Solar panels and battery - any real world recommendations?

Freefaller said:
Is a solar diverter for hot water tank useful?
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Very useful if you have excess solar being generated as it's a store of energy at the end of the day.

I've no batteries in my setup at the moment but do have an eddi, my excess solar is heating up my water for free.

If you had batteries then the ROI on a diverter will be longer but if you don't have batteries, have excess solar and a hot water tank it's a very good idea.
 
Well we will be getting 11kw of battery storage roughly. Just wondering whether it's worth it as we do have an immersion heater as well as gas.

We don't have an ev yet and won't do for a while.

Also second question is it possible to move over to an economy 7 tariff or does that require a new contract? Thinking this would be good to charge the battery at night time in the winter months on a lower rate.
 
Freefaller said:
Well we will be getting 11kw of battery storage roughly. Just wondering whether it's worth it as we do have an immersion heater as well as gas.

We don't have an ev yet and won't do for a while.

Also second question is it possible to move over to an economy 7 tariff or does that require a new contract? Thinking this would be good to charge the battery at night time in the winter months on a lower rate.
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It's not difficult to wire up the hot water diverter later once you know how much (if any) excess solar you have.

If you find your exporting a load back to the grid when your batteries are full then it would be worth considering but in your case I'd wait and see.
 
Freefaller said:
Well we will be getting 11kw of battery storage roughly. Just wondering whether it's worth it as we do have an immersion heater as well as gas.

We don't have an ev yet and won't do for a while.

Also second question is it possible to move over to an economy 7 tariff or does that require a new contract? Thinking this would be good to charge the battery at night time in the winter months on a lower rate.
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I'm wondering if i could rig a smart switch up to turn the immersion on when there spare solar, but not sure how reliable that'd be.

Doubt you can switch to economy 7 without a new contract but may be worth asking i guess.
 
Siliconslave said:
I'm wondering if i could rig a smart switch up to turn the immersion on when there spare solar, but not sure how reliable that'd be.

Doubt you can switch to economy 7 without a new contract but may be worth asking i guess.
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problem with a smart switch is it won't vary the amount of electricity going to your immersion. With a diverter if you're generated 400w spare then it sends 400w to the immersion, with a switch it will whatever the immersion wants (which could be 3.6kW or 7.2kW) which could mean big power draw from the grid.
 
Siliconslave said:
I'm wondering if i could rig a smart switch up to turn the immersion on when there spare solar, but not sure how reliable that'd be.

Doubt you can switch to economy 7 without a new contract but may be worth asking i guess.
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This is basically what these devices are anyway
They have a sensor that detects outgoing current and switches the immersion on (ie excess generation to whats being used/stored), although they restrict it to only part power if I read correctly
(ie the excess solar amount rather than flat out which would happen if you had a simple switch on the immersion)
 
Freefaller said:
Is a solar diverter for hot water tank useful?
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In my opinion very much so, our installer charged £250 for this part, well worth it although we don't have a battery.

I'd say even with a battery, in the summer months you'll still generate way in excess, if it's only adding £250 on top of your total install I'd say get it.
 
BUDFORCE said:
In my opinion very much so, our installer charged £250 for this part, well worth it although we don't have a battery.

I'd say even with a battery, in the summer months you'll still generate way in excess, if it's only adding £250 on top of your total install I'd say get it.
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Was about to post the same, mine has quoted £330 which isn't many Kwh needing to be harvested at predicted energy cost
When I look at my predicted generation and how it can vary day by day there will be days even with 11.6kwh of batteries I blast well past
 
They do go faulty but not high failure rates. I spoke to my installer recently and he said they only had two they had to replace in hundreds they have fitted.
 
Freefaller said:
Ok sod it I'll add it back in! :D
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If you are going on Agile Export then you will be selling export at a higher rate kwh for kwh than you pay for gas, in which case a diverter is a false economy.

Also note that some eg the Eddi have a timer option which is useful for setting in winter if you have an off peak rate, when leccy may be cheaper than gas, but if that is the only reason for getting one then a timer switch would be much cheaper!
 
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