That's no problem, yes I agree if combining solar. I've gone a different way with two inverters, one for East and one for West, giving a max discharge of 7.2kW - hope you feel better!Yes, that is correct but you are also stopping any solar being used, and it was bad wording on my part as I didn't mean just battery usage but solar as well in tandem, when the late spring/ early autumn means you are generating still at "dinner" time, so you are limited by the 3600w for a much longer period of the year. Even if you prioritise the PV first, battery second you are still limited so not making the most of what is there on offer. I hope this made more sense, I'm not feeling amazing today tbh.
Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?
- Thread starter GinG
- Start date
Soldato
Are they on an old FIT based tariff or something you had setup yourself? Do you know how much of your generation you use at the moment, and how much you generate over the year?
The next obvious question will be what is your electricity consumption over the year in total, solar generation included as the best place to start for will be the affordability and the payback time.
I set it up myself. I reduce my consumption by around 2kw a day for 8 months of the year. The rest sent to the grid. It’s grid tied.
I might just end up getting a energy diverter either charging a portable battery bank or an electric radiator.
Soldato
I used to use an electric storage heater with old eco 7 rate. It didnt have a timer for starters but generally it wasnt enough, I think a Battery leaks less energy and is more adaptable. Tech wasnt there like it is now.
Soldato
Placed my order officially today
Prelim install date mid Nov
Prelim install date mid Nov
Associate
I’m sure you’ve mentioned it already but what did you go for?
Soldato
Is that standard for anyone Agile or normal agile is just incoming
Soldato
This plus some more bits n bobs, but the main items are listed here
JA Solar 390 Black Frame solar panel x14
SolaX X1 High Voltage Hybrid 5.0T inverter x1
**NET** Emlite Bi-directional Meter ECA2.nv x1
iBoost + x1
Solax Meter Chint / Eastron SDM 230-Modbus x1
SolaX Triple 5.8kWh LFP Battery (Master Console) x1
SolaX Triple 5.8kWh LFP Battery (Slave Console) x1
Associate
Morning,
I've just signed up for getting a solar and batteries, which is due to be fitted over the next few weeks,
Set up will be
My question is - Should I keep the tariff till September 2023 or change to a Go/Agile tariff to take advantage of the cheap rate and fill the batteries up. Approx usage, 8500 kWh per year. Currently, don't have a EV, but will get one next year.
Should I just sit tight, but would be grateful for the forum comments...
I've just signed up for getting a solar and batteries, which is due to be fitted over the next few weeks,
Set up will be
- 8.5kw Solar PV
- 8kw Hybrid Inverter
- 5.2 kWh Batteries
My question is - Should I keep the tariff till September 2023 or change to a Go/Agile tariff to take advantage of the cheap rate and fill the batteries up. Approx usage, 8500 kWh per year. Currently, don't have a EV, but will get one next year.
Should I just sit tight, but would be grateful for the forum comments...
Soldato
You can't get onto GO without an EV, unless you're somehow very lucky and they don't check, it's not guaranteed at all though. They specifically asked me when I queried them about it.
Agile recently has been kind of rubbish, for imports at least.
I'd probably stick with what you have. I don't know if you can do agile export alongside your current tariff.
Agile recently has been kind of rubbish, for imports at least.
I'd probably stick with what you have. I don't know if you can do agile export alongside your current tariff.
Soldato
Hell yes.
Got my smart meter fitted yesterday and requested Go. No EV proof yet but any idea how long go would take to setup. I guess a battery and inverter without panels need a lot of home consumption to save money ? Plus an inverter needs to be big to run a electric shower off a battery
Associate
That was another question, can you run an export tariff alongside your current one? Not a big issue as i can't really see us exporting much from September>March
Soldato
When I had my meter fitted they said it would be a couple of weeks before anything could be done about switching tariffs.
Not sure how GO would benefit if you don't have an EV. Unless you've got batteries that can use the cheap rate. There's a reason it's cheap at that time - not many people are using it.
Not sure how GO would benefit if you don't have an EV. Unless you've got batteries that can use the cheap rate. There's a reason it's cheap at that time - not many people are using it.
Soldato
it's in their T&C's that you have an EV either leased or owned or similar. They may ask you for proof before they accept the switch, they could also check at any point during your contract.
Buying a battery and inverter for this purpose is risky, because without an EV they can undo your tariff and put you back on the cap rates at any time.
Looks like a known issue as apparently fixed in the latest release.
- Optimised the battery SOC/power calculation logic to fix the problem where the battery SOC jumps significantly between 2 data points
Soldato
Yes I had an open ticket about that issue, but they didn't bother to respond. Seems to be sorted now, mine kept saying like 30% then 75% though so it was a total pain.