Solar panels , would you ?

pauljames87

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Had to join this lefty tree hugging thread….

Looking to get panels and Tesla powerwall. Emailed all the installers on their website…. Not a single one has responded. The demand outweighs supply at the moment

Where abouts you based I can send you the link to my people the waiting list is coming down

Powerwall is good but there is a new battery out there that is cheaper per kw now and will push powerwall for features
 

cliveb

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Also their agile outgoing is brilliant rates
You mean the price for export? What are they paying?

Last time I checked Agile I was only looking at the price for consumption, and it was 55p/kWh at all times. Hardly "agile"!
 

pauljames87

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You mean the price for export? What are they paying?

Last time I checked Agile I was only looking at the price for consumption, and it was 55p/kWh at all times. Hardly "agile"!

It's based on wholesale tho so if high always the limit

The outgoing ranges but it's always pretty high ,over the summer was 80p at times
 

cliveb

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It's based on wholesale tho so if high always the limit

The outgoing ranges but it's always pretty high ,over the summer was 80p at times
Wow! That's very high. Presumably during the evening? My guess is it might be even higher on winter evenings.

We've just moved house so doing a lot of research. Powerloop looks interesting.
 

pauljames87

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Wow! That's very high. Presumably during the evening? My guess is it might be even higher on winter evenings.

We've just moved house so doing a lot of research. Powerloop looks interesting.

Only thing is you can't have agile outgoing and go/go faster so if you have an EV it's cheaper to have their go tariff, then panels and a battery as your export is at most 4.1p
 

Mudball

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Where abouts you based I can send you the link to my people the waiting list is coming down

Powerwall is good but there is a new battery out there that is cheaper per kw now and will push powerwall for features

Sounds intriguing... Can the powerwall gateway work with a non-tesla battery? The only other joy of a PW was it the whole ecosystem is then managed and it can go on Octopus/Tesla energy
Also I hear about PW 3 .. havent looked it up yet

Have DMed you
 

cliveb

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Only thing is you can't have agile outgoing and go/go faster so if you have an EV it's cheaper to have their go tariff, then panels and a battery as your export is at most 4.1p
My understanding from a cursory look at Powerloop is that the export rate in the evening is quite decent. We don't have an EV yet, but provided the compatible cars (they need to support V2G) are ok, Powerloop is a very attractive option. The one thing that worries me about battery storage is their life expectancy, but with Powerloop the car is leased so there's no worry about killing the battery. Need to talk to Octopus to confirm if the Powerloop system can be integrated with solar panels.
 

pauljames87

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My understanding from a cursory look at Powerloop is that the export rate in the evening is quite decent. We don't have an EV yet, but provided the compatible cars (they need to support V2G) are ok, Powerloop is a very attractive option. The one thing that worries me about battery storage is their life expectancy, but with Powerloop the car is leased so there's no worry about killing the battery. Need to talk to Octopus to confirm if the Powerloop system can be integrated with solar panels.

Powerloop trail is closed and the tech hasn't been rolled out

Life expectancy of battery is improving I mean 10 year warranty and in 10 years getting a replacement will be a fraction of the cost

Problem with powerloop ATM is it's limited to chademo which is Nissan leaf, CSS is the standard now only leafs really have them and they are moving to CSS, so you need the CSS trial to be a success before it's viable
 

pauljames87

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0c3f476d-9b0d-4951-8bc4-3f77d14ad1f3.jpg

ignore the lumps in the case, ive left the plastic coating on atm until winters over

anyone arrived 9am this morning, up and running by 11am

set to charge overnight, need to make sure the settings are right so it never charges the powerwall from the grid in the day

powercut simulated 3 times , 1st time 10 second lights off then back on.. 2nd and 3rd not even a flicker
 

pauljames87

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Quick update from the first night.

Programming worked perfectly.

01:30 it fired up and charged at the night rate (5.5p a kw)
06:00 battery was full, however the heat pump tumble still on but it didnt take from battery as it knew day rate kicks in at 06:30 and its cheaper to use grid..
06:30 it took over the powering of the house
08:00 now, quick snap shot of the house.. 0.4kw demand, 0.8kw being produced by the solar so 0.4kw to house and 0.4kw being diverted to the battery which is at 92%

thats me set up for winter , wont play with the settings again until summer when Ill press it into self consumption mode and use as much solar as possible where it learns how much you produce in a day and keeps that available for the battery to charge up from
 

cliveb

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I notice that your Powerwall is mounted externally. Have you thought about security? I wonder if battery packs could become the next big target for thieves?
 

pauljames87

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I notice that your Powerwall is mounted externally. Have you thought about security? I wonder if battery packs could become the next big target for thieves?

Who knows what the future holds, Im sure house insurances will suddenly go up to cover it

Its very well mounted to the wall, weighs like 120kg and is coded to my gateway (the brains of the system so now it will never work with another gateway without tesla recoding it) so if stolen it becomes a very heavy paper weight

That aside there is CCTV around it and security lights so you would hope people would be put off

for example its got charge on it now, its got its own sim in it or something and tesla knows where it is now. Cant just turn on and off so even if stolen tesla can trace it
 
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Quick update from the first night.

Programming worked perfectly.

01:30 it fired up and charged at the night rate (5.5p a kw)
06:00 battery was full, however the heat pump tumble still on but it didnt take from battery as it knew day rate kicks in at 06:30 and its cheaper to use grid..
06:30 it took over the powering of the house
08:00 now, quick snap shot of the house.. 0.4kw demand, 0.8kw being produced by the solar so 0.4kw to house and 0.4kw being diverted to the battery which is at 92%

thats me set up for winter , wont play with the settings again until summer when Ill press it into self consumption mode and use as much solar as possible where it learns how much you produce in a day and keeps that available for the battery to charge up from
Thanks for all this info. Do you have an air source heat pump?
 

pauljames87

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Thanks for all this info. Do you have an air source heat pump?

I have HVAC which is air con and heat pump so I use it as much as I can to starve off using the heating itself

however the wife and I both get very hot blooded creatures and dont like the house warm so keep it off as much as possible
 
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I have HVAC which is air con and heat pump so I use it as much as I can to starve off using the heating itself

however the wife and I both get very hot blooded creatures and dont like the house warm so keep it off as much as possible
We have one of each in our house??. I'm think of moving us to an ASHP and then solar in a year. I've done all the other insulation. Our biggest challenge is getting a smart meter to monitor usage. Last time they came, I was out, they said they couldn't fit one. Really need real time energy usage to work out the best solution
 

pauljames87

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We have one of each in our house??. I'm think of moving us to an ASHP and then solar in a year. I've done all the other insulation. Our biggest challenge is getting a smart meter to monitor usage. Last time they came, I was out, they said they couldn't fit one. Really need real time energy usage to work out the best solution

Can they do the newer ones that pair to the houses WiFi?

I want a heat pump but I'm holding off until they are good enough to not need a water tank, I don't have a tank or room for one

I want to bin the cooker for induction but no point ATM

I need solid wall insulation but it's costly and if I get it done I'll prob want the windows done because then it's done for life rather than oh 5 years after you do it the windows need replacing
 
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Can they do the newer ones that pair to the houses WiFi?

I want a heat pump but I'm holding off until they are good enough to not need a water tank, I don't have a tank or room for one

I want to bin the cooker for induction but no point ATM

I need solid wall insulation but it's costly and if I get it done I'll prob want the windows done because then it's done for life rather than oh 5 years after you do it the windows need replacing
It's a real rabbit hole isn't it? We have a great water tank and boiler. With the way we've done our extension we have quite a small proportion of original wall left. For 65m2 we quoted around £10k external wall insulation. Even with a 40% grant it's a huge outlay. I feel like the ASHP is the best thing to go for but our tank and boiler are excellent so it seems a waste
 

pauljames87

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It's a real rabbit hole isn't it? We have a great water tank and boiler. With the way we've done our extension we have quite a small proportion of original wall left. For 65m2 we quoted around £10k external wall insulation. Even with a 40% grant it's a huge outlay. I feel like the ASHP is the best thing to go for but our tank and boiler are excellent so it seems a waste

Agreed such a worm hole.

I mean we had new boiler when the loft was done just as spending the money on house thought just get that done same time easier

So that's not old now will see us through

New rads in any room that was single rad as they were being decorated anyways ..

So it would seem a waste to bin that even tho it would help

Plus 80 amp fuse prob need 100 which I need to be unlooped which is new supply run.. shared drive dug up for that

Prob be a case of wait until kids are older and then replace kitchen and work in a new system as the boiler is in there
 

pauljames87

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Day 2, so still in testing mode as I like to know what features ive added

I entered the cheap rates at 53% full, so between 16:00 and 01:30 we used 47% of the battery

however it didnt charge because yesterday was a good solar day and it saw us export 9kw to the grid so its left room to take that onboard

I was up at 5 for work so thought id try something to trick it to charge which worked to I know how to get it to charge right that second if needed , that got it up to 75%

I do wonder what features will appear overtime with the over the air updates because the ability to add your tariff prices and not just put charge between these hours was only added a few months back
 
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