JohnMo Posted September 8, 2023 Share Posted September 8, 2023 So after a couple of false starts the battery is being installed. Went with the Givenergy all in one, with is rated at 13.5kWh and allows a 100% at that capacity. It also gives a whole house uninterrupted power supply in the event of a power cut and allows my PV to function in a power outage. There Is a hope he will install it all today, but think he will be back tomorrow finish off, he has just been called away - typical. First difficulty was getting in the upstairs plant room (through loft hatch) luckily I had installed a winch for the DHW cylinder, so we used that. The gateway unit, controls the power flow, batteries, mains power, consumer unit, PV, vehicle charge point all connect to this. This will be located directly above the consumer unit and meter. Needed to run a new earth spike to the unit and new cable for a stand-alone generator, these are inserted through the J tube going under the house. Battery and inverter, without access, trim panels installed. Had to move MVHR pipes, as the unit is free standing. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfun Posted September 8, 2023 Share Posted September 8, 2023 36 minutes ago, JohnMo said: It also gives a whole house uninterrupted power supply in the event of a power cut and allows my PV to function in a power outage. Is there a maximum Amp draw via the UPS feature? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted September 8, 2023 Author Share Posted September 8, 2023 4 minutes ago, Thorfun said: Is there a maximum Amp draw via the UPS feature? Full inverter output which I think is 6kW continuously and 7.2kW peak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfun Posted September 8, 2023 Share Posted September 8, 2023 4 hours ago, JohnMo said: Full inverter output which I think is 6kW continuously and 7.2kW peak. sounds too good to be true! 😉 will take a look in to it (not that I can afford to change my battery system at the moment!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfun Posted September 8, 2023 Share Posted September 8, 2023 looks like 32A max discharge although I'm definitely no expert on the subject of electrics! and it beats the 13A I have from my LuxPower device Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted September 9, 2023 Author Share Posted September 9, 2023 Battery now up and running. Installer had a few issues commissioning, but all seems sorted now. Current status of the house, with heat pump on cooling duty and slight cloudy day. So generating 3.29 kW, heat pump and house is taking 1.83kW, 1.48kW going to battery and tiny but taken from grid 30W. Currently the battery is at 25% charged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted September 9, 2023 Author Share Posted September 9, 2023 Slightly different graphic, cloud come over, now taking from the battery and PV to support house load while heat pump is running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 1 minute ago, JohnMo said: What is the leaf graphic for? Is there always a small draw from the grid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted September 9, 2023 Author Share Posted September 9, 2023 19 minutes ago, SteamyTea said: What is the leaf graphic for? Is there always a small draw from the grid? The leaf, if you click on it, it shows the report carbon intensity of the grid. The flow to grid goes in and out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 2 minutes ago, JohnMo said: The flow to grid goes in and out. So in the dead of night, when nothing is running, it should show zero then. Is it a generic grid intensity number, or is it monitoring Gridwatch or similar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 On 08/09/2023 at 13:19, JohnMo said: It also gives a whole house uninterrupted power supply in the event of a power cut and allows my PV to function in a power outage. So what did they do to the consumer unit or the power feed to it, to isolate it from the grid in the event of a power cut? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted September 9, 2023 Author Share Posted September 9, 2023 2 hours ago, SteamyTea said: Is it a generic grid intensity number, or is it monitoring Gridwatch or similar? Updated every 30 mins from national grid. 2 hours ago, ProDave said: So what did they do to the consumer unit or the power feed to it, to isolate it from the grid in the event of a power cut? Everything now goes through the gateway panel. Meter feeds direct to gateway and then from gateway to CU. Battery feeds in to gateway. All the PV also all goes through the gateway. Biggest job (which I unfortunately volunteered to do) was to drive in the secondary ground spike, as a secondary earth is required. Was expecting a metre or two (in sand). 9m later we got 160 Ohm (200 Ohm required max). At 7m we had 750 Ohm. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 1 hour ago, JohnMo said: 9m later we got 160 Ohm (200 Ohm required max). At 7m we had 750 Ohm. Should have chucked a couple of buckets of water on it. 1 hour ago, JohnMo said: Updated every 30 mins from national grid. That is a useful service to have (well in my opinion). It does seem a pretty comprehensive bit of kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Potter Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 1 hour ago, JohnMo said: Biggest job (which I unfortunately volunteered to do) was to drive in the secondary ground spike, as a secondary earth is required. Was expecting a metre or two (in sand). 9m later we got 160 Ohm (200 Ohm required max). At 7m we had 750 Ohm. Is the water table low and the sand bone dry? Did you actually drive one spike in 9.0m? If so is your house on piles or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 You would be lucky to get a rod 1 metre down here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted September 9, 2023 Author Share Posted September 9, 2023 2 hours ago, Gus Potter said: Is the water table low and the sand bone dry? Did you actually drive one spike in 9.0m? If so is your house on piles or something? 9 x 1m spikes screwed together to form one long spike. Pretty much dry sand, water table about a long way down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Potter Posted September 9, 2023 Share Posted September 9, 2023 (edited) 22 minutes ago, JohnMo said: 9 x 1m spikes screwed together to form one long spike. Pretty much dry sand, water table about a long way down. That is amazing that you managed to do that. One small stone and the game is a bogey. I do wonder what your house is sitting on? For all, if you are not as lucky as @JohnMo you can sometimes use a steel plate buried in the ground as this gives you a big surface contact area. If you plan ahead you can use your strip found (steel piles give a good earth) to give you an earth in poor conductivity soils. Here you pour your founds but make sure the layers of reinforcement mesh in the found are electrically bonded. This gives you a big contact area with the soil, much more than a earth rod. The steel mesh in the found is protected against corrosion by the concrete. If you get the spark in early they can test to see if you have continuity all round the found. Now if you tie your mesh in the founds together properly continuity should be no problem. This requires forward planning.. but that is another added joy to self building. Edited September 9, 2023 by Gus Potter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 now to switch to time of day tariff @JohnMo i may 75% of electric at 9.43p kwh, in winter the powerwall charges at this overnight and we use it from the powerwall in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted September 10, 2023 Author Share Posted September 10, 2023 8 hours ago, Gus Potter said: do wonder what your house is sitting on? A big bank of sand. Our bore hole (for water) is about 34m deep, the first 20m+ was just sand and soft sand stone, then about a metre of clay, then sand and stone, then hard sand stone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted September 10, 2023 Author Share Posted September 10, 2023 2 minutes ago, Dave Jones said: now to switch to time of day tariff @JohnMo i may 75% of electric at 9.43p kwh, in winter the powerwall charges at this overnight and we use it from the powerwall in the day. We are in a poor reception area for smart meters, but octopus are coming out to try a booster on the 26th. If that fails the only other option is E7 and they will program that in manually to the smart meter. So I just just give the two readings monthly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 3 minutes ago, JohnMo said: We are in a poor reception area for smart meters, but octopus are coming out to try a booster on the 26th. If that fails the only other option is E7 and they will program that in manually to the smart meter. So I just just give the two readings monthly. im with 100green who took over from greenenergy UK. looked cheaper than octopus and better time slots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 3 hours ago, Dave Jones said: im with 100green who took over from greenenergy UK. looked cheaper than octopus and better time slots. Just been to there website and it is not obvious where the unit prices are, and Thier ToU tariff has been stopped. They are also exempt from the price cap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted September 10, 2023 Share Posted September 10, 2023 8.98p low 00:00-6:00am 38p normal 53p high (4pm-8pm) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted September 10, 2023 Author Share Posted September 10, 2023 20 minutes ago, Dave Jones said: 8.98p low 00:00-6:00am 38p normal 53p high (4pm-8pm) They have closed that tariff to anyone new. Which is a shame, you can do a lot at 10p per kWh. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnMo Posted September 10, 2023 Author Share Posted September 10, 2023 Sun's actually started to poke its head out, so started to get battery charging done. Battery depleted (was only at 26% charged) last night and started to pull from the grid. Very cloudy this morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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