Australian Solar Owners Guide: Checks, Maintenance, Maximising Savings

Your home solar power system is now installed - so, what's next? My advice to Australian solar owners in 2022 on things to check, meter changeovers, system maintenance and maximising electricity bill savings. This video is Part 3 in the popular Solar 101 series covering everything Australians need to know about understanding, buying and owning solar panels.
0:00 - Introduction
0:30 - Installers have left - what to check
3:44 - Waiting for the meter changeover
4:52 - Unlocking the true savings of solar
5:40 - Checking your electricity bills
7:20 - Monitoring system performance
9:14 - Should you clean solar panels?
10:16 - Solar system maintenance
11:13 - Beyond solar: things to consider
**** Additional resources mentioned in the video:
* The full documentation package that should accompany a solar installation:
www.solarquotes.com.au/good-s...
* The SolarQuotes solar (and battery) calculator - very easy to use!
www.solarquotes.com.au/solar-...
* Other home energy efficiency measures to consider:
www.solarquotes.com.au/energy...
* Understanding the difference between power and energy:
www.solarquotes.com.au/good-s...
* Get quotes for solar system maintenance from pre-vetted, trusted professionals (enter your postcode on the first screen and then select "Repairs and Maintenance" on the following screen):
www.solarquotes.com.au/quote/
**** My other Solar 101 guides:
* Part 1: Understanding Solar
The basic principles of residential solar energy, including an overview of all the major components.
Video: • Understanding Solar: A...
Article: www.solarquotes.com.au/101-gu...
* Part 2: Buying Solar
Covers what you need to know when comparing solar quotes and preparing to buy a solar power system.
Video: • Solar 101: A Guide To ...
Article: www.solarquotes.com.au/solar1...
If after watching the video you have questions, you can email me at:
[e-mail].
Don't forget to bookmark this video for future reference - and subscribe to this channel for more great solar videos :).

[@tm92489]

Our new meter was installed by Origin after a waiting period of 3 months!! Thanks Origin that we missed all the feed-in credits from the peak summer season and thanks to the local installer for leaving the old meter spinning backwards which caused a negative reading to make things even worse. We really hope your video will help some other Aussie families in the future! Good job mate👍

[@yousvellormeus]

Thank you for taking your time to make such a useful video 🙏

[@johnyves1246]

Best concise solar advise on the net. Period. Greetings from France 🇫🇷 !

[@jasestu]

Nice timing, just had a system installed this week.

[@davidfield4432]

Excellent fin. Thankyou. 👍👍

[@martindepoorest]

Thank you for this excellent summary which I've now bookmarked. You mention visible flexible conduit on the roof, may I ask how the installers are supposed to connect panel strings where panel clusters have to be some distance from each other e.g. as per the example shown on your video?

[@SolarQuotes]

The installer should penetrate the roof and run the conduit through the roof cavity. This avoids conduit running over the roof while protecting the conduit and the cabling inside from the elements. Note that this isn't possible for all installations (some roofs have no cavity), but it is for most.

[@martindepoorest]

@@SolarQuotes Thank you for this, looks like very careful sealing of these additional penetrations is critical and indeed for all the mounting rail fixture points!

[@marktiller1383]

I had 5 kw of solar installated 2016,( 18 ja 290+ fronuis) and had a Tesla Powerwall 2 installed August 2017, a sanden water heater and until recently never payed a bill. A 13c increase in daily connection and halving of the FIT and I've had an ev for 4 years and now I'm paying at a guess $250 per annum. What would I change, a bigger sunpower or lg and enphase inverter system even though I don't have shading. Why enphase, because I can monitor every panel and have safer AC coming from my roof.

[@songxingmu]

My property is complex townhouse units , the meter with others , is that means changing to the smart meter would be take longer or cost more ? How could I find out ?

[@SolarQuotes]

One of my employees lives in a strata complex with a shared meterboard. It took him nearly two months to get his smart meter, as his retailer demanded that the local network operator sent someone out to isolate the power supply while they worked on the board, which meant that two separate companies had to coordinate both being on-site at the same time.

[@toby9999]

I need to find an installer who already knows this stuff. I shouldn't have to check.

[@SolarQuotes]

Agreed. If you go through SolarQuotes, you'll get a great install. We literally guarantee it. Unfortunately, we see lots of installs in Australia with obvious issues - that part of the video is for people who didn't use SQ - or just really like to double-check stuff.

[@theantiqueactionfigure]

The city didn't want my system turned on after inspection due to a sticker. A red sticker that did not exist yet due to brand new building codes on a perfectly working system. My system my property and my switch so I flipped it on. Solar installer had the sticker the next day but it took the godamn local government to come out and sign it off. The knucklehead inspector didn't notice I was making power for a week, Haha!

[@claytonbryan9312]

Why buy a EV? when the amount of mining resources that are needed to make one, far out weigh the mining needed for a normal car. And why buy one when the batteries only last approx. 10 yrs and cost 20k to replace. EV vehicles are not ready for mass human consumption.

[@SolarQuotes]

Catch up, mate - your arguments are way out of date. Much more resource extraction required to fuel a petrol or diesel car over its life. Car batteries are generally outlasting the car these days. Don't base your assumptions on one bloke that had to replace a Nissan leaf battery once! Also we can now recycle 90+ % of the batteries. Good news eh?