I don’t know about homo erectus but homo sapiens is being asked to lift a panel that’s 2.4 metres tall. These images aren’t much out of scale!
After what seems like days of research and consultation with hundreds of members of the Australian solar industry (more than I can sensibly count on my fingers anyway), I’ve come up with a wish-list of what installers want when it comes to the solar panels they are bolting to roofs: [Read more…]
Be careful when engaging non-battery-savvy electricians to work on your battery-powered home…
There was so much red ink, it looked like a murder scene.
Not long ago, in a suburb not too far away from SolarQuotes HQ, a solar/battery system owner made contact. He was engaged in an age-old battle, arguing with his electricity retailer about what seemed to be excessive charges on his power bill. [Read more…]
Spot the screws poking through…
They say that happiness is directly proportional to ceiling height.
Having grown up in a substantial c.1875 stone house, with ceilings closer to 4 metres than the standard suburban 2.4 metres, I can attest to the extra space offering some comfort – even if it’s just lower temperatures during hot summers. [Read more…]
We live in an age where your camper trailer can power an induction cooktop, a mine can go off-grid, and giant grid-scale batteries are being announced almost weekly. [Read more…]
Queensland is taking the lead in going backwards on solar power, with Energy Queensland mandating a new device, a few new acronyms, a new layer of complexity for installers and a new expense for owners of some new solar power systems. [Read more…]
In November 2022, South Australia experienced a ferocious storm that decoupled us from the rest of the electricity grid and felled many local power lines. Functioning as an island, we couldn’t export to the bigger national network, so without that safety valve, SA Power Networks (SAPN) was obliged to pull out all the stops to maintain stability. [Read more…]
Trawling the internet the other day, I saw an article proclaiming Australia’s cheapest electric vehicle is a 10-year-old Mitsubishi i-MiEV. The headline struck me in particular – because I bought it. [Read more…]
Breaking the infamous ‘133% / 75% Solar Oversize Rule’ won’t get you in trouble if you add a battery. Or will it?
It depends on who you ask… [Read more…]
Top to bottom, 70mm² 25mm² 16mm² 10mm² (3 phase) 6mm² sheathed, 2.5mm² sheathed, 4mm² Solar DC, 3 x 2.5mm² flexible plus a dangerously cracked and brittle 16mm² main service from a 1960s house.
Some weeks ago, I explained why the voltage in a long cable will drop over its length, and how this affects solar installations that are a long way from the switchboard. [Read more…]
I remember the Tesla Powerwall 2 hitting the Australian market like it was just 7 years ago. It was the shining white pioneer that lit the way, the stroke of marketing mastery, the name now appropriated by an entire industry to describe a brick full of batteries. [Read more…]
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