Soldato
That's beyond crazy.
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Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?
- Thread starter GinG
- Start date
That disposal reminds me of my quote when rectifying the original poor install - the new guys did a brilliant job, disposal of original panels and inverters FOC ( nope I kept the panels and fitted them, and sold one of the two inverters).
Pardon me for not reading the whole thread (all 433 pages!) But my parents have had Solar panels since about 2011 or 2012. How efficient/inefficient will these panels be compared to modern panels? Single digit percent making changing them a largely pointless and expensive exercise? 20% or more. making gains a worthwhile exercise?
She also has no battery backup or storage and is currently taking a feed in tariff of around £900 a year with British Gas. Is it worth buying or getting a battery storage installed? She's paying around £90 a month in electricity to Octopus. Any thoughts from users? Tesla power wall seems to be the most common and would come in at around £10-£12k I believe.
Thoughts, considerations or experiences of someone in a similar situation?
She also has no battery backup or storage and is currently taking a feed in tariff of around £900 a year with British Gas. Is it worth buying or getting a battery storage installed? She's paying around £90 a month in electricity to Octopus. Any thoughts from users? Tesla power wall seems to be the most common and would come in at around £10-£12k I believe.
Thoughts, considerations or experiences of someone in a similar situation?
Soldato
You need to be very careful to protect this, the fits rates from 2011/2012 will be quite high, which suggests that if she's only getting £900 a year its a small system. I believe it is possible to upgrade a FITS system, and then receive the payments pro-rata based on the original system size, this is a relatively recent change, and you'd need to speak to a MCS installer to verify that.
I left my original FITS sysyem in place and fitted an additional system, and battery's. Newer panels are better, but I'm not sure how much better, as they are bigger than the older panels.
Tesla power wall is very expensive, there are much cheaper options, I suspect you'd need an AC connected battery, as this is separate from the FITS system, others on here have done that relatively cheaply.
Associate
Have anyone here made an insulation box for their batteries in the winter?
Ours are located in the loft so they're starting to get cold now, which will soon start affecting the charge rate. As we're on Flux and only have a three hour window to charge 12.25kW of batteries, Im looking at insulating them for the winter.
I was thinking of using a standard fibreglass fire blanket on the top where all the contacts and connectors are and then surrounding them with polystryrene sheeting. Anyone think Ill have any problems with doing this?
Ours are located in the loft so they're starting to get cold now, which will soon start affecting the charge rate. As we're on Flux and only have a three hour window to charge 12.25kW of batteries, Im looking at insulating them for the winter.
I was thinking of using a standard fibreglass fire blanket on the top where all the contacts and connectors are and then surrounding them with polystryrene sheeting. Anyone think Ill have any problems with doing this?
Soldato
Raises hand, I have
Mine are outside. I was having issues with charging due to low temps.
I bought some fire redardant polystryene from wickes , used that in a timber framed box.
Jablite HP+ External Wall Insulation 70 Expanded Polystyrene Insulation Board - 1200 x 600 x 50mm | Wickes.co.uk
Jablite HP+ External Wall Insulation 70 Expanded Polystyrene Insulation Board - 1200 x 600 x 50mm
www.wickes.co.uk
I emailed them back and apparently this is the cost of in roof systems because they have to dispose of tiles!
No, they're not made of asbestos...
I'll be getting some other quotes.
I was thinking of building a box and filling it with a load of loose vermiculite, I have several large bags of the stuff in the garage. Battery sits on concrete floor in the garage though which was perhaps not the best way.Raises hand, I have
Mine are outside. I was having issues with charging due to low temps.
I bought some fire redardant polystryene from wickes , used that in a timber framed box.
Jablite HP+ External Wall Insulation 70 Expanded Polystyrene Insulation Board - 1200 x 600 x 50mm | Wickes.co.uk
Jablite HP+ External Wall Insulation 70 Expanded Polystyrene Insulation Board - 1200 x 600 x 50mm
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Soldato
It wouldn't surprise me if they are Kent Pegs or similar and worth something, no way does it cost even a tenth of that to dispose of non asbestos tiles, chancers!
Soldato
Tell them to leave the tiles so quote without disposal.
Stick them on freecycle
Stick them on freecycle
Soldato
My only concern with that would be if you need to remove it. Balls everywhere!
With mine i kept an air gap. I need to do a bit more work on it, but plan is to try to in effect seal the batteries in, with the inverter partly sealed in.
There will be an air gap behind the inverter but shouldnt be much flow so air should only slowly circulate out.
In summer I removed a fair amount of insulation and temps were fine.
It suggested to avoid direct sun from batteries / inverters. So mainly its to do that in summer.
Associate
Scaffolding is up ready for install tomorrow.
Hello, please could you advise if the solar pv is connected up. Two different companies have said different things.
One said they can run the cable from the panels to my smart meter and they then do not connect any wires to the fuse box. I asked them if they need to run a cable to the fuse box and they stated they do not do that anymore.
Another has said they run the cable to smart meter and then run another cable to the fuse box.
Which one is correct? I would prefer not to run another cable if I do not need it i.e. the fewer holes and cables the better.
Thanks.
One said they can run the cable from the panels to my smart meter and they then do not connect any wires to the fuse box. I asked them if they need to run a cable to the fuse box and they stated they do not do that anymore.
Another has said they run the cable to smart meter and then run another cable to the fuse box.
Which one is correct? I would prefer not to run another cable if I do not need it i.e. the fewer holes and cables the better.
Thanks.
Soldato
That all sounds very odd, the only thing they may be connecting near the smart meter is a CT clamp to measure current flow, but only if you are having batteries installed.
In a normal PV installation the panels are connected to the inverter, and the inverter is then connected to the fuse box. If you don't have room in the existing fuse box, or it is not suitable then they may install another fuse box, which may possibly be fed from the smart meter with the addition of a mains switch if not already fitted.
There are lots of different ways to do it depending on what you're having installed, but connecting to the main fuse box is normal, but what you've said just doesn't make sense, so I'm guessing that you've miss-understood.
I am having solar PV, 8 x 430w panels, 3.7kw inverter and 5kw battery. I thought a cable had to go from the inverter to the fuse box. However, when one company carried out a survey they stated that these days they do not connect the cable to the fuse box. They simply put something at the meter that measures what goes out and can set it up so that it powers the house from the meter box.
Soldato
What they put at the smart meter is a current sensor, its job is to measure how much current is flowing and which way (in to the house or out of the house), from this the battery will know whether to charge or discharge, and by how much. This sensor does not have to go at the smart meter, it can go anywhere in between the smart meter and fuse box, if more than one fuse box is fitted it needs to go before both of them so it can measure total power flow, hence usually installing it at the smart meter.
The PV and battery will still need to be connected, and most likely will be connected to your existing fuse box.
I suggest you have another chat with the installers to clarify the installation method.
Soldato
It could be like mine, if its Solax then depending what system you have (others may work the same), new tails are diverted to the mate box and then back via the original tails to the fuse box/consumer unit
This gives the whole house EPS, ie the solar system, inverter etc sits between the main supply and the fuse box/consumer unit
This gives the whole house EPS, ie the solar system, inverter etc sits between the main supply and the fuse box/consumer unit
Soldato
Ultimately one way or another any system will have cables going to the fuse box.
Mine is like @Mercenary Keyboard Warrior system, in that the inverter and batteries are sat in between the smart meter and the fuse box, but that is not the normal installation, that is whole house back up.
Mine is like @Mercenary Keyboard Warrior system, in that the inverter and batteries are sat in between the smart meter and the fuse box, but that is not the normal installation, that is whole house back up.
Soldato
Kind of, as Ronski says thats not the normal way but your have to have something linking the grid to your fusebox
With ours the whole main feed to the house is redirected via the solar system and then into the main input of the fuse box
Normal installations add a breaker into the fusebox if enough space or an additional fusebox regularly if not, and do not touch the main inputs from the grid into the fusebox