My solar setup

[anonym0us]

So I've curently got 8 solar panels. Realistically, my aim isn't to "prep" but rather to be as self sufficient as possible if needed.

I'll be upgrading however to :
A 16 panel setup in total
16 kW worth of batteries
A gateway

It'll be the Sigenergy setup. Part of the attraction here is the modularity of the batteries. If in theory, I need 10 kWh a day for general electricity usage, and say 30 kWh of heat energy on the coldest days of winter, and if battery prices come down a lot, I could add more as and when needed . Realistically for three days of powercuts in the winter, I'd need a whopping 120kWh of power assuming I bought a heat pump too

This DC charger also seems very cool. I don't yet have an EV, but bidirectional charging is a plus even if it's not yet supported by NESO

https://www.sigenergy.com/en/products/dc-charger

Though for now, batteries are kinda pricey, so it makes sense that we should perhaps use a camping stove for cooking in the event of a powercut, not so much in the summer but in the winter for sure

I've noticed that when I was cooking on the induction hob, I was *still* exporting to the grid even with the induction hob at full power which is honestly amazing

The other attraction is that because this has an EPS (just like the GivEnergy gateway), it means that solar continues to work even in the event of a powercut and a 0ms switchover is impressive.

Though I reckon it's probably switching in the picoseconds but that's not enough time for any electrical circuits to realise that power has even switched from AC to DC

[tarmactatt]

Not sure what you aim for this thread to be about, are you asking a question?

What you "need" is subjective, I suspect 120kWh is your normal winter usage figure, rather than bare minimum.

Keep in mind, if your house is lit up like a Christmas tree, while the rest of the street is in darkness, you are painting a big target on your back for times of social unrest/spiteful vandalism etc.

One other initial thought- I assume these gateways/batteries are Chinese? Given they're likely connected to the web, how much information do they communicate back to the servers which I assume are in China? What is the security like to prevent hacking or provision of regular security patches?

[Snowhunter]

One other initial thought- I assume these gateways/batteries are Chinese? Given they're likely connected to the web, how much information do they communicate back to the servers which I assume are in China? What is the security like to prevent hacking or provision of regular security patches?

Some very good points here, especially given Chinese made solar inverters in the US have been found to contain communication devices which could potentially be used to remotely turn off the inverters, or even damage the grid. https://dailysceptic.org/2025/05/15/chi ... lar-farms/

My solar set up is the only sort I would consider having- seperate components (batteries, charge controllers, inverter, battery management system) none of which are connected to the web. All over-specced for the use they will get.

There is built in redundancy, if the charge controllers fail I can easily top up with a generator, if the inverter fails I can still live comfortably on 12v, if any of the batteries or individual cells fail I can reconfigure them to get things working again. I wouldn't touch any 'all in one' system, or one which needs an internet connection or needs any kind of software updates for these reasons.

[anonym0us]

Not sure what you aim for this thread to be about, are you asking a question?

What you "need" is subjective, I suspect 120kWh is your normal winter usage figure, rather than bare minimum.

Keep in mind, if your house is lit up like a Christmas tree, while the rest of the street is in darkness, you are painting a big target on your back for times of social unrest/spiteful vandalism etc.

One other initial thought- I assume these gateways/batteries are Chinese? Given they're likely connected to the web, how much information do they communicate back to the servers which I assume are in China? What is the security like to prevent hacking or provision of regular security patches?

Tbh it's less me asking questions but rather me mentioning what equipment I have in case others want to do similar.

The Sig isn't necessarily the only option too. Prior to Sig, I was looking at GivEnergy

Though yes these are Chinese. I could VLAN them off should I want to anyway. Though tbh there's so many American devices spying on us too

As an aside, I live in a very safe area where parcels have been left outside for hours and nobody has taken them for instance.

I should have said it required 120 kWh in winter for heat energy but in a heat pump, that's around 30 kWh so as battery prices drop, I reckon I could add more capacity too

But yes that's the nominal usage in winter too

The other advantage of Sigenergy is their bidirectional 25 kW charger for EVs. Nobody else does that