Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

You're spending a whole bunch of money may as well max stuff out as best you can whilst doing it :)

What was your usage figure like btw? it definitely works out better if you use more, if your daily usage is like 4 kwh then I think your payback time will be very high, the more you use the better really as SEG payment is low.
 
HungryHippos said:
You're spending a whole bunch of money may as well max stuff out as best you can whilst doing it :)

What was your usage figure like btw? it definitely works out better if you use more, if your daily usage is like 4 kwh then I think your payback time will be very high, the more you use the better really as SEG payment is low.
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Between April and May average daily electric usage is about 20kWh (if i have read this correctly on my bill)
 
Scooby2004 said:
Between April and May average daily electric usage is about 20kWh (if i have read this correctly on my bill)
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Yep you'd definitely benefit from a decent solar install with that type of usage.

I'd definitely go bigger on panels and would consider extending the battery storage a little more if you can, but don't go too low on it because on a good summers day a 6-8kw system would generate a fair few kwh of electric.

Welshman said:
Man some of your power usage is crazy……im currently on 5.9kwh per day according to my smart meter and spreadsheet
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I worked out my house uses a little over 4kwh per day even if I'm not there doing anything, so just takes watching TV or using the PC for a bit an I'm easily above 6kwh.
 
HungryHippos said:
Yep you'd definitely benefit from a decent solar install with that type of usage.

I'd definitely go bigger on panels and would consider extending the battery storage a little more if you can, but don't go too low on it because on a good summers day a 6-8kw system would generate a fair few kwh of electric.



I worked out my house uses a little over 4kwh per day even if I'm not there doing anything, so just takes watching TV or using the PC for a bit an I'm easily above 6kwh.
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What wattage is your tv, that sounds crazy???? i work from home using laptop, additional screen, tv and skyq box on and my mrs would be downstairs also watching a large screen tv with skyq box as shes retired also cook with electric……when i got to bed at night the only things running are the broadband router, fridge freezer and chest freezer…….
 
Welshman said:
What wattage is your tv, that sounds crazy???? i work from home using laptop, additional screen, tv and skyq box on and my mrs would be downstairs also watching a large screen tv with skyq box as shes retired also cook with electric……when i got to bed at night the only things running are the broadband router, fridge freezer and chest freezer…….
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If I'm not doing anything at all the power usage is 180w baseline, that is all of the background appliances in the house just ticking along.

There are 4 extractor fans that run in the bathrooms and kitchen all the time, albeit slow until you turn the lights on then they ramp up, but it's just designed that way to extract moisture from the air, probably using a few W between those. Beyond that I have router and a few switches, two tv's on standby one with an AVR/amp, some other various electrical devices like switches (x3) and hubs (hue, hive) along with kitchen appliances like my American Fridge/Freezer and my Quooker boiling tap thing.

After that 180W (4.3 kwh per day) it boils down to usage on top. TV is apparently around 170W in normal mode (it says energy rating G 171 kWh/1000h), 300W in HDR mode, but I mostly have it in normal mode, but as mentioned I have an AVR with a 5.1 speaker system, and that isn't no power. If I switch the TV on and the amp I think it would use a good 300W or so maybe as long as it's on. Standby on the TV is low it says 0.5W.

PC just ticking along will probably use another 150-200W without doing much with it.

I have a Synology NAS with multiple drives in which also eat some power but that isn't included in the baseline stats.

I'm pretty good at turning kit off when not in use, but combination of higher usage when on and a higher baseline means at the moment I am often using 15~ kwh per day at the moment. I think in more normal times that would be like 10 kwh per day but I'm quite a heavy electric user apparently.
 
HungryHippos said:
If I'm not doing anything at all the power usage is 180w baseline, that is all of the background appliances in the house just ticking along.

There are 4 extractor fans that run in the bathrooms and kitchen all the time, albeit slow until you turn the lights on then they ramp up, but it's just designed that way to extract moisture from the air, probably using a few W between those. Beyond that I have router and a few switches, two tv's on standby one with an AVR/amp, some other various electrical devices like switches (x3) and hubs (hue, hive) along with kitchen appliances like my American Fridge/Freezer and my Quooker boiling tap thing.

After that 180W (4.3 kwh per day) it boils down to usage on top. TV is apparently around 170W in normal mode (it says energy rating G 171 kWh/1000h), 300W in HDR mode, but I mostly have it in normal mode, but as mentioned I have an AVR with a 5.1 speaker system, and that isn't no power. If I switch the TV on and the amp I think it would use a good 300W or so maybe as long as it's on. Standby on the TV is low it says 0.5W.

PC just ticking along will probably use another 150-200W without doing much with it.

I have a Synology NAS with multiple drives in which also eat some power but that isn't included in the baseline stats.

I'm pretty good at turning kit off when not in use, but combination of higher usage when on and a higher baseline means at the moment I am often using 15~ kwh per day at the moment. I think in more normal times that would be like 10 kwh per day but I'm quite a heavy electric user apparently.
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It seems you are, all that must cost a fortune to run, if you was using grid electric only. Good job you got solar

im currently sat out on the deck, watching tv with soundbar running and not using an ounce of grid energy. 500wh bluetti solar generator and 100w panel is seeing to my needs, also charging some battery packs for the tools
 
Yup utility costs are relatively expensive at the moment but I've cut out some other stuff to make up for it, also worth noting my gas usage is relatively low I think compared to most. My bill is usually like 80% electric 20% gas or something.

10/01
16889 (electric)
2041 (gas)

13/05
19544 (electric)
2227 (gas)

electric
19544 - 16889 = 2655
2655 / 123 days = 21.58 kwh per day

gas
2227 - 2041 = 186 units
186 / 123 days = 1.51 units
1.51 * 10.9 (rough guess) = 16.45 kwh per day

I expect gas usage to drop further as I don't need CH anymore for a while, but it still handles hot water etc.

electric I can already see my average has dropped a lot lately, taking measures to drop it a little more where I can, still think I'll sit between 10-15kwh per day or so for a while though.
 
Welshman said:
Man some of your power usage is crazy……im currently on 5.9kwh per day according to my smart meter and spreadsheet
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We're on nearly 20 on average:( (around £50 a week).

About 200w base line for things like the network, cameras, fridge/freezer, then 3 of us in the house and awake for ~12 hours a day each (usually two computers, 3 monitors and a pair of tv's on between us). I have actually gone round and turned off a few things that when I checked the power usage were pulling far more in standby than I ever imagined they would (we've got a treadmill that it turns out was pulling 20w all the time, I suspect the speakers on it were being powered all the time rather than going to standby), and redone my Harmony remote configs so that it doesn't turn the surround sound system on unless I use a second activity for the blu-ray player as I generally listen to most things via headphones/tv speakers*.
I can actually look at my smart meter and know when people have gotten up by increase and when people have gone out/to bed by the decrease.

If people are home a lot, unless they're just reading a book or listening to the wireless you'll tend to at least double your base usage for each person once you allow for say a TV and reasonably efficient PC, or once you take into account the increased usage of things like the kettle for hot drinks or opening the fridge to get a cold drink/milk out of it. Your fright might be able to keep things cold for 8-12+ hours if it's left untouched with the power off, but the moment you open the door you lose all the cold air in it so it has to run more often, which is part of the reason the old chest freezers were popular (and why the open topped ones at supermarkets work) because you can open them and only the top layer of cold air is disturbed/gets heated.


*It's rare for me to be able to turn the sound up and enjoy the surround sound.
 
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Crazy the price increases for solar/batteries. Year ago (taking one local supplier) 5kW panels + 4.8kW storage was £7995, now the price is £11495.
 
There will be demand and shipping to factor in more aggressively since covid. Shipping costs used to be a fraction of what they are at now, not sure on lead timeframes but as electric costs have nearly tripled there will be more people wanting solar setups for sure.

Even the roof mounting kits are getting snapped up so I think your right, install dates will get stretched out and the rest of the year solar installers will be busy.
 
I need to look into this. Our bill reckons were issuing 173kwh/per day
Down from 277 the previous year.

Big house. Electric underfloor heating. Both work from home. Smart home stuff.. electric cooking. Mining rigs are now off though...

Looking at the best part of 18k per year just electric.
 
mattyg said:
I need to look into this. Our bill reckons were issuing 173kwh/per day
Down from 277 the previous year.

Big house. Electric underfloor heating. Both work from home. Smart home stuff.. electric cooking. Mining rigs are now off though...

Looking at the best part of 18k per year just electric.
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My jaw litterally just hit the floor, best you work out whats using what, and take some meter readings as well to see just what you are using.
 
I wonder just how big that house is???

He'd need about 50kW of panels (200 - less with today's panels) like we have at work, and a huge amount of batteries to see him through the night. On a good day this time of year the system at work produces 300kWh, even yesterday it generated 193kWh. The worse day in January was just 11.8kWh, and the best January day was 89kWh
 
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