Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?
- Thread starter GinG
- Start date
Soldato
No…..why fit 6.4kw off panels and only 3.6kw inverter, doesnt make sense to me
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 May 2006
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you wil let massive clipping on any remotely sunny day (you will hot the max your inverter can handle). for comparison I have 15 panels 10 on east roof,.5 on west , total potential 5.1kwh.
I sometimes get 4kwh output.
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Soldato
As Welshman says.
I'll elaborate, any inverter larger than 3.68kW needs a G99 application to the DNO prior to installation, 3.68kW or less is just a notify after installation - which is a lot easier for the solar installer, although its not hard to do, I've done it myself.
With a 3.6kW inverter your basically hadicapping your 6.48kW of panels, so the sun is shining, your panels are capable of producing over 6kW, yet they are capped at around 3.6, that's an awful lot of generation you're going to lose. If you had half panels west facing half east facing it would not be quite so bad, but it will still clip production. You need at least a 5kW inverter, preferably 6kW.
Second issue is when it comes to charging the batteries, you could probably just about charge them from empty to full in three hours, but what if you added more batteries, or the off peak period was shorter - in winter you need to charge off peak, or if on flux most likely every day.
Ask them to include a bigger inverter for a smaller price, there will be plenty of profit to cover it
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Soldato
I'd be wary of TIGO optimisers as well, someone else here had them and had a nightmare when they were failing.
If you need them maybe go SolarEdge, I think they're meant to be better.
If you need them maybe go SolarEdge, I think they're meant to be better.
Associate
Without storage of some kind you will always rely on nuclear or fossil fuels for the base load.
solaredge is the way to go with shading, get the best
Ford escort or a Range Rover?
Associate
The 3.6kW Sunsynk hybrid inverter has a maximum input of 7.2kW. Though it can only produce 3.6kW AC, it can simultaneously send 3.6kW DC to the batteries. So if you have enough battery storage then you wouldn't get clipping.As Welshman says.
I'll elaborate, any inverter larger than 3.68kW needs a G99 application to the DNO prior to installation, 3.68kW or less is just a notify after installation - which is a lot easier for the solar installer, although its not hard to do, I've done it myself.
With a 3.6kW inverter your basically hadicapping your 6.48kW of panels, so the sun is shining, your panels are capable of producing over 6kW, yet they are capped at around 3.6, that's an awful lot of generation you're going to lose. If you had half panels west facing half east facing it would not be quite so bad, but it will still clip production. You need at least a 5kW inverter, preferably 6kW.
Second issue is when it comes to charging the batteries, you could probably just about charge them from empty to full in three hours, but what if you added more batteries, or the off peak period was shorter - in winter you need to charge off peak, or if on flux most likely every day.
Ask them to include a bigger inverter for a smaller price, there will be plenty of profit to cover it
Soldato
That's a big if, and just how much more is a more suitable inverter? With tariff's like Flux I bet it would pay for the extra spend pretty quicky.
Associate
I have the same 3.6kW inverter with 6.9kW of panels and 10.5kW battery storage and I've only seen occasional clipping once my batteries are full. My panels are split 50/50 over SE and NW though. If they were all facing South then I would have gone for a larger inverter. I've read that the G99 application can take up to two months to get approval which is why I decided to stick with the smaller inverter.
A 2 month wait on something that will hopefully last 25+ years seems worthwhile to me.
In other news my survey is tomorrow
In other news my survey is tomorrow
Such is the value of money, £6600 in 2015 equates to about £8500 today.
Technically you can now connect larger than 3.68kw without approval in advance but you must limit export to 3.68kw until that approval arrives. Use form A3-3. https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...ccomendations.18946524/page-215#post-36013059
I have TIGOs and they seem to work well. Comparing quotes it saved me ~£2k vs SolarEdge and meant I could have a hybrid inverter. You need them setup with a Tigo TAP and CCA so that you get the individual panel monitoring and firmware updates etc. Tigo will not support your hardware without the TAP and CCA and you cannot set it up later unless you have the serial # of each Tigo.
The LuxPower inverters are excellent for being able to full power charge and export to grid at the same time.
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Soldato
- Joined
- 23 May 2006
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- 7,442
its not ideal but like it or not we are going to need a nuclear backbone for the forseeable if we are serious about ditching fossil fuel imo.
I think Germany's decision to get rid is insane to be honest.... esp as they are so reliant on Russia right now.
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Associate
Can I just ask if anyone else on Octopus has issues with their smart meter continually disconnecting? I only recently moved to Octopus and my smart meter disconnects every 2 weeks or so. They get zero readings until I phone them up(they don't read emails) and then they reset it and it works for another two weeks. This wasn't an issue with my previous supplier and I'm wondering if the inverter is perhaps interfering with it?
Soldato
Nope all fine here, inverter shouldn't do anything with the smart meter.
Twitter dm them instead at least you can build a case for repeat occurrences and push for a replacement if faulty.
Mine took 2 days.
That said, the supplied did say it's by far the quickest turn around they have seen.
Irritatingly though, my system has been up and running for two months now, and Octopus still haven't managed to set up the export agreement. Chased them again a couple of days ago and they have apologised and said they're chasing it with the export team.
Soldato
Can't most larger inverters be configured to G98 spec temporarily until the G99 comes through?
Soldato
I think all that are supplied in the UK have to be able to be restricted to meet our standards.
Obviously the smaller ones don't need to be, but pretty sure I read in the standards it must be possible.