Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

Oldman2 said:
I'm just wiring to my inverter today and the AC Backup is going to get left unwired. I live 2 doors from our sub station and I can count on one hand the outages we have had lasting more than a few mins on one hand in the last 50 odd years.
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Make sure you turn the circuit off in the settings as well. You'll hear an audible clunk as a relay disengages.

I had a small parasitic load from the circuit, even though it wasn't wired up.
 
So like many I've been waiting ~6m for my install with EON, they gave me a 2-day install window as I'm having 18 panels split over and East/West roof. They arrived a day late due to a 'missing delivery', I contacted EON the week before as I'd heard nothing re scaffolding and was told it was all OK. The team turned up and the first question was "Where's the scaffolding .. ". They continued to fit all the electrics and batteries, including drilling a hole through into my office wall by mistake, drilling from outside into the loft and were 18in out .. then they were gone by lunchtime hoping they could be back in April or early May .. Only upside is they turned it all on allowing me to charge the batteries on Eco7 and use them.

I've got a formal complaint in with EON, they installed a Givenergy Gen1 inverter, it was agreed a Gen2 would be used, they only really realised when the 'ethernet' port wasn't working and realised it was WiFi only, they haven't fitted any DC Isolators, I went to great expense to have a new consumer unit installed, even letting the EON planner know the make and type of RCBOs they needed only for the guys to find they didn't have the right type and 'found' something in their van. Just feel this isn't a quality install which I'm gutted about obviously. The help desk is lousy, every time I call them its 1-1.5hrs on hold and they don't have any answers. A week late a scaffolder is arriving today put up the scaffolding which looks like will be hanging around for weeks.

Rant Over !:D


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Ron-ski said:
@Northwarks I feel your pain, I absolutely hate using trades, and only use them when I absolutely have to. At least you can start saving some money, but it's the panels that will make the most difference.
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Same - Hate not been able to do it and been out of the loop - In my day job if I'd had 6m to plan something and it didn't pull it off I'd be losing pay/bonus.

But at least the house is surrounded in scaffolding now, for how long who knows ..
 
I'm getting my system I installed on Monday and Tuesday next week. Hoping everything will go smoothly, just spent yesterday clearing access in my loft and garage for the inverter and battery.
I haven't started the move across to Octopus yet, as I assume it's better to have everything working with the system and generating first, along with getting the relevant paperwork and certificates done as well before switching energy suppliers?
 
Valo said:
I'm getting my system I installed on Monday and Tuesday next week. Hoping everything will go smoothly, just spent yesterday clearing access in my loft and garage for the inverter and battery.
I haven't started the move across to Octopus yet, as I assume it's better to have everything working with the system and generating first, along with getting the relevant paperwork and certificates done as well before switching energy suppliers?
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No may as well just switch whenever, as long as your gas and electric work.

Make sure you get a referral code from someone though, it splits £100 bill credit between you and the person who refers you.
 
First day finally I've had enough generation to charge both the home battery and the car. Unfortunately will need some playing around with it as zappi was leaving it to export at 1kwh whilst the battery charged at 2.6kwh because it needs minimum excess of 1.4kwh so put it in eco and let the battery feed the car when the sun was behind the clouds and solar filled in anything under 1.4.

This however meant the givenergy battery went uncharged as everything solar went into the car. So will need to play around with it and figure out how to get the best out of it.

Think once I'm on flux it won't matter as I'll be charging in the off-peak period irrespective of Sun forecast.
 
hi .. i'm in a nw/ne roof location and have worked out i can get 7 each side nw uk .. would it be worth installing all 14 panels ? yeah i know it's £12-14k which i have ..but is it worth it .. being 57 ..??
and what size battery do you suggest .. to make the most profit .. our main electric is washer dryer 2 pc's and a 65inch tv ?
any help would be appreciated
 
flea.rider said:
hi .. i'm in a nw/ne roof location and have worked out i can get 7 each side nw uk .. would it be worth installing all 14 panels ? yeah i know it's £12-14k which i have ..but is it worth it .. being 57 ..??
and what size battery do you suggest .. to make the most profit .. our main electric is washer dryer 2 pc's and a 65inch tv ?
any help would be appreciated
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North is generally a little poor performance vs the alternatives as well.

You'd need a more accurate assessment of expected generation.
 
flea.rider said:
and where would i find this information ? total noob .. hence the honest ask :) blackpool if any help
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Installation quotes you get should provide estimates of generation as well.

Let's you see for yourself how much you can expect to generate.

North of the equator, at a sort of 30 ish degree tilt, south facing would generate the most. East/West facing were about 70% of south, and north is just worse again than that, not sure by how much but heading into not worth it territory I think.
 
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flea.rider said:
well seeing as it just sitting in the bank i don't do isa or stuff like that as i just don't earn enough .. we use 240kWh -350 per month depending on time of yr
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On average that is 295kWh per month, so at the 34p cap £100.30, if prices were to halve that would be £50, and it they went up another 50% then you'd be at £150 per month.
Logic dictates that over time prices increase, but we aren't living in logical times right now.

If you could eliminate your bill entirely after including the SEG payments as offset then you would be making back £1,200 per year at current prices.
 
Day one of my install today and everything has gone smoothly. The panels, cabling and bird proofing is done and the inverter and battery are in position along with the major electrical work. Tomorrow will be more electrical work mainly in my garage where everything is and the commissioning of the system.
Unfortunately after the initial survey and quote for 10 panels, for safety they can only fit 9 on my roof so my generation capacity has dropped slightly. Original quote was for a 4.25kWh system, the revised quote is for 3.825kWh.

On the plus side though I've had a GivEnergy Gen2 Inverter and Battery installed.
 
Valo said:
Day one of my install today and everything has gone smoothly. The panels, cabling and bird proofing is done and the inverter and battery are in position along with the major electrical work. Tomorrow will be more electrical work mainly in my garage where everything is and the commissioning of the system.
Unfortunately after the initial survey and quote for 10 panels, for safety they can only fit 9 on my roof so my generation capacity has dropped slightly. Original quote was for a 4.25kWh system, the revised quote is for 3.825kWh.

On the plus side though I've had a GivEnergy Gen2 Inverter and Battery installed.
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what size is your house plz ? and is it both sides of the roof ?
 
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