The Boy That Cried PV Extension

[Moxi]

There are T profile rubber gaskets on Amazon, I think I read that Joe Boy had used something of the type on his boot room extension.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/section-EPDM-b ... 428&sr=8-5

First example I came to so might not be ideal, no affiliation.

Moxi

[Mart]

Now I do like that.

[openspaceman]

There are T profile rubber gaskets on Amazon, I think I read that Joe Boy had used something of the type on his boot room extension.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/section-EPDM-b ... 428&sr=8-5

First example I came to so might not be ideal, no affiliation.

Moxi

It's not cheap, especially compared with running a silicon bead down a channel section and clamping the panel on top.

[Mart]

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly and emotional highs and lows of a Mart (in the wild).

So, new inverter arrived at 4pm yesterday. The team had already been and connected up all the new panels, two strings, and a junction box, plus removed the wonky inverter. Sparkie waited round for the delivery, and she had a good play with the Doggo's too.

Got it up and running, but gen dropping (on the East side) and grey weather by then, but we started to see energy going through the meter.

But, still didn't want to talk to two batteries at the same time, so only one connected for now.

During the evening I saw the new inverter updated on the app/website, and the earlier data etc start to slowly update.

Then huge disappointment this morning - Having 6,725Wp running through a 3.68kW inverter, with I'd guess a sustained peak of 5kW is not the wisest idea if you are on the original FiT tariff, as peaking will reduce generation. So it was important to have the DC side batts, and for the inverter to be able to 're-direct' some DC gen straight to the batts, as well as managing upto 3.68kW AC.

So I eagerly watched the generation figure, the house demand (with car charging to prevent the battery filling up) and the battery charge. It was only 8am, the weather wasn't great, but I saw generation bouncing and hitting peaks between 3.60kW and 3.68kW. This went on for about 20 mins, and my heart slowly sank, as some info I'd had suggested the inverter can only handle 3.68kW total (DC + AC).

Then the skies greyed a bit. 30 mins later, the sun came out strong, and generation rose to 3.68kW, then 4kW then 4.2kW then held at around 4.4kW. After about 10 mins I started to relax and then do the happy dance, as the 'plan' (of many, many years) appears to have worked ..... famous last words? But I will have to monitor battery levels on long sunny days in the summer, and use force discharge to export before peak generation, to make sure gen doesn't get capped by full batts (too much/too often).

Had to chuckle at the generation level peaking earlier at 3.68kW*, what are the chances, maybe Solaredge was simply trolling me?

*This was split roughly 2.5kW AC for the house, and 1.2kW DC for battery charging, so I don't think it was an AC side software issue that slowly updated, rather an incredible co-incidence.

[nowty]

But I will have to monitor battery levels on long sunny days in the summer, and use force discharge to export before peak generation, to make sure gen doesn't get capped by full batts (too much/too often).

Have you / or are you opting out of deemed export ?, seems a no brainer with the system you now have.

[Mart]

But I will have to monitor battery levels on long sunny days in the summer, and use force discharge to export before peak generation, to make sure gen doesn't get capped by full batts (too much/too often).

Have you / or are you opting out of deemed export ?, seems a no brainer with the system you now have.

Yep, I've asked Octopus to shift me over. I wasn't too bothered before, and thought maybe worth staying with FiT deemed as a hedge for when leccy prices/export drop back down in the future. But of course with the FiT, my extra gen will be apportioned, so effectively I'll get nothing for the additional PV export.

Anyone know how long Octopus take, it was a few months ago I applied?

[Joeboy]

But I will have to monitor battery levels on long sunny days in the summer, and use force discharge to export before peak generation, to make sure gen doesn't get capped by full batts (too much/too often).

Have you / or are you opting out of deemed export ?, seems a no brainer with the system you now have.

Yep, I've asked Octopus to shift me over. I wasn't too bothered before, and thought maybe worth staying with FiT deemed as a hedge for when leccy prices/export drop back down in the future. But of course with the FiT, my extra gen will be apportioned, so effectively I'll get nothing for the additional PV export.

Anyone know how long Octopus take, it was a few months ago I applied?

5 weeks here atart to finish, worth pursuing Mart?

[Mart]

Have you / or are you opting out of deemed export ?, seems a no brainer with the system you now have.

Yep, I've asked Octopus to shift me over. I wasn't too bothered before, and thought maybe worth staying with FiT deemed as a hedge for when leccy prices/export drop back down in the future. But of course with the FiT, my extra gen will be apportioned, so effectively I'll get nothing for the additional PV export.

Anyone know how long Octopus take, it was a few months ago I applied?

5 weeks here atart to finish, worth pursuing Mart?

Thanks. Chaser sent. I do have two FiT accounts, so that may have confused the hell out of them as I sent 2x the documentation requested, so to speak.

[Joeboy]

Yep, I've asked Octopus to shift me over. I wasn't too bothered before, and thought maybe worth staying with FiT deemed as a hedge for when leccy prices/export drop back down in the future. But of course with the FiT, my extra gen will be apportioned, so effectively I'll get nothing for the additional PV export.

Anyone know how long Octopus take, it was a few months ago I applied?

5 weeks here atart to finish, worth pursuing Mart?

Thanks. Chaser sent. I do have two FiT accounts, so that may have confused the hell out of them as I sent 2x the documentation requested, so to speak.

In all my comms with them, I kept it simple and made sure my account no and any other pertinent ID info was in there. Help them to help you style of thing. Did you do the intial query through the front door application process?

[Mart]

5 weeks here atart to finish, worth pursuing Mart?

Thanks. Chaser sent. I do have two FiT accounts, so that may have confused the hell out of them as I sent 2x the documentation requested, so to speak.

In all my comms with them, I kept it simple and made sure my account no and any other pertinent ID info was in there. Help them to help you style of thing. Did you do the intial query through the front door application process?

Yep. there was a list of steps you had to answer and for some attach copies of documents.

Hopefully they'll let me know how it's going. But ironically ....... once I'm on their export rate of 15p, then it makes more sense for me to export excess, rather than charge the BEV. Then charge the BEV on cheap rate at 7p. That means my annual import will increase, which makes complete sense, but also spoils all my attempts over the years, to steadily reduce the amount of leccy I import.

But I have been recording 'consumption' for several years, not just import, so that will remain the same. Or will it, oh no it won't - as I'll use more cheap rate to run the A2A units, and charge the batts in the winter to run the A2A's during the day. So more import and more consumption ...... but less FF gas.

All good fun, just need to get used to the new normal.