Solar Power for my AV Room

[canchi]

Have set up a 3kv solar to supply power to the house, including my dedicated Home Theatre room ( http://www.hifivision.com/my-audio-...igms-have-shifted-my-house-my-new-set-up.html) and my stereo listening setup ( http://www.hifivision.com/my-audio-video-setup/24981-my-2nd-ht-marantz-kefs.html )

Have noticed no change in the EQ as yet. This is an on-grid system, so that I could export any extra power generated above consumption to Bescom. The bidirectional meter was just setup last week, so I'll have to look at that after a month to see those stats. Solar panels are from Australian Premium Solar and the inverter is Swiss made.

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[panditji]

Pls share details of the solar panel network for home use as well as some approx costs and your feedback on it's working..I am interested in putting up a solar panel grid of 5KVA for my house but have no idea how to go about it...

 

[regeHA]

Nice and yes please share some approx costs and also how to get started/who to contact, etc.

 

[canchi]

Pls share details of the solar panel network for home use as well as some approx costs and your feedback on it's working..I am interested in putting up a solar panel grid of 5KVA for my house but have no idea how to go about it...

panditji and regeHA,
The ballpark figure usually quoted is about a lakh per kv. The Indian ( assembled ) and Chinese panels are apparently less efficient than Aussie and German panels. The imported ones are obviously costlier.

Total cost for my unit approx 4 lakhs. Depending on the rooftop, masonry work and wiring length, etc would add to the cost.

 

[RajithKumar]

Nice!!!Good Initiative.

 

[shoenil]

Congrats n nicely done on the roof top.On-grid system really nice with 'Secure' meter,
Few clarifications please. Australian Premium Solar 12 panels X 250 watts each in series connection? The inverter is Swiss made Extender XTM 2600Amp-48V hybrid inverter charger. What about the battery. The picture shows 4 tubular batteries 150/180Ah? in parallel connection for 48V. The batteries look Indian.
A solar panel available here whether Indian or chinese has been claimed to last at least 25 years. But what about the battery?
Kindly verify the wattage and connection of the solar panels and the size of the wires for connecting the solar panels and the batteries >10 sq. mm?
What about using VRLA batteries or SMF batteries?
Thanks and regards.

 

[ravidharap]

Super and congratulations !!! i too own a 2 kv soalr system )

 

[canchi]

Congrats n nicely done on the roof top.On-grid system really nice with 'Secure' meter,
Few clarifications please. Australian Premium Solar 12 panels X 250 watts each in series connection? The inverter is Swiss made Extender XTM 2600Amp-48V hybrid inverter charger. What about the battery. The picture shows 4 tubular batteries 150/180Ah? in parallel connection for 48V. The batteries look Indian.
A solar panel available here whether Indian or chinese has been claimed to last at least 25 years. But what about the battery?
Kindly verify the wattage and connection of the solar panels and the size of the wires for connecting the solar panels and the batteries >10 sq. mm?
What about using VRLA batteries or SMF batteries?
Thanks and regards.

Yes, the batteries are Indian. 40 year warranty on the panels. 5 year warranty on the batteries.

 

[sud98]

panditji and regeHA,
The ballpark figure usually quoted is about a lakh per kv. The Indian ( assembled ) and Chinese panels are apparently less efficient than Aussie and German panels. The imported ones are obviously costlier.

Total cost for my unit approx 4 lakhs. Depending on the rooftop, masonry work and wiring length, etc would add to the cost.

At that cost, does it make financial sense to have one?

 

[nipunkx]

@sud98, exactly the same question I had in mind. U will need to do maintenance as well.

 

[regeHA]

At that cost, does it make financial sense to have one?

@sud98, exactly the same question I had in mind. U will need to do maintenance as well.

Not for a long time, but if it improves the power situation at home then yes.

I mean, I've spent time in 3 major cities of South India - Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai and till a few short years back power outages were a common thing. I've setup home UPS and it works fine, but I'm not sure it would do the job when we had 4-8 hours of power cuts daily.

Even now when I'm in India I see a lot of times when the AVR and TV trip because of low voltage. I've never experienced anything like this abroad, the past few years I've visited and worked in 6 countries... not even once.

The cost might be justified for uninterrupted power and more importantly if it protects your expensive gadgets.

 

[sidvee]

I would be very interested to understand 2 points:
1. What is the payback on this type of a system, is it 3-5 years?
2. What is the efficiency of the system? For instance my tata solar water heater (it is 5 years old now, I think it cost 50-60k) is totally useless in monsoon and winter I would say 5-6 months of the year when we need it most. It was always like this even when new.
I have been exploring solar power for the house but my experience with tata solar (ofcourse there have been a lot of advances since then) has left me slightly sceptical about the viability and efficiency of solar power. Hope I am wrong.
Cheers,
Sid

 

[viper08]

Congrats for your own power plant. The equipments seem to be quite neat.

On the side note, the drawback which I have experienced with the solar panel (No matter how efficient / powerful) is the surface glass tend to get dirty very easily. Especially with dusty wind (day today) and also tend to get dust spots post rains.

I have seen charging efficiency going down mainly in rains/ cloudy atmosphere because of unclean panels. At least this was there with the panles few years back.

Now with the better technology innovation, do you still require to manually clean them regularly?
Otherwise it's worth.

 

[manniraj]

I think there is Government subsidy for Solar power so part of the total cost will be subsidised. Not sure whether 4 lacs includes this subsidy or after. But as per the Renewable energy ministry the Solar power and windmill power generation is subsidised for home installations.

 

[canchi]

At that cost, does it make financial sense to have one?

There are 2 aspects to this.
My neighbor has a similar unit and is not paying his usual bill of 2k per month since the solar generates enough. He is exporting power to Bescom and getting paid 1.4k this month. Generation in monsoon and winter is less and export to Bescom is unlikely in this situation.
Also if you are making enough moolah, and want to go green, don't want the hassles of the Pwr cuts and want most gadgets in the house to work during a power cut for a good length of time, say 12 hrs or more, then go solar.

 

[canchi]

I think there is Government subsidy for Solar power so part of the total cost will be subsidised. Not sure whether 4 lacs includes this subsidy or after. But as per the Renewable energy ministry the Solar power and windmill power generation is subsidised for home installations.

Have not taken govt subsidy. You do get between 80 and 90% depreciation benefit for income tax.

 

[canchi]

Congrats for your own power plant. The equipments seem to be quite neat.

On the side note, the drawback which I have experienced with the solar panel (No matter how efficient / powerful) is the surface glass tend to get dirty very easily. Especially with dusty wind (day today) and also tend to get dust spots post rains.

I have seen charging efficiency going down mainly in rains/ cloudy atmosphere because of unclean panels. At least this was there with the panles few years back.

Now with the better technology innovation, do you still require to manually clean them regularly?
Otherwise it's worth.

Yes, manual cleaning is needed, of the solar panels, twice a month. Good exercise, if you do it yourself!

 

[canchi]

@sud98, exactly the same question I had in mind. U will need to do maintenance as well.

No maintenance required, except as indicated above, cleaning of panels once in 15 days.

 

[canchi]

O


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[shoenil]

Thanks for the reply.
So the capacity of the battery is 210 AH, 4 batteries in parallel connection to make it 48V. Or are you using more number of batteries? Cost of single battery ~20-205K each?
About the size of the wires- is it 10 sq. mm or less?
And about the wattage of the Solar plates: 250 watts isn't it. Parallel or series connection? Should be series connection. Your plates I think are costlier than the ones available in our market whether Indian or chinse.
I have installed some solar plates 150 AH and using VRLA batteries (one is 600 AH and other is 400 AH and was instructed to use 10 sq. mm sized wires to reduce the current loss or something) but not to your extent of 3KVA. Planning to install a 3-5 KVA capacity soon. Hence, would like to know the details more.
I dont know about the selling of extra power generated but I also would like to protect my expensive electronic gadgets, even if the power situation have improved tremendously in the last one year or so.

PS. Was one of the few lucky ones to get the solar geyser through govt subsidy for 7K only.
Regards.