Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

katie279 · 17 Nov 2022 at 22:44

Troop said:
Think it will be the same tomorrow, very wet for east Scotland tomorrow.

At least it's not mid Wales getting it

It's been getting worse and worse all day that forecast, it was saying sun tomorrow this morning!

Don't worry, am from North Wales, I know there's several oceans less rain in East Scotland, so I'll win overall.....

Troop · 17 Nov 2022 at 23:07

katie279 said:
It's been getting worse and worse all day that forecast, it was saying sun tomorrow this morning!

Don't worry, am from North Wales, I know there's several oceans less rain in East Scotland, so I'll win overall.....

I know, If I could find a house by Loch Leven I'd be there too

.

katie279 · 17 Nov 2022 at 23:43

Troop said:
I know, If I could find a house by Loch Leven I'd be there too .

Hehe, I'll keep an eye out then for a house with a nice big south facing roof for panels!

Ron-ski · 18 Nov 2022 at 06:43

katie279 said:
I'll keep an eye out then for a house with a nice big south facing roof for panels!

Wouldn't just a large field suffice for the panels?

katie279 · 18 Nov 2022 at 07:09

Ron-ski said:
Wouldn't just a large field suffice for the panels?

Well that's true - Troop can live in a bush?

john_smith · 18 Nov 2022 at 08:06

The Tesla Magic 8 Ball says it will be a sunny day today. Only added 13% charge over night.

Journey · 18 Nov 2022 at 08:08

john_smith said:
The Tesla Magic 8 Ball says it will be a sunny day today. Only added 13% charge over night.

It's already sunny here, panel generation is just about doing something, but looks like it will be a good generating day.

Freefaller · 18 Nov 2022 at 08:57

So our lower panels seem to generate anywhere between 5-10w at night during a full moon and because of the street lamp that's just outside our house. Although they turn it off from midnight onwards. I wonder if I can ask the council to shine the street lamp more directly onto my panels

(This is a post in jest I know that generation from the moon or incandescent light is not really viable).

Kill_Phil · 18 Nov 2022 at 10:14

Dilemma. Growatt inverter and 13kwh battery or givenergy inverter and 9.5kwh battery

Got the giv on order but cannot pin down a firm date on when available

Any thoughts folks?

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 18 Nov 2022 at 10:23

Kill_Phil said:
Dilemma. Growatt inverter and 13kwh battery or givenergy inverter and 9.5kwh battery

Got the giv on order but cannot pin down a firm date on when available

Any thoughts folks?

Prices?

Unless you won't really benefit from extra kwh storage, then I would be simply looking at £/kwh of storage. Assume growatt is 90% DOD so the gap is lower than it appears

Troop · 18 Nov 2022 at 10:23

katie279 said:
Well that's true - Troop can live in a bush?

Thanks for that, you must have seen my garden

Old house please with a moat to keep the pesky English at bay.

Kill_Phil · 18 Nov 2022 at 11:05

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Prices?

Unless you won't really benefit from extra kwh storage, then I would be simply looking at £/kwh of storage. Assume growatt is 90% DOD so the gap is lower than it appears

Yeah I'm sure I'd benefit from the extra storage. Growatt kit is 94% DOD. Prices work out the same for both

It's just the app integration doesn't seem as good on the Growatt (lots of server issues reported)

Freefaller · 18 Nov 2022 at 12:15

Well today is a good solar day! Over 10kw so far!

john_smith · 18 Nov 2022 at 13:13

That's very good.

7.9 here, battery @ 99%.

iwrox · 18 Nov 2022 at 16:25

Kill_Phil said:
Yeah I'm sure I'd benefit from the extra storage. Growatt kit is 94% DOD. Prices work out the same for both

It's just the app integration doesn't seem as good on the Growatt (lots of server issues reported)

The Growatt app is pretty flaky, the good news however is Growatt is very well supported by Solar Assistant which runs locally on a Pi and is very good

I run both side by side but never really open the Growatt app anymore.

katie279 · 18 Nov 2022 at 17:29

iwrox said:
The Growatt app is pretty flaky, the good news however is Growatt is very well supported by Solar Assistant which runs locally on a Pi and is very good I run both side by side but never really open the Growatt app anymore.

I do like the look of these: https://www.ginverter.com/products/axe-lv-battery

Up to 400kwh of storage and no cables, just pile them up!? Anyone know of the cost of these?

Kill_Phil · 18 Nov 2022 at 17:33

iwrox said:
The Growatt app is pretty flaky, the good news however is Growatt is very well supported by Solar Assistant which runs locally on a Pi and is very good I run both side by side but never really open the Growatt app anymore.

Confirms what I had read about the app! Will do some research around solar assistant but guessing can control all things charge related Inc depth of charge rather than just monitoring?

iwrox · 18 Nov 2022 at 17:53

Most of the main settings can now be edited via Solar Assistant, the developer is actively improving support all the time.

Changelog - https://solar-assistant.io/help/updates/changelog

Kill_Phil · 18 Nov 2022 at 18:13

iwrox said:
Most of the main settings can now be edited via Solar Assistant, the developer is actively improving support all the time.

Changelog - https://solar-assistant.io/help/updates/changelog

Thanks. Had a quick Google and doesn't seem that the model quoted 3600-mtl is supported...

Zeeflyboy · 19 Nov 2022 at 09:40

SBo said:
SSE have been a nightmare.
Your installer is wrong though; it’s a connect and notify only process. He is probably thinking of G99 with a G100 limitation scheme. Witness testing occurs when you want to install over 16amps and your installer is not already on their approved list in the case of SSE. Turns out my installer isn’t despite his claims to the contrary.

I don’t think he was, but perhaps…

However he was completely correct about GTC, they already came back and approved the G99 without restriction which was submitted on either Monday or Tuesday this week, which rather renders the fast track irrelevant anyway.

He told me SSE have been up to 60 days for the G99 so he was pretty happy to find out that I was actually GTC.