Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

SoliD said:
Think thats the difference between where we are and @katie279 is that even on gloomy days the sun still has a chunk of strength whereas up in Scotland its much much weakened. My worst day so far is 9.64kwh(22/8) on a day that was deep cloud and rain. Always surprises me with the generation as i just loaded mine up and saw it was going along at 3.5kwh despite looking quite gloomy. Yesterday I genersted 15kwh.

Be interesting to compare our two systems @HungryHippos showing the difference in the South vs multiple directional set up.
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I posted last 4 days of data here:

Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

I use 1100-1200 kWh/year and I am out of the house during the day I have a South facing roof with around 9m² of useable roof space for panels. Given this, and assume best case scenario with panel efficiency, am I right in thinking that I am unlikely to recover a solar install for circa 10-12...
forums.overclockers.co.uk forums.overclockers.co.uk

If you can get the same ones we can directly see how they compare!
 
I wonder if we should set up a thread to share generation charts etc - could be quite interesting.

I wonder if there's a site or something where you can connect via APIs automatically?
 
You have varying setups but would be good to compile some data to reflect what the systems are doing, what regional differences etc.
 
katie279 said:
I wonder if we should set up a thread to share generation charts etc - could be quite interesting.

I wonder if there's a site or something where you can connect via APIs automatically?
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Not sure, I'd guess it's possible but I don't mind just pulling some stats occasionally ad-hoc.

gpuerrilla said:
You have varying setups but would be good to compile some data to reflect what the systems are doing, what regional differences etc.
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Yes, Solid and I live fairly close by each other, so ours would be comparable to a degree.

But otherwise some headline figures from different systems could be interesting, kwh produced in a month, how much was used out of that, how much went to export etc. Can all be used to work out efficiency and cost basis if sat on regular capped pricing and paying for it all instead of solar getting it for free.
 
Potential for Truss to announce solar grants if she becomes PM on Tuesday? Looks like it could be on the cards. Less reliant on foreign energy and keeping bills down.

We re looking at going for an 8KW system with two 9.5KW batteries bur awaiting the government reshuffle
 
Nathan said:
Potential for Truss to announce solar grants if she becomes PM on Tuesday? Looks like it could be on the cards. Less reliant on foreign energy and keeping bills down.

We re looking at going for an 8KW system with two 9.5KW batteries bur awaiting the government reshuffle
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I wouldn't count on solar grants here necessarily.

They pay for themselves well enough, I could see some kind of interest free loan scenario maybe?

I mean if they do a grant thing it would be nice to get something back as someone who's just had them added. Will see what comes along.
 
HungryHippos said:
Sun popping out seems to do wonders for the generation, which is obvious, but I didn't realise quite how much difference it made.

Background ambient generation is always ticking over though, which is nice to see, so even on a dreary day it will be helping with some of the base load at least.
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Yup

Even on a really bad day for cloud (so far) it seems we're getting 200-300 watts minimum per hour from around an hour after dawn until about 2 hours before sunset (by which time the sun is on the other side of the house), most of the day we seem to be getting a lot more even with fairly heavy, low cloud (high cloud isn't as as bad).
It's odd how addictive it can be checking the app and trying to guess how much it's producing (or maybe i'm just weird :p).

One of the things I've started to do to make the most out of it, and minimise what gets put back into the grid (it barely seems worth the paperwork at 3-6p a unit), is make sure the dishwasher starts a couple of hours after dawn, then the washing machine an hour or two later.
 
Werewolf said:
Yup

Even on a really bad day for cloud (so far) it seems we're getting 200-300 watts minimum per hour from around an hour after dawn until about 2 hours before sunset (by which time the sun is on the other side of the house), most of the day we seem to be getting a lot more even with fairly heavy, low cloud (high cloud isn't as as bad).
It's odd how addictive it can be checking the app and trying to guess how much it's producing (or maybe i'm just weird :p).

One of the things I've started to do to make the most out of it, and minimise what gets put back into the grid (it barely seems worth the paperwork at 3-6p a unit), is make sure the dishwasher starts a couple of hours after dawn, then the washing machine an hour or two later.
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Heheh, I've got this bug too.

Two things I'm aiming to avoid:
1) power going back to the grid
2) flat line of batteries being full

It's great fun tweaking it all!
 
Nathan said:
Potential for Truss to announce solar grants if she becomes PM on Tuesday? Looks like it could be on the cards. Less reliant on foreign energy and keeping bills down.

We re looking at going for an 8KW system with two 9.5KW batteries bur awaiting the government reshuffle
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Much more important things like disconnecting the elctric price from gas to actually help the people who need it most.End of hte day most of us in here with systems aren't the ones struggling and they need the most help.
 
Werewolf said:
Yup

Even on a really bad day for cloud (so far) it seems we're getting 200-300 watts minimum per hour from around an hour after dawn until about 2 hours before sunset (by which time the sun is on the other side of the house), most of the day we seem to be getting a lot more even with fairly heavy, low cloud (high cloud isn't as as bad).
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25th August it was heavily overcast here we only generated 2.2kw all day
 
I've obtained some monies that I want to use a bit of to put solar on my gaff with battery storage. What am I looking at for say a 4kW solar system with a decent sized battery? We use between 10 and 15kWh per day at the moment.
 
Rilot said:
£10k to £12k was what I was thinking. Thanks.
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4kWp PV is only 10/11 panels, so unless you are buying 12kWh plus of battery storage then you should be looking at sub £9k.

Lots of installers are just taking the pee now sadly, so shop around plenty and don't let lead times make you take an inferior system.
 
Thanks. I'm not in any hurry to get it installed and can imagine that there is a lot of p taking at the moment with the cost of energy being so high.
We've got solar water heating at the moment and would like to keep it if possible and have the PVs mounted around the water array. Should be doable.
 
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