Home Solar System

[jennyjj01]

Can't understand the telling your insurance... You don't tell them when you put a new tumble drier in the kitchen or buy a new lamp standard and in the lounge

From what i've read, it could be cited as a material change in risk, should something go wrong. Also, insurers may well regard this as a fixture and fitting. To be honest, this bit of it is all very sketchy at the moment. I bet most insurers wouldn't know what you are talking about, even when this goes through. But they would look for any reason should there be an issue.

It was bad enough years ago trying to declare a towbar on the car with the Indian call centre totally clueless

The European systems look great and are not permanent items... Be interesting with planning as currently legally you've got to jump through hoops to fit Solar panels to anything other than the house roof for some strange reason

I recall, when applying for home insurance there was the question, "Does the home have solar panels installed", but there was no differentiation between one isolated panel on the garage roof, or an all singing all dancing roof full. I might talk to my broker.
Will be looking into the whole G98 and other regs as this comes clearer. Have the government said how much such systems can try to pump into the ring? I wonder what happens if a load
of panels, all brightly lit and capable of over feeding the inverter. Would it just discard excess input energy or would it turn nasty and burn out?

As to planning regs. Maybe radio hams know a few dodges such as making the mounting 'temporary' or mobile.

[jennyjj01]

With these plug in systems, Fred Single-Braincell picks up a Chinese knockoff from Lidl, takes it home and hangs the panels out of the spare room window, from a couple of zip ties. Plugs it into a couple of daisy chained extension cables for good measure. Wind comes up, panels come off and go through the conservatory roof.

Tee Hee, or Maveric Jenny whose small panel array took off in the recent storms and departed the garage roof onto the patio. I Blame MrJJ for not using the right sized zip ties

But seriously..... Yes my 6 foot square array on it's mounting frame was removed by the extreme wind of a recent named storm. Luckily it didn't fly far and just self destructed. The whole array probably weighed about as much as a large man and we were shocked by it's efficiency as a kite.

I'm looking at Replacing the panels with a couple of 450W ones into one of these balcony system inverters. But, hey. We'll bolt this bu66er down well and for a change, we'll get it installed professionally.

I really would never go for anything mounted on the house roof as it's bad enough worrying about tiles blowing off and landing on the car.

I can laugh at my idiocy and won't be insulted if you deride me for it.

[jennyjj01]

Just looking at the fine print relating to this change of legislation.

From what I can work out, any system has to be G98 compliant.
The (strong) recommendation is that the circuit that it is plugged into has to have a Type A RCD.
You need to tell you property insurer that you are using a "BS 7671 Amendment 4 compliant plug-in solar appliance."
You will need to inform your DNO that you have installed a G98 generating device.

I'm itching to get one !
Looking at EcoFlow Stream Microinverter (£100) + a couple of 505W panels from City Plumbing at £78 each.
The EcoFlow Spec seems to say those panels will work and won't overload it.
If any system should meet the new spec, then I guess EcoFlow will.

I'd be a bit peeved by the times during the day where energy gets gifted to the network*. To mitigate that, I'd probably utilise the batteries and inverter from my existing system to drive a freezer, with the batteries charged from off the mains rather than from solar.

To anyone else looking at these grid tied microinverters note that these systems won't pump energy into the home if the grid is down.

* I wonder if my smartmeter would 'grass me up' to my NDO when energy is flowing upstream?

[GeraldTheBonzai]

I'm also looking at Ecoflow - the Stream Max. This comes with an inbuilt (and expandable) battery. It can put 800W into grid tied (your mains) but has a direct, non grid tied output. If the mains go down you can still run devices off of it.

Only thing holding me back is I need an RCD swap plus a spur running into the shed. Need an electrician for that and good sparks are like rocking horse pooh down here. Also got a feeling that the main distribution board is pretty old so not going to be simple to switch the rcd.

One potential gotcha if you just go for the micro inverter. If you then add on a diy battery bank, I suspect it will no longer be regarded as an appliance but an installation, so fall outside of this regulation change.

[jennyjj01]

I'm also looking at Ecoflow - the Stream Max. This comes with an inbuilt (and expandable) battery. It can put 800W into grid tied (your mains) but has a direct, non grid tied output. If the mains go down you can still run devices off of it.

Only thing holding me back is I need an RCD swap plus a spur running into the shed. Need an electrician for that and good sparks are like rocking horse pooh down here. Also got a feeling that the main distribution board is pretty old so not going to be simple to switch the rcd.

One potential gotcha if you just go for the micro inverter. If you then add on a diy battery bank, I suspect it will no longer be regarded as an appliance but an installation, so fall outside of this regulation change.

My primary objective is to have some sort back up power supply that can feed a few essentials in a brief grid down scenario. I already have that courtesy of my existing non-solar system. Batteries on trickle charge from the mains.
In the case of an extended grid down situation, I'd quickly patch my solar panels to my old solar controller, but if grid is mostly up, the panels could pay their way feeding the grid tied inverter.

Meanwhile, I'm looking at proper ballast flat roof mounts. Previously I had insufficient ballast.
I reckon that will be a common problem. I've seen YT vids where panels are just leaned up against a fence.

Did that make sense?

[GeraldTheBonzai]

I'm also looking at Ecoflow - the Stream Max. This comes with an inbuilt (and expandable) battery. It can put 800W into grid tied (your mains) but has a direct, non grid tied output. If the mains go down you can still run devices off of it.

Only thing holding me back is I need an RCD swap plus a spur running into the shed. Need an electrician for that and good sparks are like rocking horse pooh down here. Also got a feeling that the main distribution board is pretty old so not going to be simple to switch the rcd.

One potential gotcha if you just go for the micro inverter. If you then add on a diy battery bank, I suspect it will no longer be regarded as an appliance but an installation, so fall outside of this regulation change.

My primary objective is to have some sort back up power supply that can feed a few essentials in a brief grid down scenario. I already have that courtesy of my existing non-solar system. Batteries on trickle charge from the mains.
In the case of an extended grid down situation, I'd quickly patch my solar panels to my old solar controller, but if grid is mostly up, the panels could pay their way feeding the grid tied inverter.

Meanwhile, I'm looking at proper ballast flat roof mounts. Previously I had insufficient ballast.
I reckon that will be a common problem. I've seen YT vids where panels are just leaned up against a fence.

Did that make sense?

I have essentially a very similar setup for the same reason - keep things going for a short outage. 350W of panels on the shed, renogy rover 40 CC and 2kw inverter in the shed, along with a 280Ah eco-worthy LiFePo4 - everything at 12V. Can run a cable from the shed to conservatory, where we have the fridge and freezer. Also have a smaller system which is the leftover stuff from when I upgraded everything - 2 100Ah AGM with a Rover 20 - no panels at the moment other than a small 50W. I do have another larger 175W panel in storage but its totally different characteristics to the two on the shed, so its going to go into the Rover20. This second rig will stay at 12V and intent is to use it to recharge things like my Ecoflow portable battery plus other 12V/5V stuff. And backup backup is a Champion 2.2Kw genny.

The wish list would be to wire the shed into the mains on a spur, then stick something like the ecoflow stream in the shed. Then switch the main panels into the Ecoflow. We are seriously thinking of moving, so I don't want to go nuts on the current house. Even with a Stream, the whole lot is movable.

[jennyjj01]

Just looking at the fine print relating to this change of legislation.

From what I can work out, any system has to be G98 compliant.
The (strong) recommendation is that the circuit that it is plugged into has to have a Type A RCD.
You need to tell you property insurer that you are using a "BS 7671 Amendment 4 compliant plug-in solar appliance."
You will need to inform your DNO that you have installed a G98 generating device.

A look at the current G98 Form B reveals that it requires the installer to quote his/her accreditation, so currently rules out a Jenny plug and play self install. Also requires some sort of "Manufacturer's Reference Number to established that the kit is complaint.
Hopefully the G98 Form will get revised to allow self install.
I wouldn't want to break any Regs

https://www.enwl.co.uk/globalassets/get ... letion.pdf

The scaredy cat in me would expect a knock on the door the very first moment that my smart meter detects export to the grid.

[GeraldTheBonzai]

Just looking at the fine print relating to this change of legislation.

From what I can work out, any system has to be G98 compliant.
The (strong) recommendation is that the circuit that it is plugged into has to have a Type A RCD.
You need to tell you property insurer that you are using a "BS 7671 Amendment 4 compliant plug-in solar appliance."
You will need to inform your DNO that you have installed a G98 generating device.

I don't think the bureaucracy has caught up yet. The whole intent of the changes is that you will be able to plug it in yourself. Am going to give it a few months.

A look at the current G98 Form B reveals that it requires the installer to quote his/her accreditation, so currently rules out a Jenny plug and play self install. Also requires some sort of "Manufacturer's Reference Number to established that the kit is complaint.
Hopefully the G98 Form will get revised to allow self install.
I wouldn't want to break any Regs

https://www.enwl.co.uk/globalassets/get ... letion.pdf

The scaredy cat in me would expect a knock on the door the very first moment that my smart meter detects export to the grid.

[GillyBee]

The Ecoflow Stream set up does look very interesting. I see that it is possible to set it to never export to the grid using ghe smart meter. In that mode it just cuts the amount of power you have to pay for to the minimum, using the built in battery for when solar isn't doing anything.
The only headache I can see is the actual plug in part - if it does need a spur all to itself, that would be an issue here as renters.
Roll on the law change. Maybe the current energy panic will focus some minds on this?

[jennyjj01]

I don't think the bureaucracy has caught up yet. The whole intent of the changes is that you will be able to plug it in yourself. Am going to give it a few months.

I don't know how long I can resist
The EcoFlow Stream is currently discounted to <£100 on the bay.

I'll be picking up Panels if I see suitable ones online. Just missed some great deals!
CityPlumbing don't have local stock.
I'm resigned to the reality that I'll be gifting most of the free energy to the grid, though I'll keep some big batteries topped up. EcoFlow make some tempting battery offers, but I can't make them cost in.