What Did You Get Up To Today?

Awesome setup and wish that more people could actually get the right advice as how to do this properly such as yourself.

My main problem with the whole government Solar program is that it is all lies and bullshit :rage:

Same as the great LPG Vehicle subsidised conversions many years ago, thereā€™s a deep dark backstory as to why they push these things onto the general publicā€¦ā€¦ and FYI, itā€™s never been about looking after the average family :cry:

The whole Government Solar Plan was a solution to a big problem that they were facing to supply a National power grid whilst at the same time shutting down power stations all over the country.

Great idea to incentivise and manipulate the public into paying for their own houses to be plastered with panels and connected to the main grid to supply power to a failed national power generation plan.

Problem is that the government allowed thousands of dodgy contractors to sign up as government approved installers, using dodgy panels/meters/components to make a quick dollar praying on the government installation contracts.

Hundreds of dodgy businesses popped up, registering as government official installers and providersā€¦ā€¦ but again, were all mostly fly by night shysters looking to earn a quick dollar.

The problem now is that this has all severely backfired on the government and the power providers, as now thereā€™s TOO MUCH POWER being fed into the grid during working hours, yet still have to tell everyone NOT to use any power when they get home in the evening or overnight :roll_eyes:

Because thereā€™s now 80% of roof space from every house throughout the country feeding in bulk megawatts of power into the grid, itā€™s causing absolute havoc with the energy system!

These systems were never designed so that the consumer could actually capture their own energy output into battery storage for their own personal useā€¦ā€¦it was ONLY ever about the government trying to suck people into paying for a solar setup out of their own pockets that would allow them to fulfill power demands without actually having to plan and invest in any actual REAL power development infrastructure themselves.

Itā€™s pretty obvious when thereā€™s two main grid ALINTA Gasbpower stations within 30 kilometres of me that are having to run BACKWARDS every day to try and soak up excess solar energy that is causing havoc across the grid :hushed:

Itā€™s a big issue, and Iā€™m sure that personal residential battery storage will be the biggest next push by the government to overcome the stupidity of their oversight of their original plans.

I think that this would be awesome for every household to be able to create and store their own powerā€¦ā€¦ but believe meā€¦ā€¦ thatā€™s not how governments work.

I will already put my hand on my heart and guarantee that the same government who has incentivised you to go full Solar, will also turn around and try and charge/tax you for ANY power that you are able to store and consume off of the main grid :confused:

Donā€™t get me started on the whole EV government push when we already have had LPG powered vehicles.
You wonā€™t see any debate about this topic online I can guarantee you! :roll_eyes:

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Donā€™t forget they are now trying to pass a tax on power put back into the grid :+1::rofl:

I completely agree with you, Bobbyā€¦

As per one of my previous posts, 3.2 million solar systems installed in Oz, at an average cost of, say $7k, is 22.4 BILLIONā€¦completely funded by private citizens, for power generation purposesā€¦

And yes, the grid is not wired for transporting power around. They will take , what you make, for 6c, and sell it for 40c+, to someone elseā€¦after you have funded all the cost of the infrastructureā€¦

However, we are all attached to the beast, that is high power prices.
Essentially , there are 4 optionsā€¦

  1. Do nothing, and pay full whackā€¦prices will go up, get ready for the butthurtā€¦

  2. Solar, no batteryā€¦as prices rise, and feed ins drop, its better to use it, rather than export it. Works well for mums at home with kids, little old ladies who can run their A/c all day at no costā€¦Use all your own power , during the day, and try to export , to build up a ā€œdaily creditā€, to cover the cost of the power drawn at nightā€¦as stated it becomes less viable, as feed ins drop, and prices go upā€¦

  3. solar + batteryā€¦ essentially go ā€œoff gridā€ā€¦figure out what your average night time use is, and install batteries to suit. Essentially, if you draw nothing from the grid, it doesnā€™t matter what the prices are, as you are not paying them. You still have to pay supply charges etc, but if you export enough, that feed in can cover those charges. Problem is, its expensive, and, taxes may be added later on. Still, you can only make desicions, on the info at the timeā€¦and , at this stage, if you plan to stay in your home for several years, it still makes financial sense.

For me ( and mum) its a double benefitā€¦having zero bills ( saving about 2.5k /year , at todays rates), plus refundsā€¦1k / yearā€¦is a benefit of $3.5k a yearā€¦ at current prices. As prices rise, the dollar value of the benefit also increasesā€¦makes it easier to justify a batteryā€¦

  1. Go fully off gridā€¦diesel generator etc. Especially if you are a primary producer, and can claim some of the diesel against your buisness.
    Not really an option for residential homes, as neighbours will complain about the noise/ pollution etcā€¦

We really need to go nuclear here in oz, but i doubt that will happen for a long time yet. So, apart from that, all we have, is the 4 options aboveā€¦ option 3 works for me / mum, but i am quite disciplined in power use, and mum uses little power anywayā€¦larger families might struggle to get it to work, numbers wiseā€¦

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For @Maiphut , if you are looking at getting a battery, here is some additional infoā€¦

For you , its a dollars and cents game, given that you are paying ridiculous prices ( which will keep increasing) , its easier to justify a battery purchase. Also, having blackout capability will be a bonus, if you have semi regular blackoutsā€¦

After doing some research, i went with sungrow, for mums place. They are a very large chinese company, have been around 25 years, have an office in sydney, warranty support is good. 10 year warranty on the batteries ( which is their lifespan, anyway).

The battery system is floor mounted, and modular. You stack them like lego bricks, minimum of 3, max 6 stack high. You can have multiple stacks. each brick is 3.2 kw/hrs.

The installer told me, its best not to discharge them 100%, as it shortens their lifespan. You can set whatever limit you want, via the controller, to protect the battery. He reccomended 15%, (it stops drawing, when it reaches 15 % remaining). It also draws from each cell at once, ie it doesnt fully drain one, then move onto the next cellā€¦its draws from all cells equally.

Tesla do this as wellā€¦the powerwall2 is cited as being 14.5 kw/hr, all useableā€¦its really a 16kw/h battery, with the limiting built in, and advertised as 14.5ā€¦

Anyway, iā€™d reccomend figuring out what your average night time draw is, and run the numbers, to see what works for youā€¦if you are paying 7-8K a year on power, it gets easier to justify a battery systemā€¦and you get the smug satisfaction , of not paying rip off power ratesā€¦

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Totally agree with this 100% :+1:
Pity that people think itā€™s a dirty word, whereas itā€™s ā€œgreenerā€ than Solar energy so far!

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Why go nuclear when the gov gets their power supply infrastructure for free from us. Nuclear the gov would have to fork out for it.

Thanks @BME some things and options to consider. I mean I already get bulk diesel and a rebate on it whatā€™s a few more ltrs. Also fun fact the petro companies charge me absolutely zero for delivery. It is pump price which is usually several cents lower than actual station pump price. Yep big ass semi rolls up within couple days of phone call.

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Going through my shed cleaning out everything as the ex-missus and I are selling our acreage in the hills.

Have been discovering many trophies and prizes that our Car Club and my Burnout Car had won over 21 years of attending this awesome event.

Thereā€™s certainly NOTHING like a country show, but unfortunately this is a ā€œPGā€ rated videoā€¦. but believe me, this event out in the Wheatbelt farmlands was way beyond any city rules/regulations and was the most feral country event for almost 30 years with pretty much no rules/policing :ok_hand:
If I had a few hoursā€¦ā€¦ by Christ I could tell some stories over all those years! :joy:

My burnout care won about 5-6 events in its class, our Car Club winning top display for something like 7+ years in a row, not to mention a few of our Club girls doing well in the ā€œMiss Revheadsā€ competitions :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Certainly has bought back some great memories at a time when I need all the positive vibes that I can get :mending_heart:

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ā€¦" It was, precisely, at this momentā€¦BME knew his days off, were fuckedā€¦!!"

2200 gamesā€¦like, every arcade game, ever inventedā€¦

At least it has a coin slotā€¦who wants to visit, to help me pay for itā€¦!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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Thatā€™s awesome man!
Strider and Dungeons and Dragons were my favs growing up.
But hell there were so many great games.
Double Dragon
Golden Axe
Gauntlet

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It has them allā€¦even ( the holy grail)ā€¦dragons lairā€¦!!

As a kid, growing up, dad had a pub, on a island resortā€¦
The deal, for us kids, was thisā€¦

Power was generated, by diesel generatorā€¦it came on at 6am.
Quick breaky, then clean the pub, to dads satisfactionā€¦( he was a fussy bugger)ā€¦ about 2 hrsā€¦thenā€¦

He opened the coin slots of the spaceyā€™s , which we could play for free, till the pub opened at 10amā€¦!!

Grew up on a steady diet of ghostsā€™nā€™goblins , green beret, pac man, wonderboy, defender, asteroids, dig dug, kung fu master, etcā€¦ i could go on for hoursā€¦

Iā€™ve had Mame for years, on the pc, but there is something special about a arcade cabinetā€¦especially now Dad is goneā€¦

I reckon itā€™ll be a ton of fun at parties, something for kids to do, while the adults get down to the serious buisness, of playing poolā€¦!! :rofl: :rofl:

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Jealous mate. Just jealous.

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aww, dont be jealousā€¦!
Defer a purchase, of a high end gel blaster, and grab one insteadā€¦

Google ā€œa man and his caveā€ā€¦they have cheaper sit down ones, as wellā€¦

OZ made, and backed, with a 2yr warranty, cheap replacement joysticks / buttonsā€¦

Also, MAME ( Multiple arcade machine emulator) is freely available on the netā€¦

You can download that, and the roms, and play, all the old games, for free, on your pcā€¦!!

Have you heard of MAME before.?.?

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I have come across before but I have so many past times I just canā€™t split the love any more.
Iā€™ll live vicariously through you. :sweat_smile:

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if its any consolation, iā€™ll be sufferingā€¦it literally is a pandoraā€™s boxā€¦

You have to beat ghostsā€™nā€™goblins ā€¦ twiceā€¦ to get to the real endingā€¦

We spent one Xmas day (pub was shut), to find out that, horrible truthā€¦

Beat it once, it sends you back to the start, to do it all over againā€¦

It took all 4 of us, all day, tag teaming in, playing for freeā€¦just to beat it onceā€¦
If we were paying, we could have paid off a carā€¦ :rofl: :rofl:

We rage quit, when we ā€œbeat it / had to go againā€ā€¦

So, its really a cursed boxā€¦!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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I just wanna experience 1942 again :confused:

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Slide on over , to Qld,ā€¦.

As much 1942, and gel blasters, as you can handleā€¦!,!
Iā€™ll even keep, the coin slot open, for yaā€¦!,

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The good news is, you canā€¦

There is a program, called MAME (Mulitple Arcade Machine Emulator)

Hardware wise , the old 80ā€™s / 90ā€™s arcade machines are archaic, any modern phone runs rings around themā€¦

which meansā€¦

any old pc , can download MAME, and the Roms ( Read only Memory) ie the gamesā€¦

and, you can run the old arcade games, off any old pcā€¦

1942, is within your reachā€¦

Alsoā€¦one more wordā€¦

Galagaā€¦!!

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Donā€™t have a computerā€¦ā€¦ only this phone :confused:

Has it got 1942 and Double Dragon?

Iā€™m on my way if it has :rofl:

Edit: DB beat me to the punch.

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My insanely talented daughter messaged me this a few days agoā€¦.

ā€œit was a great time! also, youā€™ll never guess who are booked into the studio this weekā€¦

Her time schedule from her job at the recording studio in Fremantle where she works.
Where have I gone wrong in life to submit my Daughter to be involved with these dodgy people ! :flushed::rofl::+1:

She was so excited today to be able to be sitting outside listening to this band after spending twice hours setting up their equipment in the studio :sunglasses::+1:

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