So now I have a solar PV system how do I make the most of it???

themaverick1953

TV 2 hrs 2 pc computers till 9pm then bed.

tomkaier

Your inverter should be able to give a graph on where the battery power went overnight - then you can triangulate what the likely culprit was. Unless your 2 PCs are some water-cooled maxxed out monsters, I wouldn't expect them to drain your battery in 2 hours.

themaverick1953

I have a FoxESS website readout and an app but all I can find is the battery in % so have emailed the installeres Green Buildings Renewables.

orrery

If you are on Octopus, then the bill or the portal should give you a graph by 30 minute slots.

My background is about 8kWh if the house is unoccupied, and 15kWh if we are at home - all without any solar contribution.

themaverick1953

I'm with EON.

themaverick1953

orrery said:

If you are on Octopus, then the bill or the portal should give you a graph by 30 minute slots.

My background is about 8kWh if the house is unoccupied, and 15kWh if we are at home - all without any solar contribution.

So 8000 watts cf my 300?

orrery

themaverick1953 said:

orrery said:

If you are on Octopus, then the bill or the portal should give you a graph by 30 minute slots.

My background is about 8kWh if the house is unoccupied, and 15kWh if we are at home - all without any solar contribution.

So 8000 watts cf my 300?

No. kWh, not kW. Maybe I should have added "per 24 hours".

8kWh over 24 hours would be an average of 333 watts, but these things don't average well. for example: I have x4 fridge/freezers and they will use more power during a hot daytime than in the middle of a cool night. Sometimes all 4 will be on at the same time, sometimes none will be on. That's before I try to factor in whether I'm generating with solar.

In reality, I had to look at Octopus bills for the middle of December and January at times I knew I was away, and look for days when there was minimal solar.

shavy65

Making use of an Air Fryer to avoid using the oven seems an obvious way to lower energy usage and make use of Solar generation without importing extra from the grid, is this common practice here?
I just bought one, think max power is 1700 watts Vs oven of prob > 3000 watts, tried it today for the first time, cooks in half as long as oven and runs off half the power....no brainer? 

glaciotim

Hello!

Completely new here but...

Have just had 10 solar panel installed on our house free of charge through a government scheme. Part of the deal is that the energy can't be sold back to the grid, it is jsut returned (fair enough of course). I was just wondering, what is the best way to make the most of this. I was considering buying a battery, as obviously at the moment it's only useful during the day when they're producing. We've been trying to use high energy appliances during these periods, but it's also really hard to tell how much the panels are producing, there's a very basic interface which tells us cumulative kWh produces, and has IMP or EXP (??).

Should we just carry on with what we have - if so is there a better way to visualise when we can use the energy, or purchase a small battery to store and use the energy - if so, any recommendations??

Any help welcome!

tomkaier

I’d strongly recommend installing a battery. You’d have to provide us with some more info on size of your house and baseline need (daily or annual kWh) to give a specific recommendation. We have a 3-bed semi, annual usage around 3200 kWh, 10x 405W panels and 9.5 kWh battery. Works well for us and so far very rarely ran out of battery/PV solar generated electricity. Since install (late July, but export tarrif only since late august) we have exported 50 kWh, imported 12. Rest all from battery.