Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

The installer that is coming out cheapest for me has offered options of Giv Energy or Fox.

Fox is slightly more expensive, has a slightly bigger battery (10.4kwh), and a full 5kw charge discharge.
Giv Energy is slightly cheaper, has a slightly smaller battery (8.5kwh) and a lower 3.5kw charge/discharge rate.

It's my understanding Giv Energy has better software which can integrate with Octopus Agile etc.

The question is which would you go for?
 
katie279 said:
so imagine that would be in the same place as needing some sort of notification/planning.
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Actually it might be covered under permitted development.


b0rn2sk8 said:
The installer that is coming out cheapest for me has offered options of Giv Energy or Fox.

Fox is slightly more expensive, has a slightly bigger battery (10.4kwh), and a full 5kw charge discharge.
Giv Energy is slightly cheaper, has a slightly smaller battery (8.5kwh) and a lower 3.5kw charge/discharge rate.

It's my understanding Giv Energy has better software which can integrate with Octopus Agile etc.

The question is which would you go for?
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A freind of mine had exactly the same scenario recently, except he wasn't too fussed about the software, so decided the Fox system was better due to the higher inverter rating. PS Think you'll find the Givenergy battery is 9.5kwh.
 
Ron-ski said:
A freind of mine had exactly the same scenario recently, except he wasn't too fussed about the software, so decided the Fox system was better due to the higher inverter rating. PS Think you'll find the Givenergy battery is 9.5kwh.
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Thanks, yeh that was a typo. I just spotted the Fox system is a 90% DOD and the Giv is 100% so in effect they are the same on the battery.

I think it comes down to 5kw vs 3.5KW, £600 and better software.

To be honest we don't have loads of high draw appliances and the ones we do, we don't tend to use them at the same time so I am tempted to go with the Giv Energy. I'm a bit of a nerd (shock horror being on OcUK...) so I think I can make something of the better software on the Giv system. I'm not afraid to go Agile either if it makes sense in the future.
 
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I'm on the verge of going ahead - we can't really use the roof on the house although the garage roof will hold 10 panels, so the plan is to go with that with a new Submain back to the house. Quote is #13k which seems on the steep side although I've had great Feedback on the work done with other neighbours - Any thoughts on the below? My wife and I work from home 4 days a week, eddy unit for the immersion heater instead of using the boiler, option for electric car point in the future and possible A/C for summer and eventually maybe a Heatsource pump to replace the 20-year-old boiler when i cant be kept going any longer.

Installer reckons 10-12 years payback with 2% inflation

Equipment Costs
  • 10x Trina Vertex S 415W All Black Mono solar panel £2,016.30
  • SOLAX 3.7D inverter £1,118.12
  • **NET** Emlite Bi-directional Meter ECA2.nv £35.20
  • Label sheet £2.77
  • V2.1 Eddi Immersion Controller £471.90
  • Harvi Wireless CT Clamp £50.60
  • Reinforced BirdBlocker for Solar Panels £207.35
  • 1 x Solax slave 5.8kw battery £1,996.05
  • 10x Tigo Optimisor TS4-A-O £464.00
  • Tigo Cloud connect £165.00
  • 2x AC isolator - KN 25A 3-pole £37.40
  • 1x Solax Master 5.8kw battery £2,424.66
  • 2x IMO DC isolator 16A 2p 1string £58.30
  • 4x Pair of MC4 connectors £8.27
  • 2x 50m reel of 4mm2 solar cable £71.50
  • 8x K2 end clamp (30mm black) £15.84
  • 16x K2 mid clamp (30mm black) £31.68
  • 8x K2 black end cap £3.52
  • 24x K2 portrait concrete tile roof hook £165.00
  • 4x K2 rail splice £14.30 8x K2 silver rail 3300mm £174.24
  • Fixings £37.66
  • AC cabling, containment and circuit protection £770.00
  • Solar cable fashing kit £78.00
  • Delivery £264.00
  • Total equipment cost £10,681.66

  • Services Costs
  • Design, Installation and Commissioning. £1,800.00
  • Scaffold £660.00
  • Roofng £352.00
  • Total services cost £2,812.00

  • Totals
  • Total before tax £13,493.66
  • VAT at 0% £0.00
  • Total including tax £13,493.66
 
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That's more than I paid for a larger system but I think that's just the way it is now :(

Personally I'd look at doubling the battery storage really. Expensive design and commissioning charge too in my opinion.

Not sure if bird protection is included. Charging you for delivery seems tight to be too!
 
Freefaller said:
That's more than I paid for a larger system but I think that's just the way it is now :(

Personally I'd look at doubling the battery storage really. Expensive design and commissioning charge too in my opinion.

Not sure if bird protection is included. Charging you for delivery seems tight to be too!
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Design and commissioning also includes installation, bird protection is line 7, theres 11.6kwh of batteries
 
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Thanks chaps, i was a bit resigned to it costing me a bit more than I would have liked given how popular installs are at the moment. The advantage is I know the sparky who will do it, he has a real attention to detail and I know he will do a good job and won't just order the parts and just sub the work out to a couple of labourers. More than 4KWh would have been an advantage but I'm limited to roof space, luckily the garage faces almost south (150deg) with a 35deg angle so I should get reasonable coverage.

Really appreciate everyone sharing their experience in this thread, one of those genuinely useful chats OCUK throws up from time to time which has a real value to members and has no doubt helped avoid people making expensive mistakes!
 
Apparently 0.5 kwh today, it's a new record low (my previous personal worst was 0.6kwh). No sun at all today.

Getting used to having days with no generation more or less, without any battery looks to be running out around 6-7PM or so.
 
HungryHippos said:
Getting used to having days with no generation more or less, without any battery looks to be running out around 6-7PM or so.
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This is one of the reasons I am on Go Faster (21:30 - 02:30) even though it is 8.25p vs 7.5p, means if I do run out of battery then I only have a small amount of grid usage at peak times, and we can still do laundry etc. before everyone heads off to bed.
 
Journey said:
This is one of the reasons I am on Go Faster (21:30 - 02:30) even though it is 8.25p vs 7.5p, means if I do run out of battery then I only have a small amount of grid usage at peak times, and we can still do laundry etc. before everyone heads off to bed.
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Yes this is sort of a circular conversation here, can't get onto Go Faster anymore as they've pulled it, and when I did try they wanted vehicle reg for an EV which I don't have.

Make do the best I can do with regular Go.
 
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