Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

Myenergi is a premium option across the board these days. Their products are generally very good but they come with the price tag.

Full islanding is great functionality and I wouldn’t turn it down but in reality we get <1 power cut a year so I’m not prepared to pay a significant amount of money for the feature so options like the libbi and powerwalls (availability aside) are off the table for me.
 
We get 2-3 per year but that's because the infrastructure is either old or overloaded. It doesn't stay off for long until they reroute it.

If I lived in London I definitely wouldn't consider it, but to be honest even if we had them once a month it's not the end of the world. Unless they last for several hours of course.
 
I got islanding for about £800. Due to system changes i took that option. Also meant my system is in two stacks with all isolators etc included, looks much nicer as well rather than isolators and cables going all over the place.

I am still 50/50 about it however.

Thing is with the talk of power cuts or potential rolling blackouts it just felt worth it. It added probably 4 months to the ROI of my system so nothing to sweat about.
We had a power cut about 6 months ago. Didn't last that long, about 30 mins, but it was right on dinner time.
Its not so much how long it lasts but the uncertainty thats annoying.

Other factor was if we actually did get a period of rolling cuts or power cuts you know for sure the costs and time to get an electrician to enable islanding would be a nightmare as everyone rushed to get it intalled.
Mine is whole house as well which is nice. The less sophisticated systems you pick a circuit (or maybe 2) so you can't overload the batteries.
 
I agree if we do end up with rolling cuts then it makes total sense. Frankly it's laughable that a country like the UK should even need them. I mean I've lived in fairly poor countries in the past and even then the power cuts whilst common, were not that bad and actually expected!

I'm not going to mention the B word... anyway, we'll have to see how it goes. I do have an outlet to the battery here if needs be I can plug into it directly - but of course not as convenient as proper islanding!
 
randal said:
Hello,

We're in the process of obtaining quotes, and was wonder if those more in the know would be able to cast their eye over this:

LUXZufu.png

It's the first quote we've had, so would be good to use it as a baseline if it's a reasonable figure. They've recommended Optimisers at £40/panel on top of that figure also.


Thanks in advance. :D
Click to expand...

Do love quoting myself. :D

Slight revision to the above figure to factor in the Optimisers, and an inverter that would support them. Now looking at the SolarEdge HD 5000 Wave in place of the GivEnergy one. More expensive, but looks like a better bit of kit.

Diverter wise, I think I'm going to wait a bit. Looking at the API on the SolarEdge I think it should be possible to flip the immersion on when the battery hits fully charged. Basically I can set myself up a diverter for not much bucks if I understand the functionality correctly.

New total is £13980 all in, I think I'm going to go for it.
 
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randal said:
Do love quoting myself. :D

Slight revision to the above figure to factor in the Optimisers, and an inverter that would support them. Now looking at the SolarEdge HD 5000 Wave in place of the GivEnergy one. More expensive, but looks like a better bit of kit.

Diverter wise, I think I'm going to wait a bit. Looking at the API on the SolarEdge I think it should be possible to flip the immersion on when the battery hits fully charged. Basically I can set myself up a diverter for not much bucks if I understand the functionality correctly.

New total is £13980 all in, I think I'm going to go for it.
Click to expand...
Benefit of a diverter is it won't use the grid and only pulls any spare. Which flicking the switch by yourself won't do.
 
randal said:
Do love quoting myself. :D

Slight revision to the above figure to factor in the Optimisers, and an inverter that would support them. Now looking at the SolarEdge HD 5000 Wave in place of the GivEnergy one. More expensive, but looks like a better bit of kit.

Diverter wise, I think I'm going to wait a bit. Looking at the API on the SolarEdge I think it should be possible to flip the immersion on when the battery hits fully charged. Basically I can set myself up a diverter for not much bucks if I understand the functionality correctly.

New total is £13980 all in, I think I'm going to go for it.
Click to expand...

Hot water diverter is so good. Honestly I'm so glad I've got it.

That's a good price considering the current prices and the size of the system.
 
Scanning above I couldn't see it, but we have no solar or eV but am tempted to get a battery to charge in cheaper spells and run the house in others. Has anyone gone with this use see?

Edit: pasted from another thread - noticed some info above
 
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Robert said:
Scanning above I couldn't see it, but we have no solar or eV but am tempted to get a battery to charge in cheaper spells and run the house in others. Has anyone gone with this use see?

Edit: pasted from another thread - noticed some info above
Click to expand...

I don't think it matters what provider you're with - whatever works for you. Battery storage without solar won't really pay back quickly - most batteries have a 10-15 year life, even if you charge it at cheap rate, you won't get your investment back in that time.
 
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