Newboy looking for a little advice.

[Joeboy]

OP Reporting back (again)
My third PV system (roof mounted DC coupled) is now installed, wired up and will get turned on tomorrow.
This gives us a total of 8.74 KW of PV and ought to help extend the months when we are essentially off-grid.

That is a good chunk of PV. If you (you may already have) reduce the daily power requirements of the building you might be surprised at how far into the shoulder months you can stay off gridish. Congratulations again!

[newtoallthis]

That is a good chunk of PV. If you (you may already have) reduce the daily power requirements of the building you might be surprised at how far into the shoulder months you can stay off gridish. Congratulations again!
[/quote]

Our background overnight load is in the region 100-120 Watts, to get his down I would need to turn off the MVHR, broadband router, fridge & freezer and these things don't seem that practical.

I quite fancy converting a chest freezer into a fridge as I imagine I would get quite a nice energy saving, but the kitchen and utility room are designed around upright fridges so that looks like a none-starter.

All the PV is south facing and the largest lump of addtional PV is a 3.68 KW gound mount at 60 degrees specifically to maximise winter production.

I need to keep my eyes out for some cheap panels to go on the east/west elevation of the garage as I have run out of project to be getting on with, however It might be tricky to persuade my lovely wife to let me install yet more panels, particularly as she has worked out that we already have huge overproduction during the entire summer.

[Joeboy]

That is a good chunk of PV. If you (you may already have) reduce the daily power requirements of the building you might be surprised at how far into the shoulder months you can stay off gridish. Congratulations again!

Our background overnight load is in the region 100-120 Watts, to get his down I would need to turn off the MVHR, broadband router, fridge & freezer and these things don't seem that practical.

I need to keep my eyes out for some cheap panels to go on the east/west elevation of the garage as I have run out of project to be getting on with, however It might be tricky to persuade my lovely wife to let me install yet more panels, particularly as she has worked out that we already have huge overproduction during the entire summer.
[/quote]

Pretty sure you've got the background load sorted! Best of fortune in the convincing, I am in the same position.
Feisty these clever lassies!

[ALAN/ALAN D]

Ref " Our background overnight load is in the region 100-120 Watts, "

Why is the back ground load not being supplied from the batteries / inverter.

My total use for the month is 0.5 Kw night rate and 1.5 kw day use.
It is still very upsetting getting a bill for the month. £0.19 night and £0.60 day

The standing charge is a complete wind up. £13.09

[Joeboy]

Ref " Our background overnight load is in the region 100-120 Watts, "

Why is the back ground load not being supplied from the batteries / inverter.

My total use for the month is 0.5 Kw night rate and 1.5 kw day use.
It is still very upsetting getting a bill for the month. £0.19 night and £0.60 day

The standing charge is a complete wind up. £13.09

It's still background load regardless of whether grid or battery supplied? I'm 140W to 180W at best spiking to 300W when a fridge or freezer kicks in. I find it mildly irksome when it's at 140W and I can see 23W of that for example from this morning is being exported.

[Stig]

*Smug mode* My background load is about 40W until the fridge-freezer starts up.

Might be worth tracking down what's running overnight, an extra 100W adds up over the year!

[Joeboy]

*Smug mode* My background load is about 40W until the fridge-freezer starts up.

Might be worth tracking down what's running overnight, an extra 100W adds up over the year!

Quite right too, 40W is mighty impressive! Its just the life, example. We have about 5 bt phones dotted about the home. They all draw, the hybrid inverter draws, the iboost draws, hive and its dozen smart plugs....

It used to be well over 500W back in the day. I remember the realisation dawned when my first 2 us2000 batteries were going flat overnight! I was horrified yet motivated.

At one point I had it down to 90W but I guess lazy has crept in.

[AGT]

I’m a 100 watt background load, for a family of 4 in a 180m2 home, approx 2.4Wh with the following loads.

Combined fridge and freezer
1 BT hub, 3 BT disks
3 netgear routers
9 smoke/heat detectors
1 intruder alarm
1cctv system
1 microwave clock
1 oven clock
4 Alexa things
1 EV Charger
1 PV inverter
2 led lights on dusk/ dawn sensors
1 combi boiler