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Mega day on Agile just finished.... Average price has been about 0.6p/kWh (not 6p) or less since about 10pm last night.
Got a full tank of water at 65c, house (place by the sea which is all electric) up to 20c and a 3 loads of washing done and tumble dried!
Happy days 😁
A question to those with the Huawei Luna equipment... Is it a user config setting, or a network setting that allows you to charge the battery overnight and then discharge at peak cost? Or is it just going to default to charging from the PV?
I'm staring out into heavy overcast and wondering when I am going to see full flow on the panels...
See oz going mad for it with the LG battery recalls looking to make it compulsory due to a high proportion of fires traced back
Christ a light thats worrying
it reads like an issue with a specific batch or something?
Makes a little scooter battery seem a bit insignificant!
there are a not insignificant significant number of voluntary ongoing mfg recalls for LG equipment - but you'd have to search to know about it - has anyone had any contact from their installer since they installed ? Many installers have gone to the wall over the last couple years with cashflow issues and price rise problems so the chain is broken.
I've certainly had no follow up contact from either installer i used since install.
the big deal here is that the oz gov are trying to force a compulsory recall.
I've got those batteries. I've not been contacted by the installer though he is still in business. I've since checked them and they are seemingly not part of the affected batch.
Stories like this have actually led to me moving my untidy stack of batteries out from under the stairs and into a new and shiny metal tower into the garage. Not cheap to change (£2,500), but it did require a new inverter and fourth battery + DNO notification.
On the bright side I got a phone call from the installers asking if I'd be happy with the 6kW model as a free upgrade due to stock problems, so in the near future I can have Powerwall-style UPS for the house.
Am I right in thinking additional batteries are VAT exempt?
We have an 8.7kW battery and I would like to add another 4kW (DIY job) Can I purchase the additional module VAT free?
I understand they are now VAT free, but i know on my Giveenergy setup i canno0t add a battery without it being recommissioned by a registered installer, or have access to the installer's login to set it up, which obviously i don't have...
Stories like this have actually led to me moving my untidy stack of batteries out from under the stairs and into a new and shiny metal tower into the garage. Not cheap to change (£2,500), but it did require a new inverter and fourth battery + DNO notification.
That was the primary reason for me installing mine outside. Is it likely to go wrong? Probably not, but would it play on my mind? Definitely.
I've boxed mine in to keep the rain, sun and frost off them and have added some fireproofing to the enclosure. On a very hot day, I'll open the doors of the enclosure...I could do this automatically with one of those greenhouse mechanisms, but I don't see the need at the moment.
I understand they are now VAT free, but i know on my Giveenergy setup i canno0t add a battery without it being recommissioned by a registered installer, or have access to the installer’s login to set it up, which obviously i don’t have…
Have you checked that the login details aren't the default ones or that its something postcode, phone number or customer ID related?
Installing a solar battery is a doddle.
you cannot buy them vat free as a consumer.
But in reality theres no such thing even through an installer . The price you can buy them at off the net is less than you'll be getting sold them even VAT free from an installer and then fitting on top.
see also this weekends chat every where about the updates to the BSI advising you dont install batteries in the loft.
If i fitted mine outside - there would be 6 months of the year i could not charge them at night and 3 months i could not use them at all - as well as them being a high theft target in a rural location.
mine are bolted to the gable end brick wall and as far away from habitable rooms as possible + i have egress windows on both upstairs rooms.
be interesting to see what my insurance renewal has to say on the matter now that the guidance has been published through.
If i fitted mine outside – there would be 6 months of the year i could not charge them at night and 3 months i could not use them at all
How so?
interesting trail rat. Ive not been asked about my battery installation at all by my home insurance!
How so?
Temperature.
Are you not in the UK or do they have a really small operating window?
Mine seem to work just fine in anything from -15 all the way to +40. The inverter makes more noise when it's hotter, but the batteries just sit there quietly doing their thing...
Are they life4po ? And have they got on board temperature stabilisation.
On life4po and without heating Anything below 10c ambiant and high charge rate. bit like driving your car everywhere always in 5th gear
My batteries throttle back below 10 down to 0 charge at 0c for self preservation. Reasons
yer the new advisory about location
I considered hard when i had mine installed in August, and went loft, actually the ideal location would be the shed at the bottom of the garden
I read that storage is pretty safe, and Lifepo4 even safer
Yes, Life4PO and they do use power to manage heat so are a little less efficient, but we're talking maybe 50W per battery, per hour in the cold months. So on tickover at night in the winter the inverter and the batteries will draw around 250-300W but in the rest of the year that will be 150-200W. They charge and discharge at full rates even in the cold periods.
Interesting re the guidance change. Our inverter is in the loft on an end wall, the Tesla power wall and gateway are both outside - one of the main advantages of the Tesla unit I think is its temperature management.
Re insurance companies, I rang mine (M&S) and told them and they weren't remotely bothered. Asked them to log the notification however
So on tickover at night in the winter the inverter and the batteries will draw around 250-300W
So around 2kW each night? Never knew that!
I'm sure I've asked before, but is there a third party solar and battery monitoring software/app I can use with my Huawei set up. The Huawei one is temperamental to be polite and constantly loses communication. Is there anything out there that is not tied to a specific manufacturer's equipment?
Yes - Home Assistant.
yeah we are not using 2kw a night in heating - glad of that sure.
one of the main advantages of the Tesla unit I think is its temperature management.
Up till very recently - powerwalls were NMC and temperature management was essential to prevent runaway.
Couldnt pay me to put NMC inside my house and my installer was correctly adamant on that as well.
lot less woried about LiFe4Po
So around 2kW each night?
On average across a year - yes. 2-4kW per day to run the system. Most of that is PV yield, but at night, you have to power the inverter from something and then if it's cold the batteries will keep circulating. If you don't have a battery, it all just goes dormant until there's enough sun the next morning.
Many people using the FoxESS system need to insulate their batteries over the winter. Fox used to say that it was a terrible idea but then released an insulated enclosure that combines the inverter and batteries together.
I have Foxess batteries in my garage which I insulate with a bog standard water tank kit. Sits around 25 degrees, creeps up a few degrees during forced charge.
A question for the hive mind. I have 3.4kWp pv and a 6.9kWh battery. When away from home, the Growatt app shows grid import as zero, as you would expect, yet my smart meter records around one kWh per day consumption. Any idea why the discrepancy?
The inverter responds quickly but not instantly to changes in both generation and demand. Those tiny changes can add up over a day.
Thanks, I'll have a look.
So then. with the advice that we shouldnt have batteries in lofts (mine is in the garage loft which naturally has a lot of highly flammable garage stuff in it) Should i be looking at building a fireproof box for them?
The problem isn't so much the risk of the batteries catching fire (arguably above you might be better than below you in that case anyway), but the fact that there's several hundred kilos of metal perched in the loft. The risk is to emergency services who enter the building after you've escaped, because I would quite expect a stack of batteries falling through a weakened loft ceiling to go straight through the floor below as well.
My stack of batteries were under the stairs (which is the only escape route) and ultimately I bit the bullet and paid to have them moved to the garage, but in a neat and tidy all-in-one unit. Roughly the same capability as a Powerwall, but also integrates the solar PV. Existing batteries slot into the base.
You've got an interlinked smoke alarm up there, I assume?
I can understand why a heap of stacked batteries sat on the floor such as the fox or similar presents a risk sure.
Giv energy and pure drive amongst others should have their metal casing's vertically mounted to the building structure.
but as alan l alluded to in another thread it sounds like the documentation was released with the SMEs having been consulted but refusing to comment on the proposals so they have gone defcon 5 with the most stringent of rules
The problem isn’t so much the risk of the batteries catching fire (arguably above you might be better than below you in that case anyway), but the fact that there’s several hundred kilos of metal perched in the loft.
I'd also say that most ceilings, regardless of being weakened by fire or not, are not built to have a several hundred KG of weight concentrated in a small footprint - be careful where they're located!
A big dude in a loft will have a similar if not worse concentration of mass. My heaviest (13kWh - LiFePO4) battery is 98kg. It's footprint is substantially greater than a footprint.
I still wouldn't pile them on the floor - but it wasn't so long ago water tanks would be routinely sited up there.
Would I do it in a modern house. Would I buggery. Most of them can barely hold their own weight
#costengineered
A big dude in a loft will have a similar if not worse concentration of mass.
Still doesn't make it OK!
(And the bloke isn't up there 24/7)
As per TR, I've seen some ceiling joists in older houses that couldn't even cope with the ceiling being overboarded!
The risk is to emergency services who enter the building after you’ve escaped, because I would quite expect a stack of batteries falling through a weakened loft ceiling to go straight through the floor below as well.
If the fire is that well developed that there is a risk of structural collapse, there shouldn't be anyone committed into building, they'll just be soaking the ruins from outside.
If the fire is that well developed that there is a risk of structural collapse
"My dad/brother/daughter/son/cat is still in the building."
“My dad/brother/daughter/son/cat is still in the building.”
So you saved yourself with helping others........Nice
My DRA.....if the building is that structurally comprised that there is internal colapse in progress there is no way I would have sent others in to save an un saveable life.
Been there got that T shirt
So you saved yourself with helping others……..Nice
**** me, this place is unpleasant now.
hey you started it with your hypothetical scenario making it up as you went along