Balcony solar PV

[Joeboy]

What would be the position if it were brought in as hand luggage, could you pay the 20% VAT at customs?

Can these things be connected, lawfully, to the UK electricity network yet?

Big boy lederhosen on. Buy it, backpack it through, deal with aftermath later. Of which there will be none with regards to vat or connection repercussions.
Just one interpretation on this multifaceted subject. Envelopes are there to be pushed.

If I was uncomfortable with any of the above I wouldn't go there but then again I think MCS is a load of without the fan and I like deciding for myself on local star energy use.

Off to the beer festival OSM?

[richbee]

What would be the position if it were brought in as hand luggage, could you pay the 20% VAT at customs?

Can these things be connected, lawfully, to the UK electricity network yet?

Big boy lederhosen on. Buy it, backpack it through, deal with aftermath later. Of which there will be none with regards to vat or connection repercussions.
Just one interpretation. Envelopes are there to be pushed.

If I was uncomfortable with any of the above I wouldn't go there but then again I think MCS is a load of without the fan and I like deciding for myself on local star energy use.

Off to the beer festival OSM?

Shame I don't get to go to Germany with work these days, or I could bring one back

[Joeboy]

What would be the position if it were brought in as hand luggage, could you pay the 20% VAT at customs?

Can these things be connected, lawfully, to the UK electricity network yet?

Big boy lederhosen on. Buy it, backpack it through, deal with aftermath later. Of which there will be none with regards to vat or connection repercussions.
Just one interpretation. Envelopes are there to be pushed.

If I was uncomfortable with any of the above I wouldn't go there but then again I think MCS is a load of without the fan and I like deciding for myself on local star energy use.

Off to the beer festival OSM?

Shame I don't get to go to Germany with work these days, or I could bring one back

I am heading over next May... Might just go shopping for the sheer damn of it.

[Jinx]

Just stick a plug on a standard 2kW growatt, seems far cheaper than the dedicated balcony setups kW/£?
Meets DNO requirements with documents available.

[chris_n]

Just stick a plug on a standard 2kW growatt, seems far cheaper than the dedicated balcony setups kW/£?
Meets DNO requirements with documents available.

While not compliant with regs having a plug on an 800W inverter is unlikely to cause a problem, sticking a plug on a 2kw inverter shouldn't be contemplated for the reasons mentioned earlier.

[Joeboy]

Just stick a plug on a standard 2kW growatt, seems far cheaper than the dedicated balcony setups kW/£?
Meets DNO requirements with documents available.

While not compliant with regs having a plug on an 800W inverter is unlikely to cause a problem, sticking a plug on a 2kw inverter shouldn't be contemplated for the reasons mentioned earlier.

Indeed. An overload risk I personally wouldn't contemplate.
From a potential 3.3A to 8.3A isn't leaving much headroom on an already populated circuit.

[AE-NMidlands]

Indeed. An overload risk I personally wouldn't contemplate.
From a potential 3.3A to 8.3A isn't leaving much headroom on an already populated circuit.

But if your "delivering" plug is somewhere on a ring main then surely it will reduce the current rather than increase it? If you could safely have put an applience drawing 13A in the same socket, then how can putting 8A into the circuit reduce the headroom? 4A might "flow each way" from the socket, so that must be 4A less each way from the consumer unit.
Or is this too simplistic an explanantion?
A

[Joeboy]

Indeed. An overload risk I personally wouldn't contemplate.
From a potential 3.3A to 8.3A isn't leaving much headroom on an already populated circuit.

But if your "delivering" plug is somewhere on a ring main then surely it will reduce the current rather than increase it? If you could safely have put an applience drawing 13A in the same socket, then how can putting 8A into the circuit reduce the headroom? 4A might "flow each way" from the socket, so that must be 4A less each way from the consumer unit.
Or is this too simplistic an explanantion?
A

Damn good question and one i'm not qualified to answer. I like to keep things simple. Too complicated for my little brain to think in millisecond responses of breakers, momentary loads, circuit resistance, partial or complete ring mains. I just do a simple Amps chimney sum and think OK or nope, not going there.

There is also a part of me that thinks 'well, the Germans checked it out and ok'd it to 800W, should be good'. In the case of the Hoymiles it is a fused double plug with a 5A fuse within and on a short spur back to the CU. I say this last as its important to emphasise for anyone passing through that all our homes are unique. Some due diligence has to be carried out. Personally, I don't like the idea that a daftie could put multiple micros on the same circuit but when you stick a plug on it and DIY it, that door opens. No disrespect to Jinx but a 3 pin 13A plug on a 2kW inverter? That is a little too much load/heat/risk of arc for my wee RA matrix. Fair play to anyone that does it, photos please.

[richbee]

As I am also looking at a similar issue, I did a quick web search.
One answer which seemed to make sense is that if your ring main has a 32A breaker on it - if you have multiple sockets, and you run kettles, toasters, hairdryers etc etc at the same time, your breaker will trip if you go over 32A, which will protect the 2.5mm cable from overheating and worst case melting.
If you add 8A of solar to the mix, you could then run 40A of load through the ring main before the breaker would see 32A and trip, therefore making the circuit potentially more dangerous.

[chris_n]

As richbee says the problem is adding extra current into a ring main which contains 2.5mm cable and is fused at 32A. If you add another 8A that does not flow through the overload protection device then you have 40A available at certain points in the circuit. So far you may think that's not really a problem but now consider if there is a break in the ring which could (more than likely would) go undetected then you are putting 40A into a single 2.5mm cable.
Joeboy makes a point about the Germans thinking 800W is ok but this is only part of the story. Germany as well as the rest of Europe don't use ring mains, they use radial circuits fused at 20A so the max you would see there would be 23.3A with an 800W inverter.