle the rules legally.
To charge a 48 -volt battery, the cabling of this monster array in 44 panel couples can technically speaking. That would be a ridiculous arrangement if you strive for 30 kW solar.
Where this system was originally 4 strings and an inverter, you need no less than six Victron 150/100 mppt supervisory authorities for 44 strings.
At 700 US dollars each, this is 4,200 US dollars before you bought 88 fuses, 88 plugs or a single meter cable. A classic case why DIY is not cheap.
Old solar is great for little jobs
Small solar collectors are poisonous expensive and often poor quality. You can pay $ 7 per watt If you’re crazy enough.
While an old 200 -watt panel for 20 US dollars is the same 10 cents per wattSo if you have the physical space, there is no reason why your pond pump, the electrical gate opener, a warehouse fence or garden lights do not earn a panel with the 10 -fold capacity you need.
A typical solar drive gate opener with 22 -voc panel
Control is essential
Most solar modules on the roof omitted about 45 V or 38 V: this literally cooks a battery if it is not regulated.
Impulse width modulation (PWM) is a basic type, but better units use maximum power point tracking (MPPT).
While an MPT is more expensive, it is output with 45 volt input and 14 volts without drastically reducing the conversion efficiency.
Note. The most important specification that is to be noted is the Open Circuit tension (VOC) of the panel to ensure that it does not exceed the nominal entrance for the controller.
If you look at cheap regulatory authorities/charge controllers on ebay and the VOC specification is vague or difficult to find, don’t buy it.
Something like the Victron unit shown below will be finished with 55 VOC, but even with reputable brands, the small print only explains for 24 -V batteries if they use a 38+VOC household -solar panel.
This shows the problem with the PWM regulatory authorities: You simply work by switching on and off to get a fraction of a second. Although it is fast, it is still quite rough to expose the battery to a complete panel voltage and to shorten the service life of the battery.
Victron Bluesolar PwM Light 12/24V-10A will take over most of the individual household collectors.
A decent and durable solution needs something like a Victron Smartolar Mppt 75/15. There is an online calculator to select you.
Enter a panel brand and pad this widget and help to select hardware.
Better, with this device you can pull up nearby and check whether the system works via Bluetooth without needing a meter, a screwdriver or a screen.
A word of warning
If you find some old solar collectors that have a kind of uniform mahogany brown color made by Kaneka, Mitsubishi, Schott or others, you could be Thin film Sun collectors.
They offer about half of the performance per square meter of a crystalline solar panel and a very high open -circuit tension, which unfortunately means that they are not good for a lot, especially for battery charge.
For example, a 100 -W -MitSubishi -Dünnfilm is 1.4 x 1.1 meters and displays 0.9 amps at 110 VVOC -IE/m².
1 kw Mitsubishi -Dünn films. 2008: 05: 28 13:43:52
A contemporary sharp 175 -W crystal panel is typically 1.6 x 0.8 meters and releases almost 5 stamps at 44 VOC, ie 136W/m².
I love the fact that the panels that they do would be keen.
Two wires from the solar panel to the controller, which is hidden under this green cover, two more wires about the battery (preferably with a backup in the row), are roughly as easy as possible.
An all-black 200-watt panel up to a few fence posts.
This close -up shows why clean connections are essential. A warehouse fence energetic convert 12 volts from a battery into short impulses of 7500 volts!
Although the current is tiny, it is able to bridge gaps and slowly get bad connections like this. This connection would have stopped working years ago on the 12-volt supply side.
Agriculture includes many skills, such as technical weatherproof housings and diagnosed burned electrical compounds.
There are numerous instructions on the size and connection of a solar panel to load a battery. If you identify the dangerous end of a screwdriver and say red from black, there is a good chance that you can work this example in your place.
Stay tuned. If I can attack the Solarquotes Kitty, we will carry out a quick step-by-step demonstration about how to do it.
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