Posts By Anthony Bennett On SolarQuotes

About Anthony Bennett

Anthony joined the SolarQuotes team in 2022. He’s a licensed electrician, builder, roofer and solar installer who for 14 years did jobs all over SA - residential, commercial, on-grid and off-grid. A true enthusiast with a skillset the typical solar installer might not have, his blogs are typically deep dives that draw on his decades of experience in the industry to educate and entertain. Read Anthony's full bio.

Wiring Wrangles: How Power And Data Make Electricians Bicker

data cable and EVSE supply wiring

SolarQuotes recently detailed the fairly difficult installation of a home EV charger and sure enough, the electricians turned up in the comments section to start arguing about it.

Read on while we explain that you don’t always have to put data cable in its own pipe.

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We Can’t Let Labor’s Battery Cash Cause A Grid Crash

An average Australian suburban house belching black smoke from an industrial stack

There’s plenty of understandable excitement about Labor’s Cheaper Home Batteries Program election pitch. What I’m not so excited about is subsidising a wave of suburban survival-of-the-fittest types to disconnect from a grid that urgently needs more storage.

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Solar Analytics Users Plagued By Dropouts

telecommunication signal strength graph

Solar Analytics has long offered some of the best energy monitoring software on the market, but some customers recently have been plagued by dropouts and poor customer support. We’ve investigated to see what’s going on.

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Off Grid in the ‘Burbs? That’s FreeDumb

Man triumphantly cutting down a utility power pole

Every week without fail we see multiple comments, quotes or exasperated exclamations along these lines;

“BUGGER THIS; I’M GOING OFF GRID..!”

It’s a natural reaction to a nasty power bill and expresses a desire to be independent and free of obligation. But becoming your own power company is expensive, fraught with risk and really doesn’t make sense.

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Brand Name, Botched Game: Cheap Installs Of Quality Solar

Solar panel installers working at night

Solar panels don’t keep working into the night, and neither should solar installers.

Ever heard an installer promise a premium brand of solar panel, battery or inverter for an absolute bargain? As the old saying goes: if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Here’s why good quality gear doesn’t always mean a good quality job.

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Cheap Solar Ads: Watch Out For The Spin

We’ve all seen the adverts on TV with used cricketers flogging cheap solar, but have you considered who’s boosting who?

Is it the retailer using the credibility of respected personalities; or are washed-up sports stars just getting their face on TV after retirement?

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Off-Grid EV Charging: Here’s How To Make It Work

For those with experience living with remote area power, you’ll know every watt counts, especially in winter.

If you want an EV, then you’ll almost certainly need more solar, and the best available management for charging the new car.

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How a Simple Contactor Can Improve Your Battery Backup

a well lit house in a blackoutModest hybrid inverters are sometimes oversold by salespeople or romanticised by customers. Their ability to back up your house in a blackout can be limited by capacity and wiring constraints.

If you have awkward house wiring and an older, smaller, cheaper hybrid, we may have an answer to get you backup throughout the house.

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Storing Sunshine: The Key To Free Energy & Transport

A man charging an EV with the sun behind himWhat if told you there was a petrol station selling half-price petrol?

Forget the dollar figure, just imagine the traffic chaos and thousands of manhours wasted queuing.

Read on and we’ll explain how to get cheap fuel dispensed with zero effort from the convenience of your own driveway… it’s an absolute no brainer.

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Gardening Gloves On: Your Solar Panels Need a Scrub

Solar panels in a domestic garden
Over a decade ago I installed solar for a good mate of mine with a difficult roof. Recently I dropped past to see him, and found that things need a bit of maintenance. This is a short story about a surprising amount of grime.

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