Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

[Oh Ed not again.]

Install completed today without a hitch. 4 dudes showed up at 8 (2 roofers, 2 sparks), rails and panels were on the roof by 11 and the system was commissioned and they'd left site by 3pm.

I'd cleared a 2x1m spot on the wall in the garage for the inverter, BMS and battery. Then planned the route for the DC run down from the loft, through the soil stack housing into the garage etc. so the installers didn't have to do all that. Made for a very smooth install.

Just waiting on details for the SolarEdge HD Wave, but I'm setup on the GivEnergy site with all the gubbins. It's a terribly grey day here, but for a brief moment earlier we were generating more than we were using and exported a bit which I'm pleased with considering how naff it is.

Also kind of annoyed SolarEdge have locked down their local API now, was looking forward to getting that integrated with HomeAssistant. I'll start hacking about it with it in a few days.

I'll take some decent pics tomorrow when the sun is shining hopefully.

 

[200sols]

My install is pencilled in for 10th August, went with quote 2 in the end 12 x 420w Jinko 9.5kw givenergy. G99 expected back mid July. Couldn't justify extra £4k for the solar edge system and the second company confirmed no need for optimisers on the main roof.

 

[Oh Ed not again.]

Well it's still not massively sunny, but I suppose it was typical for the day after an install to be less-than-stellar.

18x420w Jinko jobs on the roof, and SolarEdge 5000 HD Wave on inversion duties. GivEnergy BMS and 9.7kw battery down in the garage:






Just spotted our guttering is full of moss. Guess that's today's job whilst the scaffolding is still up. Woo!

 

[Freefaller]

I did the same when we had our scaffolding. Take advantage of it.

 

[Ev0]

Quick obvious stupid question, our meter and consumer unit are in the understairs cupboard.

Will likely be looking at getting a solar install plus battery, would it mean that the most sensible place for everything is in the understairs cupboard?

Said it was a stupid question

 

[HungryHippos]

Quick obvious stupid question, our meter and consumer unit are in the understairs cupboard.

Will likely be looking at getting a solar install plus battery, would it mean that the most sensible place for everything is in the understairs cupboard?

Said it was a stupid question

You don't have to, but if it's elsewhere it will need to run back to there to tie into your mains electric.

The inverter can kick a fair bit of heat out when it's sunny, though the battery will be happier indoors due to higher temps in the winter, be wary of the extra heat in the cupboard if there isn't ventilation.

 

[Ron-ski]

Quick obvious stupid question, our meter and consumer unit are in the understairs cupboard.

Will likely be looking at getting a solar install plus battery, would it mean that the most sensible place for everything is in the understairs cupboard?

Said it was a stupid question

Most likely place is the loft, keeps the DC cables short and makes it easier for the installer. But they can be fitted anywhere, outdoors (if suitable for outside), garage etc. Just the AC cables need running back to the consumer unit, and current sensor to the meter tails.

 

[ci_newman]

Most likely place is the loft, keeps the DC cables short and makes it easier for the installer. But they can be fitted anywhere, outdoors (if suitable for outside), garage etc. Just the AC cables need running back to the consumer unit, and current sensor to the meter tails.

Some installers wont install in the loft any more, the bigger batteries (e.g. GivEnery 10kw) are too heavy to safely lift through a loft hatch

 

[200sols]

My loft gets really warm in summer not sure i'd want it all in there.

 

[Freefaller]

My loft gets really warm in summer not sure i'd want it all in there.

I didn't want it in the loft for that reason, also it's not a particularly tall area.

Ours is in open cubby hole near in the utility room, I've retrofitted some fans that are temperature controlled.

As long as the diameter of the cable is increased to cope with the run down from the panels it's of little consequence. (Voltage drop).

If you do put it in a cupboard make sure you get decent ventilation and use the red plasterboard in that cupboard. That said the fire risk is extremely low, the heat can cap performance however.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Batteries prefer to be warm vs cold though.
Mine and I know of others have charging issues in the very depths of winter

Mine are supposed to be optionally heated, I think the option is in the installers menu... why!?
And haven't got that resolved yet but will be aiming to before next winter

Inverters however prefer to be cool like most electrics so its a trade off if you have them near / together in that the environment for one will be less than ideal for the other.

As inverters seem to be the most likely failure point I guess that being in closest to its ideal position is probably best for long term system uptime.

Best place for an inverter is probably a north facing wall, batteries under stairs or somewhere else inside, then loft/garage, then outside.

 

[200sols]

Batteries prefer to be warm vs cold though.

Yeah, my loft is also cold in winter though. I'm having mine installed in the garage seemed like the best spot for me personally. Under stairs is used for wine

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Yeah, my loft is also cold in winter though. I'm having mine installed in the garage seemed like the best spot for me personally. Under stairs is used for wine

Yeah lofts are cold, probably for most not much diff to outside other then being dry rather than wet potentially

I insulated my batteries with some fire retarding polystyrene from wickes. Just a simple wooden frame with this in between it, made a big diff for me retaining enough of the batteries heat they generate when in use.

Kay Metzeler (Super Plus 70) Expanded Polystyrene Insulation Board - 1200 x 600 x 50mm | Wickes.co.uk

Kay Metzeler (Super Plus 70) Expanded Polystyrene Insulation Board - 1200 x 600 x 50mm

www.wickes.co.uk

I'm going to improve it this coming autumn as its only semi enclosed I was worried to insulate too much but not seeing any issues with over heat yet.
I made it so it helps keep the sun off the system as well since technically they are supposed to avoid direct sun.
Other advantage of a garage is its easy to add some low level heating if required for the batteries.
I am going to add one to mine if worst comes to worst. Those sealed tube heaters with a thermostat are perfect for some low level heating in areas such as garages, sheds etc

Tubular Heaters | Heaters | Screwfix

Buy Tubular Heaters at Screwfix.com. Compact with low running costs. Ideal background heat in attics, conservatories, walk-in wardrobes. Free returns.

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Would probably go 40w max.

 

[SBo]

Re inverter placement, I wish the drops from my panels down two floors to my garage had been done in 6mm2 singles rather than 4mm2.

I have 2x 2800w of panels on quite long runs, I reckon ballpark 50m in the loops given the panels are well spread out around my roof (3 aspects), and also with Tigos bucking the voltage but the wattage remaining high (ie higher current) I'm sure my voltage drop must be >2% in certain conditions.

Midsummer Energy

midsummerenergy.co.uk

I don't think the cost to rectify would ever break even however.

 

[Ron-ski]

My SolarEdge inverter is in our loft, yes it does get warm, but I've so far in eight years not had an issue. It was quite warm up there yesterday, inverter temperature was 42c.

Mate of mine had solar and batteries installed last year, Fox system, and that was installed in his loft, they are rack batteries so not too big/heavy.

For DC connected batteries they have to be near the inverter overwise you'd need some very chunky cables unless they are high voltage batteries.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Yeah my alternate quote was for fox and I always come back to that solution but then it was more money and I was less convinced with the installer.

Thing is with electronics they are pretty much always fine until they aren't.
Its pretty much inevitable that your going to see a failure rate increasing as they age, and other than very early on with a clearly poor component off the line they should last some time.
When I looked into solar before I decided to buy it was clear the main failure point was inverters then micro inverters.
Panels themselves seem to have a very low failure rate.

Which is probably just as well since a new inverter is whilst not cheap not that expensive either and for I assume virtually every install no access issue.
Issues with panels will be a real ball ache needing roof access for most, which means a relatively low cost item could cost £1k to fix/replace.
Most guarantees cover the part not the installation costs.

 

[Ev0]

Cheers everyone, maybe wasn't such a stupid/obvious question after all

Be interested to get a company out to take a look at our place and see what they think!

 

[Freefaller]

This is the alcove in between the kitchen and utility room where everything was fitted. We have space for another battery should we want it. I'll box it off at some point but it's unobtrusive at the moment. I have added some ventilation to the top (of the cooling fins of the solis inverter - it's lowered the temps by around 9C).

 

[Ron-ski]

Cheers everyone, maybe wasn't such a stupid/obvious question after all

Be interested to get a company out to take a look at our place and see what they think!

Absolutely not a stupid question, as always there are a lot of factors involved. If batteries are going in the loft, then how they are mounted and secured should be considered, as there can be a lot of weight involved, especially if stacking multiple rack batteries.

At least you can now get an idea of where a suitable location will be.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

This is the alcove in between the kitchen and utility room where everything was fitted. We have space for another battery should we want it. I'll box it off at some point but it's unobtrusive at the moment. I have added some ventilation to the top (of the cooling fins of the solis inverter - it's lowered the temps by around 9C).

Whats that IPxx socket in the middle.
Emergency socket? (IE power cut isolate from grid type thing?)