Solar panels and battery - any real world recommendations?

Ron-ski said:
I'm pretty sure that @varkanoid wasn't asking about hybrid or batteries, and just wanted to get their system functioning again. It appears that one string isn't generating power, this could be a problem with the string, or the inverter.

If you know what you're doing and have the equipment its an easy enough check, if not sure find a local MCS registered installer with good reviews, and get them out to investigate, a simple investigation shouldn't cost much.

Thoughts on the wifi, do you have a dual 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz router, perhaps try turning off 5Ghz and connect it, then turn 5Ghz back on.
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Yes just want to get it fixed not bothered about batteries or hybrid. I can investigate it myself I have already had a look and pretty sure its the inverter. As for the wifi it is just erroring on reset and reload its never done that before. Couple of weeks ago our broadband went down and I had to reconnect it was fine then. Recently I rebooted my Wifi AP it was connected to now it just errors. Upon reload it defaults to its internal SSID. I then connect to that with say my iPad. I can then browse to the internal web page and connect it to my broadband wifi. Its not even transmitting the internal SSID anymore and just errors on the display. Think its a sign the inverter is giving up the ghost. I think I will get Christmas out of the way then look into it being replaced. Its not like we are missing out on the solar panels producing energy etc it rarely gets above half capacity at this time of year anyway. Still waiting for my Energy provider to come back about the FIT payments and what a replacement would entail to them.
 
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Looking at getting a powerwall 3 and battery pack for battery only system. Heatable are going £1500 Cashback. Thinking of going with them as they do 24 months interest free too

Any other recommendations for installers or anywhere to get it cheaper ?
 
Naan_H said:
Looking at getting a powerwall 3 and battery pack for battery only system. Heatable are going £1500 Cashback. Thinking of going with them as they do 24 months interest free too

Any other recommendations for installers or anywhere to get it cheaper ?
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I wouldn't go tesla. One day they may decide to just disable it and ignore you :cry:

 
varkanoid said:
Yes just want to get it fixed not bothered about batteries or hybrid. I can investigate it myself I have already had a look and pretty sure its the inverter. As for the wifi it is just erroring on reset and reload its never done that before. Couple of weeks ago our broadband went down and I had to reconnect it was fine then. Recently I rebooted my Wifi AP it was connected to now it just errors. Upon reload it defaults to its internal SSID. I then connect to that with say my iPad. I can then browse to the internal web page and connect it to my broadband wifi. Its not even transmitting the internal SSID anymore and just errors on the display. Think its a sign the inverter is giving up the ghost. I think I will get Christmas out of the way then look into it being replaced. Its not like we are missing out on the solar panels producing energy etc it rarely gets above half capacity at this time of year anyway. Still waiting for my Energy provider to come back about the FIT payments and what a replacement would entail to them.
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If an inverters going to fail, this time of year is the best time.

It would probably be best to do a little research and find an inverter that suits your needs with regards to connectivity, and solar requirements rather than go for a secondhand unit.
 
Naan_H said:
Any other recommendations ?
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I hear Kodak do some very good batteries over at poundland :p

On a serious note, there are quite a few members that are more experienced to give you better advice. I just felt I had to at least make a fellow member aware of the tesla story I came across recently :)
 
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Naan_H said:
Any other recommendations ?
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There is nothing fundamentally wrong with going for a powerwall 3.

There is of course an ongoing issue with an relativly small number of older PW2 units and they have identified a problem with a batch of batteries.

They could have made all their customers pinky swear not to use them while they organised replacements and it’s highly likely a bunch of them will have gone up in flames in the mean time because most people will just ‘YOLO’ it.

The other option, which most regulators would mandate if it’s possible, is to hit the kill switch.

Having that kind of capability isn’t unique to Tesla, all the fully integrated brands will be able to do similar. Should a similar thing happen with say a GivEnergy system or a SigEnergy system, if fully expect them to also trigger a remote kill switch.

The flip side of this is if you buy an un-integrated system from say one of the big Chinese manufacturers, they have no idea who installed the systems or where they are. If there was an issue, they’d never track down all the impacted units and plenty would go up in smoke.

All I’m saying is there are pros and cons for going with a big integrated brand and something else which is more open.

There sold a couple of million of these things so the number of people impacted is relatively small. The issue for me is not that they hit the kill switch, it’s how long it’s taken them to sort out, it’s really not great. However, I expect those customers would have been less impressed if they could continue to use it and it ultimately went up in smoke.

As for the Powerwall 3, it is fundamentally a different product to the older Powerwall 2, it’s a complete redesign and pretty much everything is different, including the type of batteries used.

However, if you want a similar product to a Powerwall 3, the GivEnergy All-in-one 2 (the second version specifically) and the SigEnergy Sigenstore are the two products which most closely match it.

GivEnergy have been around for awhile but that product is brand new in the market. They do not have the best reputation for customer supper but they seems to be slowly turning that around.

SigEnergy system is being pushed by every influencer under the sun, seems to be a good product but they are a very new player and there is plenty of time for that shine to wear off.

As for heatable, they are the most expensive mainstream installer in the country, by some margin usually.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with going for a powerwall 3.

There is of course an ongoing issue with an relativly small number of older PW2 units and they have identified a problem with a batch of batteries.

They could have made all their customers pinky swear not to use them while they organised replacements and it’s highly likely a bunch of them will have gone up in flames in the mean time because most people will just ‘YOLO’ it.

The other option, which most regulators would mandate if it’s possible, is to hit the kill switch.

Having that kind of capability isn’t unique to Tesla, all the fully integrated brands will be able to do similar. Should a similar thing happen with say a GivEnergy system or a SigEnergy system, if fully expect them to also trigger a remote kill switch.

The flip side of this is if you buy an un-integrated system from say one of the big Chinese manufacturers, they have no idea who installed the systems or where they are. If there was an issue, they’d never track down all the impacted units and plenty would go up in smoke.

All I’m saying is there are pros and cons for going with a big integrated brand and something else which is more open.

There sold a couple of million of these things so the number of people impacted is relatively small. The issue for me is not that they hit the kill switch, it’s how long it’s taken them to sort out, it’s really not great. However, I expect those customers would have been less impressed if they could continue to use it and it ultimately went up in smoke.

As for the Powerwall 3, it is fundamentally a different product to the older Powerwall 2, it’s a complete redesign and pretty much everything is different, including the type of batteries used.

However, if you want a similar product to a Powerwall 3, the GivEnergy All-in-one 2 (the second version specifically) and the SigEnergy Sigenstore are the two products which most closely match it.

GivEnergy have been around for awhile but that product is brand new in the market. They do not have the best reputation for customer supper but they seems to be slowly turning that around.

SigEnergy system is being pushed by every influencer under the sun, seems to be a good product but they are a very new player and there is plenty of time for that shine to wear off.

As for heatable, they are the most expensive mainstream installer in the country, by some margin usually.
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Yep. My issue is how long they are taking to fix it. Can't remember exactly now. But like 6 months or something was mentioned. That takes the biscuit. Should be 2-3 months tops!

Worse was they did not even communicate to customers what they planned to do about it. Just ignored customers. That is not cool. Things like that damage the tesla brand, as if Elon was not doing a great job of that on his own.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
haha yeh, I didn’t address the elephant in the room that is the Tesla brand has Elon’s Musk (see what I did there?) all over it. That’s ultimately a personal decision but the underlying product is good IMO.
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Yeah, I like the product. The bit that matters is customer support and how they handle things when it goes wrong. Imagine doing it so badly that customers have enough and sue you.
 
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Naan_H said:
Any other recommendations ?
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You also need to decide what level of control you want, set and forget, or whether you like to tinker.

Most systems can have some level of external control, but for ultimate control I don't think you can beat a Victron system, but that's not as neat and integrated as say a PW3 or Sigenenery system.

I see quite a lot of complaints from people trying to get their system to do what they want, it often involves Home Assistant and Predbat, so consider what you need from that perspective as well.
 
Ron-ski said:
If an inverters going to fail, this time of year is the best time.

It would probably be best to do a little research and find an inverter that suits your needs with regards to connectivity, and solar requirements rather than go for a secondhand unit.
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Thanks, I have had it confirmed replacing the Inverter will not affect my FIT payment or registration.
 
Recently had a solar quote for 18 panels (470W per panel) and a 10kW battery. Came in at £9200. Our roof is 20° off south and was told it is about as ideal as you can get for solar. Their modelling showed we would never need to pay for electricity from the grid and would pretty much always have extra energy to export.

Based on our usage (around 3800kWh p/a), we would break even by month 71. Currently debating the value of doing this. We don't have an electric car but this could be pretty good justification to get one.

I'm going to get a few more quotes and then do some further evaluation. Octopus are currently doing 3 for 2 on panels which could be interesting price wise.
 
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@aaronyuri as above, you'd charge the car and the house battery at 7p per kWh overnight, and export excess solar in the day for 15p kWh on the current tariff rates.

What you export in the summer covers what you need to use in the winter months, as there is month solar generation this time of year.

It's also a good idea to fill as many roofs as possible with panels, even north facing it doesn't usually cost a lot more, as panels are cheap.
 
Ron-ski said:
It's also a good idea to fill as many roofs as possible with panels, even north facing it doesn't usually cost a lot more, as panels are cheap.
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I did query having more panels as we still have plenty of south-facing roof space left but scaffolding was described as being needed to do that other section of the roof. I've got a few more quotes lined up and will see what they say.

Thank you @Journey and @Ron-ski for your comments.
 
Is that just additional scaffolding, or can the 18 panels be fitted without scaffolding? If its additional it may not cost much more, worth investigating.
 
aaronyuri said:
I did query having more panels as we still have plenty of south-facing roof space left but scaffolding was described as being needed to do that other section of the roof. I've got a few more quotes lined up and will see what they say.
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General rule these days, if paying for a new install you can't have too many panels, as the cost isn't in the panels it is the labour, scaffold etc.

If you can fit 40 panels and get export allowance for that, then you'll be more off grid in the winter and generate more income back in the spring and summer. For reference a 430w panel can be bought for ~£42 now.
 
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