Solar Panels UK - is it worth it?

[RagingWhisky]

Questions for those with battery storage on their setups - how are you finding winter charging rates from the grid overnight?

Octopus Go 0030-0430 window, but for the first time (kicking myself for not thinking about this earlier, but live and learn!) I'm thinking the dips to 8-12c overnight for the batteries outside are limiting charge rates (understandably takes a while to get up to 'normal' rate)

Typically during 'warmer' times weeks back, the two inverters and batteries would be at 10-12kwh peaks charging the banks, whereas now its 4-8kwh rates.

Have begun having the units 'start' at midnight to give them a 30minute warmup before the offpeak kicks in.

Setup: twin solax hybrid inverters (6k peak per) + 35kwh attached storage.

Day time solar is meh in winter, so batteries picking up the slack.

 

[pcgtron]

I've got 13kw of battery storage, which is charged from from the grid overnight on octopus intellgent @ 7.5 ppkwh
This usually lasts the whole day (avoid putting the tumble drier on) so the whole house is being run on the off peak rate

Occasionally on a Sunday, if we cook a roast dinner, the batteries might run out at 7pm and we have to take from the grid. On a sunny day, we get an extra 2 to 3 kwh from the solar

 

[mdunc]

Questions for those with battery storage on their setups - how are you finding winter charging rates from the grid overnight?

Octopus Go 0030-0430 window, but for the first time (kicking myself for not thinking about this earlier, but live and learn!) I'm thinking the dips to 8-12c overnight for the batteries outside are limiting charge rates (understandably takes a while to get up to 'normal' rate)

Typically during 'warmer' times weeks back, the two inverters and batteries would be at 10-12kwh peaks charging the banks, whereas now its 4-8kwh rates.

Have begun having the units 'start' at midnight to give them a 30minute warmup before the offpeak kicks in.

Setup: twin solax hybrid inverters (6k peak per) + 35kwh attached storage.

Day time solar is meh in winter, so batteries picking up the slack.

Here is my Solax hybrid charging my two t58 last night. Peak charge rate I've seen is 4kW on my X1 hybrid, so definitely a bit slower in the cold. Intelligent Octopus gives me 6 hours. But I start charging the batteries @ midnight to get the charge/discharge in same 24hours for statical OCD reasons.

 

[Yachtsman]

I’m not in the same ballpark as the OP with only 4.8kWh panels & a 9.7Wh battery which is located in a garage, so not quite the same as being outside. My charge/discharge rate is 3.68kW.
I’m charging on Octopus go @7.5p starting at 02.00. When I’m also charging the EV (which also discharges the house battery) the house battery would typically finish at 04.15.
A full charge (without any solar) will just last until the next charge even on a Sunday when we roast a joint and batch cook.
When I’m not charging the EV the house battery is typically between 25 & 40% at 02.00 when charging starts again.
Yesterday I had the tesla dumb charger re wired so the ct clamp doesn’t detect it charging the EV so the house battery will nolonger discharge into the EV therefore reducing the house battery charge time.
I’ve currently got my winter off peak house battery charge routine beginning October 1st through to March.

 

[Avendit]

My puredrive is still maxing out it's pitiful 1.8kw charge rate fine, but is limiting it's depth of discharge a bit and preferring to sit at 20% at 'empty' rather than 10% that it was doing in the summer.

So it's only really an 8kw battery in winter :⁠-⁠\

 

[mdunc]

Here is my Solax hybrid charging my two t58 last night. Peak charge rate I've seen is 4kW on my X1 hybrid, so definitely a bit slower in the cold. Intelligent Octopus gives me 6 hours. But I start charging the batteries @ midnight to get the charge/discharge in same 24hours for statical OCD reasons.

Actually the Solax X1and (2xT5.8 looks to peak at 6kW charge rate back when it was a tad warmer.

 

[RagingWhisky]

Thanks folks - thats actually really useful reference for expectations as the temps slowly start to dip, glad its at least in the nominal range for inverter/battery side 'cold taking its toll'.

Have been tempted to jump from Go to Intelligent, but given the other Octopus threads, and being on the 7.5p offpeak until we'll into 2023, holding fire.

Winter time its definitely needs a 6 hour window to go from near bottom 10% to brim, on the dual solax units, but I'll take the 80%~ over nothing at all - got to be grateful for the situation you're in, especially when installers have backlogs 10miles long and far too many folk unable to take advantage of offpeak tariffs.

Edit: added the charge rate graph from this morning (two solax x1-5 units, running two individual 18.9kwh '3-unit' triple power banks in parallel (master slave)

 

[Yachtsman]

Sorry guys I should have added a couple of battery charts. You can see I’m charging the EV and house battery in the screenshot where the battery goes to zero (it’s not really zero there’s a 10% invisible floor)
The other screenshot is a typical day.

 

[Radon9]

Anyone else suffering delays in getting solax hybrid inverters? I’ve got the solar panels on the roof but waiting 6+ months for the inverter and battery.

 

[RagingWhisky]

Aye, that unfortunately sounds normal - my second bank of batteries/inverter was order 'May' arrival 'November' and that was with numerous delivery days from the original arrival estimate.

 

[scdoubleu]

Questions for those with battery storage on their setups - how are you finding winter charging rates from the grid overnight?

Octopus Go 0030-0430 window, but for the first time (kicking myself for not thinking about this earlier, but live and learn!) I'm thinking the dips to 8-12c overnight for the batteries outside are limiting charge rates (understandably takes a while to get up to 'normal' rate)

Our Powerwall is in a detached garage so somewhat sheltered. No sign of charge limiting so far this winter, but I expect that to change by the end of this week. I have a wireless thermometer sitting atop the Powerwall which logged 9C at 12:30am, rising to 11C by 4:30am last night, with 100% charge achieved at 4:11am.

There were a couple of days last winter where the Powerwall was very slow to start charging, almost as if its internal heater wasn't working. The release notes for one of this year's firmware updates mentioned better thermal management, so we'll see how it goes.

 

[RedMod3]

Questions for those with battery storage on their setups - how are you finding winter charging rates from the grid overnight?

Octopus Go 0030-0430 window, but for the first time (kicking myself for not thinking about this earlier, but live and learn!) I'm thinking the dips to 8-12c overnight for the batteries outside are limiting charge rates (understandably takes a while to get up to 'normal' rate)

Typically during 'warmer' times weeks back, the two inverters and batteries would be at 10-12kwh peaks charging the banks, whereas now its 4-8kwh rates.

Have begun having the units 'start' at midnight to give them a 30minute warmup before the offpeak kicks in.

Setup: twin solax hybrid inverters (6k peak per) + 35kwh attached storage.

Day time solar is meh in winter, so batteries picking up the slack.

I’m running out and need my 3rd PW which is now due next month. I’m in 5p/15.59p for a few more months so I’ll be ok for next winter. PWs are taking full charge.

 

[ACarneiro]

My Powerwalls are in my garage so no discernible change in performance, even in the depths of winter.

 

[RedMod3]

My Powerwalls are in my garage so no discernible change in performance, even in the depths of winter.

Mine too, I forgot to add that. Also the PWs keep the attached garage just that little bit warmer.

 

[PITA]

Our Powerwall is in a detached garage so somewhat sheltered. No sign of charge limiting so far this winter, but I expect that to change by the end of this week. I have a wireless thermometer sitting atop the Powerwall which logged 9C at 12:30am, rising to 11C by 4:30am last night, with 100% charge achieved at 4:11am.

There were a couple of days last winter where the Powerwall was very slow to start charging, almost as if its internal heater wasn't working. The release notes for one of this year's firmware updates mentioned better thermal management, so we'll see how it goes.

We bought two Powerwalls so they cuddle to keep warm... seems to work :

 

[94jdh]

I've two hybrid Givenergy inverters each with its own 9.5kWh battery in a detached garage. It was initially thought the cold weather maybe contributing to my lack of full charge from 4% to 100% which I'd achieved no problem in the 4 hour Go window previously in milder weather.
Looking at my recent figures, charging rate hasn't been affected it looks more than likely the State of Charge bug that many are suffering from and hopefully will be resolved in a promised firmware update on 16th December.........

 

[GRiLLA]

Since this thread seems to talk about associated hardware, I thought I would mention that while waiting for my install I decided to buy some of the GivEnergy Smart Plugs. As a standalone system I'm pretty happy with them, the app provides nice amounts of data if sometimes being a bit slow. It's good that it taps into the GiVEnergy system that understands my Go tariff and historic usage data. Hopefully in about 5 months when I get my solar installed, they will have added features to control the switches based on solar generation.

I'm trying to work out where they are best located, i.e. on devices where either we can use the ability to turn them on/off to save power or where the information on usage helps us optimise our usage. For example wife now understands why I schedule the dishwasher overnight rather than just shoving it on whenever, seeing the real numbers helps what is otherwise a more abstract concept. Monitoring the power consume by my internet router and wifi isn't worth it, our actions don't change it, and I can't turn it off.

My addressable Christmas lights are interesting, different effects draw wildly different power (see below), I'm trying to optimise the 'christmas feel' while minimising cost.

 

[ACarneiro]

Is that scale in Watts?

 

[GRiLLA]

Is that scale in Watts?

Yes. 500 WS2812 addressable LEDs. The spikeyness of the graph may give a false perception though, yesterday I consumed 347Wh over 5.5hours, so an average of 63W.

 

[mdunc]

Since this thread seems to talk about associated hardware, I thought I would mention that while waiting for my install I decided to buy some of the GivEnergy Smart Plugs. As a standalone system I'm pretty happy with them, the app provides nice amounts of data if sometimes being a bit slow. It's good that it taps into the GiVEnergy system that understands my Go tariff and historic usage data. Hopefully in about 5 months when I get my solar installed, they will have added features to control the switches based on solar generation.

I'm trying to work out where they are best located, i.e. on devices where either we can use the ability to turn them on/off to save power or where the information on usage helps us optimise our usage. For example wife now understands why I schedule the dishwasher overnight rather than just shoving it on whenever, seeing the real numbers helps what is otherwise a more abstract concept. Monitoring the power consume by my internet router and wifi isn't worth it, our actions don't change it, and I can't turn it off.

My addressable Christmas lights are interesting, different effects draw wildly different power (see below), I'm trying to optimise the 'christmas feel' while minimising cost.

Ive got one of mine on a large compressor dehumidifier. Interesting to see how it's energy consumption varies