Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

john_smith said:
4kw solar into a 3kw inverter (installed in 2012). It's a Tesla battery. You tell it when your cheap electric period is and it decides if it will charge up or not. It learns usage patterns and reads the weather forcast. I had it installed in November and after the 1st week I don't think it's algorithm has ever left me short. This weekend for example it didn't charge at all over night. Yesterday I spent 20p on electric. :)
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I honestly really love the look of the Powerwall, as well as the aesthetics of the app. I know that's a touch shallow but I find it makes the experience just that much better. Seems like there's a reasonably high premium on a Powerwall though compared to similarly sized systems from other manufacturers.
 
I don’t know how others work. If they are as intelligent as the pw etc or are just a dumb battery and you have to manage it all the time.

I wanted a solution where it’s fitted and you can just forget about it.

Buying some questionable laptop batteries from China and then soldering them all together in my shed to save a few grand wasn’t very appealing.
 
squerble said:
I honestly really love the look of the Powerwall, as well as the aesthetics of the app. I know that's a touch shallow but I find it makes the experience just that much better. Seems like there's a reasonably high premium on a Powerwall though compared to similarly sized systems from other manufacturers.
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The GivEnergy system I have is quite nice, and easily comparable to Tesla for the app experience, it integrates very well with all the other devices, solar, car charger, water heater etc. and had TOU tariff support etc. Cost wise you can get 2 x 8.2kWh batteries for the same cost as a single Powerwall, and they support 100% DoD due to being LiFePo4 chemistry batteries, and have a 10 year unlimited cycle guarantee, they also don't look terrible, but mine are in the garage, and lots of people just fit them in the loft if they are also having solar done for less wiring and they are totally out of the way.
 
Thanks both. I'll try giving a couple of solar companies a ring for advice too.

I'm thinking I'd like to do the transition in stages. First would be a battery install (making sure it's solar-ready) and then the solar PV install. What is a big question is what type of EVSE I get - I guess ideally I'd like it to be able to be solar-fed so I'd have to buy the right one now, but before I get solar it'd have to just be connected directly to the grid? And I'd also have to make sure the storage system (either the inverter or something other part) is able to divert solar to the EVSE either as a preference or just part of the solar load (as well as the house-load and storage battery charging). Quite a bit to balance! :D

If I were to put the batteries and other gear in the loft to keep it tidy, would having a long cable run to the consumer unit and EVSE cause much in the way of losses? As I mentioned on a previous post, the incoming electric cabinet and consumer unit are at the front of the house on the same wall, consumer unit inside of course. So there'd be a cable run from the grid input up to loft to batteries, then back down again to feed the consumer unit.
 
squerble said:
I'm thinking I'd like to do the transition in stages. First would be a battery install (making sure it's solar-ready) and then the solar PV install.
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You'll lose out on the 5% VAT rate for the whole install then, and pay way over what you need to.

squerble said:
If I were to put the batteries and other gear in the loft to keep it tidy, would having a long cable run to the consumer unit and EVSE cause much in the way of losses? As I mentioned on a previous post, the incoming electric cabinet and consumer unit are at the front of the house on the same wall, consumer unit inside of course.
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Most decent solar companies put a smaller consumer unit near to your solar/battery install, along with the meters you need. As for losses, the DC/DC stuff done in the loft would be very small, the cable length for the EVSE won't make that much of a difference over the standard loss you will see.
 
Ah OK another thing to think about then! Bit of a double-edged sword that; I'd save money on the job, but the costs are likely to rise by the time we were in a position to afford everything in one go so would need to save for longer which means higher prices which means... plus I'll need to stump up for the EVSE now as I already have the EV! Guess I'll get ringing some companies! I'm in the Liverpool area if anyone has any recommendations. I'll give First4Solar and ASKRenewables in Wigan a try.
 
@john_smith @Journey Are you both on Octopus Go? I had a quick look at their website and it looks like they don't allow export (SEG) in tandem with Octopus Go. Are you just charging cars and battery at the cheap times (and letting solar trickle charge/power home during the day) and just getting solar benefit? Or are you exporting somehow too?
 
squerble said:
@john_smith @Journey Are you both on Octopus Go? I had a quick look at their website and it looks like they don't allow export (SEG) in tandem with Octopus Go. Are you just charging cars and battery at the cheap times (and letting solar trickle charge/power home during the day)?
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They must have only recently changed that as I am on Outgoing Octopus with 7.5p SEG rates, and Octopus Go Faster 5 hour at 5.5p/15p. I was actually on Agile and Go for a while but they fixed that, damn it! :D
 
Journey said:
They must have only recently changed that as I am on Outgoing Octopus with 7.5p SEG rates, and Octopus Go Faster 5 hour at 5.5p/15p. I was actually on Agile and Go for a while but they fixed that, damn it! :D
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Sorry. I actually mixed up a couple of things, but yea looks like you have some kind of anomaly combination :D

* You can use their normal SEG tariff with GO:
Our SEG tariff is perfect for people who’d like to join Octopus for their energy export, but stay with a different supplier for their import tariff (i.e., the power your home uses from the grid). It’s also a great option for people who want to use Octopus Go for their import tariff, and are also keen to keep getting paid for their exports at the same time.
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* They have another one called outgoingOctopus which can't be used with GO, and looks to need to be on Agile:
Currently, you can't be on both outgoingOctopus and OctopusGo, our EV tariff, at the same time.
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squerble said:
Sorry. I actually mixed up a couple of things:

* You can use their normal SEG tariff with GO:
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Yes, that is right I got moved from Outgoing when the realised I was on that and Go, but I changed to Go from Agile, and had the Outgoing setup already, but it took them a few months to cotton on to it. Made a small fortune at peak rates back in Sept. :)
 
john_smith said:
Some grown ups have a family at home during the day. Ask your Mummy and Daddy to explain it to you one day.
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Well it's just a suggestion :)

A Powerwall has 10Kw battery(?) that's there 24/7 = 24x7 = 168 hours a week
vs
A 50kw car battery that is there 15 hours a day Monday to Friday and when you are at home on weekends. The weekends would be when the car gets the benefit of solar. The house can still use solar during Mon-Fri daytime when the car battery isn't at home. 123 hours a week, give or take. The difference doesn't seem that big written like that..
 
So i've just looked up the system that came with my place, sounds like it's quite weak compared to what others are putting in?
  • Type: PV
  • Number of panels: 8
  • kW per panel: 0.26
  • Total kW: 2.0
 
Vanilla said:
So i've just looked up the system that came with my place, sounds like it's quite weak compared to what others are putting in?
  • Type: PV
  • Number of panels: 8
  • kW per panel: 0.26
  • Total kW: 2.0
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Yes, 4kW is the standard as you can install it without permission from the network operator. 2kW is small but better than nothing
 
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