Solar panels and battery - any real world recommendations?

200sols said:
1980s style double glazing sales tactics are an instant walk away for me.

'Let me phone my manager and knock £10k off the price...'
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Yea, I had similar thoughts. Though my main concern, and I suspect theirs too, is if it does the job or not. They aren't massively tech savy, so a system that works, works well, and does what they need for them, even if it's at a premium, would be better. That said, I forwarded on those suggested by @doodah because more options are better and higher price doesn't mean the other boxes are in any way ticked.

I did see that their report suggested an annual energy use of just under 4000kwh, but their last place (a lot smaller) was over 3000kwh (iirc) and they've also been thinking of getting a heatpump/electric car in the future. I would have expected their energy use to go up by more than a third with those included, but that's more 'thoughts and feels' than grounded in any real knowledge.

I think the number was a 20% off, if you signed fast. There were 'reasons' for this, but as you say it could as easily be a sales tactic as a legitimate situation. As someone who used to do retail, if it were legitimate then I'd say the same thing. The problem is you can't tell how honest someone is or is not.
 
loftie said:
Yea, I had similar thoughts. Though my main concern, and I suspect theirs too, is if it does the job or not. They aren't massively tech savy, so a system that works, works well, and does what they need for them, even if it's at a premium, would be better. That said, I forwarded on those suggested by @doodah because more options are better and higher price doesn't mean the other boxes are in any way ticked.

I did see that their report suggested an annual energy use of just under 4000kwh, but their last place (a lot smaller) was over 3000kwh (iirc) and they've also been thinking of getting a heatpump/electric car in the future. I would have expected their energy use to go up by more than a third with those included, but that's more 'thoughts and feels' than grounded in any real knowledge.

I think the number was a 20% off, if you signed fast. There were 'reasons' for this, but as you say it could as easily be a sales tactic as a legitimate situation. As someone who used to do retail, if it were legitimate then I'd say the same thing. The problem is you can't tell how honest someone is or is not.
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Still very expensive. Reckon even Heatable would be cheaper than that if they want an off the shelf managed install. FWIW Costco also offer solar, 10 panels and 10.36kW fox battery is £9.5k on their website fully installed.
 
Yea my dad works at Costco so I've seen the offers, but didn't know how good/bad they are. Some of the stuff they do (instore) is good, a lot looks good and is utter crap.

Will see what they say, should be seeing them soon and I'll repoint them towards the suggestions mentioned.

Cheers @200sols
 
Heatable will generally do a good job, but they are far more expensive than most, and they often push Ria panels, and micro inverters, and unless you have shading issues they are not worth the money.

They use subcontractors, so two companies need to make a decent profit, hence higher prices.

They do have an online quote tool so worth a play around to give you an idea of what an expensive install will cost.

There is also a firm in Dartford called Degee Solar, not used them but apparently OK.
 
loftie said:
Yea my dad works at Costco so I've seen the offers, but didn't know how good/bad they are. Some of the stuff they do (instore) is good, a lot looks good and is utter crap.

Will see what they say, should be seeing them soon and I'll repoint them towards the suggestions mentioned.

Cheers @200sols
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Yeah it was more just an indictation of betetr pricing rather than a recommendation. The one I saw was FOX Ess battery and Eurener panels. Both pretty well known.
 
Ron-ski said:
Heatable will generally do a good job, but they are far more expensive than most, and they often push Ria panels, and micro inverters, and unless you have shading issues they are not worth the money.

They use subcontractors, so two companies need to make a decent profit, hence higher prices.

They do have an online quote tool so worth a play around to give you an idea of what an expensive install will cost.

There is also a firm in Dartford called Degee Solar, not used them but apparently OK.
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Got a little bit of shading from the neighbours house, but apparently the Project Solar guy said ignoring that their angle and position is pretty much ideal. Cheers for the info
 
Anyone with a Tesla PW3 and then had a PW3 expansion pack installed?

I've have a constant 2kW draw which goes up to 3.1kW draw in the summer months and the 13kW standard PW3 battery just isn't really enough. Wondering what the real world prices are for the expansion packs and if it's a simple install.
 
Octopus energy have a fixed price of £5,409 to add a single expansion back to an existing install so that would be the most you should have to pay.

I’m sure it will be less if you are adding more than one at the same time and given your power requirements, two may be the right call.

Octopus quote £3773 if you are adding one at the same time as installing the main Powerwall 3 so I’m sure there is some wiggle room if you want two expansion packs added.

P.S. your garden update looks ace.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
Octopus energy have a fixed price of £5,409 to add a single expansion back to an existing install so that would be the most you should have to pay.

I’m sure it will be less if you are adding more than one at the same time and given your power requirements, two may be the right call.

Octopus quote £3773 if you are adding one at the same time as installing the main Powerwall 3 so I’m sure there is some wiggle room if you want two expansion packs added.

P.S. your garden update looks ace.
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Thank you

Unfortunately from what I've heard, Octopus will only install the expansion on an PW3 install they originally installed. Might call them anyway just incase!
 
Gazanimal said:
@reef - Just wondering, would turning off Mode Scheduler act like a toggle that allows me to prioritise Self-use and charge the battery over exporting?
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I honestly have no idea as I always have it enabled. The inverter should in theory reset to self-use when its disabled so it might work.

The best way to do it would probably set a min SOC of 100% on the current point in the schedule which will force the battery to charge. On any mode other than force charge this will cause it to charge from solar.
 
reef said:
I honestly have no idea as I always have it enabled. The inverter should in theory reset to self-use when its disabled so it might work.

The best way to do it would probably set a min SOC of 100% on the current point in the schedule which will force the battery to charge. On any mode other than force charge this will cause it to charge from solar.
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I've set the daytime part of the Mode Scheduler to Self-Use for the time being, rather then Feed-In. It deals with the load first, then tops up the battery and then exports after that which is simpler as we get into the darker, shorter days. Plus I'm away in Japan next week for 10 days and I don't want the wife blasting through a load of expensive electricity if the battery is expended :D
 
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Damn, that’s a value you can’t argue with.

Yes I know plug in solar isn’t legal but it’s hard to say not to do it when products like that are so cheap.
 
I think if one hard-wires the micro inverter to a dedicated circuit these are legal in UK.

In other countries the Stream comes with a regular electric plug, but in UK the AC cable ends with just 3 wires - ready to be hardwired.
 
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