Ronski

That's exactly what I do, I charge the batteries every day on the off peak, then export down to 60% during the peak period, any excess once the batteries are charged is exported.

You can check rates at https://octopus.energy/smart/flux/ just scroll down the page.

Yes, I have 14.5kWh at the moment, but that will soon be 29kWh of storage, so hopefully this will serve me well through winter without changing tariffs. Apparently from what I've heard you have to stay on a tariff for at least a month. Good luck, when my SMETS1 meters stopped working last year, it took Octopus pretty much 22 weeks to get them replaced. A battery is not a requirement for Flux, you need less than 9kW of PV, MCS Cert, DNO paperwork and of course a smart meter.

Flux is absolutely worth going on, been on it a week, and the last week's electric bill is minus £18, which almost covers my gas bill 😁 I have a Victron Quattro, grid set point is 0 (unless I'm force discharging), but it fluctuates a little bit either way.

Both of mine are on Hardie backer board. As Dillsue says, the problem with MC4 connectors is only when they've been poorly installed, or poor quality tools / connector's are used.

My 2015 installed 3.68kW SolarEdge inverter is in the loft, not ideal but it was the only place it could go, and it's only a short period of the year that it gets rather warm in the loft. My 8kW Quattro and associated batteries are in the detached garage, new array on the double garage flat roof.

@markharro I would reconsider a battery, and make sure its a suitable size for your usage. In the summer you can maximise export by discharging/exporting in the peak period, and in the winter you can charge in the cheap period and save importing at the higher rates. You really can't compare these sort of batteries to a car battery, they are totally different and store a lot more power. If you want to reduce costs get the PV installed by an MCS registered installer (you need MCS for Flux), but make sure they install a hybrid inverter that you can connect 48v batteries to, then add the batteries later. It can work without a battery, I know some who's gone on it without a battery but their electric usage is very low, and they don't use electric ovens/hobs in the peak period as they cook on gas and BBQ.

Me two, I plan to fully charge my batteries in the Flux period, then hold the charge until peak period, running off solar or the grid in between, then fully discharge batteries as much as possible in the peak period, then run off what's left and the grid. Any excess generation will be exported. I will have about 28kWh of storage and have an inverter capable of charging/discharging 8kW. So daily electricity costs should be in the negative in the good months and very low in the winter months, net result is it should pay a nice chunk towards my gas bill, hopefully.

Don't forget you are allowed to earn up to an additional £1000 and not need to declare it. What if Solar export offsets gas consumption?

I've not checked, no idea.

If you are already being paid by Octopus for your export it should be quite quick to switch over, but may need a phone call. If like me your export payments are with another supplier then it will take longer, they told me anything up to six to eight weeks. I'm pretty sure it won't be back dated, someone on another forum said there's wasn't.

My thinking is to fully charge the batteries in the Flux period, then hold the charge to the peak period, so nothing used from batteries until then, then fully discharge the battery during the peak. Anything generated above house load is exported. In the above scenario the size of usable battery becomes limited by your charge/discharge rate, my maximum charge rate in the Flux period is 8kw, so 24kWh for the three hours, same for discharge.

I also registered interest, but didn't get an email, saw it mentioned on another forum. Perhaps they're just trying limit signs to an amount they can manage.

I've now switched over, the import side is sorted, but there seems to be issues for most people with getting the exports setup. I'm going to phone them tomorrow.

I'm going to be looking at going onto this. Smart meters being replaced Thursday as they stopped working last July, should be ordering the parts for my second 14.5kWh battery tonight, so will have plenty of capacity to dump in the peak periods.