Curious about the cables we used in this install? ⚡ Doncaster Cables offers innovative solutions like PV Ultra, EV Ultra, and Powerwall Connect that make electrical work easier and safer. Check out their products at www.doncastercables.com 🔗
Your slagging the work off but what if that's all the client could afford at the time. Or many other reasons. I find your videos informative, but you do slate alot of work from others which sometimes might be a handyman doing it or trades but you either way you don't have to put someone down to make yourself look better.
I'm an electrician that currently works for a company that partners with Octopus. Id say we are probably one of the biggest installers of Solar, Batteries and Teslas in the UK. We sub out so much work it must be hard for them to keep track of how that work is being done. That said working direct for the company they do amazing installs I see the same quality in us that you guys do. Cant wait for Doncaster to make the power wall 3 cable it will make the installs that much neater.
Hi Jordan, I have enjoyed many of your videos. I'm a solar designer and installer in Australia and we require the racking and panels to be bonded with min 4mm. Many of our rooves are tin and it's very important that cables are secured well so as not to rest or fall onto the roof. We also sometimes use in-line fuse connectors on the DC run and, on some smaller systems, use DC circuit breakers. The very least they do is indicate an over current situation. I used to be an electrician in the UK and I much prefer SWA and the flexibility of the UV in this video impressive, we hardly use it in Oz sadly.
Sounds like you've got some interesting differences in regulations and practices over in Australia. Thanks for sharing your insights-always love hearing how things are done differently around the world.
Surely bonding is good practise. We must understand that the solar panels create a large conductor for lightning to strike. A neighbour of mine had a lightning strike via the sola panels and caused extensive damage in the property. So yes earth bonding is a must and also ensure it has a good earthing connection to go to.
Did you completely forfeit the Fits payments? As I understand it you can replace a FITS system and still receive generation payments, they are just paid pro-rata, so if you went from 4kWp to 8kWp fits would be paid on 50% of the generation.
I upgraded my 11 year old panels - bought new - used the old ones on a ground mount and directly connected it to another battery for direct to hot water.. every little helps
9 months and counting since anyone other than Jordan was on the thumbnail. An absolute vanity project. The fact a video was made to discuss letting people go just before Christmas was an absolute disgrace. Glad to see the likes of John have gone on to better things. Those guys deserved better respect from someone who was travelling more than at work whilst the company was struggling.
Your comments regarding the quality of PV installers and the race to the bottom struck home with me. Recently had quotes for PV and batteries from a company linked to Solartogether and one of the big energy suppliers. I was astounded about the lack of knowledge from those performing the surveys and their complete inability to answer my questions. To cap it off the major energy provider was going to use a 2 man band as a sub-contractor that had existed as a registered company for less than 2 years and had net assets of £2k! I've run a mile and have decided to postpone indefinitely any move to renewables. Shame I'm not in your area 😊
@@clive-j2l There are good companies out there, it's just hard to find them. You did well to avoid Solartogether, using a company that subcontracts work out is asking for trouble, not all are bad, but a lot can be, and they are very inflexible with what they will install. Ask around on forums, for good installers, and get multiple quotes.
We had an array fitted 13 years ago. It returns around £800+ a year. I can't see an advantage of upgrading until the end of the FIT period in 7 years. The panels would be more powerful but losing FIT I don't think would be balanced by gains from the new system.
@@williamlawrenson8345 Different issue apparently electricity companies will increasingly not want any excess electricity. Already happening in California
the thing is though I get your high end and cater for high end and you do an amazing job, but the reality is most people are getting solar to try and save money and have a realistic ROI for maybe 5-10years max, this system I imagine the cost was 20k plus easily if not more, most people dont have that kind of money to pay out upfront then the higher the upfront cost the longer the ROI, There are plenty of reputable companies out there doing good installs for less than 10k with a similar output just using different gear. the advice id give is do your research on the installer you go with not the equipment there using and you get a good install either way, and if you have money to burn you can have a super high end install like this one
Not true the higher cost = longer ROI. Larger array and battery storage = more options to generate, use and export so the opposite can be true but as always a balance to strike
@@UnitedSpotlightwasn’t talking about this specific install, of course you can get bigger arrays that aren’t as expensive was purely making the point that lower cost doesn’t mean faster payback that’s all
@@NevillePrinsloo-g7j well it's all based on production and upfront cost isn't it so it's all relative to the size or the array. Battery is a different topic beciz it all depends on tariff and if u have ev or heat pumps for overnight charging in winter. Because just having battery and no ev or heatpump these days it's hard to find a overnight option that's like 7p you need an EV or heat pump even with octopus to get those kind of rates now, best u get is maybe agile which I'm on and that's more often than not 12 to 15p overnight, more battery is not always the best route to ROI, unless you can get access to those super cheap tarriffs
Thanks for a good video. I notice that you used bifacial panels but there was little prospect of any light behind the panels. Any particular reason for this.
I've had my Chargemaster for over 7 years and it's never let me down. It was installed free when I bought my original Nissan Leaf, but it now charges 2 Teslas MG5 and a Nissan Leaf still. We got rid of the original Nissan leaf after taking a Tesla test drive so we have ended up with a Tesla each, we love them so much and the family charge their EV's at our house as they dont have off road parking and the BP charger is still managing fine
Yes, with cable you can always cut a bit off but can't cut a bit on. The other thing to watch is the size of conduit you use, can be a bit small if not careful.
I have MCBs on mine, but they are DC rated, potentially a fire hazard if not, and yes an MCB is a permitted means of isolation, so long as it's correctly marked. Can't remember the number, think something like EC60947.
Hi We would also like to upgrade our solar array but KEEP the Fit in Tariff. Our array was installed in June 2010 and consist of 14 *185w (2,590 w) panels on a southerly facing roof which produce approx. 2,450 KwH per year so the FIT at the current price of 71.85p is too good to give up. I was wondering if we could increase our solar capacity by replacing the exiting capacity with new panels (I reckon 5 / 6 panels) but the generation must go through the FIT meter and then any spare space on the roof on a separate “line”. However, when I submit my FIT reading to British Gas it asks me to confirm that the system has not changed, so how do I get over that? Any views?
I have DC-Breakers between battery and inverter. Nothing in the DC path of the panels though except the switches that are integrated in the inverters nowadays. Bonding the arrays is in the install manual of many panels. And of course mandatory in Germany.
In NZ we bond all the array panels included, as insulation faults occur and the inverters in NZ have to have insulation shut down (ground fault) part of the standards .If you can get your hands on our standards you are looking for AS/NZS4777 and AS/NZS 5033. and as for the mcbs on the solar array need to break 2 poles at once. so in theory that could have caused a fire if the voltage was high enough
I watched this through and found it very interesting in the ways you arranged the panel using micro inverters. I was wondering if anybody could advise me if I can update my system to get the East and West facing roofs onto my existing setup. There are two DC strings to the inverter and I was wondering if it is possible to add six panels with micro invertors without going to the Fox inverter as there are no fixing points available for the two extra direction roofs on DC strings. The installer does not know but thinks it might backfeed the inverter causing problems with feed in. Anybody have an answer? There is a isolation device that stop all backfeed to the main in case of power failure and allows a self sufficient island for the house on reduced output to see us through the coming blackout the government is arranging for us this winter.
I'm curious to work out what was done when my late partner had solar installed in his bungalow. Everything apart from an isolator in the meter cab is in the loft. Last time I looked i couldn't make head nor tail of it and I'm an electronics engineer by trade.
Hi jordan, have you ever thought about making a standard design for your installations, especially for where the consumer unit inverter and batteries go, might speed things up if you know what size of space is needed means things dont nees to be thought about where they go.
We’d love to standardise things, but every property is different, so it’s tough to have a one-size-fits-all setup. We do try to keep things consistent where we can, though. It defiantly would make life easier I can say that 😂
My 2011 PV system has the single PV string going to an ABB double pole DC breaker, the Sunnyboy inverter doesn't have an inbuilt DC switch like modern inverters seem to have.
Great video, one thing that would make it even better would be some camera lighting for when you are filming junction boxes and cabling in dark places - like the garage segment in this one 👍
We intended to have some sort of lighting in the garage but unfortunately, we forgot the light in the unit haha, We will have lighting in darker places going forward! Glad you enjoyed the video.
Great informative video however I do believe screened cables the screen should now be covered in a pink sleeving to differentiate between shield and cpc 😃
In The Netherlands you are required to bound the solarpanels to earth with the minimum of 6mm2 if you want comply to the 'Scope 12' rules. I guess the breakers where there to be able to safely disconnect the dc cables from the inverter, not to trip incase of a fault
They do make DC breakers that otherwise look like regular din rail components, and 10 amp is roughly right for panels of that age (which is same as my panels). They’d most like likely be running at about 40V open circuit and 30V MPTT, with a string current of 10 amp ish max. Now *why* they fused the DC lines I don’t know - the current on a string is kind of naturally limited, the panels just can’t really generate much more than the rated amps, no matter how anything is misconnected or shorts out. Unless you manage to get it so misconnected that you have multiple panels in parallel, but that’s really implausible as long as it was correctly wired to start with. And even then the cables are typically at least 4 mm^2, so even if you’d somehow miswired it to 30V/50A, you’d be *most* of the way to that being a good enough cable thickness. But yeah, who knows, maybe it was just the dual pole dc isolators were out of stock that day.
What an amazing job! In the event of a mains power failure roughly how long would the system support a house of this load use when the second Tesla battery is installed?
Thanks! We always aim for 24 hours backup power for our clients although some request more than that. In this case the system will last 24 hours approximately depending on the time of year, house loads etc.
what happened to the old panels and system. Why were they not kept to add to what you did in some way. Surely 4 kW would be better then the 3 you added?
Rules regulations and the way we "normally" do stuff in the UK aside.... What are the benefits and "negatives" of bonding the panels. Is there ever any "leakage" from panel to frame? Does it help prevent galvanic corrosion perhaps? Would it act as a lightning conductor and help save the electrical system?
29:25.. talking about banding and neatness and bunching them up when it looks like you could have buried them with ease along there.. Would that not have been the better solution? being as you had to partially bury them across the walkway anyway
Considering the increasing incidence of EV battery fires (thermal runaways) I would want my EV charger mounted outside the house so the EV could be parked a safe distance from the house - NOT IN THE GARAGE.
The MCB's on the original install looked to be rated in AC Amps. DC Amp ratings are lower because of the nature of DC. With AC, because of the sine wave, you only get a peak current before it drops off and rises again, therefore you don't pass the same amount of energy at a given time. With DC, its constant.
I don't know these things but as the cat 6 cable only needs four wires surely that can also carry the CT wiring as well? So why different cat 6 armoured cabling?
Depends on if you are using gigabit or not. In addition running an unknown power right next to your data signal could cause you network problems that electricians are poorly equipped to even notice let alone diagnose. There are specs for running cat 5/6 etc and running outside those spaces can work but it’s not guaranteed. So you could see large error rates, dropped packets, corrupt data. All these things are fine but if your application isn’t well written to cope and most won’t be you could end up with weird intermittent problems that work be hard to diagnose. The problem is sparks usually call out DIYers for saying “it works” but often throw in data the same way as they do electrical and don’t test it properly, just plug in the network and take the green light as everything’s fine. Well installed data can have a guarantee for 20 years from the manufacturers but it needs a full certification test to get it. That means a £5 grand bit of kit.
hi form sa... first of all i like your videos 🤩....yes about the dc breakers in sa they do it but it is fuse first then it is a dc surge protective device with the double pole dc circuit breaker.
Husk lige udluftningen ved solcellerne, der bliver over 50c. , vi bruger net i DK. så fuglene, eller andet ikke har adgang, tænk også på micro cracks. tak for den gode Video, samt alle detaljerne MVH. Henrik
Love all your videos, sadly I do find it frustrating when you mix and match the Solar equipment, the clients having multiple apps for one system is in my opinion not ‘high end’ I have full Solaredge installation certificates and installed many systems using Solaredge 48v batteries, car chargers and hot water controllers, all work flawlessly and seem incredibly efficient at the distribution of excess solar, with priorities being easily controlled by the client, the new HomeHub inverters even offer optional smart devices to add further client devices to the one system such as Jacuzzis and pool pumps. I have no affiliation to Solaredge but even on the small island of Malta we can get all the latest products from them.
Really enjoyed that Jordan....we've been discussing whether to go with solar/battery or just battery. My wife says just battery which I thought was just cost concerns but it turns out she has a very good question: is there any kind of roof-condition survey that's done before putting the weight of solar panels up there? We're in a seventy year old semi that started life being thrown up quickly post war as a council property. It's steel frame and was upgraded externally from concrete sheet tile cladding to an outer red brick skin with air gap. The point is I don't think the roof has been looked at since so would this be taken into account when considering putting up panels? Or does a solar installer just consider the state of the electrical system and presume the customer has ensured the roof is sound enough to bear the extra weight? At the moment we're at the "if in doubt do battery only" stage.
Thanks for the question! A good solar installer will assess your roof's suitability, especially for older homes. If there's doubt, a structural survey might be worth considering. Battery-only sounds like a safe call for now, but definitely ask about roof checks if you reconsider solar
Hi, I’m looking for an installer, however i have a few issues 1.slate tile roof 2.vaulted ceilings 3. No garage 4.east & west facing roof 5. I use approximately 2,600 kWh p/a. I’d really appreciate your honest opinion, many thanks..
I really have to take you to task on your comments about the BP charger. I have had the polar version of this charger a 3.5 KW version since it was fitted free on my house wall 9 years ago. Its successfully charged 3 PHEV cars for me in that time. Some of us don't need all the bells a whistles of the most recent faddy charger we're happy to plug in and charge. It hasn't failed in those 9 years. I'm upgrading to a 7.3 KW charger which has lots of features I'll never use . Let's see how that fares
I mean I am glad it still works after all these years! I personally think most of our customers prefer the options we give them but great to see it still works after 9 years.
@@artisanelectrics I'm getting whatever octopus supply. I really don't need all of the bells and whistles. I just plug it in and unplug when charged. I wish I could get a charger with nothing on it. I don't have batteries or solar, I'd love to but nobody has proved to me they're economic. I'd produce electricity at 33p. A battery to shift power to a different time of day is equally not economic
@@allan4787 Here is my set up economics 15k total install. Well if you have Octopus Intelligent tariff and a power wall battery, you will charge your battery at 7p per kWh at night. so every kWh you use in the day from the battery pays you back about 20p. So prob £1.60 to £2.00 per day. £600-800 per year. 10-14 year payback for a power wall install. After that amount of patience you are quids in. You also have off grid capability and are helping the climate by avoiding fossils being burnt at peak time. May make you sleep easier. similar payback period for solar. You get15p per kWh export with Octopus.maybe 4000kwh pa for a £7k install if the power wall is power shifting night to day. 600pa max. 12 year payback. If you used more daytime elec, heat pumps/aircon. Payback is much faster.
@@artisanelectrics it might not have a cool app, or speak to your jimmi or your bobbi, but if it's still working after 9 years it would probably have worked quite happily for another 9 as long as water didn't get in...
@@artisanelectrics You as an industry tell us that we won't get payback on solar or batteries unless they last for 25 years 😂😂😂 I'm ridiculed for saying that I need a payback in 10 years. I'm sure my polar charger will last for another 9 years
That is weird in case of panels as they can't produce enough current to trip a breaker or if you install breaker with lower value it will trip every time sun is shining :D
'Just little things like that are not professional, trades people take pride in your work, get organised, plan ahead' Oh shit, all our cables are too short because we couldn't measure properly - 'crying'. 'You put this flex paste over' - proceeds to spread it with the paper instruction manual, rather than an actual plastic spreader. Awesome stuff guys keep up the good honest content. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Matey probably went with the cheapest quote for the ac. Poor flare connection meant the joint failed the pipes should take some movement but not a lot. If your man was heavy handed he could have over flexed it. Who's paying for the failure? .Either way, It should have been pinned to the wall especially off the ground and ideally in trunking to protect it.
I lived overseas for many years and A/C installs were always 'installed', not just dumped about the place and installed with a trunk protecting the pipes. I had one installed here. pipes secured and cased in as I might have expected.
@@richardjones5255 Depends on what you pay. I'm oversea's too in the Canaries and see various levels of install, again depends on the standard of the installer and the price the client is willing to pay.. You'd be amazed how many Brits would get on the plane in UK as a postman and get off in Tenerife as a plumber/electrician/builder/ac engineer etc etc. Brexit pretty much stopped all that thank God. UK AC was always a high standard industry when I started in the early '80's in air conditioning everything was clipped, clamped protected and straight we never used coiled pipe for example but I saw in the early 2000's how enrichment and split manufacturers has driven price/quality down and down and it continues. Then the lack of trained engineers in the industry especially at the 'split basher' level is also a reason for low quality.
Bit difficult to tell what the shading is on the pannels, but the Tesla powerwall 3 has 3 mppt strings so could take 3 groups of solar pannels. They will need to generate a certain amount of minimum power, but it seems to be a bit overkill to have a solar edge inverter and the powerwall3 as it does much the same job all in one. Unless it’s a powerwall2 but then why install outdated tech on a brand new install. Would be good to hear Jordan’s description on the install.
@@JasperJanssentrue it’s not been out long, released middle of June and as you say this could have been recorded a while back. It’s a shame for the customer though as it’s effectively an out of date system already and there’s always a risk if they want to add battery or capacity they will have to dump the powerwall 2 because the powerwall 3 isn’t compatible. I guess it would have been expensive as artisan are at the top of the install costs I suspect, but they do a very thorough install.
@@davideyres955I reckon it was quite a while ago because Lee is much more hirsute these days! I know he may have shaved but he went to so much trouble to become a scruffy bunny I don't think he will yet. 😂
46:42 Can you do an educational video on earthing and the types of it? So when, where, why and how to use the respective types and what the pitfalls are. Especially in those outbuilding situations, which earthing system should be used? Maybe do a in-office video, where you explain on a drawing board what is what and combine it with real life examples from jobsites :)
He shows in the video that the old ones are donated to charities working in Africa to generate power for water pumps etc. there was a whole segment on it.👍
Why put the skirts on bi-facial panels? It looks neater but that's block the only real bit of reflected sun the panels will get so why use bifacial panels?
Interested to hear about how the customer is handling the increase in power with the fit payment scheme? Is he getting paid for generation proportionally based on the original small array?
Regarding those MCBs, it's not impossible for a device of that size to be able to successfully break PV under load but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they aren't actually rated for it. People that don't actually know what they are doing make the mistake of simply turning them off in normal conditions, seeing them work and assume all is OK. In reality if the PV is shorted downstream of the MCB and then the MCB opened unless it is properly rated it'll burst into flames in a matter of seconds. There's a big technical difference between an inverter pulling full amps off the array and a short circuit even though they both draw the same current.
@@retrozmachine1189so what actually is the difference between a shorted panel pushing 10 amps short circuit current and an inverter drawing 10 amps MPPT current?
@@retrozmachine1189 I don’t regularly experience DC shorts, no. If you do, there might be something wrong with your installs. DC rated breakers are DC rated breakers. They’re supposed to be able to break DC current. The only difference *I’ve* ever heard people articulate before is that DC arcs are much harder to extinguish than AC ones.
@@JasperJanssen Ah yes, we don't need to consider short circuit conditions at all. All those kA ratings on MCBs, that's just there for decoration. No wait, I just received a message from reality, it seems that you actually do need to consider all conditions when selecting a device, *all* conditions.
Is it in the actual regs? Makes sense when you think about how these connections are used, even wasting a few watts on the cable adds up over 20 years.
'Hilti' was synonymous with those guns, which use little bullet type explosives, to drive nails into steel. They wereknown simply as 'Hitlis', or 'Hilti Guns'. In the north of Ireland in the 1980s, you needed a special licence to possess the charges....anyway, two lads at school, two years older than me, decided to make a pipe-bomb (AFAIK, as a crazy experiment, not 'with intent'), so they filled a length of copper piping, sealed at one end, with the contents of opened Hilti charges,.......and.....then.... decided to hammer the other end shut. One lost a thumb, and an eye, the other major leg damage. Then I believe they were arrested and charged with all sorts of unpleasant charges. If you've read this far... stop the holocaust in Palestine. Please. March.
I like "in depth," as glossing the detail is not useful. Better to know that you do not actually know all you need to know than become an ignorant expert! Thank you, Jordan, for your wonderful and educational videos. Please keep up the good work. One day I may have a commission for you, though, likely it will not be particularly complicated compared to most. I am near retirement age, and when I can retire, I shall not run a car, so no need to worry about charging an EV. Just a Solar PV system of modest scale, and a huge battery set so I can live within my generation in the dark winter season. I have not used heating for several years, so I don't need or want a high powered system, but only enough for hot water and light, plus cooking for one ... Thanks and best wishes from George
Lightning doesn't care if the panels are bonded or not, but if the panels are bonded, you have a small chance that the inverter won't explode if lightning strikes.
@@arkatub Exactly. Bonding's effect on "attracting" lightning is in the order of centimeters because the positive and negative cable go to the inverter where the ground potential is centimeters away from the DC circuit. However, lightning strikes a distance of ~kilometer from the cloud to the ground, so the bonding panels only protects the equipment.
Please stop your guys carrying new panels over their shoulders. I know 95% of installers do it but it's really bad for the panels. The installation instructions are pretty clear they are two man lifts and as someone who works for a large O&M provider I seen so many panels with micro cracks and read plenty of reports which demonstrate how this damages the panels. They will be fine on day one but over time it does cause issues. Happy to share reports if required
Yes, it's a thing and the manufacturers say to not put weight on the cell sheet. If you have to pick up a panel one hand under one side, other on top and that's the only contact you make with it. I'm quite tall and have long arms so it's quite easy for me to heft a larger panel. Short people can have problems and should do it with another person.
Curious about the cables we used in this install? ⚡ Doncaster Cables offers innovative solutions like PV Ultra, EV Ultra, and Powerwall Connect that make electrical work easier and safer. Check out their products at www.doncastercables.com 🔗
Your slagging the work off but what if that's all the client could afford at the time. Or many other reasons. I find your videos informative, but you do slate alot of work from others which sometimes might be a handyman doing it or trades but you either way you don't have to put someone down to make yourself look better.
I'm an electrician that currently works for a company that partners with Octopus. Id say we are probably one of the biggest installers of Solar, Batteries and Teslas in the UK. We sub out so much work it must be hard for them to keep track of how that work is being done. That said working direct for the company they do amazing installs I see the same quality in us that you guys do. Cant wait for Doncaster to make the power wall 3 cable it will make the installs that much neater.
Hi Jordan, I have enjoyed many of your videos. I'm a solar designer and installer in Australia and we require the racking and panels to be bonded with min 4mm. Many of our rooves are tin and it's very important that cables are secured well so as not to rest or fall onto the roof. We also sometimes use in-line fuse connectors on the DC run and, on some smaller systems, use DC circuit breakers. The very least they do is indicate an over current situation. I used to be an electrician in the UK and I much prefer SWA and the flexibility of the UV in this video impressive, we hardly use it in Oz sadly.
Sounds like you've got some interesting differences in regulations and practices over in Australia. Thanks for sharing your insights-always love hearing how things are done differently around the world.
Superb video Jordan, 👏 👏 👏. Loved all the in-depth detail, one of your best. 👌
Glad you enjoyed it! Is this the sort of videos you would like to see in the future?
Surely bonding is good practise. We must understand that the solar panels create a large conductor for lightning to strike. A neighbour of mine had a lightning strike via the sola panels and caused extensive damage in the property. So yes earth bonding is a must and also ensure it has a good earthing connection to go to.
Did you completely forfeit the Fits payments? As I understand it you can replace a FITS system and still receive generation payments, they are just paid pro-rata, so if you went from 4kWp to 8kWp fits would be paid on 50% of the generation.
Aircon pipe work should be fixed, either in trunking or tray or even just clipped to the wall with the banding your using 👍
I upgraded my 11 year old panels - bought new - used the old ones on a ground mount and directly connected it to another battery for direct to hot water.. every little helps
Great content again.
I'm just getting into the Solar world at the moment, where does it state to use a minimum 4mm cable on the ac side? Thanks
9 months and counting since anyone other than Jordan was on the thumbnail.
An absolute vanity project.
The fact a video was made to discuss letting people go just before Christmas was an absolute disgrace.
Glad to see the likes of John have gone on to better things.
Those guys deserved better respect from someone who was travelling more than at work whilst the company was struggling.
Your comments regarding the quality of PV installers and the race to the bottom struck home with me. Recently had quotes for PV and batteries from a company linked to Solartogether and one of the big energy suppliers. I was astounded about the lack of knowledge from those performing the surveys and their complete inability to answer my questions. To cap it off the major energy provider was going to use a 2 man band as a sub-contractor that had existed as a registered company for less than 2 years and had net assets of £2k! I've run a mile and have decided to postpone indefinitely any move to renewables. Shame I'm not in your area 😊
I can recommend a company in the N West if you are anywhere near!
@@clive-j2l There are good companies out there, it's just hard to find them. You did well to avoid Solartogether, using a company that subcontracts work out is asking for trouble, not all are bad, but a lot can be, and they are very inflexible with what they will install. Ask around on forums, for good installers, and get multiple quotes.
We had an array fitted 13 years ago. It returns around £800+ a year. I can't see an advantage of upgrading until the end of the FIT period in 7 years.
The panels would be more powerful but losing FIT I don't think would be balanced by gains from the new system.
I wouldn't change them either at that FIT. Our yearly electricity bill is less than £400
You can upgrade and retain your FIT as a pro-rata value - from what I've read.
@@williamlawrenson8345
Different issue apparently electricity companies will increasingly not want any excess electricity. Already happening in California
the thing is though I get your high end and cater for high end and you do an amazing job, but the reality is most people are getting solar to try and save money and have a realistic ROI for maybe 5-10years max, this system I imagine the cost was 20k plus easily if not more, most people dont have that kind of money to pay out upfront then the higher the upfront cost the longer the ROI, There are plenty of reputable companies out there doing good installs for less than 10k with a similar output just using different gear. the advice id give is do your research on the installer you go with not the equipment there using and you get a good install either way, and if you have money to burn you can have a super high end install like this one
Not true the higher cost = longer ROI. Larger array and battery storage = more options to generate, use and export so the opposite can be true but as always a balance to strike
@@NevillePrinsloo-g7j also not true Co u can get 14 panel arrays and same battery for much cheaper than this setup
@@UnitedSpotlightwasn’t talking about this specific install, of course you can get bigger arrays that aren’t as expensive was purely making the point that lower cost doesn’t mean faster payback that’s all
@@NevillePrinsloo-g7j well it's all based on production and upfront cost isn't it so it's all relative to the size or the array. Battery is a different topic beciz it all depends on tariff and if u have ev or heat pumps for overnight charging in winter. Because just having battery and no ev or heatpump these days it's hard to find a overnight option that's like 7p you need an EV or heat pump even with octopus to get those kind of rates now, best u get is maybe agile which I'm on and that's more often than not 12 to 15p overnight, more battery is not always the best route to ROI, unless you can get access to those super cheap tarriffs
@@UnitedSpotlightbored now.
Thanks for a good video. I notice that you used bifacial panels but there was little prospect of any light behind the panels. Any particular reason for this.
Great video. Really good in-depth bits and explanations. Hope Luke's exam went well.
I get my Zappi installed tomorrow. Can't wait!
Glad you enjoyed the video and Luke has passed his AM2 exams as well!
I've had my Chargemaster for over 7 years and it's never let me down. It was installed free when I bought my original Nissan Leaf, but it now charges 2 Teslas MG5 and a Nissan Leaf still.
We got rid of the original Nissan leaf after taking a Tesla test drive so we have ended up with a Tesla each, we love them so much and the family charge their EV's at our house as they dont have off road parking and the BP charger is still managing fine
Hi Jordan, Great video. can you tell me what types of paperwork do you keep in that information pack on the wall..
Do you also have a mesh option for the solar panel skirt? I ask as the solid one woudl surely prevent airflow for cooling.
Interested to know how those inner cores are double insulated when I saw you strip the cable it looked like 1 covering.
Nice work
Do you list PV-Ultra and EV-Ultra as a departure against BS7671 133.5 on your EIC ?
Yes, with cable you can always cut a bit off but can't cut a bit on. The other thing to watch is the size of conduit you use, can be a bit small if not careful.
I have MCBs on mine, but they are DC rated, potentially a fire hazard if not, and yes an MCB is a permitted means of isolation, so long as it's correctly marked. Can't remember the number, think something like EC60947.
Hi
We would also like to upgrade our solar array but KEEP the Fit in Tariff.
Our array was installed in June 2010 and consist of 14 *185w (2,590 w) panels on a southerly facing roof which produce approx. 2,450 KwH per year so the FIT at the current price of 71.85p is too good to give up.
I was wondering if we could increase our solar capacity by replacing the exiting capacity with new panels (I reckon 5 / 6 panels) but the generation must go through the FIT meter and then any spare space on the roof on a separate “line”. However, when I submit my FIT reading to British Gas it asks me to confirm that the system has not changed, so how do I get over that?
Any views?
Why are the consumer units so high up?
Is it a special material to mount the cable to the wall? Can I use it with NYM-J (PVC) cable?
I have DC-Breakers between battery and inverter. Nothing in the DC path of the panels though except the switches that are integrated in the inverters nowadays. Bonding the arrays is in the install manual of many panels. And of course mandatory in Germany.
In NZ we bond all the array panels included, as insulation faults occur and the inverters in NZ have to have insulation shut down (ground fault) part of the standards .If you can get your hands on our standards you are looking for AS/NZS4777 and AS/NZS 5033. and as for the mcbs on the solar array need to break 2 poles at once. so in theory that could have caused a fire if the voltage was high enough
I watched this through and found it very interesting in the ways you arranged the panel using micro inverters.
I was wondering if anybody could advise me if I can update my system to get the East and West facing roofs onto my existing setup. There are two DC strings to the inverter and I was wondering if it is possible to add six panels with micro invertors without going to the Fox inverter as there are no fixing points available for the two extra direction roofs on DC strings. The installer does not know but thinks it might backfeed the inverter causing problems with feed in. Anybody have an answer?
There is a isolation device that stop all backfeed to the main in case of power failure and allows a self sufficient island for the house on reduced output to see us through the coming blackout the government is arranging for us this winter.
It would be great if you could tell us the total cost of these installs.
I would usually expect the ac pipes and cabling to be fixed to some traywork, at least in a commercial environment
I'm curious to work out what was done when my late partner had solar installed in his bungalow. Everything apart from an isolator in the meter cab is in the loft. Last time I looked i couldn't make head nor tail of it and I'm an electronics engineer by trade.
Hi jordan, have you ever thought about making a standard design for your installations, especially for where the consumer unit inverter and batteries go, might speed things up if you know what size of space is needed means things dont nees to be thought about where they go.
We’d love to standardise things, but every property is different, so it’s tough to have a one-size-fits-all setup. We do try to keep things consistent where we can, though. It defiantly would make life easier I can say that 😂
My 2011 PV system has the single PV string going to an ABB double pole DC breaker, the Sunnyboy inverter doesn't have an inbuilt DC switch like modern inverters seem to have.
Great video, one thing that would make it even better would be some camera lighting for when you are filming junction boxes and cabling in dark places - like the garage segment in this one 👍
We intended to have some sort of lighting in the garage but unfortunately, we forgot the light in the unit haha, We will have lighting in darker places going forward! Glad you enjoyed the video.
Great informative video however I do believe screened cables the screen should now be covered in a pink sleeving to differentiate between shield and cpc 😃
39:00 your customer's details are legible on the wall, might want to blur them out like the other time they are shown.
In The Netherlands you are required to bound the solarpanels to earth with the minimum of 6mm2 if you want comply to the 'Scope 12' rules. I guess the breakers where there to be able to safely disconnect the dc cables from the inverter, not to trip incase of a fault
They do make DC breakers that otherwise look like regular din rail components, and 10 amp is roughly right for panels of that age (which is same as my panels). They’d most like likely be running at about 40V open circuit and 30V MPTT, with a string current of 10 amp ish max.
Now *why* they fused the DC lines I don’t know - the current on a string is kind of naturally limited, the panels just can’t really generate much more than the rated amps, no matter how anything is misconnected or shorts out. Unless you manage to get it so misconnected that you have multiple panels in parallel, but that’s really implausible as long as it was correctly wired to start with. And even then the cables are typically at least 4 mm^2, so even if you’d somehow miswired it to 30V/50A, you’d be *most* of the way to that being a good enough cable thickness.
But yeah, who knows, maybe it was just the dual pole dc isolators were out of stock that day.
As for the new boys toys!!
Lichen is neither plant or animal, they are a symbiotic organism between a fungus and alga...
Appreciate the answer!
What an amazing job! In the event of a mains power failure roughly how long would the system support a house of this load use when the second Tesla battery is installed?
Thanks! We always aim for 24 hours backup power for our clients although some request more than that. In this case the system will last 24 hours approximately depending on the time of year, house loads etc.
what happened to the old panels and system. Why were they not kept to add to what you did in some way. Surely 4 kW would be better then the 3 you added?
Rules regulations and the way we "normally" do stuff in the UK aside.... What are the benefits and "negatives" of bonding the panels. Is there ever any "leakage" from panel to frame?
Does it help prevent galvanic corrosion perhaps? Would it act as a lightning conductor and help save the electrical system?
29:25.. talking about banding and neatness and bunching them up when it looks like you could have buried them with ease along there.. Would that not have been the better solution? being as you had to partially bury them across the walkway anyway
Loved the video !
Glad you enjoyed the video!
In depth and technical
😎
Love all the flashy installs but the true value for me is the deep dives from Jordan a true role model
"THATS NO MOON!" (Sorry, couldn't resist)
Considering the increasing incidence of EV battery fires (thermal runaways) I would want my EV charger mounted outside the house so the EV could be parked a safe distance from the house - NOT IN THE GARAGE.
Really engaging content thank you. The inside garage install looked very tidy and well laid out. Q - how do you generate your system schematics?
00:03:49 has anyone else notice what looks to be a US Veterans memorial Flag on the window sill ???
Thanks Jordan...
The MCB's on the original install looked to be rated in AC Amps. DC Amp ratings are lower because of the nature of DC. With AC, because of the sine wave, you only get a peak current before it drops off and rises again, therefore you don't pass the same amount of energy at a given time. With DC, its constant.
I don't know these things but as the cat 6 cable only needs four wires surely that can also carry the CT wiring as well? So why different cat 6 armoured cabling?
Depends on if you are using gigabit or not. In addition running an unknown power right next to your data signal could cause you network problems that electricians are poorly equipped to even notice let alone diagnose.
There are specs for running cat 5/6 etc and running outside those spaces can work but it’s not guaranteed. So you could see large error rates, dropped packets, corrupt data. All these things are fine but if your application isn’t well written to cope and most won’t be you could end up with weird intermittent problems that work be hard to diagnose.
The problem is sparks usually call out DIYers for saying “it works” but often throw in data the same way as they do electrical and don’t test it properly, just plug in the network and take the green light as everything’s fine.
Well installed data can have a guarantee for 20 years from the manufacturers but it needs a full certification test to get it. That means a £5 grand bit of kit.
At the end, is that 3kw per hour for all the panels.
"Maybe they got some money back ?" Even that 2kW? system would generate a healthy revenue under the original FITS scheme for the last "10, 12 years"
hi form sa... first of all i like your videos 🤩....yes about the dc breakers in sa they do it but it is fuse first then it is a dc surge protective device with the double pole dc circuit breaker.
Hi artisan electrics I have a question as a buisness owner how much do you get paid yearly or monthly?
Husk lige udluftningen ved solcellerne, der bliver over 50c. , vi bruger net i DK. så fuglene, eller andet ikke har adgang, tænk også på micro cracks. tak for den gode Video, samt alle detaljerne MVH. Henrik
Love all your videos, sadly I do find it frustrating when you mix and match the Solar equipment, the clients having multiple apps for one system is in my opinion not ‘high end’
I have full Solaredge installation certificates and installed many systems using Solaredge 48v batteries, car chargers and hot water controllers, all work flawlessly and seem incredibly efficient at the distribution of excess solar, with priorities being easily controlled by the client, the new HomeHub inverters even offer optional smart devices to add further client devices to the one system such as Jacuzzis and pool pumps.
I have no affiliation to Solaredge but even on the small island of Malta we can get all the latest products from them.
Do you fit solar on pen island?
have you still got those old panels if so can i have them only need to keep a shed topped up
You didn't even watch the video then?
Only bonded solar if the pannels could be touched through something like a velux window i have had shocks of neighbours solar install while fitting
Really enjoyed that Jordan....we've been discussing whether to go with solar/battery or just battery. My wife says just battery which I thought was just cost concerns but it turns out she has a very good question: is there any kind of roof-condition survey that's done before putting the weight of solar panels up there? We're in a seventy year old semi that started life being thrown up quickly post war as a council property. It's steel frame and was upgraded externally from concrete sheet tile cladding to an outer red brick skin with air gap.
The point is I don't think the roof has been looked at since so would this be taken into account when considering putting up panels? Or does a solar installer just consider the state of the electrical system and presume the customer has ensured the roof is sound enough to bear the extra weight?
At the moment we're at the "if in doubt do battery only" stage.
Thanks for the question! A good solar installer will assess your roof's suitability, especially for older homes. If there's doubt, a structural survey might be worth considering. Battery-only sounds like a safe call for now, but definitely ask about roof checks if you reconsider solar
@@artisanelectrics thanks so much chaps.👍👏
still installing Powerwall 2's?
As long as the old equipment is repurposed it’s fine to upgrade.
Hi, I’m looking for an installer, however i have a few issues 1.slate tile roof 2.vaulted ceilings 3. No garage 4.east & west facing roof 5. I use approximately 2,600 kWh p/a. I’d really appreciate your honest opinion, many thanks..
I am very interested in your video. Your video explanation is very professional, which attracted me.
Glad to hear that!
5 feet too long is better than 1 inch too short. Works in Hawaii too. With Aloha...
Is it really an upgrade if it never was installed properly?
What model of SolarEdge it is?
I really have to take you to task on your comments about the BP charger. I have had the polar version of this charger a 3.5 KW version since it was fitted free on my house wall 9 years ago. Its successfully charged 3 PHEV cars for me in that time.
Some of us don't need all the bells a whistles of the most recent faddy charger we're happy to plug in and charge.
It hasn't failed in those 9 years.
I'm upgrading to a 7.3 KW charger which has lots of features I'll never use . Let's see how that fares
I mean I am glad it still works after all these years! I personally think most of our customers prefer the options we give them but great to see it still works after 9 years.
@@artisanelectrics
I'm getting whatever octopus supply. I really don't need all of the bells and whistles. I just plug it in and unplug when charged. I wish I could get a charger with nothing on it.
I don't have batteries or solar, I'd love to but nobody has proved to me they're economic. I'd produce electricity at 33p.
A battery to shift power to a different time of day is equally not economic
@@allan4787
Here is my set up economics 15k total install. Well if you have Octopus Intelligent tariff and a power wall battery, you will charge your battery at 7p per kWh at night. so every kWh you use in the day from the battery pays you back about 20p. So prob £1.60 to £2.00 per day. £600-800 per year. 10-14 year payback for a power wall install. After that amount of patience you are quids in.
You also have off grid capability and are helping the climate by avoiding fossils being burnt at peak time. May make you sleep easier.
similar payback period for solar. You get15p per kWh export with Octopus.maybe 4000kwh pa for a £7k install if the power wall is power shifting night to day. 600pa max. 12 year payback.
If you used more daytime elec, heat pumps/aircon. Payback is much faster.
@@artisanelectrics it might not have a cool app, or speak to your jimmi or your bobbi, but if it's still working after 9 years it would probably have worked quite happily for another 9 as long as water didn't get in...
@@artisanelectrics
You as an industry tell us that we won't get payback on solar or batteries unless they last for 25 years 😂😂😂
I'm ridiculed for saying that I need a payback in 10 years.
I'm sure my polar charger will last for another 9 years
Do you get sun in England?
Great Video
Glad you enjoyed it
Nice to see the team Jordan. I assume Luke passed the exams? And good to see Reuben with a nice Hilti gift. Cheers
I am glad that you enjoyed the video and yes, Luke has passed his exams!
@artisanelectrics cheers! Congratulations Luke!
In the US some states and local Gov require a Breaker on all DC cables, this means from panels and battery's.
That is weird in case of panels as they can't produce enough current to trip a breaker or if you install breaker with lower value it will trip every time sun is shining :D
“European House Builder”. I think we know what you mean!
You would have thought the mounting rails for the solar panels would be earthed so if there was a ⚡ strike
The Sigenergy system looks 10 times better than the powerwall is that the case?
The old cables have nice colors, can't we ditch the brown and go back to red? The red is so much nicer then brown, don't know why they changed it.
the people did vote for brexit
brakers on DC are very common in the UPS world
Surprised you never put an SPD in that garage board to protect all that expensive tech, good install and video though
There’s an SPD at the main incomer 👍
'Just little things like that are not professional, trades people take pride in your work, get organised, plan ahead'
Oh shit, all our cables are too short because we couldn't measure properly - 'crying'.
'You put this flex paste over' - proceeds to spread it with the paper instruction manual, rather than an actual plastic spreader.
Awesome stuff guys keep up the good honest content. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
AUSTRALIA SOLAR INSTALLER HERE. WE EARTH ALL OUR RAILING HERE TOO.
Matey probably went with the cheapest quote for the ac. Poor flare connection meant the joint failed the pipes should take some movement but not a lot. If your man was heavy handed he could have over flexed it. Who's paying for the failure?
.Either way, It should have been pinned to the wall especially off the ground and ideally in trunking to protect it.
I lived overseas for many years and A/C installs were always 'installed', not just dumped about the place and installed with a trunk protecting the pipes. I had one installed here. pipes secured and cased in as I might have expected.
@@richardjones5255 Depends on what you pay.
I'm oversea's too in the Canaries and see various levels of install, again depends on the standard of the installer and the price the client is willing to pay..
You'd be amazed how many Brits would get on the plane in UK as a postman and get off in Tenerife as a plumber/electrician/builder/ac engineer etc etc. Brexit pretty much stopped all that thank God.
UK AC was always a high standard industry when I started in the early '80's in air conditioning everything was clipped, clamped protected and straight we never used coiled pipe for example but I saw in the early 2000's how enrichment and split manufacturers has driven price/quality down and down and it continues.
Then the lack of trained engineers in the industry especially at the 'split basher' level is also a reason for low quality.
They defo went for the cheapest quote
Solar edge inverter but installing Tesla powerwalls? I thought the powewall had string connections?
Powerwall is fully AC coupled afaik.
Bit difficult to tell what the shading is on the pannels, but the Tesla powerwall 3 has 3 mppt strings so could take 3 groups of solar pannels. They will need to generate a certain amount of minimum power, but it seems to be a bit overkill to have a solar edge inverter and the powerwall3 as it does much the same job all in one. Unless it’s a powerwall2 but then why install outdated tech on a brand new install.
Would be good to hear Jordan’s description on the install.
@@davideyres955 not necessarily an install that happened last week - let alone designed recently. PW 3 hasn’t been out for very long at all.
@@JasperJanssentrue it’s not been out long, released middle of June and as you say this could have been recorded a while back.
It’s a shame for the customer though as it’s effectively an out of date system already and there’s always a risk if they want to add battery or capacity they will have to dump the powerwall 2 because the powerwall 3 isn’t compatible.
I guess it would have been expensive as artisan are at the top of the install costs I suspect, but they do a very thorough install.
@@davideyres955I reckon it was quite a while ago because Lee is much more hirsute these days! I know he may have shaved but he went to so much trouble to become a scruffy bunny I don't think he will yet. 😂
So the real reason you keep coming back to the UK is to stock up on HP and not to supervise the Artisan gang..
Obviously I come back for the Artisan team, love seeing and helping those guys but the HP sauce is a nice bonus haha
46:42 Can you do an educational video on earthing and the types of it? So when, where, why and how to use the respective types and what the pitfalls are. Especially in those outbuilding situations, which earthing system should be used? Maybe do a in-office video, where you explain on a drawing board what is what and combine it with real life examples from jobsites :)
We can certainly look into doing this on one of our platforms!
I'm assuming you can sell the old one?
He shows in the video that the old ones are donated to charities working in Africa to generate power for water pumps etc. there was a whole segment on it.👍
We have sent them off to a town in Africa and donated them to a charity that will help generate power using the solar panels for the water pumps
Why put the skirts on bi-facial panels? It looks neater but that's block the only real bit of reflected sun the panels will get so why use bifacial panels?
Oxford sauce for the win
I would be gutted to downgrade from Milwaukee to hilti
Interested to hear about how the customer is handling the increase in power with the fit payment scheme? Is he getting paid for generation proportionally based on the original small array?
Forfeiting it I guess
hi, what model of pants this is ?
Regarding those MCBs, it's not impossible for a device of that size to be able to successfully break PV under load but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they aren't actually rated for it. People that don't actually know what they are doing make the mistake of simply turning them off in normal conditions, seeing them work and assume all is OK. In reality if the PV is shorted downstream of the MCB and then the MCB opened unless it is properly rated it'll burst into flames in a matter of seconds. There's a big technical difference between an inverter pulling full amps off the array and a short circuit even though they both draw the same current.
I'm not an installer but you don't need to be an installer to understand this stuff.
@@retrozmachine1189so what actually is the difference between a shorted panel pushing 10 amps short circuit current and an inverter drawing 10 amps MPPT current?
@@JasperJanssen Ever noticed that fhsssh squeal sound on a sustained DC fault? There's a hint for you.
@@retrozmachine1189 I don’t regularly experience DC shorts, no. If you do, there might be something wrong with your installs.
DC rated breakers are DC rated breakers. They’re supposed to be able to break DC current. The only difference *I’ve* ever heard people articulate before is that DC arcs are much harder to extinguish than AC ones.
@@JasperJanssen Ah yes, we don't need to consider short circuit conditions at all. All those kA ratings on MCBs, that's just there for decoration. No wait, I just received a message from reality, it seems that you actually do need to consider all conditions when selecting a device, *all* conditions.
The regs say you need to use minimum 4mm cable for the AC side of a solar install?? Why on earth is that?
Is it in the actual regs? Makes sense when you think about how these connections are used, even wasting a few watts on the cable adds up over 20 years.
Let's not rush to buy panels or batteries, the market will be saturated and panels and batteries will get cheaper, people, give it a rest, wait
It's already so cheap. Lol
Anymore cheaper, the industry collapses. 😢
'Hilti' was synonymous with those guns, which use little bullet type explosives, to drive nails into steel. They wereknown simply as 'Hitlis', or 'Hilti Guns'. In the north of Ireland in the 1980s, you needed a special licence to possess the charges....anyway, two lads at school, two years older than me, decided to make a pipe-bomb (AFAIK, as a crazy experiment, not 'with intent'), so they filled a length of copper piping, sealed at one end, with the contents of opened Hilti charges,.......and.....then.... decided to hammer the other end shut. One lost a thumb, and an eye, the other major leg damage. Then I believe they were arrested and charged with all sorts of unpleasant charges. If you've read this far... stop the holocaust in Palestine. Please. March.
Wont the skirts around the panel make the bi-facial part of the panel useless?
Yes. pretty much useless. Maybe they had a lot of stock of those.
bi-facial is a waste of money in roof installation anyway.
I like "in depth," as glossing the detail is not useful. Better to know that you do not actually know all you need to know than become an ignorant expert!
Thank you, Jordan, for your wonderful and educational videos. Please keep up the good work.
One day I may have a commission for you, though, likely it will not be particularly complicated compared to most. I am near retirement age, and when I can retire, I shall not run a car, so no need to worry about charging an EV. Just a Solar PV system of modest scale, and a huge battery set so I can live within my generation in the dark winter season. I have not used heating for several years, so I don't need or want a high powered system, but only enough for hot water and light, plus cooking for one ...
Thanks and best wishes from George
Thank you for the kind words! I’m really glad you enjoy the in-depth approach-it’s always better to dig deep than to just scratch the surface.
No that’s not normal for the ac pipe work lol
9:30 Don't bond panels to earth, it attacts lightening.
Lightning doesn't care if the panels are bonded or not, but if the panels are bonded, you have a small chance that the inverter won't explode if lightning strikes.
@@peto22 I may be wrong, but aren't you providing a more direct path to the ground? (which is what a lightening strike is seeking)
Do SPD help?
@@arkatub Exactly. Bonding's effect on "attracting" lightning is in the order of centimeters because the positive and negative cable go to the inverter where the ground potential is centimeters away from the DC circuit. However, lightning strikes a distance of ~kilometer from the cloud to the ground, so the bonding panels only protects the equipment.
Please stop your guys carrying new panels over their shoulders. I know 95% of installers do it but it's really bad for the panels. The installation instructions are pretty clear they are two man lifts and as someone who works for a large O&M provider I seen so many panels with micro cracks and read plenty of reports which demonstrate how this damages the panels. They will be fine on day one but over time it does cause issues. Happy to share reports if required
Yes, it's a thing and the manufacturers say to not put weight on the cell sheet. If you have to pick up a panel one hand under one side, other on top and that's the only contact you make with it. I'm quite tall and have long arms so it's quite easy for me to heft a larger panel. Short people can have problems and should do it with another person.
"European"....very diplomatic