I Think You Will Like This

[LiftMan]

Spotted this installation on my way to the pub to watch the rugby. I had to do a double take and even went back for a photo.

Nice south facing array possibly designed by Damien Hurst. Shame they never noticed the chimney. It may cause a little shade:yes:

 

[jumpin jax]

not being a solar installer but aware of the need of sun to operate, just because there is chimney shading the panels would you refuse to fit panels on this roof? the sun is going to hit these panels at some time of the day thus giving output. i often enter the pv forum page and see installers 'slagged' if that is the word for doing these installs. i know these are not 100% but what would you installers do in these cases?
ps, not starting an arguement just interested

 

[babba]

bet the customer wanted 4kw and didnt care what it looks like ...well till they try to sell the house...

 

[babba]

If you dont..the next man will.. but I would advise its gona look S***

 

[Earthstore]

In answer to Jumpin Jax

Shading on a PV system can and does have a devastating affect on its performance, shade on one panel drags the others down to the same performance.
It would be like buying a sports car because you want to go fast, but the manufacturer fixing the brakes so that they are always on, in which case a Nissan Micra would be faster.

There are times when you can not do anything about some shading, however systems can be designed in such a way to minimize the affects.
Clearly this is not the case here.

This customer could have had a smaller system, that would cost less but would perform better.

I hope this helps.

 

[babba]

What about bypass diodes, multi string inverters and the fact that there is not a lot of difference in a 4kw and 2 kw system price wise.

 

[Earthstore]

What about mounting on the short side voiding the warranty on most panels,
Or fitting too close to the ridge, or it generally looking a mess?

There are many ways to negate the effects of shading, however if you rely on bypass diodes and your string voltage is low to start off with, then the Inverter may not kick in at all resulting in no power output.

There is more to system design than just bolting as many panels as you can to a roof.

 

[Jacobbb]

Or your just jumping the gun and maybe they are planning to take it down in the near future

 

[babba]

so you done it

 

[moggy1968]

I have turned down installations where I felt the output would be severely compromised. I want our reputation to be maintained, and that doesn't mean getting business at any cost.If someone else gets the work, great, thats their reputation, less competition for us.

I reckon the best you would get here is 11 panels. 5 to the right of the chimney, 6 to the left on a 2 string inverter, or use more panels with microinverters, which of course they may have!
The ridge distance looks fine, given the angle we are looking at it. certainly 200mm+ I would say. Many panels can be mounted on the short side now.

 

[Eco Chap]

Surely cant fit that installation without micro inverters. Do agree with others though whatever you do with that number of panels in such a small fiddly area is going to look crap.

 

[sambotc]

Could be solar edge, you never know!

Still looks a bit tat though

I thought I heard somewhere that if you have constant shading then you can burn the diodes out, not sure if its possible or likely, just what I heard somewhere down the line?

 

[jupestar]

looks similar to my dads house before i adjusted it. that was a goddamm mess and what got me into PV.

on a seperate note, i've done installs that i would never have done on my own home. if it's what the customer wants and they have all the options presented then why not as long as it is compliant and they are happy. wouldn't stick it on the website though....

 

[moggy1968]

yep, likewise. It's a risky business posting these things on a public website without nowing the full story.

 

[sparkiegaz]

could have got four or five fixed one above the other running up the chimney stack,,yep they save you money but they just look so crap,,,,cant they make all new builds have some srt of roofing system that has the panels built into it,,,,,,,,yep dear but if every new house had to have them like plasma tv there get cheaper,,,