It was instant
Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?
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Soldato
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Once it knows you have a smart meter and it's sending 30 min readings, it will switch to go immediately.
Unit rates will actually back date to midnight the night before as well.
Unit rates will actually back date to midnight the night before as well.
Soldato
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Thanks both. 
Any recommendations for solar installers covering Reading/Berkshire area? Ive had a quote from a company recommended to me by a village member called 'Southenglandsolar.co.uk' but i cannot find a single review for them anywhere online which concerns me a little.
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So you're saying I've got good quality batteries?
Soldato
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I've been really impressed with the Givenergy ecosystem so far, the stuff you can see on the website is very useful as well.
I'm more saying your quote will naturally be higher than mine as it's the new gen batteries and Givenergy appear to have been selling them for more than their Gen 1 counterparts. I have no idea if the battery is physically any different other than being a little larger capacity!
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If you have kids and have regular baths, and need to clean up after them a lot you end up using quite a bit of hotwater. I'm trying to convince them to take showers but the youngest still prefers a bath, so we just do a big bath for both of them once rather than using 2 lots of water.
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Glad to hear. My friend who is more expert than me said that the quote seemed fair (for market rates) and was good quality overall. Typically the weather has turned and we're heading for winter, but with 16 panels and south facing with 30 degree pitch we're pretty much optimised for it as best we can be - oh and we're less than 30 miles from the south coast. It made sense for us to go down his route - especially as we plan on installing an ASHP in due course. Since we can add more batteries later it made sense to go about it this way.I've been really impressed with the Givenergy ecosystem so far, the stuff you can see on the website is very useful as well.
I'm more saying your quote will naturally be higher than mine as it's the new gen batteries and Givenergy appear to have been selling them for more than their Gen 1 counterparts. I have no idea if the battery is physically any different other than being a little larger capacity!
Soldato
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Yep even if they announce price capping I don't think you'll regret it, unit prices will stay high for a long time and the ROI should be nicely under 10 years, if not quicker.
It's currently raining here a bit, still generating 6-800W currently, and my position isn't optimal south facing. You may even find you wind up producing so much you can't use it all quickly enough in summer.
I've been sadly watching solar prices sprial while waiting for a freehold sale to go through 
Without reading hundreds of posts, does anyone have a recommendation for an installer in South Manchester.
Looking for ~ 20 panels split east/west on 2 strings ~10kWh battery which can be expanded later if needed.
The Eddi diverter sounds good for summers when my only gas cost is water heating as I have a DHW cylinder.
And for those ordering recently, what lead times are being quoted for installation?
Thanks
Without reading hundreds of posts, does anyone have a recommendation for an installer in South Manchester.
Looking for ~ 20 panels split east/west on 2 strings ~10kWh battery which can be expanded later if needed.
The Eddi diverter sounds good for summers when my only gas cost is water heating as I have a DHW cylinder.
And for those ordering recently, what lead times are being quoted for installation?
Thanks
Soldato
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I've been sadly watching solar prices sprial while waiting for a freehold sale to go through
Without reading hundreds of posts, does anyone have a recommendation for an installer in South Manchester.
Looking for ~ 20 panels split east/west on 2 strings ~10kWh battery which can be expanded later if needed.
The Eddi diverter sounds good for summers when my only gas cost is water heating as I have a DHW cylinder.
And for those ordering recently, what lead times are being quoted for installation?
Thanks
I cant help on most but I have linked a website you can find lots of local installers on here a few times
Also on timeline, most are capped by the time the G99 takes which most are advised will be around 3 months give or take
That would get you 8kWp across the two strings, so you'd be looking at a large Fronius 8.2kW inverter and a separate inverter/charge controller for your battery system. Fronius do a nice hybrid inverter but it only does 6kW on a single phase, but it does have a good 4000w/4140w input/output for the charge controller on the battery, and it also offers 3000VA if running in backup mode (PV Point/ full backup), sadly it is a slower switch overtime so not ideal for that function.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll take a look.
Blackout capability sounds good.
The roof has a 45deg pitch and my gable wall is almost prefectly south facing so I expect a lot less than 8kW even on a perfect day. I'm maxing the number of panels to try and mitigate some of these orientation losses.
Might as well use the roof space while the scaffold is up given panels are only part of the overall system cost.
Can't even get close to that at the moment. 2 x quotes now - 14.9k and another 15.9k - that's for 10kwh batteries and 5.6kwh of pannels. I'd pull the trigger tomorrow if could get your setup for 12.5k....
Anyone had experience of first4solar? They come in slightly cheaper but mixed bag of reviews
Those are what I'd call **** off quotes, where they know the price is stupid but if you take them they'll make a fortune from you. I do that when I am asked to quote for my services but don't really want to take the work, for whatever reason.
First4Solar - since they use subbies for everything then it is impossible to say what the job will be like, let alone the customer service if you need any help.
EDIT: As I said to someone else just yesterday, you can always split the system up. LR-Renewables will do Growatt inverter/charger controller, and two of the 6.5kWh batteries for a shade over £7k installed (inc VAT) which is still a high price, but you can then just shop for the solar only quote. For some reason as soon as you add a battery they start taking the micky.
Those are what I'd call **** off quotes, where they know the price is stupid but if you take them they'll make a fortune form you. I do that when I am asked to quote for my services but don't really want to take the work, for whatever reason.
First4Solar - since they use subbies for everything then it is impossible to say what the job will be like, let alone the customer service if you need any help.
Tbf I had one earlier this year similar price too; starting to feel its standard in these neck of the woods as guessing not too much competition. Will try get another one or two before giving up.
I guess using subbies explains the mixed reviews for first4solar.. Not sure I'd wanna gamble
I added an edit in above, about splitting the system. Something worth considering.
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Yeah just saw that. Think I'll have to look at that as an option too. You'd have thought it would be far cheaper to get battery thrown in, saving the 20% vat....
Daft question how easy is to hook up an installed solar system. I know you say they do it fully installed?and do they cover nationwide? Thanks!
Yeah just saw that. Think I'll have to look at that as an option too. You'd have thought it would be far cheaper to get battery thrown in, saving the 20% vat....
Daft question how easy is to hook up an installed solar system. I know you say they do it fully installed?and do they cover nationwide? Thanks!
It's is supply/demand and opportunist pricing. Just like the OZEV chargers grants, some installers just whacked £500 on the price and took it as profit.
Can you clarify, do you mean hook up the battery to an already installed solar PV setup?