Considering going ahead with a quote

EricMears

As a general rule, if company A is unprofessional enough to slag off company B then A is best avoided (and try and find an alternative to B as well).

Alstrada

Hi, I'm very keen to add a battery to my setup within 6 months if they're reasonably priced and available.
I'm just a wondering the best way to avoid the need for an additional invertor to change the current,
I'm still considering micro invertors, the company with a good quote an the monocrystilene panels seems to prefer them

zeupater

Alstrada wrote: »

Hi, I'm very keen to add a battery to my setup within 6 months if they're reasonably priced and available.
I'm just a wondering the best way to avoid the need for an additional invertor to change the current,
I'm still considering micro invertors, the company with a good quote an the monocrystilene panels seems to prefer them

Hi

That'll probably be down to improving their margin on the job then ... it's your money so your choice, but remember, you did ask the question and you have received replies which mainly advise against micro-inverters (if they're not necessary) purely on cost/risk grounds ....

Anyway, on the battery front there's no benefit from adding batteries at the moment. The deep cycle batteries which you would need have a limited number of charges in them and (over that lifetime) currently cost more than you would save in imported electricity .... best current advice is to stay clear of batteries for the moment and wait for competition & manufacturing economies of scale to force prices down to a more reasonable level ...

HTH
Z

Alstrada

Thanks for all the replies, I checked the FAQ as well,
Still learning to use this forum,
I'm taking all the advice in, it's very helpful, I think part of the reason I've not ruled out the micro invertors is just the guy was so much better, in and out in less than an hour with no pressure, the exact opposite of the guy from Helms that sat in my house from 16:35-19:59 on Monday evening and put the pressure on big time saying I can believe your not going to sign for it after I've been here all this time,

tunnel

Alstrada wrote: »

the guy from Helms that sat in my house from 16:35-19:59 on Monday evening and put the pressure on big time saying I can believe your not going to sign for it after I've been here all this time,

And I can't believe you are considering buying something that is totally unnecessary, puts 16 pieces of extra kit on your roof....oh and £750 more than a standard SMA inverter or nearly £1k more than a Zeversolar inverter(SMA owned)


Still...your choice, we can only but try to help you save money, you know...the ones NOT trying to make a profit from you!!

Alstrada

I hear you, I can get the same panels with a Solis string invertors for £550 less?
Have you heard of the Solid invertor
Thanks

theboylard

HELMS - a company regularly commented about on here, I like the third one best!:

HELMS 1
HELMS 2
HELMS 3

But as Z, Martyn and Tunnel all say, just because you like the salesman, remember that he is just that, a salesman! He has a personal reason to recommend a more expensive system.

Micro-inveters and power optimisers all have their place in the pv world.
Typically you will pay more for a complex install or need shade management, and will need either of these solutions added to your standard panels and wiring.

If your install is not complex and does not have shade issues, which you've informed us is the case, then why pay more for something which is only going to extend the payback period?

SMA have a good rep with their dual MPPT inverters and would be a good fit with your requirements.

Solis seem to have good kit, but I can't comment about dual MPPT.

To help with understanding the benefits of dual MPPT, have a read of this, all still very valid...
Dual MPPT defined...

tunnel

Take a look on here
You'll see that the enphase micros are around £80 each(16 x £80 is £1280 and yet a solis inverter is only around £400, a difference of £880 but only £550 cheaper......hmmm?

If you need to, when you speak to the salemen, mention swithenbanks and prices, link to it if need be, if they think you know a little more than you're letting on they may have to reconsider their prices, especially as they now know that YOU know how much the kit costs(bear in mind the prices on the site are RETAIL and will come at a discount to tradesmen)

Alstrada

I understand things better now thanks, so unless he's bought a truckload of micro invertors he's willing to give at the same price as the string one, just go with the string and the system will pay itself back quicker

Alstrada

I understand things better now thanks, so unless he's bought a truckload of micro invertors he's willing to give at the same price as the string one, just go with the string and the system will pay itself back quicker