Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

Ron-ski said:
Presumably you don't currently have any solar. If that's the case and you expect to export a reasonable amount, then you definitely need to find an MCS installer if you want an easy way to get paid for exports, it pains me to say that, but that's the way it is. If no MCS you can go the Octopus trial route, but that's not clear what's involved and whether they're acceptable you.

If you're really not going to be generating much and will self use it all, it might be considerably cheaper to not bother with MCS.

If you say what area you're in, we might be able to recommend someone.

As to the last question, not for beer money, maybe very expensive champagne amounts of money ;)
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I've engaged an installer who is going to do a mock-up. I think I'll go from there then. I will also book an appointment with Nationwide who seem to offer 0% Green Energy loans as part of our mortgage; could be a super cheap way to just pay someone end to end.

Although because I want to put it on the workshop roof, I think I may be installing my own panels no matter what. Did you document your panel install/rail system?
 
dlockers said:
Although because I want to put it on the workshop roof, I think I may be installing my own panels no matter what. Did you document your panel install/rail system?
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If an installer is confident the shed is strong enough, then they will likely install on it, but it may put some off.

It's in my signature, but I guess your either on a mobile device or have signatures turned off.

Ronski's Solar & battery DIY build with whole house backup

We already have 4kw of solar on our house roof, which was installed in December 2015, this is comprised of 16 panels witha Solaredge inverter and optimisers, and uses the best two roof's of the house. As some of you might be aware on the solar thread I've been looking into getting an additional...
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fraseredwards said:
Soil pipe cut down and vented tile done. Was a bit of a hassle. Could not get any plumbers to do it as a small crawl space and a bit of a fiddle. The outside bit was more straightforward with a bit of sawing.
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phowar that pong when all the smells get trapped under the solar panel :cry:
also, how does that stop rainwater leaking inside? interested to find out
 
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tamzzy said:
phowar that pong when all the smells get trapped under the solar panel :cry:
also, how does that stop rainwater leaking inside? interested to find out
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The Manthorpe Thin Edge in-line tile ventilator is designed to provide a quick and simple solution to the problems of roofspace ventilation and mechanical extraction / soil stack termination through a roof covered with thin leading edge, large format concrete tiles. The vent is designed to...
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Water travels via an internal channel of the vented tile out the bottom of it
 
Welshman said:
How do i get my production data from my fox inverter into HA ( done that bit ) and then report that data into pvoutput via HA, confused.com
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I used the following in configuration.yaml:

Code: 
## Solar Output to PV Output
shell_command:
  pvoutputcurl: >
    curl -d "d={{now().strftime("%Y%m%d")}}"
         -d "t={{now().strftime("%H:%M")}}"
         -d "v1={{ (states('sensor.total_pv_power_today') | float * 1000)  | int }}"
         -d "v2={{ states('sensor.total_pv_power_watts') }}"
         -d "v3={{ (states('sensor.real_load_daily') | float * 1000)  | int }}"
         -d "v4={{ (states('sensor.real_load') | float * 1000)  | int }}"
         -d "v6={{ states('sensor.h1_5_0_e_rvolt') }}"
         -H "X-Pvoutput-SystemId: XXXXXX"
         -H "X-Pvoutput-Apikey: XXXXXX"
         https://pvoutput.org/service/r2/addstatus.jsp

and this automation:

Code: 
alias: Upload to PVOuput
description: Upload to PVOuput
trigger:
  - platform: time_pattern
    minutes: /5
action:
  - service: shell_command.pvoutputcurl
    data: {}
mode: single

Sensor names will be different for you as using two inverters means I need custom sensors to calculate solar and load values correctly.
 
reef said:
I used the following in configuration.yaml:

Code: 
## Solar Output to PV Output
shell_command:
  pvoutputcurl: >
    curl -d "d={{now().strftime("%Y%m%d")}}"
         -d "t={{now().strftime("%H:%M")}}"
         -d "v1={{ (states('sensor.total_pv_power_today') | float * 1000)  | int }}"
         -d "v2={{ states('sensor.total_pv_power_watts') }}"
         -d "v3={{ (states('sensor.real_load_daily') | float * 1000)  | int }}"
         -d "v4={{ (states('sensor.real_load') | float * 1000)  | int }}"
         -d "v6={{ states('sensor.h1_5_0_e_rvolt') }}"
         -H "X-Pvoutput-SystemId: XXXXXX"
         -H "X-Pvoutput-Apikey: XXXXXX"
         https://pvoutput.org/service/r2/addstatus.jsp

and this automation:

Code: 
alias: Upload to PVOuput
description: Upload to PVOuput
trigger:
  - platform: time_pattern
    minutes: /5
action:
  - service: shell_command.pvoutputcurl
    data: {}
mode: single

Sensor names will be different for you as using two inverters means I need custom sensors to calculate solar and load values correctly.
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Thanks for this - the problem is i dont know where to put this information
 
Try the following thread, you might get more help there.

I hate the yaml, typed some stuff into it this morning and it complained about the indentation spaces, sorted it in the end but it does seem rather ridiculous.

I prefer to use Node Red where possible.

Home Assistant beginners

Hi all, Few threads have asked for this, so quick thread to help anyone getting to grips with home assistant. No questions too stupid, no thoughts too daft! Ask away here and I'll try and collate some FAQs How do I get started Loads of great youtube videos, but pretty simple instructions on...
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We upsized our house somewhat recently which has solar panels and is on FIT. There are no smart meters.

Thinking of getting them installed. Can anyone think of a reason not to? Would it mess with FIT? I would think not as it has its separate generation meter.

Also say I go smart meters with octopus, would their app report what was generated and exported?
 
TNA said:
We upsized our house somewhat recently which has solar panels and is on FIT. There are no smart meters.

Thinking of getting them installed. Can anyone think of a reason not to? Would it mess with FIT? I would think not as it has its separate generation meter.

Also say I go smart meters with octopus, would their app report what was generated and exported?
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No reason not to get them.

No impact on FIT.

Yes, you can also request a ‘home mini’ and get real time reporting in the app.

Edit: not the export as you are on deemed export rather than an export tariff. I think you’ll still be able to take manual export readings.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
No reason not to get them.

No impact on FIT.

Yes, you can also request a ‘home mini’ and get real time reporting in the app.

Edit: not the export as you are on deemed export rather than an export tariff. I think you’ll still be able to take manual export readings.
Click to expand...

Got one of those home mini things. Had it for my last house but never used it in the end. Hopefully can just use that.

Cool will arrange for smart meters to be installed soon :)
 
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