MechanicalBuilder

Hi all, Currently planning the security system for the new build. As we have been given 2x hikvision ir speed domes I’ve decided to go for full hikvision system as I’m a bit OCD and like to know everything is compatible! I’m looking for a hardwired video doorbell that’s compatible. Hikvision do some but they are all wifi. I’d like one that’s hardwired so I don’t have to mess about charging etc thanks

So the time has come to start designing the layout for our home network for our 220m2 bungalow. I've attached the floor plans so hopefully they load up ok! We are fairly rural so have a 60mbps broadband connection, hopefully fibre will make it to us sometime in the near future but its looking like its a few years away yet! I'm no it expert but i'm fairly hands on with this sort of thing, love to learn and get involved, Ive been researching the Ubiquiti stuff on here but not so sure I will need anything so technologically advanced but open to suggestions. I'm thinking of bringing the phoneline into the house and putting the master socket in the cupboard under the stairs, the logic being its somewhere I can hide everything out of the way. Plus, that will be a space that never changes in the future. I can put the router, printer and switch in here and run the network cables from here. CCTV wise im using hikvision so will have a dedicated NVR with PoE connections. We stream IPTV so I will put a double network connection in all bedrooms, the study, the living room and the dining room. The study is going to be a toy room for the next 10+ years otherwise id put it all here! May need to add a couple in the garage for the solar/heat pump if needed. Aside from this the netgear mesh wifi system looks a good way of providing wifi for the rest of the house! As a side note, my parents are living in a static caravan next door and I plan on pinching the phone line from them and sharing the network. I may add a mesh satellite in their caravan for wifi along with a network connection for their IPTV. Open to your ideas! Ground Floor.pdf 2nd Floor.pdf Location diagram.PDF

Yeah it’ll be very well insulted and air tight as a matter of course anyway. He’s said we could get away with less but has calculated for 4kw. Either way I’m going to have to have it. I’ve been trawling through my emails and paperwork as I’m positive I’ve seen it written that any solar has to be installed by someone MCS accredited. Spoke with the National Grid today, very helpful chap on the phone. He’s going to look into the transformer upgrade and cable run they’ve proposed and he said he should be able to give me some idea of what they would allow. That might help me decide. I’m still tempted to get my MPAN number and just go off grid anyway. They want me to be green so I’ll see how they like the Perkins pumping carbon into the atmosphere to charge my batteries during winter 😂😂😂😂

My architect had the saps recalculated and we have to have a 4kW system as a minimum to be able to get our as built certificate and complete. The MCS financial blackmail is a joke, I’m all for doing things correctly and safely but come on

Thanks Simon. I’m sure I saw in my paperwork somewhere that it has to be installed by someone MCS accredited, I think it maybe the site insurance and structural warranty. I’ve had so much paperwork to get through I’ve lost track haha. I’ll have a read through that forum later on when I get home from work

Who’s your DNO if you don’t mind me asking? I’ve just contacted national grid and awaiting phone call from my local office. They were quite helpful on the phone so hoping the callback is the same. I would much rather complete a grid tied self install! I might be wrong but I think I will have to wait until building control has signed off the build before I can start as I’m sure it says it has to be installed by someone MCS accredited to be compliant?

What size system do you have and did you get on with notifying the DNO, did it go ok?

my mistake it’s a 10kw 48/10000 multiplus.

I priced up a couple of options last night to get down to the nitty gritty of what the extra cost of being grid tied is going to set us back. The difference over staying off grid and self installing a system adequate for our own needs or being grid tied will cost us about £18k plus the standing charges and interest in mortgage repayments on the money. I was just interested to see if we would ever see that extra cost back!

This is what they have given- Est. Annual consumption 6500kWh Est. PV output of 25682 kWh Peak Rate 0.43 Off Peak Rate 0.19 Export rate 0.21 Standing Charge 0.51 Annual bill with solar -£3,842 Annual bill without solar £2,839 Theyve assumed that we will be able to export 18,295 kWh or 50kWh a day for 365 days at 0.21p a unit.

Exporting wasnt our intention at all, we want to be off-grid but our hand has been forced so I need to find a way of making the most of a bad situation!

Unfortunately our power has to come up through the middle of the road so the contestable works limit who i can use. Ive got someone quoting this week but a couple of years ago when we first enquired he was only a couple of grand cheaper and advised the saving wasnt worth the hassle the national grid would give us! I'm looking into our plan of staying off-grid, we have a self build mortgage so I need to know when they are going to ask about the mains. I think its at first fix and we cant afford for them to hold any money back. I had another advisor whos a friend look into off-grid mortgages for us, she could get one through ecology but did warn that with the residential mortgager they kind of have a monopoly over us knowing we have limited options so may end up paying quite a bit more in repayments

I do value people’s opinions and replies, always interesting to hear others stories! There shouldn’t be any reason why we couldn’t export the capped 4kw for 10hrs a day for let’s say 15p and be looking at an extra couple hundred quid a month on top of the money we will save paying for power

We are kind of veering off subject a bit here as I’ve used extreme worst case consumption figures. I get what your saying but you don’t know the heat loss calcs of the build, the room sizings, how many occupants or our living style? It’s different strokes for different folks. We may well be having 3 baths a day and heating the 300litre tank twice.. the heat pump system has been designed by a multi-million pound air conditioning and heat pump company that aren’t trying to sell me something for a profit… What i’m wanting to really know is how realistic the figures are that have been provided by the solar company selling me the system. They have estimated we will consume 6000kWh and be up by £4000 as a result of exporting. Is this realistic? I have to pay £30000 to have a mains connection which isn’t debatable so why not spend the extra £10k for solar installation over a self install and be connected to the grid and export if I’m standing to be up £4000 a year??

The idea is that the upstairs will hardly ever be on whilst the downstairs is a little oversized so it’s not running flat out to provide heating and hot water. The bungalow is 300m2 and will be as well insulated and sealed as possible. The issue isn’t going to be solar production or storage for ourselves, it’s whether to bother with the extra expense of having more to export