Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

So I have my installers coming out on Tuesday to perform a check over of my system and hopefully fix their ways. Full expecting them to fix things properly.

I also asked about getting another battery due to the lack of iBoost being fitted due to their mess up. Have been quoted £1050 for a Fox Mira 25 Battery, thats without the VAT, but tradesparky have them for £900 with VAT, so I shall be declining their offer and self installing if I go down that route, unless they price match. Would be happy to pay £800 if they installed + fitted as the brackets are £28 anyways
 
I got three of my five Fox HV25s from Tradesparky and just fitted them myself. Its really easy. I just charged the existing batteries to exactly 50% from the grid, installed the new ones and did a full discharge / charge cycle and they were good to go. The BMS will then balance them well over the next few days/weeks.

With regards to the Fox HV25s and the discussion above. Mine will happily discharge at the maximum 5kW of the inverter as long as needed. Here they are supplying 5.24kW to the inverter (5kW out) when running an 8kW shower:

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They'll charge at the maximum the PV can manage too.
 
quickshot89 said:
So I have my installers coming out on Tuesday to perform a check over of my system and hopefully fix their ways. Full expecting them to fix things properly.

I also asked about getting another battery due to the lack of iBoost being fitted due to their mess up. Have been quoted £1050 for a Fox Mira 25 Battery, thats without the VAT, but tradesparky have them for £900 with VAT, so I shall be declining their offer and self installing if I go down that route, unless they price match. Would be happy to pay £800 if they installed + fitted as the brackets are £28 anyways
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Most likely there mark up which will happen if they're supplying and installing.
 
SBo said:
My 3x Pylontech 3000Cs comfortably supply 4000w. Beyond that its solar/grid.
Your inverter will spec a limit on what it can handle on the battery side. My 5kw LuxPower hybrid inverter can manage 4kw/80a from the batteries only.
Even if you pull a bit from the grid when your consumption peaks the amount will be tiny for most.
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This was my quote but I want to tweak it depending on how many panels fit on roof and I was hoping for 4 or 5 batteries, hopefully squeeze in 5.

To me the battery cost seems high, highest ive typically seen them including VAT is ~1550

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IF my south roof can only fit 2 rows of 6 and they want to put the other 2 on north id rather fill out the row as 2 would look a little out of place.

I have been doing so much research but I don't understand the electrical side at all and I have been doing a lot of looking into our energy usage as you can see below.

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The red mark above with empty space is due to having a smart meter fitted for SEG.

Lot of consistency and mum has one of those blow up hot tubs in a summer house shed thing so not insulated the home or the tub and heating element tops out at ~2kw.

I was hoping for bigger wattage panels but can speak with the chap about that when they get back from holiday, going to run the solar cables over roof and down back of home into where the meter is.

For this months data I did do an average for before and after hot tub was in use (hot tub data taken from 12th not before when it was heating up and averaged out.


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ofc not 100% accurate but pretty consistent pricing gave a reasonable extra cost as things in home are pretty consistent day to day.
 
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200sols said:
That cost for 3 batteries seems cheap to me, certainly not expensive.
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I am unsure if I can list the shops selling them so will refrain but INCLUDING vat this is what it will cost from various places.

£1,809 (Added this but its quite the anomaly compared to rest of sites)
£1,548
£1,496
£1,525
£1,499
£1,560
£1,566

That is including VAT so batteries with a solar install coming to £1,760 each for the same batteries is £200 higher per battery except for the first listing.

Lets go by flat £1500 cost that would be ~300 off so around £1200 per battery without VAT, paying for the batteries myself with VAT I would be able to nicely squeeze in 5 batteries within my budget so I should be able to do it with an installer with a lot more leeway should I not since they are supposed to be VAT free?
 
200sols said:
That cost for 3 batteries seems cheap to me, certainly not expensive.
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How do you work that one out?

£5280 / 3 = £1760

You can order them online from ITS for £1290+VAT, cables are only £28 each, that means the installer is making over (they will get them at a discount) £500 profit per battery, or roughly 40% mark up!

alphaomega16 said:
so I should be able to do it with an installer with a lot more leeway should I not since they are supposed to be VAT free?
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As you're discovering a lot of installers are ripping the arse out of it, that 20% VAT discount translates to 20% more profit for them, that's mostly what's happened.

Get them to supply one, have your additional batteries & cables on site on the day, and bung the lads a few quid to install them, or negotiate with the installer - they are counting on you not knowing what the gear costs.
 
200sols said:
As prices go from installers its the cheapest I've seen on those batteries. Buying things yourself is always going to be cheaper.
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Just goes to prove my point that they are all taking the mick - ITS offer trade discounts, so that means the installers get it for less than we can.

I've no problem with firms making a reasonable profit, after all thats why they are in business, but 40% plus mark up is taking the mick.

@alphaomega16

They also charged twice for commissioning/certification, along with £500 for a roofer!!! So installation and commissioning/certification is £2860 for probably two days work.
 
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Ron-ski said:
Just goes to prove my point that they are all taking the mick - ITS offer trade discounts, so that means the installers get it for less than we can.
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Pretty much all trades do, one can always just get the panels installed and get a different sparky in for self supplied batteries.
 
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@200sols I know, but if I added 40% to the parts I charge out at work we wouldn't have any customers. I use trades at work for various things, they don't take the mick, but trades dealing with consumers/residential do, and they are a nightmare to deal with most the time, unreliable, and difficult to get hold of.

I pretty much do my absolute best to avoid using trades at home, my electrician still hasn't come back and replaced my consumer unit (despite me chasing), its now three months since he did the AC work for the solar. I paid him in full the day he sent the invoice for the work he did in the garage, so its not like I'm a bad customer.

Think I'll go and watch a film, have a cider and relax ;)
 
200sols said:
As prices go from installers its the cheapest I've seen on those batteries. Buying things yourself is always going to be cheaper.
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I don't mind paying VAT prices (although it would be nice not to since they are supposed to be exempt with solar install) but not VAT +2-250 quid

Ill have a word with him about it, if he drops the price to £1600 or less it would be a great outcome.
 
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Ron-ski said:
Just goes to prove my point that they are all taking the mick - ITS offer trade discounts, so that means the installers get it for less than we can.

I've no problem with firms making a reasonable profit, after all thats why they are in business, but 40% plus mark up is taking the mick.

@alphaomega16

They also charged twice for commissioning/certification, along with £500 for a roofer!!! So installation and commissioning/certification is £2860 for probably two days work.
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I just noticed the difference in price as well, Total = 11,371 + with commission/cert etc etc = 13,971.

Where is the extra £600 coming from?

Inverter/panels seem to be in line with average prices it just seems to be the batteries that are way above the norm.

Also wouldnt the first certification be for what they have to send of to electric company and the ones after are for the install? Not sure how it all works.

Don't suppose anybody knows someone decent in Essex area do they?
 
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So my new house has 6.5kw of solar and I'm looking for a battery and whole house backup that can integrate with home assistant.

What's the best off the shelf solution I'll be able to get from an installer, or am I better buying all the kit myself and finding an electrician to fit it? If so, what should I be ordering?

Thanks

Neil
 
@NeilMick In my experience an installer will install what they want, not what you want, so do your research before you even go asking them, so you are prepared.

As to what's the best, that all depends on how deep your pockets are, what you want to achieve, what your power usage is, and how much battery storage you want etc. The best will be reassuringly expensive.

Is the existing system a FITS system? Do you have an MCS certificate for it? Do you want to get paid for export?
 
NeilMick said:
So my new house has 6.5kw of solar and I'm looking for a battery and whole house backup that can integrate with home assistant.

What's the best off the shelf solution I'll be able to get from an installer, or am I better buying all the kit myself and finding an electrician to fit it? If so, what should I be ordering?

Thanks

Neil
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Nothing is all that "off the shelf" with solar although it is doable yourself by and large, often with the help of a sparky to do the AC end. Since this is battery only there's no VAT saving using an installer. Let us have the details Ron-ski suggests plus the details of your current inverter (a photo would be good along with the cabling/consumer unit) and we can try to help. For 10kwh of storage (plenty for the majority of people) you could do it for about £3,500, 5kwh about £2,500 I'd guess.
 
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I'd expect it to cost a bit more than that.

Doing it the way I did with the Solis and two Pylontech US5000 batteries, you're looking at £3922 + delivery, which will give you a 9.6kwh / 3000kw setup.

And that's before adding any cost for install, cabling, trunking RCD etc.
 
Yes agree. I’d priced that based on the battery storage kits available on ITS inc VAT but not including install. If you’re really lucky @NeilMick you’ll already have a hybrid inverter.
 
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