Great video Gary, another option for folk to measure appliances is to use a energy monitoring smart plug which can be got quite cheaply these days and give the additional benefit of being able to put the appliance on a time schedule.
Hi Piper - thanks. And I completely forgot to mention about smart plugs in the video! Thanks for the reminder... My next video is all about AC, DC, current and voltage, but I'll add smart plugs to my list of future videos! :-)
What a great video Gary and thank you for taking the time to make it. This is something the government should do to give people advice on how to save money on their electric bill now we are in a cost of living crisis. 👍
Thanks William - yeah, it's a little daunting for people who are having to learn about energy in the home quickly in the face of rising prices. I'm in the middle of working on my next 101 video now, which goes into AC, DC, voltage and current... :-)
Another excellent video.I wish 40 years ago my physics teacher had explained power and energy this way. Back then it was about moving objects like you showed with the box. It is much easier to understand when someone explains it with day to day examples. Top job.
Wow - that's praise indeed, Michael - thank you! :-) You might be interested in my next video then (hopefully dropping in a week - working on it now)... it's all about AC, DC, current and voltage. These videos are certainly taking me back to my physics classes at school!
@@GaryDoesSolar 14:25----So even if the inverter is 5kW and solar is generating 6kW , you are saying that inverter will give output of 5kW and remaining 1kW will go to battery? How is that possible as inverter can't pass more than 5kW because it's maximum output capacity is 5kW?
@@fahadmukhtar1124 It's true that only a maximum of 5kW can pass through to the AC side of the inverter, given the inverter size, but there is no restriction on the DC side, so the extra 1kW of generation will go to the battery provided the battery is not already full. If it is, the extra 1kW will be lost.
Gary you legend. The mix-up between kWh and kW is one of my biggest bugbears so I'm super pleased you've explained it so well. It was on my plan to do a similar video myself at some point but you beat me to it, and I'm not even the slightest bit annoyed because you did a better job than I would have done! I come from a physics background so units are something I'm very familiar with and I'm constantly surprised by how many people, even industry professionals, get power and energy mixed up. Now I have a convenient video to point people towards whenever I need to explain the difference.
Thanks Tim - I wasn’t sure whether to do this kind of video or not, but you’re right - quite a few people get confused by the terms and actually, having a good understand on the difference between power and energy helps a lot when you’re dealing with solar technology. I can see some companies exploiting that confusion too - selling 2kW wind turbines that are actually 2kWh over a month! 🤣🤣 You should still do such a video - whereas mine are heavily animated diagrams etc., you present a more human approach, which appeals to many. I’m working on one further 101 video, this time on AC, DC, voltage and current - should be out in a week or so. Then I’m back to my normal videos, starting with one on why I think microinverters are the way forward for solar (despite their lacklustre performance with shading)! Hopefully you’re getting good stats on your heat pump related videos - you’re really into something there! This tech is nothing short of game changing! 👍🏻😀
@@GaryDoesSolar you know, maybe you're right, I do have an idea for how I could illustrate the difference between power and energy that is different to how you did it, so perhaps that could be a good complement to your video. I'll give it a few weeks before I record that though. The heat pump videos are doing ok but interestingly not as well as my earlier battery focused videos. I suspect batteries and solar are more in people's minds right now but there is definitely some portion of my audience that are very interested in the heat pump stuff, so we'll continue to include them in future videos, for sure. I've got a nice nerd spreadsheet video coming up next so that'll be fun. Looking forward to your AC/DC video too!
@@TimAndKatsGreenWalk That sounds like a good plan, Tim - and it would make for a good video 🙂 And yeah, I guess people are still waking up to heat pump technology - it's not so easy to grasp, and for those who are already into solar, heat pump technology looks to many like a tangent to somewhere completely different. And I guess, just as there was with solar technology for many years, the aesthetics ("Putting solar panels on a house will just ruin the look") - people will need to get past the "I don't want an A/C looking unit on my house" phase. What do you think? Your solution of having the unit down the side alley is a good one (I think I'd do the same) although I'd worry about knocking the unit with my wheely bins every week! Lol Looking forward to your next video then - I did one with a spreadsheet a few months back, and I'm still getting the odd comments and email on that today 🙂 I think many people feel comfortable with spreadsheets... Good luck with it!
@@GaryDoesSolar we were lucky that the side of the house where the heat pumps are installed is the dead end passage we don't really use, so very convenient. But I can see how siting the external unit for a lot of folks could be a problem. I've seen some installs where the external unit is higher up on the wall using brackets to get it out of the way, but that has its own issues, both aesthetically and from a maintenance perspective. I reckon the company that first creates a really attractive external unit that people would be proud to show off is going to clean up. I'm aiming to do my spreadsheet video this weekend so we'll see how that goes! And we're finally getting some movement on our solar and battery install, so with any luck it won't be long before that'll appear on the channel too!
Get an instant water jug that heats the water through a pipe and delivers just the amount of hot water you need instead of boiling a jug full every time you just want one or two cups.
Excellent videos Gary. I have had my 4kW system with battery storage since July. Your videos would have definitely helped me and if anyone needs help with installation, I point them to your channel. Hope your install goes well once installed it starts taking over your day making subtle changes to your routines ensuring that high consuming devices are not on together. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Roddy - this is such great feedback to receive! :-) Yeah, not long until my install now - and I think you're right - it'll take a while before I adjust my behaviour (and more so, the rest of the family!!) so that we don't exceed the 5kW maximum of the string inverter (or 3.5kW of the battery) - I have a monitor next to where I normally sit, and every now and again I see it hit >5kW - so it'll be a challenge! Hope you are getting on well with your solar setup (sounds like you are). Is there anything that you would change (or add)?
@@GaryDoesSolar Yea that is the thing I would change I would have gone for a 5kw inverter rather then the 3.6. (No kettle and toaster at the same time) The battery storage is the game changer and what got me looking into the setup. We are able to run the house even in the depths of winter on off peak power with days like today giving us the boost of solar to the battery. Next is to get my home automation to a level to make sure this can be maintained when my young children are older, switching off unused appliances.
Haha yes! My son keeps telling to stop putting in corny rubbish like that (and when I look at it now, I cringe) Thanks for the kind words about my work :-)
Good stuff Gary ... being a retired mechanical engineer and was in charge of a full MEI team during my working career I did manage to grasp most stuff during that period, however what I also learned (during refrigeration training) and the associated physics concerned .... is that many people don't understand the difference between both latent and sensible heat. The reason why it counts is this: When a refrigeration cycle is in effect both types of heat are used, ie latent heat of evaporation where saturated refrigerant vapour/liquid absorbs massive amounts of sensible heat to change its state within the evaporator of the system. That same vapour is then sucked back into the compressor and pumped out to the condenser at high pressure and is subcooled back into a liquid by the condenser itself, ready to begin again as part of the cycle. It undergoes a pressure drop in order to achieve this either via an expansion valve or most often in white goods ... a capilliary. So what you might say ... well, that same physics is performed in a similar way in a kettle. When you boil water you are using energy to raise the temperature of the water to boiling point, at which point it changes its state from liquid to vapour. But what physics also demands is the fact that it requires massive amounts of energy to change the state of the water from liquid to vapour and that is latent heat. It matters because everytime you boil a kettle it doesn't click off via its inbuilt thermistor until steam is sensed. But the point is ... if you boil the kettle to just before boiling at say 95 degrees rather than boiling point, the tea bag won't notice the difference. By not letting the kettle fully boil collectively over the months you will have switched it off manually and thus saved killowatts of power in doing so. The water got hot enough to make a brew, but you never changed its state into a vapour, thus saving a huge amount of energy. :)
So in essence a variable thermistor kettle would make the ideal brew ( tea has an optimum temperature - is my guess) but also save you a significant amount of money.
Hi Rog, this all sounds intriguing. I'm looking into how heat/refrigeration pumps work for a future video and so have a basic understanding of some of the technicals you describe. I was also thinking about changing my kettle to a single cup dispenser. I'm wondering what the optimum solution is (for both tea and coffee)? :-)
An interesting idea. Because a kettle's job is to boil water and not make a cup of tea. So the manufacturers want to be absolutely sure it is boiling before they turn it off, so better to let it over boil. There's an argument for saying that manufacturers should provide kettles with two settings, full boil, and tea boil. And tea boil turns the power off when the temperature hits 98 degrees (or even less).
@@GaryDoesSolarI am such a pedant but at 3.20 you say 4 minutes is 1/15th of an hour "sixty divided by four" but you mean "4 divided by sixty". I have mild aspi and that kinda mistake really pulls me out of the learning experience of an excellent video like this. ❤
@@simonmasters3295 Hi Simon, I also have Asperger traits - one of those is being a sticker for detail. I remember when recording that video, I was a little loose with my language then. In my head I was concentrating on how you calculate the denominator value (60 / 4) :-) Happy to be pulled up on this - detail is everything! Hope you enjoyed the remainder of the video... 😃
Oh for sure. Just got to 11.52 and you say "that power is just lost" when referring, I think, to what you have taught me is called "inverter clipping". I'd have said "...not captured, not even produced" and maybe point out that warms the panels well above ambient? I stress this because I am off grid and have more panels than "capacity to capture" because I have sized for short winter days. I don't have a spreadsheet or insight on past performance yet, and much admire your work and effort in explaining how important this all is as a survival skill in 2023. I want to see science taught like this in schools. My initial thoughts on the speadsheets are 1) why not 48 half-hour periods in the lookup tables? and 2) how the hell we going to extend this to central heating, heat pumps and domestic heat batteries?
Thanks Renske - I'm working on the next two videos just now. I have a little more time this year (as I've dropped my day job hours) so hopefully, I can put some of that extra time into the channel...
@@GaryDoesSolar Awesome, I'm looking forward to the new videos! Apart from my personal interest in solar, I'm also starting a new job as a content marketer for a wholesale company in solar, inverters, batteries and EV chargers, so your videos really help solidify my understanding of the topics :) So keep up the good work, I already saw that I'm not the only one that's happy with your videos :) Greetings from the Netherlands!
One thing we did years ago to reduce energy usage was to buy a HotCup with Variable Dispense which means we only boil one cup of water at a time, which is a lot faster and thus uses a lot less KwH.
@@GaryDoesSolar Hi Gary, The info is very helpful, I have two solar companies coming to do surveys this week and your videos have really helped me put together a meaningful list of questions to ask regarding an installation. To be honest, I’m really nervous about ending up with a fly by night company and a set up that won’t meet my needs but seeing how energy prices are increasing I want to be less reliant on the grid and feel I have to take the plunge. Thanks again for the great information, I know it must be time consuming putting these videos together. Cheers.
@@ianashton1593 Good luck with the surveys - and certainly worth asking them for a couple of (hopefully local) reference installations that you could go and see. That should help put your mind at rest. Hope all goes well 🙂
Your videos have been good and useful to confirm what is already known or to show prospective clients. Out of interest, what sort of fuse are you putting in a 13 amp plug to be able to get 5kw out of it for a tumble dryer?
Hi Jason, yes - well spotted! I think I got a bit carried away with how much power a typical consumer clothes dryer actually uses! At most, it would be around 3kW. I added a correction to the video. I really appreciate you showing my video to others, so they can learn more about the technology. Next video is on AC, DC, voltage and current...
Great video Gary. Question. If you have 4 Tesla power wall 3 AC connected batteries, does your discharge rate KWH figure = 20kwh or is it limited to 5kwh but you just have more stored energy. Apologies if that is a silly question.
Thanks for the kind feedback :-) Now, the discharge rate of a single PW3 is 11.5kW already, and I believe that stacking 4 together might increase that - but I actually don't know! Maybe someone else does...
Another great video Gary. Have you done any research into solar battery efficiency? How much energy is required to charge a battery per kWH of storage and how much energy does each kWH of storage actually give out? Is there a table showing impact cold has on battery efficiency? Love to see a 'Gary' style video on this subject.
Thanks - your comments are much appreciated. I haven't carried out much research into batteries just yet, but I like your idea. I'll add to the list and see what I can come up with...
Hi Gary. Love the videos. So well explained thanks. One question. In your example at 14m20s you have 6kw being generated meaning 5kw can go onto the AC network via the inverter (to presumably either run appliances or be exported ) and the previously lost 1kw going to the DC coupled battery rather than being lost. If you had an AC coupled battery would that extra 1kw get lost or would the AC coupled battery also be able to utilise it assuming it was still a 5kw inverter? Thanks. I’m off to check the charge and discharge rates of the batteries being offered to me!
Thanks Ruth - very kind of you to say :-) Now yes, even though a string inverter has a maximum output limit, if there is solar generation above that, and a DC-coupled battery is connected to that inverter, then it will be able to send that surplus straight to the battery (it's easy for the inverter to do this because it's DC to DC transfer). An AC-coupled battery can't take advantage of that surplus though - because to get to the battery, the inverter would have to convert to AC and it's already at the output limit. Hope that helps :-)
Interesting videos, thank you. Would be interesting to discuss what happens with a power outage on the grid - and what gadget can help continue your home power from your battery as most home batteries and solar don't work if the grid fails.
There is a house to grid shut off switch that automatically stops the power from a home solar and battery system entering when the grid goes down.All systems must have this to prevent houses feeding the grid when work must be done on the grid to avoid a dangerous situation for the power workers.In my country this is an isolation requirement for that reason.
Thanks for your videos Gary, they are quite simple and direct. Viewed this video from Nigeria in West Africa. Just an observation here, Your conversion of 4 minutes to hours should be 4 minutes divided by 60 minutes and not 60 minutes divided by 4 minutes as you mentioned in the video. 60 minutes divided by 4 minutes gives 15 minutes. 4 minutes is a fraction of an hour and not a whole number or an integer. You got the conversion right but said it the wrong way which in my thoughts might get some people confused.
You're most welcome - and thank you for your kind words. Great to have viewers from Africa - a great continent! Good spot on the error in the video - yeah, I got that totally mixed up, but hopefully the message was still understood :-)
Hello Gary. A very interesting and informative series of videos. Thanks. Something I often wonder though, is why we don't refer to kWhs as Units. It means the same thing, as 1 kWh equals 1 Unit of electricity, and would save a lot of the kW and kWh confusion. Would you agree?
Hi David, I ask myself this question every day! Think about driving a car. The main unit is the distance traveled, and so speed doesn't have its own unit - instead it is always expressed as distance / time (e.g. "60 mph"). With energy, it is power that has it's own unit, and worse still (in my view) the energy units are tied explicitly to "hours" - seems totally crazy to me! Lol
The comments have used use of capitalization on the units. The rules are pretty simple. Units are in lower case with the exception of those based on names. Prefixes are in lower case up to kilo and upper case after that so the proper use is kWh as watt is based on a name of a person (note the name of the unit is not capitalized, just the symbol) The units based on names include: Volt (V) base n Alesandro Volta who invented the electric battery. Ampere (A) based on André-Marie Ampère who defined the concept of current. Joule (J) based on James Prescott Joule who defined the relationship between current and power. Ohm (Ω) Based on Georg Simon Ohm who formulated the relationship between voltage, current and resistance, co called Ohm's law. Watt (W) Based on James Watt who produced a workable steam engine and formulated the concept of power.' Coulomb (C) based on Charles-Augustin de Coulomb who defined te electrostatic force Siemens (S) based on Ernst Werner von Siemens who invented electric trams, locomotives and elevators. Siemens is rarely used as it is just the reciprocal of an ohm. Originally all the units was based on electricity but now watt and joule have definitions unrelated to electricity. Note none of the named units were proposed by the person in question. Watt for example was proposed by Charles William SIemens.
Great video Gary, I think all of your videos are clear and informative. I’ve got 5.74 Kwp solar with a 5kw inverter, I’m having a 7.2 kWh batteries fitted tomorrow with an AC coupled 3.68 kw inverter. Would the inverters work together for example will they supply 8.68 kw of power if I’m generating enough solar and my batteries are charged before pulling power from the grid? Thanks Gary and Happy new year Rob
Hi Rob, thanks - that's very kind of you to say! It's certainly a lot of work to make each video, but comments like this really help to keep me going! :-) Great news that you're getting your installation done tomorrow (exciting!) My own installation is booked for end February (it's a sorry tail that started a year ago!) Yes, your inverters will work together. What's great about AC voltage is that generators (whatever they may be, including solar inverters) can just add power onto that supply independently of what else is happening with that supply (appliances, other generators etc.) Hope all goes well with the install!
Hi Dan thanks for posting these videos, I also am North East based (Warkworth) and have just started to look at getting solar installed. Have subscribed and will follow for your updates. Currently looking at quotes from installers and trying to research system pro’s and cons. Any tips and suggestions for installers and sources of information would be much appreciated.
@@GaryDoesSolar hi Gary, thanks for letting me know. I was intending to message someone else but clearly messaged you instead. I am by the way also enjoying your videos and have subscribed, just starting on my solar journey and your videos are helping. Busy getting quotations at the moment, but getting impartial advice on Inverters “rectifiers” and batteries is not that straight forwards, clearly there are many things to consider and understand before weighing up the various manufacturers offerings. Any guidance much appreciated 😁
@@rkrbar Haha - no worries, and thanks for subscribing! Ok, a really great resource is this forum on Facebook, where you can search for a specific inverter product and see what people say about them facebook.com/groups/2197329430289466 There are around 25,000 members on this forum, so there should be plenty of posts and comments on most inverter types. Good luck! 🙂
Ah ha! Thanks Gary - been waiting for this one. I am now fully appraised on KW and KWh. Another video idea you may have considered, batteries, you have touched on them many times. In this video you mentioned the discharge rate. What if I have two DC batteries with a discharge of 2KWh would this be 4 or does it depend on how they are connected?
My pleasure, Phil - glad this video was useful to you :-) Ok, on the batteries then - yes, it depends on how they're connected. For example, I'll be having two 9.5kWh GivEnergy batteries on a hybrid inverter - but the inverter has a charge/discharge rate of 3.6kW regardless of the number of batteries. In your scenario, the limit would still be 2kW no matter the number of batteries connected. I could also have mounted both batteries in AC-coupled configuration using a separate inverter, but I'd still be limited to the charge/discharge rate of that inverter. The way to do it if you want the maximum charge/discharge rate is to have a separate inverter on each battery.
@@GaryDoesSolar Thanks again Gary. Could you have one AC and one DC coupled battery with only the need for one hybrid inverter? You don't need to answer it here but, I think a video on this would benefit loads of people. 😉😉
@@Phil-kt6hc Interesting question. So, certainly the DC-coupled battery will require the hybrid inverter in order to operate, and any additional AC-coupled battery would require a separate inverter (or charge controller) - but I don't see any reason why these two batteries could not work together. After all, an AC-coupled battery will already work quite happily with a separate string inverter managing output from solar panels.
@@GaryDoesSolar thanks for that Gary. But you lost me about half way through. We are just about to embark on a large extension and in doing so hope to get rid of gas. So your channel and others like it are great research. Thank you.
@@Phil-kt6hc Haha - sorry, if I get the chance, I'll try to explain better with a diagram in a video 🙂 Good luck with the new extension - yeah, we'd love to get rid of gas here (reduced only to heating now that we've got an electric hob). I had to replace the gas boiler a year ago, and had considered an ASHP, but it seemed expensive and I couldn't convince myself at the time it would work for us :-/ There is much more analysis available today, however, and so will look at it again in a year or two...
Hi Garry, It is a great video. However, I am not quite agreeing with any DC couple inverter can draw more than its rated kW. If we have more solar generation output (say 6kW), if Hybrid Inv is rated at 5kW, a total of (Load kW + Batter drawn kW), is always limited to 5kW. In your presentation/ DC coupled slide, , if the load = 5kw, battery can’t take any additional power. If the load is 4kW, then battery can take 1kW, making total = 5kW ( that is inverter rating) I checked this subject in the past with two inverter manufacturers, they confirm it is the case.
Hi Sug, thanks for taking the time to comment. Ok, it must depend on the inverter brand then. I have a 5kW GivEnergy hybrid inverter and it can do this. Here's a screenshot from the other day, showing generation of 6.63kW: garydoessolar.com/files/gen.jpg What were the two manufacturers you mention?
Hi Gary, thank you very much for clarity. it was then Solax and Sunsink. It seems, this capability is depend on the inveter brand then. I am in the process of deciding which inveter to go for thus, it is very vital for me to fully undestand this oversizing concept, rating of inveter and total output of inverter (Battery + AC load).
Good video. But there’s no way a tumble dryer can use 4-7Kw. If that were the case where would you plug it in - last time I looked plugs were rated up to 13 amps so an absolute MAXIMUM of 3kw.
Gary, just FYI a kilobyte is NOT 1000x 1 byte but 1024x. Ditto kilobits. Bit=BInary digiT ie. either 0 or 1. Binary uses 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,1024 and up...hence the 1024.
Although this may appear to be a silly question, but here goes. We are in the waiting process of having 16 x 415 solar panels fitted. The this we are having an inverter and 2 x 9.5 kw batteries fitted to store any and all surplus power/energy. When it first goes in and becomes live, will the system automatically drawn from the grid to charge the batteries up, or will it waits until the panels do if free of charge? Looking forward to any help or suggestions you may have. Tony
Hi Tony, not a silly question at all. And if your inverter is a hybrid GivEnergy one, then your solar setup is almost exactly the same as the one I'm hoping to have installed end February :-) Your installer will configure the system, but in general the batteries should only be charged with excess solar. If you additionally want to charge the batteries using the grid (say using a cheap rate) then you'll be able to configure this using the GivEnergy interface.
@@GaryDoesSolar Thank you for replying, your advice is held in high regard with me. I’m also going for the Give Energy set up. With a fair wind I’m looking at April for our install.
So the video teaches you the difference between kW and kWh and the OP then mixes them up by referring to battery capacity in kW when it should be kWh. Me thinks you need to watch the video again.
would you please offer a practical help: what is a difference between these two companies 1. Each block is equivalent to 50 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity and is available for $4.92 net cost per month. So when you subscribe to two blocks, you’re supporting 100 kWh of solar energy for only $9.84 per month or just 33 cents per day.versus Versus 2. The initial credit rate on your bill will be approximately $0.04 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and will remain at that level for the first 36 months. Starting with the 37th month of continuous enrollment, the rate will increase 1.5% annually; A 1kw subscription to solar energy will cost less than $8.35 a month** Please help what is the difference between these two offers?
Unfortunately, l'm not in a position to provide individual advice (not least because of potential liability issues, even if that advice is given free - such is the world today). You're best to speak to an installer for such advice, or post a comment onto a solar forum (e.g. this one in the UK: facebook.com/groups/2197329430289466). Good luck!
Could you please say if there are any problems of compatibility between Smart meters and PV systems. Do Smart meters record and thereby reduce the metered figure when the panels are generating more than the energy being used by the home?
There are no compatibility issues - smart meters can easily accommodate changing energy import/export conditions throughout the day - they simply report what's going on to a central database, which is then accessed by your energy provider for billing purposes.
Yeah, the fact that so many still use amp hours when referring to battery capacity without stating voltage drives me crazy. Its like measuring fuel economy in in wheel revolutions per icecream scoop of fuel 😅
What qualification do you have, to be so forthright in your conviction? (I studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering btw) Power doesn’t come in packets, I’m afraid…
THe Watt is a unit of POWER. The Kilowatt is a quantity of POWER.The KWH is the quantity of POWER over a set period of time. I took my C&G intermediate and finals on the same day in 1985 and passed with Distinction in both. (I described the quantity as packets to make it easier for the layman to understand.)
@@Selectronify That sentence doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Be specific please: 1. Quote exactly what I said in the video 2. Explain why you think what I said is wrong, including factual sources I'll then respond on that.
Whilst, I appreciate you pointing this out, you might want to consider the fact that maybe, just maybe, a few other people beat you to it given this video was released over 6 months ago?
I feel like i will never be able to understand this😂😂😂 especially in Solar sometimes they mention kw and sometimes kwh which is very confusing maybe because English is not my native language I find it very difficult to understand
Great video Gary, another option for folk to measure appliances is to use a energy monitoring smart plug which can be got quite cheaply these days and give the additional benefit of being able to put the appliance on a time schedule.
Hi Piper - thanks. And I completely forgot to mention about smart plugs in the video! Thanks for the reminder... My next video is all about AC, DC, current and voltage, but I'll add smart plugs to my list of future videos! :-)
Wonderful videos. Simple and easy to understand (South Africa)
Many thanks! Great to get feedback like this :-)
What a great video Gary and thank you for taking the time to make it.
This is something the government should do to give people advice on how to save money on their electric bill now we are in a cost of living crisis. 👍
Thanks William - yeah, it's a little daunting for people who are having to learn about energy in the home quickly in the face of rising prices. I'm in the middle of working on my next 101 video now, which goes into AC, DC, voltage and current... :-)
Another excellent video.I wish 40 years ago my physics teacher had explained power and energy this way. Back then it was about moving objects like you showed with the box. It is much easier to understand when someone explains it with day to day examples. Top job.
Wow - that's praise indeed, Michael - thank you! :-) You might be interested in my next video then (hopefully dropping in a week - working on it now)... it's all about AC, DC, current and voltage.
These videos are certainly taking me back to my physics classes at school!
@@GaryDoesSolar Please no 😀👨🏫📐📏📝
@@GaryDoesSolar I'm also interested! :)
@@GaryDoesSolar 14:25----So even if the inverter is 5kW and solar is generating 6kW , you are saying that inverter will give output of 5kW and remaining 1kW will go to battery? How is that possible as inverter can't pass more than 5kW because it's maximum output capacity is 5kW?
@@fahadmukhtar1124 It's true that only a maximum of 5kW can pass through to the AC side of the inverter, given the inverter size, but there is no restriction on the DC side, so the extra 1kW of generation will go to the battery provided the battery is not already full. If it is, the extra 1kW will be lost.
Gary you legend. The mix-up between kWh and kW is one of my biggest bugbears so I'm super pleased you've explained it so well. It was on my plan to do a similar video myself at some point but you beat me to it, and I'm not even the slightest bit annoyed because you did a better job than I would have done! I come from a physics background so units are something I'm very familiar with and I'm constantly surprised by how many people, even industry professionals, get power and energy mixed up. Now I have a convenient video to point people towards whenever I need to explain the difference.
Thanks Tim - I wasn’t sure whether to do this kind of video or not, but you’re right - quite a few people get confused by the terms and actually, having a good understand on the difference between power and energy helps a lot when you’re dealing with solar technology. I can see some companies exploiting that confusion too - selling 2kW wind turbines that are actually 2kWh over a month! 🤣🤣
You should still do such a video - whereas mine are heavily animated diagrams etc., you present a more human approach, which appeals to many.
I’m working on one further 101 video, this time on AC, DC, voltage and current - should be out in a week or so. Then I’m back to my normal videos, starting with one on why I think microinverters are the way forward for solar (despite their lacklustre performance with shading)!
Hopefully you’re getting good stats on your heat pump related videos - you’re really into something there! This tech is nothing short of game changing! 👍🏻😀
@@GaryDoesSolar you know, maybe you're right, I do have an idea for how I could illustrate the difference between power and energy that is different to how you did it, so perhaps that could be a good complement to your video. I'll give it a few weeks before I record that though.
The heat pump videos are doing ok but interestingly not as well as my earlier battery focused videos. I suspect batteries and solar are more in people's minds right now but there is definitely some portion of my audience that are very interested in the heat pump stuff, so we'll continue to include them in future videos, for sure.
I've got a nice nerd spreadsheet video coming up next so that'll be fun.
Looking forward to your AC/DC video too!
@@TimAndKatsGreenWalk That sounds like a good plan, Tim - and it would make for a good video 🙂 And yeah, I guess people are still waking up to heat pump technology - it's not so easy to grasp, and for those who are already into solar, heat pump technology looks to many like a tangent to somewhere completely different.
And I guess, just as there was with solar technology for many years, the aesthetics ("Putting solar panels on a house will just ruin the look") - people will need to get past the "I don't want an A/C looking unit on my house" phase. What do you think? Your solution of having the unit down the side alley is a good one (I think I'd do the same) although I'd worry about knocking the unit with my wheely bins every week! Lol
Looking forward to your next video then - I did one with a spreadsheet a few months back, and I'm still getting the odd comments and email on that today 🙂 I think many people feel comfortable with spreadsheets... Good luck with it!
@@GaryDoesSolar we were lucky that the side of the house where the heat pumps are installed is the dead end passage we don't really use, so very convenient. But I can see how siting the external unit for a lot of folks could be a problem. I've seen some installs where the external unit is higher up on the wall using brackets to get it out of the way, but that has its own issues, both aesthetically and from a maintenance perspective. I reckon the company that first creates a really attractive external unit that people would be proud to show off is going to clean up.
I'm aiming to do my spreadsheet video this weekend so we'll see how that goes!
And we're finally getting some movement on our solar and battery install, so with any luck it won't be long before that'll appear on the channel too!
@@TimAndKatsGreenWalk I'm looking forward to hearing how your solar installation goes! Mine goes in towards end February - can't wait! 🙂
Great video thank you very much indeed. I use a Thermos to save the boiled water so that I don't keep boiling the kettle.
Great idea!
Get an instant water jug that heats the water through a pipe and delivers just the amount of hot water you need instead of boiling a jug full every time you just want one or two cups.
Excellent videos Gary. I have had my 4kW system with battery storage since July. Your videos would have definitely helped me and if anyone needs help with installation, I point them to your channel. Hope your install goes well once installed it starts taking over your day making subtle changes to your routines ensuring that high consuming devices are not on together.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks Roddy - this is such great feedback to receive! :-)
Yeah, not long until my install now - and I think you're right - it'll take a while before I adjust my behaviour (and more so, the rest of the family!!) so that we don't exceed the 5kW maximum of the string inverter (or 3.5kW of the battery) - I have a monitor next to where I normally sit, and every now and again I see it hit >5kW - so it'll be a challenge!
Hope you are getting on well with your solar setup (sounds like you are). Is there anything that you would change (or add)?
@@GaryDoesSolar Yea that is the thing I would change I would have gone for a 5kw inverter rather then the 3.6. (No kettle and toaster at the same time) The battery storage is the game changer and what got me looking into the setup. We are able to run the house even in the depths of winter on off peak power with days like today giving us the boost of solar to the battery.
Next is to get my home automation to a level to make sure this can be maintained when my young children are older, switching off unused appliances.
@@barraidh5l Sounds like you've got a good plans going forward - I like it! 🙂
Gary, you need to get into solar sales! You know it all and there is crazy money to be made working on sales.
Thanks, but I'm already buried deep in the mobile industry (day job) which pays me well enough
@@GaryDoesSolar fair enough! I’ve watched about 40% of your content. Any ideas on what are the most important for customers?
Scary drop at 15:23 - great work Gary!
Haha yes! My son keeps telling to stop putting in corny rubbish like that (and when I look at it now, I cringe) Thanks for the kind words about my work :-)
Good stuff Gary ... being a retired mechanical engineer and was in charge of a full MEI team during my working career I did manage to grasp most stuff during that period, however what I also learned (during refrigeration training) and the associated physics concerned .... is that many people don't understand the difference between both latent and sensible heat. The reason why it counts is this: When a refrigeration cycle is in effect both types of heat are used, ie latent heat of evaporation where saturated refrigerant vapour/liquid absorbs massive amounts of sensible heat to change its state within the evaporator of the system. That same vapour is then sucked back into the compressor and pumped out to the condenser at high pressure and is subcooled back into a liquid by the condenser itself, ready to begin again as part of the cycle. It undergoes a pressure drop in order to achieve this either via an expansion valve or most often in white goods ... a capilliary.
So what you might say ... well, that same physics is performed in a similar way in a kettle. When you boil water you are using energy to raise the temperature of the water to boiling point, at which point it changes its state from liquid to vapour. But what physics also demands is the fact that it requires massive amounts of energy to change the state of the water from liquid to vapour and that is latent heat. It matters because everytime you boil a kettle it doesn't click off via its inbuilt thermistor until steam is sensed. But the point is ... if you boil the kettle to just before boiling at say 95 degrees rather than boiling point, the tea bag won't notice the difference. By not letting the kettle fully boil collectively over the months you will have switched it off manually and thus saved killowatts of power in doing so. The water got hot enough to make a brew, but you never changed its state into a vapour, thus saving a huge amount of energy. :)
So in essence a variable thermistor kettle would make the ideal brew ( tea has an optimum temperature - is my guess) but also save you a significant amount of money.
Hi Rog, this all sounds intriguing. I'm looking into how heat/refrigeration pumps work for a future video and so have a basic understanding of some of the technicals you describe. I was also thinking about changing my kettle to a single cup dispenser. I'm wondering what the optimum solution is (for both tea and coffee)? :-)
An interesting idea.
Because a kettle's job is to boil water and not make a cup of tea. So the manufacturers want to be absolutely sure it is boiling before they turn it off, so better to let it over boil.
There's an argument for saying that manufacturers should provide kettles with two settings, full boil, and tea boil.
And tea boil turns the power off when the temperature hits 98 degrees (or even less).
Best explanation i`ve come across. Powerfull concepts explained in a concise and logic manner, as before. Many thanks Gary!
Your feedback is really appreciated, Andre - I'll keep the videos coming! :-)
@@GaryDoesSolarI am such a pedant but at 3.20 you say 4 minutes is 1/15th of an hour "sixty divided by four" but you mean "4 divided by sixty". I have mild aspi and that kinda mistake really pulls me out of the learning experience of an excellent video like this. ❤
@@simonmasters3295 Hi Simon, I also have Asperger traits - one of those is being a sticker for detail. I remember when recording that video, I was a little loose with my language then. In my head I was concentrating on how you calculate the denominator value (60 / 4) :-) Happy to be pulled up on this - detail is everything! Hope you enjoyed the remainder of the video... 😃
Oh for sure. Just got to 11.52 and you say "that power is just lost" when referring, I think, to what you have taught me is called "inverter clipping".
I'd have said "...not captured, not even produced" and maybe point out that warms the panels well above ambient?
I stress this because I am off grid and have more panels than "capacity to capture" because I have sized for short winter days. I don't have a spreadsheet or insight on past performance yet, and much admire your work and effort in explaining how important this all is as a survival skill in 2023. I want to see science taught like this in schools.
My initial thoughts on the speadsheets are
1) why not 48 half-hour periods in the lookup tables?
and
2) how the hell we going to extend this to central heating, heat pumps and domestic heat batteries?
Thanks for un-muddying the waters! Just used your code-thanks
Hi Mary, you're very welcome! And thank you for your support - that was very kind of you :-)
Hi Gary, I love your videos, very useful for someone who's new in the solar industry. I just wish there'd be more ;)
Thanks Renske - I'm working on the next two videos just now. I have a little more time this year (as I've dropped my day job hours) so hopefully, I can put some of that extra time into the channel...
@@GaryDoesSolar Awesome, I'm looking forward to the new videos! Apart from my personal interest in solar, I'm also starting a new job as a content marketer for a wholesale company in solar, inverters, batteries and EV chargers, so your videos really help solidify my understanding of the topics :) So keep up the good work, I already saw that I'm not the only one that's happy with your videos :) Greetings from the Netherlands!
Very good explanation.
Cheers! Always great to get feedback like this :-)
These videos you made are extremely informative and helped me understand the entire cycle much better 🎉 thank you 🙏
Thanks for the great feedback, Carl :-)
Excellently explained, thank you
You’re very welcome, and glad you found the video useful 😀👍🏻
Really excellent video, thanks for taking the time to do this.
My pleasure - thanks for the great feedback! Very much appreciated 👍🏻
One thing we did years ago to reduce energy usage was to buy a HotCup with Variable Dispense which means we only boil one cup of water at a time, which is a lot faster and thus uses a lot less KwH.
Nice solution, David. Sometimes the easier tips are the most effective!
Excellent video, very helpful !
Hi Ian, thanks so much for letting me know. Comments like this make all the time I spend making these videos most worthwhile :-)
@@GaryDoesSolar Hi Gary, The info is very helpful, I have two solar companies coming to do surveys this week and your videos have really helped me put together a meaningful list of questions to ask regarding an installation. To be honest, I’m really nervous about ending up with a fly by night company and a set up that won’t meet my needs but seeing how energy prices are increasing I want to be less reliant on the grid and feel I have to take the plunge. Thanks again for the great information, I know it must be time consuming putting these videos together. Cheers.
@@ianashton1593 Good luck with the surveys - and certainly worth asking them for a couple of (hopefully local) reference installations that you could go and see. That should help put your mind at rest. Hope all goes well 🙂
Very good video. Thanks
Thanks Allen - it’s good to get feedback like this. Working on another 101 video now - this time AC, DC, voltage and current 👍🏻
@@GaryDoesSolar I have subscribed 👍
@@AllenHart999 Cheers! 🙂
Ah nice. From one great TH-camr to another.
Your videos have been good and useful to confirm what is already known or to show prospective clients.
Out of interest, what sort of fuse are you putting in a 13 amp plug to be able to get 5kw out of it for a tumble dryer?
Hi Jason, yes - well spotted! I think I got a bit carried away with how much power a typical consumer clothes dryer actually uses! At most, it would be around 3kW. I added a correction to the video.
I really appreciate you showing my video to others, so they can learn more about the technology. Next video is on AC, DC, voltage and current...
Excellent explanation. Thanks
Your most welcome, thanks for taking the time to comment :-)
Great video Gary. Question. If you have 4 Tesla power wall 3 AC connected batteries, does your discharge rate KWH figure = 20kwh or is it limited to 5kwh but you just have more stored energy. Apologies if that is a silly question.
Thanks for the kind feedback :-)
Now, the discharge rate of a single PW3 is 11.5kW already, and I believe that stacking 4 together might increase that - but I actually don't know! Maybe someone else does...
Top stuff Gary
Thanks very much for the great feedback! :-)
Excellent video … thank you!
Cheers Anthony - it’s great to get feedback like this 👍🏻
Good info in plain English.👍
Thank you! :-)
Another great video Gary. Have you done any research into solar battery efficiency? How much energy is required to charge a battery per kWH of storage and how much energy does each kWH of storage actually give out? Is there a table showing impact cold has on battery efficiency? Love to see a 'Gary' style video on this subject.
Thanks - your comments are much appreciated. I haven't carried out much research into batteries just yet, but I like your idea. I'll add to the list and see what I can come up with...
Hi Gary. Love the videos. So well explained thanks. One question. In your example at 14m20s you have 6kw being generated meaning 5kw can go onto the AC network via the inverter (to presumably either run appliances or be exported ) and the previously lost 1kw going to the DC coupled battery rather than being lost. If you had an AC coupled battery would that extra 1kw get lost or would the AC coupled battery also be able to utilise it assuming it was still a 5kw inverter? Thanks. I’m off to check the charge and discharge rates of the batteries being offered to me!
Thanks Ruth - very kind of you to say :-)
Now yes, even though a string inverter has a maximum output limit, if there is solar generation above that, and a DC-coupled battery is connected to that inverter, then it will be able to send that surplus straight to the battery (it's easy for the inverter to do this because it's DC to DC transfer).
An AC-coupled battery can't take advantage of that surplus though - because to get to the battery, the inverter would have to convert to AC and it's already at the output limit.
Hope that helps :-)
Interesting videos, thank you.
Would be interesting to discuss what happens with a power outage on the grid - and what gadget can help continue your home power from your battery as most home batteries and solar don't work if the grid fails.
Cheer TC - yeah, it would be great if all solar installations have a whole-house backup capability (like say the Tesla Powerwall) but not many do.
There is a house to grid shut off switch that automatically stops the power from a home solar and battery system entering when the grid goes down.All systems must have this to prevent houses feeding the grid when work must be done on the grid to avoid a dangerous situation for the power workers.In my country this is an isolation requirement for that reason.
Thanks for your videos Gary, they are quite simple and direct. Viewed this video from Nigeria in West Africa. Just an observation here, Your conversion of 4 minutes to hours should be 4 minutes divided by 60 minutes and not 60 minutes divided by 4 minutes as you mentioned in the video. 60 minutes divided by 4 minutes gives 15 minutes. 4 minutes is a fraction of an hour and not a whole number or an integer. You got the conversion right but said it the wrong way which in my thoughts might get some people confused.
You're most welcome - and thank you for your kind words. Great to have viewers from Africa - a great continent!
Good spot on the error in the video - yeah, I got that totally mixed up, but hopefully the message was still understood :-)
It's very useful 👍
Cheers for this feedback :-)
great video thank you
My pleasure to help you - thanks! 😀
Hello Gary.
A very interesting and informative series of videos. Thanks.
Something I often wonder though, is why we don't refer to kWhs as Units.
It means the same thing, as 1 kWh equals 1 Unit of electricity, and would save a lot of the kW and kWh confusion.
Would you agree?
Hi David, I ask myself this question every day! Think about driving a car. The main unit is the distance traveled, and so speed doesn't have its own unit - instead it is always expressed as distance / time (e.g. "60 mph").
With energy, it is power that has it's own unit, and worse still (in my view) the energy units are tied explicitly to "hours" - seems totally crazy to me! Lol
@@GaryDoesSolar "My EV has a 39 Unit traction battery and it does 4 miles per Unit"! Much easier, IMO. :)
Ah so it's not just me them, I just can't see the logic & it always confuses my calculations!
The comments have used use of capitalization on the units. The rules are pretty simple. Units are in lower case with the exception of those based on names. Prefixes are in lower case up to kilo and upper case after that so the proper use is kWh as watt is based on a name of a person (note the name of the unit is not capitalized, just the symbol)
The units based on names include:
Volt (V) base n Alesandro Volta who invented the electric battery.
Ampere (A) based on André-Marie Ampère who defined the concept of current.
Joule (J) based on James Prescott Joule who defined the relationship between current and power.
Ohm (Ω) Based on Georg Simon Ohm who formulated the relationship between voltage, current and resistance, co called Ohm's law.
Watt (W) Based on James Watt who produced a workable steam engine and formulated the concept of power.'
Coulomb (C) based on Charles-Augustin de Coulomb who defined te electrostatic force
Siemens (S) based on Ernst Werner von Siemens who invented electric trams, locomotives and elevators. Siemens is rarely used as it is just the reciprocal of an ohm.
Originally all the units was based on electricity but now watt and joule have definitions unrelated to electricity. Note none of the named units were proposed by the person in question. Watt for example was proposed by Charles William SIemens.
Cool 👍🏻
Great video Gary, I think all of your videos are clear and informative. I’ve got 5.74 Kwp solar with a 5kw inverter, I’m having a 7.2 kWh batteries fitted tomorrow with an AC coupled 3.68 kw inverter. Would the inverters work together for example will they supply 8.68 kw of power if I’m generating enough solar and my batteries are charged before pulling power from the grid?
Thanks Gary and Happy new year
Rob
Hi Rob, thanks - that's very kind of you to say! It's certainly a lot of work to make each video, but comments like this really help to keep me going! :-)
Great news that you're getting your installation done tomorrow (exciting!) My own installation is booked for end February (it's a sorry tail that started a year ago!)
Yes, your inverters will work together. What's great about AC voltage is that generators (whatever they may be, including solar inverters) can just add power onto that supply independently of what else is happening with that supply (appliances, other generators etc.)
Hope all goes well with the install!
Hi Dan thanks for posting these videos, I also am North East based (Warkworth) and have just started to look at getting solar installed. Have subscribed and will follow for your updates. Currently looking at quotes from installers and trying to research system pro’s and cons. Any tips and suggestions for installers and sources of information would be much appreciated.
Hi Jack, was this message meant for me? I'm in the South West...
@@GaryDoesSolar hi Gary, thanks for letting me know. I was intending to message someone else but clearly messaged you instead. I am by the way also enjoying your videos and have subscribed, just starting on my solar journey and your videos are helping. Busy getting quotations at the moment, but getting impartial advice on Inverters “rectifiers” and batteries is not that straight forwards, clearly there are many things to consider and understand before weighing up the various manufacturers offerings. Any guidance much appreciated 😁
@@rkrbar Haha - no worries, and thanks for subscribing! Ok, a really great resource is this forum on Facebook, where you can search for a specific inverter product and see what people say about them
facebook.com/groups/2197329430289466
There are around 25,000 members on this forum, so there should be plenty of posts and comments on most inverter types. Good luck! 🙂
Ah ha! Thanks Gary - been waiting for this one. I am now fully appraised on KW and KWh. Another video idea you may have considered, batteries, you have touched on them many times. In this video you mentioned the discharge rate. What if I have two DC batteries with a discharge of 2KWh would this be 4 or does it depend on how they are connected?
My pleasure, Phil - glad this video was useful to you :-)
Ok, on the batteries then - yes, it depends on how they're connected. For example, I'll be having two 9.5kWh GivEnergy batteries on a hybrid inverter - but the inverter has a charge/discharge rate of 3.6kW regardless of the number of batteries.
In your scenario, the limit would still be 2kW no matter the number of batteries connected.
I could also have mounted both batteries in AC-coupled configuration using a separate inverter, but I'd still be limited to the charge/discharge rate of that inverter.
The way to do it if you want the maximum charge/discharge rate is to have a separate inverter on each battery.
@@GaryDoesSolar Thanks again Gary. Could you have one AC and one DC coupled battery with only the need for one hybrid inverter?
You don't need to answer it here but, I think a video on this would benefit loads of people. 😉😉
@@Phil-kt6hc Interesting question. So, certainly the DC-coupled battery will require the hybrid inverter in order to operate, and any additional AC-coupled battery would require a separate inverter (or charge controller) - but I don't see any reason why these two batteries could not work together. After all, an AC-coupled battery will already work quite happily with a separate string inverter managing output from solar panels.
@@GaryDoesSolar thanks for that Gary. But you lost me about half way through. We are just about to embark on a large extension and in doing so hope to get rid of gas. So your channel and others like it are great research. Thank you.
@@Phil-kt6hc Haha - sorry, if I get the chance, I'll try to explain better with a diagram in a video 🙂 Good luck with the new extension - yeah, we'd love to get rid of gas here (reduced only to heating now that we've got an electric hob). I had to replace the gas boiler a year ago, and had considered an ASHP, but it seemed expensive and I couldn't convince myself at the time it would work for us :-/ There is much more analysis available today, however, and so will look at it again in a year or two...
I can never remember which is which and have agreed with my wife that we can use the terms interchangeably. It's the context that makes sense to us.
Yeah, sometimes life is too short to be hung up on getting badly-defined terms right! :-)
@@GaryDoesSolar it’s sloppy and lazy on my part. I’ve been going through your videos. They are most helpful, thank you.
Hi Garry,
It is a great video. However, I am not quite agreeing with any DC couple inverter can draw more than its rated kW. If we have more solar generation output (say 6kW), if Hybrid Inv is rated at 5kW, a total of (Load kW + Batter drawn kW), is always limited to 5kW.
In your presentation/ DC coupled slide, , if the load = 5kw, battery can’t take any additional power. If the load is 4kW, then battery can take 1kW, making total = 5kW ( that is inverter rating)
I checked this subject in the past with two inverter manufacturers, they confirm it is the case.
Hi Sug, thanks for taking the time to comment.
Ok, it must depend on the inverter brand then. I have a 5kW GivEnergy hybrid inverter and it can do this. Here's a screenshot from the other day, showing generation of 6.63kW: garydoessolar.com/files/gen.jpg
What were the two manufacturers you mention?
Hi Gary, thank you very much for clarity. it was then Solax and Sunsink. It seems, this capability is depend on the inveter brand then. I am in the process of deciding which inveter to go for thus, it is very vital for me to fully undestand this oversizing concept, rating of inveter and total output of inverter (Battery + AC load).
Hi Gary, what is the size of your PV array please? it was generating 6.63kw on other day, array size should be higher than that?
@@Sug-1998 My array is 7kWp on a South-facing roof, so I was quite pleased - especially as it's only March!
@@GaryDoesSolar Great. Thank you sharing with me. So, you have installed more than Giv-HY 5 max DC input power, on data sheet says 6.5kw.
Going to have to send the light bulb section to my partner, as she tends to leave lights on when not required.
Lol - worth checking all your bulbs are LED then you can rest easy! :-)
Good video. But there’s no way a tumble dryer can use 4-7Kw. If that were the case where would you plug it in - last time I looked plugs were rated up to 13 amps so an absolute MAXIMUM of 3kw.
Thanks - and you’re totally right. I don’t know what got into me! 🤣 I’ve added a correction to the video and in the description 👍🏻
Gary, just FYI a kilobyte is NOT 1000x 1 byte but 1024x. Ditto kilobits. Bit=BInary digiT ie. either 0 or 1. Binary uses 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,1024 and up...hence the 1024.
Ok, fair comment - and because I'm a software engineer by trade, I really should have known better... :-)
Although this may appear to be a silly question, but here goes. We are in the waiting process of having 16 x 415 solar panels fitted. The this we are having an inverter and 2 x 9.5 kw batteries fitted to store any and all surplus power/energy. When it first goes in and becomes live, will the system automatically drawn from the grid to charge the batteries up, or will it waits until the panels do if free of charge? Looking forward to any help or suggestions you may have. Tony
Hi Tony, not a silly question at all. And if your inverter is a hybrid GivEnergy one, then your solar setup is almost exactly the same as the one I'm hoping to have installed end February :-)
Your installer will configure the system, but in general the batteries should only be charged with excess solar. If you additionally want to charge the batteries using the grid (say using a cheap rate) then you'll be able to configure this using the GivEnergy interface.
@@GaryDoesSolar Thank you for replying, your advice is held in high regard with me. I’m also going for the Give Energy set up. With a fair wind I’m looking at April for our install.
All the best with your install, Tony 🙂 Hopefully mine will go well too!
So the video teaches you the difference between kW and kWh and the OP then mixes them up by referring to battery capacity in kW when it should be kWh.
Me thinks you need to watch the video again.
6.6kW systems in Australia make say 26.4kWH per day on a good sunny day...
Not bad at all, Arjay! And you'll get that most days. I wish I could say the same for here in the UK :-)
@@GaryDoesSolar apparently on average in the UK it'd be 15kWH
@@ArjayMartin Yeah, that sounds about right! Wish we had more sun!! ☀😎
would you please offer a practical help: what is a difference between these two companies 1. Each block is equivalent to 50 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity and is available for $4.92 net cost per month. So when you subscribe to two blocks, you’re supporting 100 kWh of solar energy for only $9.84 per month or just 33 cents per day.versus Versus 2. The initial credit rate on your bill will be approximately $0.04 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and will remain at that level for the first 36 months. Starting with the 37th month of continuous enrollment, the rate will increase 1.5% annually; A 1kw subscription to solar energy will cost less than $8.35 a month** Please help what is the difference between these two offers?
Unfortunately, l'm not in a position to provide individual advice (not least because of potential liability issues, even if that advice is given free - such is the world today). You're best to speak to an installer for such advice, or post a comment onto a solar forum (e.g. this one in the UK: facebook.com/groups/2197329430289466). Good luck!
Could you please say if there are any problems of compatibility between Smart meters and PV systems. Do Smart meters record and thereby reduce the metered figure when the panels are generating more than the energy being used by the home?
There are no compatibility issues - smart meters can easily accommodate changing energy import/export conditions throughout the day - they simply report what's going on to a central database, which is then accessed by your energy provider for billing purposes.
@@GaryDoesSolar Thank you so much for this information. My electricity supplier, Shell Energy, did not fullt answer my question.
Sorry I did not say how helpful your videos are,Thank you for your various videos. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing others .
@@anthonychivers7520 That's really kind of you to say - I'll keep the videos coming! 🙂
Yeah, the fact that so many still use amp hours when referring to battery capacity without stating voltage drives me crazy. Its like measuring fuel economy in in wheel revolutions per icecream scoop of fuel 😅
Agreed
Watt is power (VxI).Kilowatt is power and KWH is packets of Power, so you are wrong!
What qualification do you have, to be so forthright in your conviction? (I studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering btw)
Power doesn’t come in packets, I’m afraid…
THe Watt is a unit of POWER. The Kilowatt is a quantity of POWER.The KWH is the quantity of POWER over a set period of time.
I took my C&G intermediate and finals on the same day in 1985 and passed with Distinction in both. (I described the quantity as packets to make it easier for the layman to understand.)
The original comment stated I was wrong. Please explain why, and we’ll take it from there…
The Watt is the unit for power, (see Wikipedia) so why describe it as such for Watt and KW then as energy for KWH?
@@Selectronify That sentence doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
Be specific please:
1. Quote exactly what I said in the video
2. Explain why you think what I said is wrong, including factual sources
I'll then respond on that.
Watch out, when it comes to memory, 1kbyte is 1024 bytes, not 1000 in reference to K.
Yes, a silly error to make - especially as my background is software engineering! 🤣
But when it comes to disk storage 1K is 1000 bytes!
Figure that out!
A Kilobyte of memory is 1024 bytes.
Base 2, not base 10.
Whilst, I appreciate you pointing this out, you might want to consider the fact that maybe, just maybe, a few other people beat you to it given this video was released over 6 months ago?
That is a misuse of the term 1024 bytes is one kibibyte.
I feel like i will never be able to understand this😂😂😂 especially in Solar sometimes they mention kw and sometimes kwh which is very confusing maybe because English is not my native language I find it very difficult to understand
Don’t worry - this video might help you: th-cam.com/video/IzBHs4878BY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=R7VvBBDfcOtMHnxc
@@GaryDoesSolar Thank you sincerely for your response. Your input means a lot to me, and I genuinely appreciate the time you took to provide it.