Yes.
Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?
- Thread starter GinG
- Start date
Soldato
Appreciate this is a home solar thread, but can anyone point me in the direction of a suitable unit for my Dad's allotment?
He has a 10'x7' shed with a south facing roof. Panels could be permanently mounted, to charge something like a Jackery unit.
Main use would be LED lighting & music (he has a gas stove for hot water) - I appreciate he's not going to be running 2000W tools off of it, but will probably want a Makita 18V battery charger for his mower/strimmer.
Budget is up to £750 (bonus points if we can keep it under £500).
He has a 10'x7' shed with a south facing roof. Panels could be permanently mounted, to charge something like a Jackery unit.
Main use would be LED lighting & music (he has a gas stove for hot water) - I appreciate he's not going to be running 2000W tools off of it, but will probably want a Makita 18V battery charger for his mower/strimmer.
Budget is up to £750 (bonus points if we can keep it under £500).
Soldato
Plenty off cheap Off grid kits, would he want a battery as well? If so pushing it at £750.
EDIT: You could actually get this, and a couple of refurbished panels for around £600 - https://www.eossolarsolutions.co.uk...supply-ups-system-with-1-2kwh-energy-storage/
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Soldato
Found this the other day.
Soldato
Will see about switching to agile then…some half hour slots are minus pricesFound this the other day.
Soldato
Yup father in law has that on octopus, sometimes they pay for import, as crazy as it sounds, so he charges his solar battery and his electric car up and they pay him for the pleasure.
I think on the flip side there are occasions where it's expensive.
I can't be doing with it personally, but he's retired so guess has the time to manage it.
This for me too. I'd go nuts thinking and checking figures every minute of the day... Can't stop my brain from wanting to squeeze every last bit out. Best to avoid it for me I think!
Ironically losing the control is what is stopping me going intelligent flux - as what if octopus don't manage my export right?
The negative days usually come in bunches and coincide with heavy winds, sure we just had about 2 weeks of negative prices but that isn't the norm. People who switch for negative are usually disappointed, that said agile has been far cheaper than the other options for me over winter and I automate the charging so not really hassle.
Soldato
I think I may have to look at Agile for next winter, I could also automate it.
Heres mine over 3 months, figures exclude export so flux could get bumped up the list a bit if you export lots in the peak window. Discrepancy between my price and the agile price is the new slightly higher standing charge on agile today.
Associate
Which app is that for comparisons?
Octopus watch. It may or may not be one of the paid features not sure.
Soldato
It's not a subscription feature as I have it on mine, mines says:
You: £446
Agile: £268
Standard: £702
But it doesn't take into account exports, which is annoying.
I'll have to see what I've exported, but if I was on Agile then charging and exporting would be different, so very difficult to compare
You: £446
Agile: £268
Standard: £702
But it doesn't take into account exports, which is annoying.
I'll have to see what I've exported, but if I was on Agile then charging and exporting would be different, so very difficult to compare
Soldato
This. Its very difficult to compare unless your not going to do any load switching and battery charging etc.
I have had to change my behaviour when I went to agile from Go.
Go is like always charge every night to 100% without fail.
Agile requires a different mind set, like in 15 minutes I am putting the dishwasher on at 14p a unit. Because I export at 15p there is no massive point in charging unless I dont have enough kwh stored to get me over the next hurdle.
Best to let any spare solar go to battery as thats DC to DC and more efficient than charging and then discharging.
As my usage was heavily modified to best suit go, and now I am doing the same for agile any comparison between smart tariffs is going to give an silly result.
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Soldato
I'd probably still charge when cost effective to do so, if there's a nice cheap period, or even negative coming up it would make sense to force discharge, then charge when cheap, but it would need automating.
During winter though assuming we get saving sessions again exporting in the flux peak window will be a loser anyway. Flux is quite poor in winter in my opinion.
I've exported 456 units so far this year with so i'm close to break even anyway, with saving sessions i'm negative already.
I think the real question for me is which is better in summer, unfortunately flux now comes with a +£40 extra in standing charges per year for me which is quite a hurdle.
Yes it makes sense. Personally I dont min max it for 2 or 3p though, only when its very cheap I will force it.
Soldato
Saving sessions was one of the issues I had, I could only export for peak between 16:00 - 16:30 and 18:30 to 19:00 at 8kW although i think we did have one session after 18:30.so lost a bit there.
That said, I often didn't have much battery capacity left to export much more due to lack of sunshine .
I wouldn't bother for a few pence, not sure what I'd use as a cutoff point though.
That said, I often didn't have much battery capacity left to export much more due to lack of sunshine .
I wouldn't bother for a few pence, not sure what I'd use as a cutoff point though.
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Soldato
My electric for the past 3 months taking into account export too…..has only been £24.
Soldato
I assume 80% round trip efficiency so 15p - 20% = 12p
So I assume its better to use grid down to that point.
For charge to export I am going around 5-6p max input price right now.
So gain is similar per kwh
I am happy to rinse these batteries a bit. If I am still here in 10 years then I will need new and it will be better stuff.
If I have moved on I will be happy to have rinsed the batteries a bit harder before I left
So I assume its better to use grid down to that point.
For charge to export I am going around 5-6p max input price right now.
So gain is similar per kwh
I am happy to rinse these batteries a bit. If I am still here in 10 years then I will need new and it will be better stuff.
If I have moved on I will be happy to have rinsed the batteries a bit harder before I left
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It would be nice to see them introduce something that helps flux users in that regard. Seems wrong that the saving sessions handicap their flagship solar and battery tariff.