Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

[katie279]

After 13:00 today things kicked up nicely, between 06:30 and 13:00 I think I made about 1kwh, but since then, it's done about 10kwh more.

17 kwh on 31/08, 13 on 01/09 and 11 today.

Very little gone to grid, 31/08 was a little weird because it force charged the battery overnight due to commissioning, it started the day higher than usual, on top of that generation was higher, so it wound up exporting about 5kwh.

Cool! Sounds like you're settling into the groove - agree first two days were very much settling in!

 

[katie279]

It's even better when you can run your vehicle(s) from it as well, and in turn they then run your house when required.

You're such a tease.....

 

[Bug One]

They're very cool things to have, especially on cheap charging on Go or from overflow energy in the summer.

Even better if you get a model where gov can't track mileage later and try and tax you for extra miles used, which is something I've seen banded about

I've been driving my Leaf on mostly solar energy for years. I've not worked how much I've saved (done about 50k in that time), but it's certainly helped.

Tax free, very little to service, and mostly free fuel.

The standard jokes about it being an awful decision back when I got it are still on these forums. How public opinion has changed now.

 

[Journey]

You're such a tease.....

Oi, I resemble that comment!

 

[katie279]

Oi, I resemble that comment!

 

[phill9800]

Hi everyone

I was just wondering if there might be any advice - I'm considering to put up a battery store for my solar array, since the cost of the electric is getting rather shall we say stupid and leave it there... I was just curious if anyone had a particular 'go to' for battery make/models at all?

I've been on to Effective Home's website and they mention they use GiveBat's batteries which go up to 9.5kW, which I thought seemed a little overkill in a way, but a good storage amount should we ever need it or things change? Whilst I'm looking to move from the property I'm in, I thought it seemed a good practice to possibly get a decent setup done with this property and then replicate it on the next. I don't think I'd be without my solar array after having one, regardless of the FIT not being there anymore sadly.

I've a 3.6kW array with 12 x 305w JA Sun panels (I think that's the correct name for the panels!) and a Growatt 3.6kW or 4kW inverter. Sadly no monitoring system as the Geo 3 I believe it was called that was meant to go in didn't because I was told it was against regs and never really liked the way it was installed... So I moved on

Is there anyone with a bit of advise with regards to what I should be looking for, for the battery setup??

 

[silversurfer]

I've been driving my Leaf on mostly solar energy for years. I've not worked how much I've saved (done about 50k in that time), but it's certainly helped.

Tax free, very little to service, and mostly free fuel.

The standard jokes about it being an awful decision back when I got it are still on these forums. How public opinion has changed now.

I have a relative with a Leaf, also no complaints. I mentioned to them that recharging it at 48p a unit is going to ruin things as its far too high to call cheap fuel anymore.

Which model year did you buy, Ive been told 2013 or later is best not sure yet of the details of changes over the years. Have you seen much loss to battery capacity vs your milage usage etc. I did not think most setups allowed vehicle to house supply tbh

LPG Audi TT

I had a nice LPG GTi model also long ago, think it was less then £20 to fill the tank before it all went up. LPG is amazing for the oil, it doesnt degrade it like normal fuels do and the octane is far higher then any petrol.

 

[Ron-ski]

We have two cars, the wifes 2007 Corsa, and my 2009 Tiguan. The wife probably does 2000 miles a year, I do about 8000, both bought second hand and paid outright 10 years or more ago, so no monthly repayments. Mine costs about £100 a month in fuel, as I'm a mechanic maintenance costs are minimal. It just wouldn't pay us to change the cars until we had to, which I'm putting off for as long as possible. I consider our cars cheap motoring, someone at work has just got a brand new Fiat 500 EV, costs her £330 a month in repayments!

 

[Bug One]

I have a relative with a Leaf, also no complaints. I mentioned to them that recharging it at 48p a unit is going to ruin things as its far too high to call cheap fuel anymore.

Which model year did you buy, Ive been told 2013 or later is best not sure yet of the details of changes over the years. Have you seen much loss to battery capacity vs your milage usage etc. I did not think most setups allowed vehicle to house supply tbh


I had a nice LPG GTi model also long ago, think it was less then £20 to fill the tank before it all went up. LPG is amazing for the oil, it doesnt degrade it like normal fuels do and the octane is far higher then any petrol.

Mines an early 2014 Tekna. So, got equipment you don't even get on most 2022 leafs, the heat pump and the 'long life mode' on the battery.

Degredation has been minimal. It lives on long life mode and, bar the odd top up, has always been trickle charged. The car dropped to 11 bars at 45k which is pretty normal (85% original capacity). Had a proper service at Nissan last year and it got 5 stars in all categories for battery health.

No vehicle to house supply. It's just charged by a lockable external 3 pin socket. It's a 3.6kw model, so not much to gain by fitting anything else.

The TT was great, but the engine chain went and it wasn't worth the hassle or expense of fixing. Plus I needed a bit more room for the ever growing family. I sold it to a mechanic whom I'm sure got it back up and running again.

 

[Bug One]

Hi everyone

I was just wondering if there might be any advice - I'm considering to put up a battery store for my solar array, since the cost of the electric is getting rather shall we say stupid and leave it there... I was just curious if anyone had a particular 'go to' for battery make/models at all?

I've been on to Effective Home's website and they mention they use GiveBat's batteries which go up to 9.5kW, which I thought seemed a little overkill in a way, but a good storage amount should we ever need it or things change? Whilst I'm looking to move from the property I'm in, I thought it seemed a good practice to possibly get a decent setup done with this property and then replicate it on the next. I don't think I'd be without my solar array after having one, regardless of the FIT not being there anymore sadly.

I've a 3.6kW array with 12 x 305w JA Sun panels (I think that's the correct name for the panels!) and a Growatt 3.6kW or 4kW inverter. Sadly no monitoring system as the Geo 3 I believe it was called that was meant to go in didn't because I was told it was against regs and never really liked the way it was installed... So I moved on

Is there anyone with a bit of advise with regards to what I should be looking for, for the battery setup??

You're planning on moving soon?

Sounds like you'd be wasting a fair bit of money in that case.

 

[HungryHippos]

Pointless buying a battery if moving.

 

[phill9800]

You're planning on moving soon?

Sounds like you'd be wasting a fair bit of money in that case.

When I say soon, I mean, I'd like to be moving soon lol But then everything seems to be happening at the worst possible time as always, so if I said 5 years before I moved, I might be closer to the truth to be honest.... Anything else I do to this house before I move, I can only believe it will help with the sale, not that there's much more I could do in fairness

 

[HungryHippos]

You can potentially take the battery with you, easier than taking panels, or offer to sell the battery to the new buyer if you sell.

 

[phill9800]

You can potentially take the battery with you, easier than taking panels, or offer to sell the battery to the new buyer if you sell.

To be honest, either idea works for me, I'm just thinking longer term for the house and believe this sort of thing will actually be of use to someone who would like to buy the house... Thought it would definitely be an option

 

[fornowagain]

Found the right thread. Moving it here.

Noob at this Solar stuff. I have a quote.

14 x 375w JA solar Panel
5kw solis inverter
Switch gear, cabling, meteri
Pan tile roof mounting kit
Installation
Scaffolding
HIES, MCS, NICEIC package

£5960 (0% vat)

Any good?
Asked about a G99, he said it needs a G98 is that right?

 

[HungryHippos]

Found the right thread. Moving it here.

Noob at this Solar stuff. I have a quote.

14 x 375w JA solar Panel
5kw solis inverter
Switch gear, cabling, meteri
Pan tile roof mounting kit
Installation
Scaffolding
HIES, MCS, NICEIC package

£5960 (0% vat)

Any good?
Asked about a G99, he said it needs a G98 is that right?

Seems like a reasonable price, though no battery storage which you may want to run the numbers on. If you have an EV or hybrid especially these can be good, you can get onto the Octopus GO tariff and charge your car + battery overnight on cheaper energy for a few hours.

What is your usage of electric roughly per day here? the more you use the better the panels will be. Exporting a lot of units due to low power consumption isn't great really, SEG payments are pretty low vs using the units yourself.

G98 is for 3.6kw limited exports, need a G99 for higher, as the system is 5kw and the inverter is 5kw, are they limiting the export on the inverter to get around the G99 requirement?

G98 is pre-approved and just a case of notifying DNO after install, G99 takes about 3 months, at least my one did, and must be approved before it can be installed.

 

[Bug One]

Love that an MCS certified installer is even more blazé about the regs than I was as a DIY installer.

With the surge in demand, I do wonder how closely the DNOs actually check these applications. I'd imagine it's more of a brief skim than a detailed check these days.

 

[OldKitMan]

Found the right thread. Moving it here.

Noob at this Solar stuff. I have a quote.

14 x 375w JA solar Panel
5kw solis inverter
Switch gear, cabling, meteri
Pan tile roof mounting kit
Installation
Scaffolding
HIES, MCS, NICEIC package

£5960 (0% vat)

Any good?
Asked about a G99, he said it needs a G98 is that right?

Has to be a G99 as the inverter is > 3.68 kW. Limiting it to 3.68 only makes sense if the DNO rejects the G99, and then it would be a G100 I think.

 

[Ron-ski]

The above is my understanding to.

@fornowagain Just put a G99 application in, mine was approved in less than a couple of months. If your not an isolated rural house, and there's not lots of solar installs around the proposed installation then I don't think 5kw would be a problem.

 

[Bug One]

Could you put in a G98 application and a G99 at the same time? Have the inverter switched to 3.68kw mode until the G99 is approved?