Greetings from Northumberland

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richbee
Posts: 595
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2022 3:39 pm
Location: Northumberland

Greetings from Northumberland

#1

Post by richbee »

Hi All,
I'm new to the forum - pointed in this direction from 'The Green living Forum'.

I'm looking into having solar PV installed possibly with a battery too, but I'm pretty new to the subject.
I'm a mechanical engineer by trade, and I've installed a small 12V solar system on my campervan, but I'm really looking for clues on what to look for and what to avoid - particularly brands of cells, inverters and batteries etc.

Thanks in advance, I'm sure there will be other areas I'm interested in too - like growing veg and stuff :D
Solar PV since July '22:
5.6kWp east/west facing
3.6kW Sunsynk hybrid inverter
2x 5.12kWh Sunsynk batteries
1.6kWp Hoymiles East/West facing PV on the man cave
Ripple DW 2kW
Ripple WB 200W
User avatar
Joeboy
Posts: 8005
Joined: Mon May 31, 2021 4:22 pm
Location: Inverurie

Re: Greetings from Northumberland

#2

Post by Joeboy »

Welcome onboard Rich!
19.7kW PV SE, VI, HM, EN & DW
Ripple 7kW WT & Gen to date 19MWh
42kWh LFPO4 storage
95kWh Heater storage
12kWh 210ltr HWT.
73kWh HI5
Deep insulation, air leak ct'd home
Zoned GCH & Hive 2
WBSx2
Low energy bulbs
Veg patches & fruit trees
Bugtownboy
Posts: 958
Joined: Tue Jun 01, 2021 12:35 pm

Re: Greetings from Northumberland

#3

Post by Bugtownboy »

Hi from me too ;)
User avatar
Fintray
Posts: 1517
Joined: Mon May 31, 2021 6:37 pm
Location: Aberdeenshire

Re: Greetings from Northumberland

#4

Post by Fintray »

Welcome to the forum.
3.87kWp PV
10.24kWp PV SolarEdge system
Tesla Powerwall 2
100 x 47mm Navitron tubes (still being installed!) Now likely to be removed for more PV.
MK2 PV router DHW diverter
Morso 5kW WBS
Vaillant AroTherm 10kW ASHP
Nissan Leaf
User avatar
Stinsy
Posts: 2740
Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2021 1:09 pm

Re: Greetings from Northumberland

#5

Post by Stinsy »

richbee wrote: Tue Apr 19, 2022 4:43 pm Hi All,
I'm new to the forum - pointed in this direction from 'The Green living Forum'.

I'm looking into having solar PV installed possibly with a battery too, but I'm pretty new to the subject.
I'm a mechanical engineer by trade, and I've installed a small 12V solar system on my campervan, but I'm really looking for clues on what to look for and what to avoid - particularly brands of cells, inverters and batteries etc.

Thanks in advance, I'm sure there will be other areas I'm interested in too - like growing veg and stuff :D
Welcome!

Not much to avoid! Panels/inverters etc all reliable these days. Depends what you can find in stock and what fits in your roof. Batteries are essential in a post-FiT world Pylontech seem to be the sweet spot for price/performance/reliability but there are other good choices too.

What is your budget? How much space do you have?
12x 340W JA Solar panels (4.08kWp)
3x 380W JA Solar panels (1.14kWp)
5x 2.4kWh Pylontech batteries (12kWh)
LuxPower inverter/charger

(Artist formally known as ******, well it should be obvious enough to those for whom such things are important.)
richbee
Posts: 595
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2022 3:39 pm
Location: Northumberland

Re: Greetings from Northumberland

#6

Post by richbee »

Stinsy wrote: Tue Apr 19, 2022 9:27 pm
richbee wrote: Tue Apr 19, 2022 4:43 pm Hi All,
I'm new to the forum - pointed in this direction from 'The Green living Forum'.

I'm looking into having solar PV installed possibly with a battery too, but I'm pretty new to the subject.
I'm a mechanical engineer by trade, and I've installed a small 12V solar system on my campervan, but I'm really looking for clues on what to look for and what to avoid - particularly brands of cells, inverters and batteries etc.

Thanks in advance, I'm sure there will be other areas I'm interested in too - like growing veg and stuff :D
Welcome!

Not much to avoid! Panels/inverters etc all reliable these days. Depends what you can find in stock and what fits in your roof. Batteries are essential in a post-FiT world Pylontech seem to be the sweet spot for price/performance/reliability but there are other good choices too.

What is your budget? How much space do you have?
Thanks for the feedback - sounds quite good.
I'm not sure how much space - it's a fair sized roof, but the main pitched roof is facing pretty much east/west.
I'm getting a couple of quotes for 5kW of panels around the £6k mark without batteries and £9 to 11k with batteries
Solar PV since July '22:
5.6kWp east/west facing
3.6kW Sunsynk hybrid inverter
2x 5.12kWh Sunsynk batteries
1.6kWp Hoymiles East/West facing PV on the man cave
Ripple DW 2kW
Ripple WB 200W
richbee
Posts: 595
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2022 3:39 pm
Location: Northumberland

Re: Greetings from Northumberland

#7

Post by richbee »

Right - I've pressed the button on Solar PV + battery - ~5.5kW panels with 5.1kW battery & hybrid inverter.
Likely to be 4-6 weeks, have to see how it goes - fingers crossed
Solar PV since July '22:
5.6kWp east/west facing
3.6kW Sunsynk hybrid inverter
2x 5.12kWh Sunsynk batteries
1.6kWp Hoymiles East/West facing PV on the man cave
Ripple DW 2kW
Ripple WB 200W
User avatar
Joeboy
Posts: 8005
Joined: Mon May 31, 2021 4:22 pm
Location: Inverurie

Re: Greetings from Northumberland

#8

Post by Joeboy »

richbee wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 1:26 pm Right - I've pressed the button on Solar PV + battery - ~5.5kW panels with 5.1kW battery & hybrid inverter.
Likely to be 4-6 weeks, have to see how it goes - fingers crossed
Nice one! Off to the races. You'll never look back.
19.7kW PV SE, VI, HM, EN & DW
Ripple 7kW WT & Gen to date 19MWh
42kWh LFPO4 storage
95kWh Heater storage
12kWh 210ltr HWT.
73kWh HI5
Deep insulation, air leak ct'd home
Zoned GCH & Hive 2
WBSx2
Low energy bulbs
Veg patches & fruit trees
User avatar
nowty
Posts: 5733
Joined: Mon May 31, 2021 2:36 pm
Location: South Coast

Re: Greetings from Northumberland

#9

Post by nowty »

richbee wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 1:26 pm Right - I've pressed the button on Solar PV + battery - ~5.5kW panels with 5.1kW battery & hybrid inverter.
Likely to be 4-6 weeks, have to see how it goes - fingers crossed
What was the spec (brands) and price in the end, if you don't mind ?

My mate had a recent quote for a Sunsynk (never heard of them before) system from a national company.

4kW of panels (JA Solar) and 5.1kW sunsynk battery and 3.6kW sunsynk hubrid inverter for almost £11k. I pointed out to him you could buy the whole lot as a kit with everything except the panel mounting kit and installation for £4.6k (without VAT). I reckoned should of been about 7k or 8k, maybe 9k at a push if scaffolding was required. The quote underpriced the installation costs but wacked 100% markup on everything else.
16.9kW PV > 109MWh generated
Ripple 6.6kW Wind + 4.5kW PV > 25MWh generated
5 Other RE Coop's
105kWh EV storage
60kWh Home battery storage
40kWh Thermal storage
GSHP + A2A HP's
Rain water use > 510 m3
richbee
Posts: 595
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2022 3:39 pm
Location: Northumberland

Re: Greetings from Northumberland

#10

Post by richbee »

nowty wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 2:35 pm
richbee wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 1:26 pm Right - I've pressed the button on Solar PV + battery - ~5.5kW panels with 5.1kW battery & hybrid inverter.
Likely to be 4-6 weeks, have to see how it goes - fingers crossed
What was the spec (brands) and price in the end, if you don't mind ?

My mate had a recent quote for a Sunsynk (never heard of them before) system from a national company.

4kW of panels (JA Solar) and 5.1kW sunsynk battery and 3.6kW sunsynk hubrid inverter for almost £11k. I pointed out to him you could buy the whole lot as a kit with everything except the panel mounting kit and installation for £4.6k (without VAT). I reckoned should of been about 7k or 8k, maybe 9k at a push if scaffolding was required. The quote underpriced the installation costs but wacked 100% markup on everything else.
This is also for JA solar panels (but 5.6kW) and 5.1kW Sunsynk battery & 3.6kW Sunsynk hybrid inverter - £9k fitted including scaffolding
Solar PV since July '22:
5.6kWp east/west facing
3.6kW Sunsynk hybrid inverter
2x 5.12kWh Sunsynk batteries
1.6kWp Hoymiles East/West facing PV on the man cave
Ripple DW 2kW
Ripple WB 200W
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