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I may be buying one of the 300w turbines... but the they data say's that the poles base should be secured in concrete.  Do you reckon the turbine will be stable enough without the base being immersed in concrete!

Here goes...

I have a friend (really- not me!) who has bought a house with a Solar PV panel on the roof.

It is connected via a standard 2.5mm twin & earth cable to 2"x 3" white plastic box (no markings at all) near his consumer unit then to a RCD mini consumer unit then to his main consumer unit.

He has been told not to switch it on as the connection is illegal. It certainly does not look like a proper ‘grid tie’ installation. The previous owners said that the company who installed it went bust (no surprise) so there is no available information about the system.

The PV panel is approx 2ft x 4ft containing 6 x 12 PV squares each 4”x4”.
Any idea what power this produces?

What kind of setup would be required for him to maybe charge up his laptop or cordless tools etc?

I would welcome suggestions how to make best use of this panel as I don’t what goes between the panel and a 240v socket to plug things into.

So… what can I learn from you lovely people to help out my friend?

Many thanks in advnce

Right,
Have a 20 tube pannel, And can't, even on a super sunny day, get more than luke warm water from the tap. What's up with that?

The pannel is run into a twin coil tank which is also connected to a rayburn. Getting tank tempretures of around 350C and pannel temps of about 450C Can anyone help?

Hi

Here at Swithenbanks we have lightning protectors and pv panels in stock that will be suitable for you.
You can find them at:

http://www.swithenbanks.co.uk/shop.php?c1=Solar Photovoltaic&c2=PV Panels
http://www.swithenbanks.co.uk/Solar_Hot_Water/188/KA12_overvoltage/lightning_protection.html

Thanks
Dave

hi first i would like to wish you all a happy new year (a bit late) iam looking to get  solar water heating soon but i have ten thousand questions ive been looking at solar kit on this site.over the next few days ill ask all the questions.first one is how much to get it fitted.i think i can get a grant for £500 but only if bought and fitted buy one company my house is a east west faceing so i would need two panels one front one back iam i right or do i need two front and back for a family of 4. i want to do this as cheep as possible might even diy but wont get a grant.

Hi
we have a private water supply to our house that we pipe from about 50M up the mountain, there is plenty of water there and I was thinking that if I ran another pipe from the supply, I could connect it to a water turbine. Would this work? also I have a 240V heavy duty water pump, if I connected the pipe to this (in revearse) would this generate electricity?
grateful for any replies

Can someone help with the calculations?

If I want to run 6kw for about 6 hours per day, how do you calculate what size of generator and batteries are required?

hi

I'm wanting to add pv panels to my 48v battery of grid system running from a 1kw wind turbine.

what is the best surge/lighting protector plus where do i get one.


Thanks

Hi Gregson

1) We do sell both flat plate and evacuated tube collectors but we favor the evacuated tube collectors over flat plates, the main difference between flat plate collectors and evacuated tube collectors is aesthetics and efficiency. Flat plate collectors genrally are a bit nicer to look at than evacuated tube collectors because they look like a large velux window. Evacuated tube collectors are not quite as pretty, but are much more efficient in cold, cloudy and windy weather especially in the winter months.

You can find our solar panels at: http://www.swithenbanks.co.uk/shop.php?c1=Solar Hot Water&c2=Evacuated Panels

2) Again you can do both as we do sell a retro fit coil, but it's much better and more efficient to replace your cylinder for a well insulated cylinder with a dedicated solar coil.

You can find our solar cylinders at: http://www.swithenbanks.co.uk/shop.php?c1=Solar Hot Water&c2=Cylinders

Thanks
David

Yes, you can use pv's to power your office independently. However I would still recommend connecting the system to the grid as to have an in dependant supply you will need to store unused energy during the day in a battery bank which is very inefficient, it's much better to use the grid as your battery. Also, there will be times when your power demand may be greater than the pv/battery system can supply.

You can view and buy our (G83 and MCS approved) Sunny Boy grid tie inverters at: http://www.swithenbanks.co.uk/shop.php?c1=Inverters and Batteries&c2=Grid Tie Inverters

We also have MCS approved Solar Photovoltaic panels at: http://www.swithenbanks.co.uk/Solar_Photovoltaic/178/160w_24v_Solar_PV_Panel_(MCS_approved).html

Please email me should you have any further questions at: david@swithenbanks.co.uk

David