Gill

So I took the plunge. Our solar / sigenergy system went in today - 11.2 kW array (south facing and west facing roof) , 16 kWh battery and 10 kw inverter. Initial thoughts post install - nice compact and unobtrusive system which we've sited outside at the front of the house. Install took 2.5 days and would probably been faster had we not gone with company based 70 miles away. That said, they were by far the most knowledgeable, least saleslike and most pleasant installer by some way so I think we got that right. Out the box monitoring is very clear and clean. Control wise it's easy to configure out the box. Installer has set up for self consumption and until we have export agreed, we're good. Next steps are EV testing (hopefully we'll have one in 2 weeks), export integration (4 weeks approx) and testing out the AI controller vs manual config. I've got the modbus unlocked but I doubt I'll have any time to play with that any time soon. Will come back once we've had a few months bedding in with updates should anyone be interested.

Hi folks After a longer than expected break from house renovations, finally getting back to it and restarting the solar /battery search. I got a quote for panels that came with a recommend for Sigenergy kit (inverter, battery and gateway). Looks like it's in givenergy AIO territory but more modularised. UK user feedback is light and wondered if anyone in here had any experience. Thanks

@IanMcP There's some cheaper options out there and when I looked at hire cost it was going to be about £70 a day. Resale value on Ebay is pretty good to recoup some cost if you don't plan on hanging onto it. I went with hikmicro pocketE that I picked up new for £230. I asked for recommendation on this thread

I'm looking for independent advice on CWI suitability. When our underfloor insulation was put in, the installer had a look at cavities with a scope, took some photos, though it looked clear and rubble free and recommend we get someone out to do a proper assessment. A company we'd had a few recommends from came, drilled a couple of holes and could not determine if we had cavity walls. They then sent a quote to carry out CWI 🙄 Time to revisit this. I'm not sure about suitability for our place. Quite exposed bungalow west coast Scotland, brickwork isn't rendered, no mains drainage. Any advise on what service I'm looking for? Damp surveyor or is this some specialist survey. I'm drawing a blank on this. Thanks

Plumbworld for most of our bathroom /kitchenette granny flat items. I had one issue with a missing part from the wc and their customer service was spot on. Quick phone call to a person, apology for issue and replacement sent over in two days. Not getting messed around for weeks if things go wrong was refreshing.

I did some very very rough calcs recently more to decide if I should even entertain the idea of batteries. All In one givenergy. Around 5k ex vat. 13.5 kW. Install unknown especially with the new vat drop. 0.17 pence difference between by peak /off peak. Assume I can for at least one third of the year (winter) get 12 kW cheap rate daily from battery. 0.17×12×(365÷3) =248.2 Not great value there over 10 years (assuming performance isn't impacted). Looking at time of use tarrifs with two shorter off peaks I think I can potentially double by charge and discharge twice in a day so closer to 500 a year. If I add solar into the equation then our summer use would all be solar or off peak. Probably a small saving of about £1 a day. I do need to spreadsheet something but the above was enough for me not to bin the thought.

I looked at this the other day. This should be the link to it https://www.fogstar.co.uk/products/fogstar-energy-15-5kwh-48v-battery?variant=41546193174587 Would need inverter and as @MikeGrahamT21 mentions the max output is pretty low. Would love to think battery prices are going to become more competitive as we're now at a point where I think I can at very worst break even and something like givenergy all in one would give us small backup power as an added bonus. Will be interested to see if any vat savings ends up added to install costs.

Interesting. Hadn't heard of these folks but that's a very appealing price. Something else for me to research.

Meant to add.... I'm in Glasgow so Scottish regs.

Converted my garage to granny flat last year. Builder and architect told me I only needed warrant as I was putting water supply in there (already had electric) and changing to habitable space. If we'd not bothered with shower room and just floored and lined, no warrant needed.

Think this is the most useful page I've found for giving details of all tarrifs for your postcode. https://octopus.energy/tariffs/ Took me a while to find it. They could improve the website with some very simple changes. Make it obvious you can't switch to their more complex tarrifs until you join but at least give an option to see them on initial quote.

I got the same result and then searched the go tarrif price for my area. If I understand correctly I would have to switch to their eco 7 and then switch again to the go tarrif. I wonder how much difference that hour makes... Its generally 5.30 -7 am I use if I want the house warmed up in the morning. I'll experiment with 4-5.30am when I'm back to work.

Thanks. Hasn't seen that tarrif. Cheaper than my eco 7 day and night rates and only loses an hour of off peak.

6 for water on cheap rate. Max 3 if we're doing a big cooking session. Summer the eco7 is always better value. Surprised it's still working out cheaper now but we've not had a long very cold spell.

Was mildly surprised fixed rate isn't actually cheaper. Maybe a cold Jan /Feb will mix it up again but for now I'll stick with the E7 and keep checking the maths. Looked into those ecocent type systems a while back and just too expensive with no plumber up my way having the slightest idea about them. I suspect any repair costs could add up. Probably go solar and UVC when I can motivate myself to get into 2024 refurb action.