Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

Ron-ski said:
Or do it yourself whilst the scaffolding is still up

BB200 Reinforced BirdBlocker for Solar Panels 30m

Easy to fit pigeon stopper
midsummerwholesale.co.uk midsummerwholesale.co.uk
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Mine didnt use scaff so wasnt an option.
Plus had they of used scaff I know for sure with my luck the scaffolders would have been there before I got the chance

Plus I always take the view on these sorts of thing that its going to be hard enough keeping installers straight if something goes wrong (lets not mention my batteries), let alone if you have been up there "messing around with it", just gives them an easy cop out.
 
Ron-ski said:
I can assure its not, I've personally had pigeons nesting under my panels - there's still the remains of some nests still under there.
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Yep its not like there isn't loads of videos of this precise thing on you tube.
One of the guys I watched a lot of vids from when looking into solar had this last year.

Installers said to me I would be ok as loads of trees near me.
Just couldn't be bothered with the risk
 
Quick one lads, re bird blocker… installer doesn’t tend to do as standard unless asked, but I’ve seen it recommended elsewhere (and here just now conveniently!)

There are some big oak trees out back and I get a load of leaves and twigs in my gutters so I’m guessing they also might get gummed up behind the panels a bit unless bird blocker is installed?

Installer has told me he can get galvanised black mesh for £400 or the black pvc stuff for £290… anyone got any thoughts on either?

My neighbour has an irrational hatred of pigeons and also owns several guns… I wouldn’t want to see the state of my roof if he came out to this sight one day

Pigeons_on_solar_panels_roof.jpg
 
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I went for basic bird mesh, pretty much just metal chicken wire attached round the side of the panels, which my installer charged £200 for. My parent's next door neighbour, and another house nearby, have panels without mesh and they always have loads of pigeons on the roof and under the panels. Definitely seems worthwhile, if your installer isn't ripping you off on the price.
 
I was thinking about vertical ones. I've a tile hung first floor so they would probably mount really easily and could get 3 or 4 in a south position that would get sun for most of the year from late morning through to close to sunset. Presume they'd be easier to mount using the same as you'd use on the roof.
 
Bug One said:
Has anyone mounted any panels vertically? I'm tempted to add a couple to catch more winter sun.
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Do you mean in a portrait / landscape configuration....or literally at 90 degrees to the horizon?

I think the ideal would be having the whole PV array on a rotating platform that tracked the sun. Something like that must exist.
 
john_smith said:
Do you mean in a portrait / landscape configuration....or literally at 90 degrees to the horizon?

I think the ideal would be having the whole PV array on a rotating platform that tracked the sun. Something like that must exist.
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They do for ground installs, although individually is all I have seen
Just a simple motorised column in effect. Not sure if they track via actual sun or via data based positioning. Later I assume.

I would assume they generate something like 125% of a south based array.
 
I've got a vertical wall over the flat roof where I've added my panels that's in full sun from morning till dusk year round. Installing would effectively be the same as if I were doing it at ground level, other than physically getting the panels up onto the 1st floor roof height.

I've just checked and as long as it's doesn't protrude more than 20cm - planning isn't required.
 
Bug One said:
I've got a vertical wall over the flat roof where I've added my panels that's in full sun from morning till dusk year round. Installing would effectively be the same as if I were doing it at ground level, other than physically getting the panels up onto the 1st floor roof height.

I've just checked and as long as it's doesn't protrude more than 20cm - planning isn't required.
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Ah its 20cm, thought it was 20 degrees from memory.
20cm on a normal panel isn't a bad angle, especially if you go landscape.

How easy is it to add another inverter though if you already have a system in place.
Do they conflict or anything, or can a simple second inverter just send to the ring and allow the "main" one to do its stuff like exporting, charging batteries etc
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Ah its 20cm, thought it was 20 degrees from memory.
20cm on a normal panel isn't a bad angle, especially if you go landscape.

How easy is it to add another inverter though if you already have a system in place.
Do they conflict or anything, or can a simple second inverter just send to the ring and allow the "main" one to do its stuff like exporting, charging batteries etc
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We have 3 inverters. Two are regular inverters and one is a hybrid. The 2 regular convert PV DC to AC send the electricity to the fuse board. The hybrid has the sensor on the AC cables coming from in from the grid. The Hybrid does the decision making and charges/discharges the batteries etc.

I am not technical but it seems to me that an extra standard inverter can easily be installed as long as the fuse board has an empty slot
 
Ron-ski said:
Nice install.








Shame my Photoshop skills are not very good.
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Decided to add the third… installer has offered to fit it for free and supply at cost too, because I’ve been nice to them.

He did offer to draw the third one on the wall in chalk too if it helped

15kwh is a nice number I think - our usage typically is around 14-18kwh per day so it will allow moving almost all our usage in winter over to the cheap rate, and do a better job at covering the bad days in the summer months.

I’m pretty sure it’s poor value for money to add the third, but still cheaper than a powerwall so there’s that…
 
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