Panel efficiency: Why does it matter?

[finchy]

Very interesting and informative thread ! - Just got this from one of our potential "customers" just came back to me saying "I have seen complete Kits for 4Kwp for £4500, how comes your price is Double"........I wrote a nice email explaining about W/sqm as it is the roof space it tight, I would love to tell them where to go but sadly every installation counts at the moment !:furious3:

 

[SolarCity]

This is the reason why I don't buy from firms that advertise their kits in that way.

 

[jupestar]

I has this once i told them to buy the kit, get it delivered, get the scaffolding up, spec the screws for the roof, get a structural survey done, check the wind calcs, check the kit had everything it needs - including enough brackets for the wind calcs (buy some more brackets). Get the garage unit, check if they have a phase box, if not get one, get some ac wire to the right spec, buy some more dc wire, and some more connectors. tell me how they want the strings arranged, and to which inputs in the inverter. show me the roof plan, get some replacement tiles on site. give it all to me in writing, once you've done all that, i'll happily come round and fit it for a day rate.

I don't buy kits - done it twice and won't do it a third time.

 

[SolarCity]

I don't buy kits.

To be totally honest, I don't see the point.

 

[SpitfireW'sale]

I don't buy kits.

To be totally honest, I don't see the point.

Out of interest - why don't you like kits Biggs? We don't sell pre packed kits, as almost every install is different, but we do offer a service where if we are told the roof type, orientation, layout etc. etc. we will send out the required "kit" to do the job. It works well, and together with our customers holding a sensible amount of spares of MC4's, anchors etc. for any unforeseen changes to the plan, means that you don't need to order every item line by line from your supplier.

 

[SolarCity]

The main reason I don't like it is that I like to design the system myself. I try dozens of different options when I look at a roof. Simply buying a "3.84kWp kit" off the shelf doesn't give me that flexibility.

 

[moggy1968]

likewise

 

[moggy1968]

I has this once i told them to buy the kit, get it delivered, get the scaffolding up, spec the screws for the roof, get a structural survey done, check the wind calcs, check the kit had everything it needs - including enough brackets for the wind calcs (buy some more brackets). Get the garage unit, check if they have a phase box, if not get one, get some ac wire to the right spec, buy some more dc wire, and some more connectors. tell me how they want the strings arranged, and to which inputs in the inverter. show me the roof plan, get some replacement tiles on site. give it all to me in writing, once you've done all that, i'll happily come round and fit it for a day rate.

I don't buy kits - done it twice and won't do it a third time.

LOL:yes:
love it!!!

 

[Chris Nunn]

Here’s a quick comparison I’ve done to compare the relative merits of say a cheap system and a more expensive one with a better performance. I’ve used example prices suggested by FB. and run a PV*SOL calculation with standard tariffs to get this graph. In this case they come out about even after 25 years:







This is a fairly basic study but helps show the worth of doing computer simulations.

 

[dansk]

I cant stand kits because you never have enough of whats required, and its always that last end clamp you drop and it falls through the scaffold never to be sen again. I like to build my own stock, same isolaters so i can get used to the quirks.

 

[SRE]

... and if you need to make adjustments on site you've got the stock to do it..... we don't buy kits either and usually save quite a bit ny shopping around. We're currently buying Power One 3.6's £200 cheaper than any other supplier at the minute. I always think kits are great for someone starting up but if you're doing the job properly and designing everything from scratch you learn the job better and have the edge on someone installing bog standard designs.