Solar panels and battery - any real world recommendations?

One More Solo said:
Looks like my export is going to be capped at 3.68kw, boo. Wondering whether I should have gone for a third battery!
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This is my biggest fear when considering covering all the roofs in panels. I know it'll still be beneficial over the darker/shorter days, but it would be nice to earn a few £ over the nicer days.

Quite a few places around me already have solar, so I'm guessing the area is already quite 'congested'.
 
Use Home assistant with Predbat. All hybrid inverters should allow you to charge the battery while exporting g 3.6kw to the grid. Predbat will make sure you maximise the full capability of your system.

It will charge the battery overnight, export it in the morning, charge it during peak hours while also exporting your 3.6kw during peak generation and then export any excess at the end of the day.
 
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NotAGolf said:
This is my biggest fear when considering covering all the roofs in panels. I know it'll still be beneficial over the darker/shorter days, but it would be nice to earn a few £ over the nicer days.

Quite a few places around me already have solar, so I'm guessing the area is already quite 'congested'.
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Yeah, it’s a pain but the generation in the off peak months will be worth it even if I’m not going to maximise my potential export payments.

b0rn2sk8 said:
Use Home assistant with Predbat. All hybrid inverters should allow you to charge the battery while exporting g 3.6kw to the grid. Predbat will make sure you maximise the full capability of your system.

It will charge the battery overnight, export it in the morning, charge it during peak hours while also exporting your 3.6kw during peak generation and then export any excess at the end of the day.
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I’m looking at setting this up, I’ve never used Home Assistant but should be a fun project. I’ve got a Fox inverter which looks like it’s supported.
 
NotAGolf said:
This is my biggest fear when considering covering all the roofs in panels. I know it'll still be beneficial over the darker/shorter days, but it would be nice to earn a few £ over the nicer days.

Quite a few places around me already have solar, so I'm guessing the area is already quite 'congested'.
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Do you have a hot water tank?
You can get solar diverters as well that will divert excess solar to heat the water (via the immersion)

You would need to check the specs closely, mine iirc only allows you to set the trigger point as high as 1kw export but different models may vary.
Although there are options I never played with them that much.
Mine is currently off, it made sense when export rate was low, but not now its high.
I do use it, I setup the schedule when Octopus do the free energy sessions and heat my tank with elec then.

If export ever plummets again (and this is predicted medium term btw) then diverting excess solar to heating water may make sense for me again.
 
Predbat will also control and Eddi even if there is a trigger point limit on that device.

It may also do the solar iboost - you’d need to check that one.

Predbat can also divert to a car charger to keep solar production up if you have one of those.
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Do you have a hot water tank?
You can get solar diverters as well that will divert excess solar to heat the water (via the immersion)

You would need to check the specs closely, mine iirc only allows you to set the trigger point as high as 1kw export but different models may vary.
Although there are options I never played with them that much.
Mine is currently off, it made sense when export rate was low, but not now its high.
I do use it, I setup the schedule when Octopus do the free energy sessions and heat my tank with elec then.

If export ever plummets again (and this is predicted medium term btw) then diverting excess solar to heating water may make sense for me again.
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Could you achieve the same thing with the immersion connected to a smart plug and some Home Assistant logic? Or is it doing something more elaborate than turning it on under certain conditions.
 
SoundsGood said:
Could you achieve the same thing with the immersion connected to a smart plug and some Home Assistant logic? Or is it doing something more elaborate than turning it on under certain conditions.
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Yes you would be able to.
You would need to create in effect a feedback loop that detected the outgoing, added a little to the immersion, say 100w, checked again, adjusted again etc
Its in effect all the purchased ones are doing, they are looking at a sensor attached to the main tail, if it detects outgoing then depending on the settings it will divert to the tank.
By divert to the tank I mean switch on the immersion with a power limited amount to match the exporting, which in effect is house load.
Just controlling it with a switch would trigger it at full power so you would need to limit that as well potentially.

Should be pointed out however that whilst solar looks quite smooth, its not, its fluctuating quite a lot, and some of the setting you can play with is sensitivity, so you would need a decent amount of logic

The best bet would be to tap into the inverter directly in real time, but most don't I believe offer real time readings, mine is 5 mins although I can buy a better dongle thats 10s. 10s isnt enough granularity some of the time.
It does have some real time settings but I am not sure if they are really really real time as I don't have the hardware to meet the requirements (above 10s dongle)
This is where you get into very much the fine details of how each individual inverter works. So there are a couple of options.

But as B2Sk8 says there is now a decent option (pred bat) you can go down thats pretty much done the hard work anyway.

I just wanted to make sure the guy was aware that there are other options to soak up some excess generation on top of export if he wanted to look into them.
 
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I personally wouldn't focus on trying to get paid from the grid but try and be as self reliant as possible. So absolutely get as many panels as you can some decent battery storage, immersion system.

Don't build a system with export in mind. But that's my personal view. The advantage is that you can accelerate your ROI a little but lowering your bills and reducing your co2 footprint and need from the grid should be your focus. Again all in my opinion! :)
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Do you have a hot water tank?
You can get solar diverters as well that will divert excess solar to heat the water (via the immersion)

You would need to check the specs closely, mine iirc only allows you to set the trigger point as high as 1kw export but different models may vary.
Although there are options I never played with them that much.
Mine is currently off, it made sense when export rate was low, but not now its high.
I do use it, I setup the schedule when Octopus do the free energy sessions and heat my tank with elec then.

If export ever plummets again (and this is predicted medium term btw) then diverting excess solar to heating water may make sense for me again.
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I'm looking to get a heat pump installed at around the same time, so yes will have a hot water tank. At the moment it's looking like I might go down the heat geek route, and they all use Vaillant gear.
 
Final price is around the £12k mark for a 31 panel system with an 8kw Inverter and a 10.36kwh battery - there might be a little uplift in price as they may be able to squeeze on another 3 panels or so at £150 each (fitted).

Seems a good price considering. If anyone has any other comments or ideas I'm happy to hear them.
 
I've ordered 12 390W Energizer panels.
Each will have a Microinverter, all wired to my consumer unit on a 32A breaker.
Will also look to integrate a 5kWh Battery next year.
Will be metered by own single phase Rayleigh Meter on their Rayleigh connect platform. One meter on the incomer and one on the solar side.

It will be a SUPER SIMPLE install, No roof mounts needed, will use the wall above the garage on the house to secure the mounting system with bracing. Engineering drawings made and signed off as suitable.

The garage roof gets sun for 4-7Hours per day on both sides. Due to its placement and the nearby houses. So i expect to see some decent yields.

We got 30 Micro invertors from Aliexpress years ago for a bargain price, and the mounting kit is all reclaimed off a solar park that is going through a refit. Metal work, clamps, end clamps.. all free :D

Only expense is the Inverters, Panels and wiring. Which will all be installed myself.

It helps that I own a Solar park O&M and metering company. perks of the job i suppose.
 
Diagro said:
I've ordered 12 390W Energizer panels.
Each will have a Microinverter, all wired to my consumer unit on a 32A breaker.
Will also look to integrate a 5kWh Battery next year.
Will be metered by own single phase Rayleigh Meter on their Rayleigh connect platform. One meter on the incomer and one on the solar side.

It will be a SUPER SIMPLE install, No roof mounts needed, will use the wall above the garage on the house to secure the mounting system with bracing. Engineering drawings made and signed off as suitable.

The garage roof gets sun for 4-7Hours per day on both sides. Due to its placement and the nearby houses. So i expect to see some decent yields.

We got 30 Micro invertors from Aliexpress years ago for a bargain price, and the mounting kit is all reclaimed off a solar park that is going through a refit. Metal work, clamps, end clamps.. all free :D

Only expense is the Inverters, Panels and wiring. Which will all be installed myself.

It helps that I own a Solar park O&M and metering company. perks of the job i suppose.
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mcs certified??
 
Diagro said:
Nope.
In 2-3 years most likely.
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seeing as you're getting trade prices then worth it. will add value when you come sell it too.
as welshman said, you'll need MCS certification (else not many providers will allow you to sell to the grid, and will put prospective buyers off)
 
tamzzy said:
seeing as you're getting trade prices then worth it. will add value when you come sell it too.
as welshman said, you'll need MCS certification (else not many providers will allow you to sell to the grid, and will put prospective buyers off)
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I might push up my battery plan then. And use the panels to store and use. With no export. Just means a little more faff with the kit I install.
 
You'd want the mcs certificate for exports, reduces your ROI significantly, and allows you to use the time-of-use tariffs to lower your bills.
 
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tamzzy said:
You'd want the mcs certificate for exports, reduces your ROI significantly, and allows you to use the time-of-use tariffs to lower your bills.
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Ahh yes. I would like to move to the cheap night rate on Octopus tbh.
I'll get one of our guys to certify it. Heck, I'll put it through as a job so it's all legit.
 
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