Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Sylvia Else Newsgroups: aus.electronics Subject: Re: Just for your information ..... Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2024 20:20:37 +1100 Lines: 41 Message-ID: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: individual.net t0jX4RpoonZ60yWhw/7EVA+iYQ17ZVd06t6LLMn8chlkxees5W Cancel-Lock: sha1:ZUjQ3vUGi9tWr0SkJj7VXbw0QfQ= sha256:ExstZa5dcrMktO3HLCpUnA16UYJzdFf06WcbbBeBSaU= User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:102.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/102.15.1 Content-Language: en-US In-Reply-To: Xref: csiph.com aus.electronics:35701 On 05-Jan-24 7:20 pm, Daniel65 wrote: > Back in mid-Sept, I asked if anyone had any recommendations for Solar > Battery Installers .... Well, Buyer Beware!! > > Back in 2020, having a bit of money to spare, I had a 18 panel, 4.5kW > Solar Panel system installed and now, having more money to spare, I paid > Solar Battery Group just over $8,000 to install a 5kW Battery, thinking > that would give me Power security .... but NO! > > Yesterday, at about 7:15p.m., the local Mains power went out and I was > left in darkness. Surprise, surprise, when the Mains back on about a min > later, so did my Power. At about 10:00p.m., when I checked my Power > System, the battery was still indicating over 60% full. > > So this morning I rang the Solar Battery Group, the supply/install firm, > and they said the Solar Battery arrangement had worked as expected. The > system wasn't meant to maintain power in place of Mains power, it was > only meant to supply power WHEN THE MAINS WAS AVAILABLE so "in place of" > NOT "in the absence of" mains power. > > The SOLAR BATTERY GROUP will, however, sell you, for $1,300 or so, an > optional extra, a Power Outlet connected directly to the Battery System > which will supply up to 3kW maximum .... but, still, during an outage, > you'd have to go out to the Battery (or the special power outlet > adjacent to it) with a extension cord to plug in your most desireable > (less than 3kW) devices!! > > I suppose, eventually (if I live long enough), I'll get back my $8,000 > for the battery and $2,500 (I think) for the original Solar Panels .... > but who knows!! ;-( > > Just FYI .... if you are considering getting a Battery installed. You also need to check that the system will be able to charge the battery from the solar panels during a power outage. This appears to be not a given either. The ability to do that saved us from the effects of an outage that lasted more than a day (and a week for some people in my area). Sylvia.