Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

OllyM said:
Could it be subtracting standby power used at night when the inverter isn't producing energy? I doubt the inverter uses that much power in a year while it's asleep though...

I have a Sense energy monitor which uses CTs and the solar production figures are lower than actual because it subtracts the negative readings from when the inverter is in standby.

They're also not 100% accurate - I've noticed that when I'm pulling lots of power from the grid overnight (e.g. when charging my car) the solar CT negative reading increases... probably induced voltage confusing the CT?
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Cheers. My main concern was the PVO league tables. Ha
 
Our house is situated in a very poor location for sun during the Winter.
We are south facing but on the wrong side of the hill, so get very little sun this time of year :(

See our PV data for December :cry:


52600449764_b74d0629b2.jpg


This quick drawing shows our problem. Just need to re-locate our house to the other side of the hill :p

52600471834_b28a066fbe.jpg
 
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SDK^ said:
Our house is situated in a very poor location for sun during the Winter.
We are south facing but on the wrong side of the hill, so get very little sun this time of year :(

See our PV data for December :cry:


52600449764_b74d0629b2.jpg


This quick drawing shows our problem. Just need to re-locate our house to the other side of the hill :p

52600471834_b28a066fbe.jpg
Click to expand...

You got 0.65kwh for the whole of December?

Makes sense if sat in shade the whole month of course. If I was you I would be burning down the neighbours fence and moving some of that hill out of the way! :)
 
SoliD said:
Must be permanently colder in your house if it gets no sunlight in December/January. That'd really depress me!
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It does me too, often the road at the front of the house doesn’t defrost for weeks when everywhere else around is completely clear.
Since getting solar panels it’s even more depressing because I can see i’m missing out on a lot of free energy.
 
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SDK^ said:
Our house is situated in a very poor location for sun during the Winter.
We are south facing but on the wrong side of the hill, so get very little sun this time of year :(

See our PV data for December :cry:


52600449764_b74d0629b2.jpg


This quick drawing shows our problem. Just need to re-locate our house to the other side of the hill :p

52600471834_b28a066fbe.jpg
Click to expand...

0.65kWh generation in a month is insane! :eek:

Did you know that it'd be that bad before you installed the system?
 
One of the companies I contacted about solar a while ago has me on their mailing list I guess, but it was interesting seeing their figures as they want to provide finance for new installations, with a punishing 13.9% APR over 60 months.

So you front a deposit for £5K, then you pay £9K on the rest of the £5K balance over 60 months. Madness!

Surely even a bank loan has to be better than this?

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BUDFORCE said:
@HungryHippos

Although I'm not up to date with personal loans given recent interest rate rises does seem like an absolute rip off. The solar company probably making a nice commission on that for each of those finance packages they sell.
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Historically speaking, if your finances are in a good place and you prefer a loan over fronting capital, then a personal loan would be a bit more than the cheap mortgage deals.

I've not checked either but I would suspect with mortgage rates hitting 4-5%, a personal loan would be a couple of % higher if you have no credit issues.
 
If your credit rating is in good standing you can still get 0% credit cards, and you can't get cheaper credit than that. My brothers got a 0% spending card, he's paying the minimum off every month and putting the cash in the mortgage offset account. Mines in premium bonds, so the credit card company has effectively stumped up the cash that's earning me circa 1.5% ;) Just remember to set up a direct debit for the minimum amount, and pay off/transfer before the interest free periods ends.
 
Ron-ski said:
If your credit rating is in good standing you can still get 0% credit cards, and you can't get cheaper credit than that. My brothers got a 0% spending card, he's paying the minimum off every month and putting the cash in the mortgage offset account. Mines in premium bonds, so the credit card company has effectively stumped up the cash that's earning me circa 1.5% ;) Just remember to set up a direct debit for the minimum amount, and pay off/transfer before the interest free periods ends.
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Indeed though they are usually more time limited, which would necessitate either paying off in full before the end of the term or balance transfer elsewhere.

On mine I just saved up and paid for the panels, less hassle :)
 
Our off set mortgage was
4.5% until 08/09/2022
5.25% until 01/11/2022
5.75% until 30/11/2022
Now it is 6.5%.

Happily we keep the mortgage as it puts the money to work and is good for tax bills and emergencies.

I remember moving to London in 1979/1980 and having been there about a year, mortgage rates rose for 10 consecutive months and peaked at 15%. That really did hurt. Turning the heating off was not fun.
 
HungryHippos said:
On mine I just saved up and paid for the panels, less hassle
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Thats exactly what I've done with my Victron build, just paying for it as I go along, one advantage of it taking so long - I've got enough stacked on interest free cards and didn't want to add more, even though I have the money put by.

PS My Cerbo GX/Victron VRM is alive :D

PPS: @HungryHippos Just noticed I've had the same email.
 
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