Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

200sols said:
Dont know where you are but round here quotes are taking like 8 weeks and 5-6 month lead time for installation. People don't reply to calls or want money for quotes. The dream is getting someone come out for 2 hours to quote properly :cry:
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It got traction early this year as energy suppliers were driving up the tariffs by 30% every time. I almost was too late in ordering and that was about start of May. Most installers will have about 6-8 weeks work planned in already unless they can factor in cancellations. Most wont have equipment sitting in the warehouse like companies used to, they order it once deposit covered and the lead time will depend on stock globally.
 
So keeping an eye on my shading and looks like it's 2 panels predominantly affected on my lower array from the tip of next doors roof at the height of the day and early PM, so will be looking to get a Tigo optimiser duo put on these and probably get another on the end 2 panels that sit to the right as they are affected later in the day. Anyone have any experience of installing themselves, it looks like it should be as easy as isolating, disconnecting the cable going into the panel, adding the optimiser and then daisy chaining along the panels one by one.
 
SoliD said:
So keeping an eye on my shading and looks like it's 2 panels predominantly affected on my lower array from the tip of next doors roof at the height of the day and early PM, so will be looking to get a Tigo optimiser duo put on these and probably get another on the end 2 panels that sit to the right as they are affected later in the day. Anyone have any experience of installing themselves, it looks like it should be as easy as isolating, disconnecting the cable going into the panel, adding the optimiser and then daisy chaining along the panels one by one.
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For the installs I have seen it sounds like it yes, however its down to connectors and from what I have seen they normally mount the optimisers to the panels before fitting so that may present you a headache. I guess you may be able to cable tie them to the roof rails if you have enough slack in the cables.
I would check the cabling carefully though, they show a different line drawing with optimisers as opposed to a string, could just be for simplicity sake however.

Have you spoken to your installer? I would be worried that the moment you mess with it they are going to wipe their hands in regards any future issues.
Problem will be scaff I guess, they have a duty to protect their employees working at height and scaff is the simplest way to tick that box.

How would you get up there? Ladder, tower?
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
For the installs I have seen it sounds like it yes, however its down to connectors and from what I have seen they normally mount the optimisers to the panels before fitting so that may present you a headache. I guess you may be able to cable tie them to the roof rails if you have enough slack in the cables.
I would check the cabling carefully though, they show a different line drawing with optimisers as opposed to a string, could just be for simplicity sake however.

Have you spoken to your installer? I would be worried that the moment you mess with it they are going to wipe their hands in regards any future issues.
Problem will be scaff I guess, they have a duty to protect their employees working at height and scaff is the simplest way to tick that box.

How would you get up there? Ladder, tower?
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Yeah I saw that that may be the issue, was going to have a look up the ladder and see what's possible, in theory got enough space around my waste pipe to work on them, or look at getting a small scaffolding rig just covering that half of the roof once i've had a look, like you say though installer will be saying that they're not responsible, but in reality it's only their workmanship that is with them, everything else is warranted with the specific companies, but like you say scaffolding will make up most of the cost if I go through them, and yes @Ron-ski fully aware!
 
Welshman said:
you can buy that inverter yourself from midsummer for £825…..so i wonder what they are paying for it.
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Rental property, hands are tied on what I can do, need to keep it all legal and above board or it's back on me as the owner.

There goes 2 years of FIT payments.

Plus, there is Vat needed to be added on the price you listed.


@b0rn2sk8 yes straight swap out from the old Fronius inverter.
 
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Ah just saw it’s a rental property so yeh, you’ll want someone to come in and do it. Although you could supply the unit yourself and just pay the labour.

At least they are only £35 an hour, double that around my way.

Edit: 6 hours seems quite the time commitment to swap out an inverter though.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
Ah just saw it’s a rental property so yeh, you’ll want someone to come in and do it. Although you could supply the unit yourself and just pay the labour.

At least they are only £35 an hour, double that around my way.

Edit: 6 hours seems quite the time commitment to swap out an inverter though.
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60 mile each way trip for them, plus he had to come out twice but that was down to his mistake.
240 miles to change an inverter Doh!

It's also really hard to source the right gear now, that inverter had to be imported.
Midsummer has no stock until at least December.
 
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In your opinion would it be worth moving over to one of Octopus' smart tariffs? Probably Agile?

At the moment I'm charging to around 50-60% battery before our usage starts to ramp up in the evenings - but I don't have an eco7 option. But I think cheaper electricity top up at night would be really helpful I think? (9.5kw battery).

Or am I missing something hugely obvious?
 
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Solar and battery. I'd have thought Economy 7 would be a much better option, as you'll be using very little power during the day and any excess generated covers your use in the evening. Then a cheap rate overnight.

Might have to contact them about moving to an Eco 7 tariff though.
 
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Bug One said:
Solar and battery. I'd have thought Economy 7 would be a much better option, as you'll be using very little power during the day and any excess generated covers your use in the evening. Then a cheap rate overnight.

Might have to contact them about moving to an Eco 7 tariff though.
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Ovo don't have eco 7 tariffs, hence why I'm thinking of moving to Octopus (unless there's a better option?).
 
Not really, Octopus have the best smart tariffs I think.

They do an Eco7 one, Agile, Go etc.

If you move to Octopus make sure you add a referral code, you can do it online afterwards if you sign up over the phone. It gets £50 bill credit for you and the person whose code you use. Not an advert to use mine, just make sure you use one from someone.
 
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If I go for it I'll post it here and whomever DMs me first will get it! :D

Just doing some maths at the moment to work out what's best. I think @Bug One is right that an eco 7 may be sensible, especially come summer where I won't be using that much grid anyway it should iron out the costs, plus they offer a much more favourable SEG than anyone else.
 
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My DM is always open if you want, but you may also just know someone that is on them, family member or friend or whatever :)

I am on Octopus Go, which is really only meant to be for EV drivers, but there wasn't anything stopping me signing up really. I get paid £0.041 per kwh though which really sucks.

The Eco 7 one they didn't seem that well advertised, I think the rates off-peak weren't quite as good, but the duration of off-peak was decent, and like you said you can get the better SEG tariff.
 
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Freefaller said:
If I go for it I'll post it here and whomever DMs me first will get it! :D

Just doing some maths at the moment to work out what's best. I think @Bug One is right that an eco 7 may be sensible, especially come summer where I won't be using that much grid anyway it should iron out the costs, plus they offer a much more favourable SEG than anyone else.
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The only thing i would say, that if you switch, you may not get it at the capped rates……..i would speak to them and see what the offer is from them.
 
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