Now we’re back on topic: I think they should cut his hands off!  /s  Edit: Brand that is, not other posters   :)

I think then it definitely is as half a kw isnt going to cost £0.75

You’re not forgetting that your daily standing charge is likely to also be included in that value are you?

Just that this tripped me up when I first got the octopus Ihd monitor

@5lab. I’m in a similar position (panels but not a massive amount spare). Added to that I can’t get paid (again) for the export as I’m on FIT. What it means is I need to “harvest” every kw as I get paid for it regardless.

I couldn’t make the numbers on a battery to work so went with a solar diverter into the hot water tank. Not particularly amazing returns to date but hopefully ballpark returns that you’d hoped for – the key being a much maller initial outlay.

Not sure if that helps but thought I’d say where my head went

I use that phrase and you’re the first person I’ve heard use it too.  What are you riding it of interest? I’m on a Lexmoto lx06

Great thinking to use the drone, I’d not have thought the camera could pick up such good detail.

I’m tempted to get up on my roof and clean my panels now – move over Rod Hull!

Ah, got you. I’d be surprised 9 months later if you’re experiencing degradation as a result of dirty panels but it’s a nice easy action to take

@Dangeourbrain.  Yeah, that’s the conclusion I’ve come to. I’ll clean bitwarden up as I write things down on paper

@daffy, I’m assuming your baseline is actual data from a year back? (rather than an unreasonable expectation of what you’d generate?)

At the other end of the scale: 12 old panels in a valley (so partially shaded) and East:West (so presumably not as good as 12 all south facing).

Yesterday: 8kw generated!

I think it’s the heat holding them back rather than any kind of problem but what’s people’s view? – get someone out to service/assess they’re all working fine? Get up there and clean them?

My challenge is I don’t have much in the way of reporting from 12yrs back to say that the generation would have been any different back then

Awkward, I’m on bitwarden but I have exactly that: bank details written down in the notes section.

There’s just so much information to remember, how else do I do it

@zippykona.  Hah, deal.  They’ll buy into that one simply because Khan isn’t white unfortunately :(

I was about to start a new thread about how to diplomatically cope with family over next week who are anti vax/5G masts/doctors/icebergs , but I think i’ll fight fire with fire and just claim we believe birds aren’t real.

I’d go for flat earth but fear that’s a little too close to their belief spectrum and all I’d do is recruit more people to it!

No officially it’s not, as long as you don’t push back ;)

Well, I’m a month in of having added my solar diverter and it really isn’t going to be worth it. I kind of expected it, our array doesn’t produce much and we use alot of what’s generated.

I’m consoling myself that it’s nice to get a view of what I’m exporting (already had a view of generation total from the FIT meter and live generation from the octopus Ihd)

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Brilliant, thanks for the suggestions.</p>

<p style=”text-align: left;”>I’ll hit science museum separately then one Sunday as we’re only an hour drive from the west. Had no idea about kidzania, that sounds good</p>

Hah, funny matt. That was 100% click bait as I had to come see who in the UK had seen snow today! :)

@PhilO.  OH wow, I had no idea of the exponential increase for such a small amount of extra speed.

I should really sell the kit while it’s worth something still.  Bike too (steel gravel bike) but it’s perfect for around here (byways/tracks of West Berkshire) so have in my head ii’ll get out and ride that more than the full sus.

@tj. Does that logic hold true for both off and on road? I’ve no experience, can’t recall why I went rear (oh yes, cheap and perceived it as an easier install).

Hahah wow, some really good ideas in here – thanks so much. Particularly taking on board the fact it’ll tire him out quick.

I’m a little worried I’ll be half cut so a sit on the bus in the fresh air may be just the ticket!!

Thanks all, really appreciate the ideas, keep them coming if anyone has any others – I’ve booked Smithfield Premier Inn as its easier to abandon the car in Hammersmith and tube from there

Putting aside discussions of legality I always felt my 250w rear wheel conversion was a little weak. The battery was a nice chunky one too but it was a steel gravel bike set up as a commuter with slick tyres. Maybe I was just going too fast for it to be man enough to aide me (had it derestricted and it wasn’t really able to help much beyond 20mph… naturally all on private roads

Here’s a piece from Loughborough Uni about it
https://www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/news/2023/march/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated–concrete-raac/

Thanks Frank but since been removed interestingly!

@jacobff.  I got a real finger in the air “£2k” to remove 16 panels so I guess you’d need to add a bit more to put them back up again.  Hope that helps, that’s a big ol’ dent in the payback hey – I only know this as I was weighing up getting a 2nd array that we felt we may want to remove for the purposes of selling the property as it’s a period cottage

@mattbee.  Haha, that’s a fair summary and what I expected. We’re into our tenting at the mo so will see how long that lasts.

Anyone got experience of a trailer tent? Seems like a good compromise but is it really just camping on top of a trailer?

I’ve just moved from the ~30p/Kw variable rate to Octopus Tracker (daily price change made up of wholesale price + whatever margin they have decided they want to make). I believe over a typical year its about 30% cheaper than variable BUT not sure what a typical year is anymore.

My plan if it goes crazy is I guess to buy a battery for my old solar panels and move to a peak:off peak tariff

Is she constrained to school holidays as she’d be paying less either side of half term

An interesting read.

We dropped the 2nd car for an electric moped as we’re out in the sticks so an ebike wasn’t practical enough (tennis/golf 20 mile round trip, weekly trip into work 30 miles). It’s worked well so far in case that’s less of a jump for the OP.

Our only car, a 2016 Outlander PHEV, works well as the single car as it’s essentially an EV during the week and then generally full to the gunnels with bikes/dump runs/IKEA/camping stuff at the w/e.

Yes, I’d like the mpg to be above 40 on petrol alone but 35 is more likely. And yes, the once high score of 30 mile range is now more like 20. But with a 4yr old scrambling all over it we’re going to sweat this asset until he’s driving! :)

How about only taking bikes over from Calais, cycling the quiet canal side roads all the way to St Omer.

It’s a lovely town and there’s an amazing network of rivers in the area to explore by bike, or maybe a little boat.

We did an enjoyable 3 day gentle cycle, with the other 2 days being to Le Touquet and then back to Calais

@alan1977.  I meant inflation generally meaning if you want to truely work out financial RoI you need to get back more than the value of your investment.  Saying that, it’s a fair point – I had no idea to work that in either (what 1Kw of electric will cost in 1/5/10 years) so opted to leave both of them out and assume one cancels the other out :)

@owenh.  It’s a bigger issue than that, and I only know as I looked at bodging a backup charger for my electric moped.  :)   It would have passed a PAT test but would have be wholley inappropriate for the Li-Ion battery as the chargers are very complex things designed specifically to manage the charging of a specific device.  I thought that something with the same wattage/ampage would suffice.

I’m not sure there’s a way around it as there is always a risk that someone is using the wrong charger for a legitimate UK ebike/emotorbike etc.  With cars the risk isn’t there as they appear to use the same charging standards such that the facility provides the charger/accountability.

I have solar already, had it for about 12 years.  I did the sums as best I could (more solar, more solar + battery, just big battery, just little battery etc) and couldn’t get a payback financially that I was happy with.  Least not because payback needs to factor in your £1 today not being worth £1 in 15 years time.

I can’t afford financially to factor in any environmental assumptions.

I’d add that you should probably raise to them that as EV charging has exploded [pardon the pun] in the last X years, so to will electric motorcycles.  They again largely should be purely 13a chargers but your facilities team probably won’t have thought to make provision for those and it’ll be cheaper to do that now than later!

They’ll also have the same needs as ebikes such as cover and potentially security (as although notionally the expensive bit i.e. the charger is “locked” in that the connector goes in under the locked seat, it wouldn’t take alot to prise that open).

Have a look at green motors London for the wide range available if there’s anyone who’s needs aren’t met by an ebike.  I have the Lexmoto LX06 and love it

@wornout.  I feel the same, the worry delayed me having children for 15 years based on what world they’ll be living in.  In the end I got to an age that some friends didn’t reach and I had to accept that I’m lucky to have a life and need to check out knowing I’ve made the most of it.

Your helplessness comes from the selfishness of the capitalist structure of the world, one where shareholder value exists over all other.  I’m not saying change your actions but we can do as much as we like but it will not change the destination.

Ultimately, I feel @dazh has the right idea – be at peace with how insignificant you are along with humanity/earth in the scheme of things and use your anxieties as power to make as much of life as you can, for your children to enjoy the days they can before…well….before their days can’t be enjoyed, whatever that may be.

@shinton. have you considered a Shelly wifi switch for your car charger?  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F0V4rBPP9k).

I’m happy on tracker at the mo but plan to add one to my old podpoint car charger to make it smart in case I quickly need to move to a peak:offpeak tariff.

@Shinton.  Thanks for that, really helpful.  Christ, that’s cheap, I had assumed it was largely similar to tracker rates with a little tickle down on the odd hour.  Tracker today was near-as-damn-it 18p/Kw today (well, yesterday now).

We’re the same (PHEV, charge twice a day most days) but I don’t feel I readily control when we use our electricity (barring the odd wash, or the wife coming home at 5pm so I know we’re unlikely to go out again).

“usually around 02:30”.  So, do you in this instance set the charger to delay until 02:30, go to bed and hope that this period is as cheap as is typically the case?  I’d hate to wake up to find the rate has gone mental

Apologies, I am sure it’s well recorded online but could I ask why you opted for agile over tracker and how you maximise that more frequent pricing please?

I’m on tracker and conscious that I’d want quite a saving for the extra “overhead” of thinking about things every hour.

That’s a positive perspective – much as I dislike the character the Tesla is surprisingly efficient in the miles per kw stakes, and a proper 4 door car.  If they could go in the city car direction (dear god why do I keep looking longingly at the Citroen Ami!?!) and improve on the efficiency even more that would be amazing.  Oh, and drop Musk/cybertruck

@molgrips.  Yeah, you are right, there’s no denying Tesla had that impact, I just kind of wish the public took to EVs based on what the Leaf had introduced but I guess that’s the old man in me and my own person interests.

Thanks everyone (re: adding more solar/a battery to my existing array).  I couldn’t even make the smallest battery work payback wise so have gone for a small investment of a solar diverter.  I think it suits our situation (limited excess, FIT so no further exporting, plug and forget) nicely and I’ve gone for a more expensive one (Eddi) almost purely to be able to report on whether I reach payback in a reasonable period.

@Multi21.  Yeah, me too.  It feels like an arms race where through education and infrastructure we should be going towards lighter smaller battery cars with focus on miles per kw.  And don’t get me started on “ludicrous mode”! :)