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Hi all.
Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2024 7:57 am
by electric-alfie
Hi all, I am looking for advice on adding a inverter and linking it to a battery in our home.
Not sure what to ask an electrician to quote for and not sure if i will be able to find an electrician who will just supply the feed to the inverter location, or will need to find someone to supply and install the inverter as well. I also not sure if we want to supply the whole house and use the inverter / batteries when the kwh rate is at it highest, or have another circuit setup just for the inverter circuits such as my home office and a couple of new sockets in the kitchen,these will be used for airfryer etc . Looking at G98 certification., I have used victron before but if i go for a 48/5000 that will be a G99. We are in derbyshire.
Re: Hi all.
Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2024 10:22 am
by richbee
Hi there, welcome to the forum.
I'm sure you'll get lots of good advice here.
My thoughts as a non-expert are that if you're going to the trouble of fitting an inverter and batteries, it is worth feeding the whole house, and getting enough batteries to meet your usual daily needs, so you can have a cheap rate TOU tariff, eg. Octopus flux, to charge the batteries overnight & then use the stored energy during the day.
If you get the whole system fitted by a company, the whole system is vat free - on the other hand, lots of people on here have bought batteries from China for less and installed themselves.
Also, the mcs certification and g98 approval is easier if done by a registered company.
It's also good to get an idea of options for future expansion too, eg. Solar pv, EV charger, so you don't make life more complicated for your future self.
I know I wished I'd started out asking questiins here before I had my solar & battery system fitted!
Re: Hi all.
Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2024 10:56 am
by Fintray
Welcome to the forum Alfie.
I did a similar system to what you are considering with Victron Multiplus and batteries from China, the system runs the whole house.
Re: Hi all.
Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2024 11:16 am
by Ken
Welcome.
Not much background detail there.
These days all what you require is fitted in one box-inverter,batteries, switch to islanding and charging on TOU (Time of Use) tariff. The Tesla powerwall does this but there is cheaper alternatives i am sure.
Re: Hi all.
Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2024 11:43 am
by nowty
electric-alfie, I am reading your email as if you don't currently have any Solar PV, are not looking to add any Solar PV and just want a Inverter and battery function to take advantage of TOU tariffs ?
If so, several on here have done just that, but if your thinking of adding some Solar PV in the future then fitting a Hybrid inverter would be advised as they can take either or both Solar PV and Batteries.
Re: Hi all.
Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 7:34 am
by electric-alfie
Hi all, re the solar, we have a southeast facing rear garden that gets loads of sun, the only issue is the gable end of the house faces in that direction, I have thought about getting a few panels on a pergola facing south. ATM I have a small workshop that face south east and that has 2 400W Perlight All Black Mono Perc Panels, then on my greenhouse I have another 2 of the same, these feed into a victron mppt, then onto a seplos mason battery, it powers my home office during the summer but winter is crap, i picked up a second hand victron pheonix ( no charger ) in a swap. All the cables are sized according to victron and i use a t class fuse before the inverter and mersen dc disconnected between the batteries and theother stuff, its all controlled by a cerbo gx. I aslo have a victron distributor - thats a bit like a big buss bar, this houses the mega fuses for the mppt etc. After living with this stuff for 2 years i honestly dont think that we would have enough solar so i am looking to charge when the kwh rate is low and use that stored power when the rate is higher, on something lile octopus agile. I must admit that i think the victron stuff is vgood, i recently looked at a sunsynch system and it looks much neater, as the mppt etc is all housed in 1 unit
Re: Hi all.
Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 8:29 am
by AE-NMidlands
Don't discount roof aspects which don't face south. I have E, S and W but because the first 2 need major work before the pv goes on I hadn't done anything. Then I got fed up waiting/not being in the game and had just the W roof done... I have been delighted by how it has performed and what it has delivered. Fitted this last January, 2.7 megaWatt-hours generated so far and 1.6 exported.
Others here have been pleased with what vertical panels can deliver too...
A
Re: Hi all.
Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 8:31 am
by Stinsy
electric-alfie wrote: ↑Tue Oct 22, 2024 7:34 am
Hi all, re the solar, we have a southeast facing rear garden that gets loads of sun, the only issue is the gable end of the house faces in that direction, I have thought about getting a few panels on a pergola facing south. ATM I have a small workshop that face south east and that has 2 400W Perlight All Black Mono Perc Panels, then on my greenhouse I have another 2 of the same, these feed into a victron mppt, then onto a seplos mason battery, it powers my home office during the summer but winter is crap, i picked up a second hand victron pheonix ( no charger ) in a swap. All the cables are sized according to victron and i use a t class fuse before the inverter and mersen dc disconnected between the batteries and theother stuff, its all controlled by a cerbo gx. I aslo have a victron distributor - thats a bit like a big buss bar, this houses the mega fuses for the mppt etc. After living with this stuff for 2 years i honestly dont think that we would have enough solar so i am looking to charge when the kwh rate is low and use that stored power when the rate is higher, on something lile octopus agile. I must admit that i think the victron stuff is vgood, i recently looked at a sunsynch system and it looks much neater, as the mppt etc is all housed in 1 unit
No need for panels to face South! In fact North-facing will generate an economically viable amount of power (about 50% of a similar south-facing array).
The logic of a north-south ridge precluding solar was rife a couple of decades ago. But is simply isn't true!
Re: Hi all.
Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 8:50 am
by AE-NMidlands
Definitely!
- Screenshot 2024-10-22 at 08-43-24 FA2308G264 - General givenergy.cloud.png (157.55 KiB) Viewed 1206 times
shows the W-facing pv generating
from 8 am onwards,filling the battery through the afternoon and supplying my 3.6kW permitted export until the sun went in, when the battery took over through the rest of the peak period. That month I exported £68 worth, net bill -£38!
Re: Hi all.
Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2024 10:18 am
by electric-alfie
Due to our roof design the west side isnt big enough for more than a couple of panels (we have an extension sticking out of the side) , the eastside is no use as there are conifers that are higher than the roof, that would be the best side as its about 35ft long and it would get the sun from sunrise to about 13.00. The shed does ok, this is my data from victron for past 24hrs, the gable is flat.
