Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
By smart meter do you mean the IHD?
Don't use it TBH since it will be nonsense with solar installed
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Yeah IHD, don’t have the solar up yet so was just curious since it doesn’t seem to display the unit cost correctly since the switch to go.


HungryHippos said:
You may find it's worth starting the charge a little early so it has more ramp up time in the winter. It will guarantee some peak unit usage but it will also add more charge to the battery as an offset.
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Not a bad shout, something to play with potentially. Looking at yesterday’s data it seems to have hit almost 5kw charge rate in the end so was mostly done by about 3am… I guess it is the temperature most likely…


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HungryHippos said:
Agreed with MKW mine became nonsense, I just check the inverter stats now instead.

Validate the octopus website shows usage at the right time and the tariff shows that you're on it properly. The first proper bill you get will have daily breakdown and cost data.
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Cool thanks

john_smith said:
Nope. I gave up arguing with Octopus over it.

I was on eco7 and it displayed both dates as expected. Switched to Go and it’s only ever shown the peak rate. The IHD are not very useful tbh compared to the data you can get via your apps.
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Glad it’s not just me then, thanks for the info. Like you it was working for economy 7 rates.
 
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Zeeflyboy said:
Guys that are on Go, does your smart meter display show the correct rates?

Just checked this morning after the overnight charge and it still seems to be using the old economy rates for estimating cost which is odd.

Cheers
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Around 4/5 months to start showing the correct readings, it is spot on now, including the rip off daily standing charge!.
 
john_smith said:
Saving session tomorrow 9-10. We still thinking it’s good to burn in the 3 hours -1 window??
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Yes

So normal rate, but I don't ever use any energy between 5-8am, always on battery
So thinking I will turn off battery usage from 5am and time dishwasher for then rather than normal go window, moves probably 2.5 kwh into that window
Annoyingly she did washing tumbling today so will miss that opportunity
 
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if you moved even 3kwh into t-3, 6 x 30 min periods preceeding target that will give 0.5 increase in time baseline so £1.50 saving ... but if those 3 units themselves cost you 34p , that's 48p saving.
 
jpaul said:
if you moved even 3kwh into t-3, 6 x 30 min periods preceeding target that will give 0.5 increase in time baseline so £1.50 saving ... but if those 3 units themselves cost you 34p , that's 48p saving.
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its £2.25 not £1.5

Say 3kwh in -4 - -1 window. 3/6 = 0.5 per half hour
Saving session is 1hr so 2x0.5 = 1 @£2.25
costs = 0.34x3 = £1.02
Benefit = £2.25-1.02

Or seeing as the session is 1 hour £2.25/3 = £0.75 x however many units used will be the savings session reward
 
I'm not going to go insane I think. The session is at a time when I don't typically use any from the grid, the rate is a normal one, and the length is only an hour.

I'll probably aim to use a few kWh in the pre-session bit, tomorrow does look poor for solar so I dare say I will need to import a few kWh anyway, may as well make them in the earlier session time.
 
Welshman said:
How much power did you move for that and are really just gaming the system??? Soon the requirements will change because of people doing this and will ruin it for everyone else.
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I used about 48kWh in that period, used the electric underfloor heating instead of gas, washing, dishwasher and charged the batteries & car.
I doubt the rules will get changed as it's unlikely a high percentage of customers shift enough to make that much of difference.
It does say to shift away from the saving session and that's exactly what people are doing......
 
Really liking the other figures thread. Won't post in it as it will clutter it up.

But will be very useful for deciding whether to/not get some panels.

Still probably not as no chance to ROI in this house but it's very useful!
 
94JDH said:
I used about 48kWh in that period, used the electric underfloor heating instead of gas, washing, dishwasher and charged the batteries & car.
I doubt the rules will get changed as it's unlikely a high percentage of customers shift enough to make that much of difference.
It does say to shift away from the saving session and that's exactly what people are doing......
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How many kW can your house pull from the grid? Mine seems to be between 15kW and 18kW. Since 5am (90mins) I've pulled down 23.1 So I should get about 46 in the 3hours. Assuming you maxed out last time it looks like we're on a similar spec grid connection I think i'm demanding more than the grid can deliver, my car is only charging at 1.1kW at the moment and the charger can deliver 7kW.

I've got Battery, Washing Machine, Dishwasher (has finished now), Hotwater, EV and both Ovens cleaning.
 
94JDH said:
I used about 48kWh in that period, used the electric underfloor heating instead of gas, washing, dishwasher and charged the batteries & car.
I doubt the rules will get changed as it's unlikely a high percentage of customers shift enough to make that much of difference.
It does say to shift away from the saving session and that's exactly what people are doing......
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It would take me 10 days to use that much energy….ever thought of lowering your consumption in the first place, so there is less pressure on the grid without the saving sessions???
 
john_smith said:
How many kW can your house pull from the grid? Mine seems to be between 15kW and 18kW. Since 5am (90mins) I've pulled down 23.1 So I should get about 46 in the 3hours. Assuming you maxed out last time it looks like we're on a similar spec grid connection I think i'm demanding more than the grid can deliver, my car is only charging at 1.1kW at the moment and the charger can deliver 7kW.

I've got Battery, Washing Machine, Dishwasher (has finished now), Hotwater, EV and both Ovens cleaning.
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I try and be careful as in only on an 80 Amp fuse so max really is 18.44kWh assuming 230v
I tend to be around similar figures to you and aim for around an average of 16kWh.
I have been higher than I should originally but I was monitoring it and didn't want to blow the fuse!
 
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