DIY solar install

[solking344]

Hi Everyone.
New to this forum, has anyone had any experience of using HDM solar in Yorkshire?

I'm considering one of their complete DIY kits and an comfortable getting up on my roof to fit and my local merchant has all the necessary isolators, Im planning on getting a sparky friend to "plug it all in"

It seems they use Renusol Mountings? What is everyone's experience of these, are they easy to fit?

I have standard pantile tiles, so think I need the R420180 roof hook?

Ive heard JA solar are a reputable brand, has anyone had any issues with JA ?
Same with Growatt?

Realistically, how much power will a 4kw system produce on a cloudy winters day, I'm think of upsizing it to ensure I'm covered...

Sorry for all the questions

 

[Murdoch]

Realistically on bad weather days your PV production could be almost zero

 

[johnb2713]

Hi Everyone.
New to this forum, has anyone had any experience of using HDM solar in Yorkshire?

I'm considering one of their complete DIY kits and an comfortable getting up on my roof to fit and my local merchant has all the necessary isolators, Im planning on getting a sparky friend to "plug it all in"

It seems they use Renusol Mountings? What is everyone's experience of these, are they easy to fit?

I have standard pantile tiles, so think I need the R420180 roof hook?

Ive heard JA solar are a reputable brand, has anyone had any issues with JA ?
Same with Growatt?

Realistically, how much power will a 4kw system produce on a cloudy winters day, I'm think of upsizing it to ensure I'm covered...

Sorry for all the questions

Assume zero, mine (7kW panels and Growatt SPH6000 inverter usually manages to cover the house base load of 500w but thats all. I suspect as the sun gets lower and we head into winter it wont cope at all. I do have a battery on my system which gets charged by solar during the day and off peak at night, I'm expanding the battery from the current 7kWh to 21kWh before winter.

A point to note, if do a DIY install you have zero chance of exporting to grid without an MCS sign off and you wont get an MCS sign off without them planning, supplying and installing the system.

 

[Murdoch]

This is my 4kw output for January this year. I haven’t got batteries but I do have an immersion diverter.

We need about 300 w per hour to cover our background usage

 

[johnb2713]

This is my 4kw output for January this year. I haven’t got batteries but I do have an immersion diverter.

We need about 300 w per hour to cover our background usage

View attachment 14108

So it only makes about half of your base load in January?

 

[Mrjmegson]

Your "base load" is 7.2kwh? That's massive, our entire house usage is only 8kwh.

Have you got fish tanks and electric under floor heating ect?

Solking, it massively depends on so many things, your location, shading, roof pitch, roof orientation, etc, no two will be alike.

Use this website to give yourself a good idea of what to expect.

https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/
But I'd say batteries are an essential, and the more the merrier. I'm going for 40kwh of batteries, in the hope that we can fully charge them on bright days and then sip from them on the full days, hoping that they get us through to the next bright day.

 

[johnb2713]

But I'd say batteries are an essential, and the more the merrier. I'm going for 40kwh of batteries, in the hope that we can fully charge them on bright days and then sip from them on the full days, hoping that they get us through to the next bright day.

Batteries are essential I agree, 40 kWh thats huge! What size Solar PV do you have?

 

[Mrjmegson]

It's going to be an on both roofs, facing east and west, each with 6.4kw of panels.

The idea was to have installed them before summer so the batteries could have got juiced up, but obviously I've missed the boat with that, so I don't expect the batteries will get full until next summer now.

 

[Murdoch]

I think people expect too much from battery systems

I guess it depends on the average usage per day but I would expect batteries in the winter to regularly be empty

 

[johnb2713]

It's going to be an on both roofs, facing east and west, each with 6.4kw of panels.

The idea was to have installed them before summer so the batteries could have got juiced up, but obviously I've missed the boat with that, so I don't expect the batteries will get full until next summer now.

Good luck with that, I would have thought it was a big ask to get that battery charged from solar on anything other than perfect conditions.
I would suggest you consider an off peak tariff and charge from the grid in the depths of winter.

 

[Mrjmegson]

You can't get off peak tarrifs now, no one will let you change to them.

The idea is that they charge up in the summer, and as we only use 8kwh a day, we only take small amounts from them each day, say 4kwh, and the rest from solar. That would give us 10 days of shit weather, in which we are bound to have a bright day before then run down.

If not, no worries, it's still a lot better than without them.

 

[johnb2713]

40kWh is a HUGE investment.

 

[Mrjmegson]

Yeh, £13.5k, but while I've got the money (profit from a house sale) I might as well make good use of it.

Everyone talks about payback, but I see this as free money, so don't care about payback.

I'm very lucky.

By the time I've got my A2A heating system the whole thing would have cost £29k.

 

[johnb2713]

A2A is a good way to go, Ive used it for over 30 years here, very efficient, especially the newer units I've just installed over the last 2 years.

That sounds a very good price for a 40kWh battery, well done that man!

 

[Mrjmegson]

Cheers John, thank you.

The batteries are the Pylontech US5000 from ITS technologies, they are £1600 (and some change) each.

Don't want to hijack this thread, but I'd love to know more about your A2A, can I start another thread on it to ask you lots of questions? Lol

 

[Ucatchmydrift]

You can't get off peak tarrifs now, no one will let you change to them.

The idea is that they charge up in the summer, and as we only use 8kwh a day, we only take small amounts from them each day, say 4kwh, and the rest from solar. That would give us 10 days of shit weather, in which we are bound to have a bright day before then run down.

If not, no worries, it's still a lot better than without them.

Unless things have changed in the last week or two, i spoke to octopus energy a few weeks back and you can still go onto their go or agile tarrifs? - cant remember which now, but one of them was/is 7.5p kw/h from 12:00-4:00am for EV customers. Accept, they dont ask for proof that you own an ev car, so i will be using it to charge a battery bank in winter or when needed. You need a gen2 smart meter though, which im booked in for in october. I dont have grid tie, completely off grid with pass through inverter.

 

[Mrjmegson]

When I last asked, a while ago now, they said they aren't accepting any new customers, and the off peak rate had just changed to be EV owners only. I assumed they would require proof of at least a charger fitted, if not car ownership, so took it no further.

 

[Ucatchmydrift]

When I last asked, a while ago now, they said they aren't accepting any new customers, and the off peak rate had just changed to be EV owners only. I assumed they would require proof of at least a charger fitted, if not car ownership, so took it no further.

Maybe they have recently changed to not accepting new customers, but they didnt mention that to me (probably a month ago now). He did say to me on the phone that it is "a bit of a loophole" in the rules, that they dont check or ask for proof of an ev car. I said to him i just need it to charge batteries and he said there is nothing to stop me doing that.. He seemed like he knew what he was talking about, but cant confirm 100%, ill call them again next week, see if they are accepting new customers stil..

 

[Ucatchmydrift]

Its still listed on their website etc, seems like you have to call them to switch though.. Id have thought that they would have listed it as unnavailable if it was not, like edf who have stopped theirs, at liest for new customers.

 

[Mrjmegson]

Sounds like they've started taking new customers on again then, I'll have to look into it.

Cheers guys.