Circular reasoning (Rolfe's solar energy system)

[Bam Bam]

Nevertheless he says he reckons the solar system will be up and running tomorrow, though it might be Thursday before the car charger is done.

The roofers did our panels very quickly. The cable connections and commissioning took a bit longer but it looks like they have made progress.

The battery has to be emptied and refilled for calibration and they have to link it to your givenergy account (our installer set this up for us I think).

Good that they have put in a backing board for you - ours is just against the brick.

 

[johnb80]

I'll just use the one from my installer - seems only polite!

Yes it does.

Double check that the Zappi is going to be fed from the supply BEFORE and sensing for the inverter, if you dont do this it will have no problem sucking the power from your batteries which isnt what most of us want. It's better if the Zappi has it's own consumer unit from the meter tails.

 

[Rolfe]

I think the installer covered that in conversation - he said, it works in a priority order, first the house, then the battery then the car then export. I will double check with him though, because I saw it mentioned elsewhere.

 

[johnb80]

I think the installer covered that in conversation - he said, it works in a priority order, first the house, then the battery then the car then export. I will double check with him though, because I saw it mentioned elsewhere.

Yes the priorities can be set between EDDI and Zappi and battery charging and export. If Zappi isnt wired via it's own consumer unity your battery & solar will see it as a legitimate load and feed it. Loads of people fallen for this one and the only way to stop it is either it's own feed or only charge when the batteries are charging during off peak.
Theres loads on the MyEnergi site about it.

 

[Rolfe]

Yes the priorities can be set between EDDI and Zappi and battery charging and export. If Zappi isnt wired via it's own consumer unity your battery & solar will see it as a legitimate load and feed it. Loads of people fallen for this one and the only way to stop it is either it's own feed or only charge when the batteries are charging during off peak.
Theres loads on the MyEnergi site about it.

I'll double check, thanks.

Here's where we were half an hour ago. Roof coming along nicely.

And the battery and inverter nearly done.

 

[Archev]

I'll double check, thanks.

Here's where we were half an hour ago. Roof coming along nicely.

View attachment 26536

And the battery and inverter nearly done.

View attachment 26537

Impressive, neat looking installation.

 

[Coulomb]

Roof coming along nicely.

I know that you need steep roofs in climates with snow, but wow, solar installers need to be spiderpersons there! I hope that the person on the roof was actually tethered, and I just can't see the rope in that photo.

The dark panels suit your roof and house.

 

[Rolfe]

Ian and Stephen. They were just crawling all over the roof manhandling panels around. I didn't see any safety harnesses.

 

[Archev]

Ian and Stephen. They were just crawling all over the roof manhandling panels around. I didn't see any safety harnesses.

It’s fine, falls never hurt, only the sudden stops at the bottom.

 

[Rolfe]

Well, it's a horrible grey morning here, and the house is running entirely on "sunshine". Initially I was seeing 300-odd watts from the panels, which is all the house is taking just now, but the haar is clearing and we're up to 1.4 kW and the battery is charging.

Apparently I can't export until the G-wotsit comes through, but progress is happening.

By the time I'd typed that we were up to 1.7 kW.

 

[Bam Bam]

Well, it's a horrible grey morning here, and the house is running entirely on "sunshine". Initially I was seeing 300-odd watts from the panels, which is all the house is taking just now, but the haar is clearing and we're up to 1.4 kw and the battery is charging.

Apparently I can't export until the G-wotsit comes through, but progress is happening.

By the time I'd typed that we were up to 1.7 kw.

Ha! I've just passed the first year anniversary of ours and I'm down from checking the stats every 5 minutes to every hour or so.

It's addictive!

 

[GaryMG4]

Well, it's a horrible grey morning here, and the house is running entirely on "sunshine". Initially I was seeing 300-odd watts from the panels, which is all the house is taking just now, but the haar is clearing and we're up to 1.4 kw and the battery is charging.

Apparently I can't export until the G-wotsit comes through, but progress is happening.

By the time I'd typed that we were up to 1.7 kw.

soggy side of the country here so our solar is barely covering the base load of around 300W but so far this month it has generated around £60. It does get a bit addictive watching how the generation varies with light levels.

 

[Rolfe]

It's back down at 430 watts again, it really is a horrible morning. Can't wait to see what it does when the sun comes out. IF the sun comes out.

 

[Eclectic]

It's back down at 430 watts again, it really is a horrible morning. Can't wait to see what it does when the sun comes out. IF the sun comes out.

Its amazing how much time you spend glaring at cloud cover, checking the app, feeling smug when the sun finally shines looks like a neat installation

 

[Rolfe]

The installer is very professional. He's doing the Zappi just now.

 

[johnb80]

Well, it's a horrible grey morning here, and the house is running entirely on "sunshine". Initially I was seeing 300-odd watts from the panels, which is all the house is taking just now, but the haar is clearing and we're up to 1.4 kw and the battery is charging.

Apparently I can't export until the G-wotsit comes through, but progress is happening.

By the time I'd typed that we were up to 1.7 kw.

and you said you weren't going to monitor it so closely

 

[Rolfe]

Oh come on, I have to learn! Right now the car won't charge from the Zappi. And nobody will pay me for electricity because bureacracy reasons. And the installer buggered up my TV signal. But otherwise we're good.

 

[Archev]

Its amazing how much time you spend glaring at cloud cover, checking the app, feeling smug when the sun finally shines looks like a neat installation

Hey everyone, bring all that snazzy gear and a looooong extension cable up here to Braemar- the sun is unfettered by clouds and splitting the rocks with heat it’s glorious. The Magnette is just along the road supping Watts while I’m enjoying Sweet potato,coriander and coconut soup then a fresh made fruit scone and coffee

 

[Tangoed Man]

Quite a dilemma until you break the circle.

People often say like you do in (3) but in my experience it is often not the case or not wildly different. In my case, my Octopus Go Intelligent is 25.7p peak which seems competitive to most other standard tariffs. The real killer of your loop though is a combination of a tariff like Octopus Go Intelligent, your solar and your battery. Here's the result of mine:

View attachment 25667


I use very little peak rate energy, my house runs on the batteries and solar most of the time during peak time window. As you can see it's saved £70.81 this month which equates to £5.44 per day / £1988 per year. assuming similar savings your break even point should be around 7 years. Theres also the great smug factor during a power cut when you carry on as normal

Minus the £65/month you might have earned leaving the capital in a high interest account.

 

[Rolfe]

If you can find one...

Anyway, it looks as if my pension fund has gained £30,000 in a year despite me actually living on it, so at the moment the whole thing looks like a reasonable indulgence.

The sun is trying. I saw the panels up at 3 kW at one point.