Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

Journey said:
I spoke with Octopus SEG today, after lots of tooing and froing, and they said they don't know if they are going to offer a better rate to Go customers, if they do maybe capped at the rate they pay inbound off-peak. So 5p/7.5p/8.25p etc. depending what you are on with them for your incoming power. So all is not lost yet, and I have a feeling that there will be pressure on the other SEG licencees to offer better rate via the government/Ofgem in the next 6-9 months, even if that is only 10-12p it's a goo help.
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I'd take a matched price, then I can just set battery to full import, and get paid the same for export even if I over-generate.

Would be happy with that, makes the entire system easier as well, still not paid well, but getting cheap import on the other hand.
 
HungryHippos said:
I'd take a matched price, then I can just set battery to full import, and get paid the same for export even if I over-generate.

Would be happy with that, makes the entire system easier as well, still not paid well, but getting cheap import on the other hand.
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So would I. Happily.
 
Hi all. New member here

Had a couple of quotes for solar so far and another booked in for a survey in a weeks time.

Currently best quote so far is as follows fully installed in the Birmingham area

13x eurener zebra 375w panels approx4.8kw system
Inverter - no details on what model this is (presume confirmed at survey stage) £6k
With 5kw battery - £10k (10 year warranty)
With 10kw battery - £12k (10year warranty)
MCS approved installation


My roof is roughly an east/west orientation. The quote is for all the panels on the west facing roof which is roughly 15 degrees to the south from due west

- Is this a reasonable quote for the system? The batteries look to add quite a lot of additional cost
- Would i be better asking for some panels to go on the east facing roof? We are pretty high up so no issues with shading etc.
- Any other recommendations around the Birmingham area for a quote?

Thanks in advance
 
Mikolos said:
Hi all. New member here

Had a couple of quotes for solar so far and another booked in for a survey in a weeks time.

Currently best quote so far is as follows fully installed in the Birmingham area

13x eurener zebra 375w panels approx4.8kw system
Inverter - no details on what model this is (presume confirmed at survey stage) £6k
With 5kw battery - £10k (10 year warranty)
With 10kw battery - £12k (10year warranty)
MCS approved installation


My roof is roughly an east/west orientation. The quote is for all the panels on the west facing roof which is roughly 15 degrees to the south from due west

- Is this a reasonable quote for the system? The batteries look to add quite a lot of additional cost
- Would i be better asking for some panels to go on the east facing roof? We are pretty high up so no issues with shading etc.
- Any other recommendations around the Birmingham area for a quote?

Thanks in advance
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Hard to say with inflation, but four weeks ago I had 18 X 410w panels, 5kw hybrid inverter, 19.5kw of batteries and an Eddi installed for £14k..... So it does seem pretty steep your quote
 
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Mikolos said:
- Is this a reasonable quote for the system? The batteries look to add quite a lot of additional cost
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The first £6k for the panels etc. seems standard maybe a tiny bit on the high side, but at 4.8kWp its not terrible. The sad fact is though that £6k extra for a 10kWh battery they are having your pants down, especially as you are paying no VAT on it being done with a solar install. You could have them fit a Givenergy 5kW Hybrid inverter with no batteries, it'll add on maybe £400 to the solar install cost, then pay £3k for the 9.5kWh battery and have it installed for ~£250 or less.
 
Well I’m all up and running, the morning is dull but that is unfortunately one of those things.

18x 395w panels and I am producing just 680-800w on a perfect south roof at 30 degrees.

Given the suns position (somewhere behind the fluff) and the time of the day I would have expected a little more than that..

What are your thoughts on it? It was producing briefly 1.3kw just before dusk yesterday and it seemed less bright.

There doesn’t seem to be any issues mind.
 
Andrew Moore said:
Well I’m all up and running, the morning is dull but that is unfortunately one of those things.

18x 395w panels and I am producing just 680-800w on a perfect south roof at 30 degrees.

Given the suns position (somewhere behind the fluff) and the time of the day I would have expected a little more than that..

What are your thoughts on it? It was producing briefly 1.3kw just before dusk yesterday and it seemed less bright.

There doesn’t seem to be any issues mind.
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Best to get some stats over a longer time I think.

From what I've seen, the production is very much based on brightness, and direct sunlight does the best job of really amping it up.

If it's just cloudy and fairly bright I don't tend to get above 1kw production, but once the sunlight kicks in it gets 2-4kw.
 
Solar seems to be really hard to compare even between people living relatively close, so many variables to take into account that makes each others circumstances different.

Its quite a good day for me so far, seeing 3.2kw from a 4.2kw array down south! :)

September so far has been a proper mixed bag, some really really good days and a few poor ones.

tu690l.png
 
The 17th was an absolute perfectly clear day all day, I think quite a rare event even come summer.

Here's a shot from that day that I posted previously, hardly any dips in power at all the entire day (yellow is PV power)

lt1f28.png


But yes the battery definitely helps fill in the blanks, I need to think about either a second battery or solar diverter as come summer unless we have an EV by then I will have nowhere to sink the excess!
 
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I’ll keep an eye on it over the next few days
And if it’s particularly clear will monitor it as I can’t remember if it was clear or overcast yesterday evening which would no doubt have made a difference.

If the generation isn’t there I may have to have a rethink on the third battery and go for another 5.2kwh rather than the 9.5kwh. It’ll give me 15.6kwh rather than 19.9 which wi still be more than enough.
 
I definitely regret not going for 2 x 6.5kw from the off as it seems our evening usage is killing the first battery most nights meaning we do not make it through until we start producing again the next morning.

I am 9% off full again today, so will begin exporting shortly :(
 
Yeah its annoying but when spending this much money I hope most people would go in with their eyes open after having done their research.
 
SoliD said:
Yeah its annoying but when spending this much money I hope most people would go in with their eyes open after having done their research.
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You would think so, but most companies have salesmen who do not explain these things. After all 9.2KW battery should be able to use 9.2KWH. Or a 5KW inverter should be able to provide 5KWh (PV and grid only? PV and battery?
PV, battery and grid? AC or DC battery system? Hybrid inverter? All will affect the answer to how much KWh it can provide). There is no way on earth all this is explained for the equipment sold today, they just take the higher number and give it out, leading people to thinking that they truly have a 9.2KW battery they can use, and they won't need to top up from the grid thanks to the 5KW inverter supplying 5KWh etc. I think the equipment is slowly getting there, but a lot of it is poor, and not very well explained. Unless you know what questions to ask, it's a mine field for anyone looking for solar,. Threads like these are invaluable at informing people what to ask and look out for imo.
 
casper_uk said:
You would think so, but most companies have salesmen who do not explain these things. After all 9.2KW battery should be able to use 9.2KWH. Or a 5KW inverter should be able to provide 5KWh (PV and grid only? PV and battery?
PV, battery and grid? AC or DC battery system? Hybrid inverter? All will affect the answer to how much KWh it can provide). There is no way on earth all this is explained for the equipment sold today, they just take the higher number and give it out, leading people to thinking that they truly have a 9.2KW battery they can use, and they won't need to top up from the grid thanks to the 5KW inverter supplying 5KWh etc. I think the equipment is slowly getting there, but a lot of it is poor, and not very well explained. Unless you know what questions to ask, it's a mine field for anyone looking for solar,. Threads like these are invaluable at informing people what to ask and look out for imo.
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To support your point you've mixed up KW and kWh in your explination! Very artistic :)
The reality is that "I'm getting solar and some batteries" is the level of sophstication for the vast majority of people. Just as combi vs conventional is as sophsticated as 99% of people will understand about their boiler or diesel vs electric, their car.
 
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SBo said:
To support your point you've mixed up KW and KWh in your explination! Very artistic :)
The reality is that "I'm getting solar and some batteries" is the level of sophstication for the vast majority of people. Just as combi vs conventional is as sophsticated as 99% of people will understand about their boiler or diesel vs electric, their car.
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Yeah agree

There seem to be plenty of people who have no idea and are just signing. THEY don't care about the fine details generally, unless they are relying on something that then turns out to be incorrect.
Its like the car enthusiast that doesn't get that most people don't care about the paint and think the few who spend £1k on paint correction on a brand new car are off their heads.

I must admit however there have been a few eye openers, like the givenergy charge issues on battery. Probably for most the real world implications are zero/minor, but like for Katie the limitation actually becomes an issue.

IMO its typical of an industry thats suffering growing pains. All the red flags are there, sales people, high demand (relative to past), supply shortages (so they will supply what they can rather than what they would have had there been all options open), etc etc

Buyer beware, but then, when shouldn't they!
 
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I'm definitely going to get a AC coupled battery, once the mad summer rush is over. Now I've switched to night time charging the EV, so much of my day time solar is going to waste. And the spikes of power making a coffee, cooking lunch mostly comes from the grid.

Even a small battery would greatly improve my winter usage.

What I'd 'really' like is one of these mega sized portable power stations, that can also plug in as an AC coupled battery. All you'd really need to add is a couple of detachable current sensors and the right software setup to make it work.
 
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Bug One said:
I'm definitely going to get a AC coupled battery, once the mad summer rush is over. Now I've switched to night time charging the EV, so much of my day time solar is going to waste. And the spikes of power making a coffee, cooking lunch mostly comes from the grid.

Even a small battery would greatly improve my winter usage.

What I'd 'really' like is one of these mega sized portable power stations, that can also plug in as an AC coupled battery. All you'd really need to add is a couple of detachable current sensors and the right software setup to make it work.
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As an EV owner with solar panels it is madness that your EV isn't already doing V2G as this would solve most of your requirement except perhaps when your partner is away with the car. It is bonkers that V2G has not rolled out yet. Not looking forward to replacing my Zappi that I've just spent £800 on however when V2G becomes a thing.
 
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