Definitely considering evacuated tube... for Victoria... Solar Hotwater...so Thanks.

I've not ruled out totally Solar electricity power, It is a lot lower down my wants list now though. See how I go when I've fixed up the rest of the house.

Been looking at the Magnatite system since my last Post... and I think we have enough Tradie friends that could make a DIY one. Steel frame... Acrylic and Magnetic tape... and 100mls gap ! I think they could do that... at half Magnetites price, for a reasonable profit for them.

One thing I always wonder about is the rapid advancement of technology and the real lack of standards that appears to be in the industry. Am I correct in thinking that you can't mix panels from different manufacturers. And can a 10 year old system be repaired and or refitted if it starts to fail for whatever reason. Or will it be at a point where nothing fits or connects old to new as the technology has moved.

Hopefully that makes sense.

Yes and no. Can you mix panels of different voltages and other specifications, no.
However if your system consists of 8 x 200W panels for instance and in 4 years time one of them fails then you could have it replaced with a 235W panels so long as most of the output figures are matched. In short, your scenario is not really a problem, so long as the company replacing them carefully chooses the right panels to make the replacement

Am I the most green on this forum?

I've got my car running LPG, but they buggered up the wireing when the converted it so it's not that reliable any more.

Just replaced my 35 year old solar hot water system with a brand new one.

Last week I took the plunge and had a 3.8Kw solar electric system installed.

What can I say I'm as green as they come. So what's the next green givaway going to be? These 3 initiatives have cost the taxpayer about $11,000. With the money I've saved I might buy myself a nice big 50" flat screen TV to keep the house warm.

I might get water tanks next, there is a grant for them I think.

Keel

What protection do the panels have against hail damage?

Keel, contact the http://www.aafrb.com.au re your gas conversion...mine was a shambles till these guys got involved, all good now.

We also have a bit of green....we have a big water tank plumbed into our toilets and washer, gas car, grow my own veggies and have chooks. We are trying to sell our house but when we move will definately be looking at solar (watch out BS, I'll be picking your brains lol!)

not a single broken PV panel in Perth although hundreds of cars were extensively damaged.

Depends on the quality of the panel. I know Suntech panels are tested with high speed 30mm ball bearings fired at them. They use tempered glass and like any glass it is fallible. However if a large hailstone hits the sides of the panel on the glass (the most vulnerable point of a sheet of glass) then it will likely break. The company I work for has installed in excess of 10,000 rooftops in South East QLD alone in the last 5 years and we have not had a single call from any of those customers about broken panels from hail.

In short, you're more likely to be hit by a bus

That's good news.

We had a 3KW system installed 2 weeks ago, unfortunately Energex cannot get off their butts for at least another 4 weeks to come and reprogramme my meter so we can turn it on! It is a 15 minute job as we already have an up to date meter- just needs to be programmed to accept the incoming as well and outgoing electricity. They said if we turn the solar on now we are being charged for what we are generating!
So I patiently await the Energex visit.

Ive owned a solar company for last few years, watch yourselves guys with the cheaper products, you really do get what you pay for.
The ones at $1500 wont even meet basic (future standards) safety ect.
Remember what happened with the insullation debarcle.
There are lots of decent companies out there, however when we started you could count on one hand how many companies were doing it in perth now there are over 50 trying to make a quick buck, do your research and dont throw your money away

Hello ChrisandVee I just had an install done by GSI solar. It's a 3.8 Kw system and today I got 21.5 KW output for a second story install with minimal shading is this a good output?

Keel

This is about what it should be producing. The Clean Energy Council states that on average, throughout a year you should be producing approx 4.4kWh per kilowatt size of system per day. Therefore 4.4 x 3.8 = 16.72kWh. This might sound like you are over producing, however in reality, if your house is facing north or north east and the pitch of your roof is optimal then your stated production is about right for this time of year, as my calc is an annual average.

Do you know the figures for Melbourne, by any chance ?

I reckon I could get close to 16 Kwh of usage per day...down from my high 30's, by getting rid of the spa and having a fridge and a freezer that isn't leaky and isnt 20 years plus Spose I could turn my computers off at night, if I get Nas as well

Got my wall insulation coming in two weeks... getting Rockwool pumped into the walls, not many people in Aus do that... usually wall Batts. I actually had a bit of trouble finding a company that would do it. Isn't it funny how all the insulation companies that I contacted rubbished the pump in method...."because it causes serious issues" Not sure what that was all about. Had to get a Company from the Other side of Melbourne... Knoxfield, probably the first time in 30 years plus, I couldn't find goods or services on this side of Town. (Hmmm that last part is worth a thread)

Lots of Perth outputs here to compare with
http://www.pvoutput.org/ladder.jsp?p=0&o=pc&d=desc