Bryce: Tiny Homes are a perfect match for solar energy.
B: Because they are mobile structures,
B: it actually makes a lot of sense for them to not require grid connection.
B: Also, the fact that they're downsized means that their energy requirements
B: can easily be met by an affordable solar solution.
B: Today is a very exciting day for me.
B: The team from Solar Group are back
B: and it's time to get my Tiny House powered by the sun.
B: G'day Roy! Roy: Hello!
B: Good to see you, Mate. R: Yeah, likewise.
B: I am super excited to get into the solar install today.
R: Yeah, we're excited that we're part of this project.
B: So tell me a little bit about what's going to happen today.
B: How does this actually work?
B: What's the, kind of, process for installing solar?
R: OK, the first thing you do always, please:
R: you have to make sure that you have the right size roof
R: and to see how many panels you can fit on the roof.
R: The more panels you can fit, the better off you're going to be
R: because you'll be able to charge your batteries quicker
R: even if it's a cloudy day or rainy day, so after you have measured everything
R: you have to make sure that you don't do it all the way to the edges because you have to ensure
R: that you have a good flow to the gutters if it's raining because the panels,
R: if you do them too long they will "skip" the gutter and that's not good as well.
R: After measuring, you have to make a little plan of where you're going to run the wires,
R: then the process of the planning at that point is pretty much done.
R: You know where the wires are going. You know where the panels are going.
R: And then you start to actually position the rails.
R: Unlike normal houses, with the Tiny House we try to make the rails more robust
R: because obviously it will be subject to driving vibrations and when you drive 90 km/h (56 miles/h)
R: it's equivalent to a 90 kilometers per hour wind.
R: So instead of having a standard two rail system, we are looking at a three rail system
R: and have more anchoring points to the roof
R: than normal so it gives it a better agility for the panel itself and
R: basically it can't move anywhere even if you are travelling at 90 km/h,
R: although even the two rail system is currently rated to 150 km per hour wind,
R: we want to take a conservative approach. The last thing you want is to be on
R: the motorway and one panel is flying off - that's going to be quite disastrous, isn't it?
B: I'm pretty happy to be avoiding that problem, yeah!
B: Well I'm really excited to get stuck into it! R: Yep.
B: Let's get this house solar powered!
R: It's a good idea to select the panels that generate the maximum energy
R: per square metre and the example that we have here is 60 cells panels
R: that can generate 285 watt peak performance up to 290 watt peak performance.
R: The other advantage of these panels is that they are monocrystalline panels
R: so they're a little bit more consistent in generation power
R: in different temperatures, ambient temperatures.
R: It's important to plan well in advance the whole electrical system because
R: systems that are charging batteries will have different voltage ratings
R: and you need to make sure that you match between the panels that you are selecting
R: to your controller, so planning in advance is important
R: and you just you don't go and just look at the first panel you come across and chuck it in and
R: then scratch your head; "Oh, which controller should I use for it?"
R: The other thing is; there should be some healthy ratio between the panels
R: and the batteries, that the panels can charge the batteries fairly quickly
R: but you don't want them to also charge too quickly because then the power
R: will go nowhere, that you generate once your battery is full.
B: Roy, I have to say this looks absolutely fantastic!
B: I mean, I've sort of had dreams of what this Tiny House would look like
B: once all the solar was done but this has just completely exceeded
B: all of my expectations - it looks amazing!
R: Yeah, I must agree - I also like what I see. It all looks very tidy and I'm quite surprised
R: that we managed to get four panels here so that's also, you know...
B: Yeah, because that was definitely the challenge, ay, I mean
B: it's a very small roof area and we were really trying to go for maximum solar gain
B: so that we could make this house as functional as possible and I think we've absolutely
B: "hit it out of the park".
B: Yeah, thank you so much for all your help, mate. R: Yeah, no worries, thank you.
B: Yeah, cheers! R: Cheers!