Home battery system

wp1234

Does anyone have any thought on retrofitting a Battery Storage System linked to an existing Solar  Panel system in a home.
I’ve had a letter from ESE group offering a£1000 grant towards such a system  but the advice I’ve had on here is to keep clear of them. 

Does anyone have an alternative supplier of home storage batteries and any idea of the cost of install, is there a grant even available to assist.

Thank you in advance

Verdigris

Don't touch ESE with a bargepole.

Plenty of threads in this forum about batteries which would be worth reading. There aren't any grants for batteries.

If you say which part of the country you are in, it will help with supplier suggestions

QrizB

wp1234 said:

I’ve had a letter from ESE group offering a£1000 grant towards such a system but the advice I’ve had on here is to keep clear of them.

I agree wih Verdigris; steer well clear. Here is the ESE thread.

Does anyone have an alternative supplier of home storage batteries and any idea of the cost of install, is there a grant even available to assist.

Several people here have home batteries, and Lux system almost has a fanclub (see this thread). You could ask the thread regulars - @Solarchaser @mickyduck55 or @EVandPV - for their experience and recommendations.

Solarchaser

Hi. There are several places that sell batteries.
There are also several places that sell inverters.

I'd advise researching the inverter you are interested in, then Google it and see who is selling.

The standard ac inverters (ones not connected to solar) tend to be the sofar me3000sp,  and the lux 3600acs, there is also a GivEnergy offering which is gaining popularity,  and certainly their batteries seem to be a bit cheaper.

In terms of batteries, the most prevalent modular system is the pylontech lion batteries, several users including me have them.
There is an alternative called uhome which has broadly similar specs, however they tend to be more expensive and less... predictable imo.
GivEnergy generally only do batteries to go with their inverters as far as I'm aware.

The other option is create your own, as I believe QrizB is doing, which should save money, but will require more time, effort and potentially risk. 


I've personally had a sofar and a lux and now have parallel lux.
Sofar is a good system, with a 3kw output.
Lux is a slightly better system technically and has a 3.6kw output.

Whatever way you decide to go, batteries are great, but you really need to scrutinise the figures, as its not quite straightforward that you will have a decent roi

Exiled_Tyke

I'm very happy with my Solax battery and inverter. They are popular and have a good reputation but don't get much of mention on here. 

1961Nick

My system has 16.8kWh of storage & a Sofar ME3000 inverter with an output of 3kWh.

The only time during the day that the 3kWh is challenged is while I'm cooking the evening meal. Tonight the oven ran for 45 minutes combined with 6 minutes of microwave use. The total import for that period was 0.34kWh... about 10p. It takes a lot of 10p to justify the cost of dual inverters especially when the longer summer days will cover that excess with a bit of evening solar. During the shortest days the battery pack is probably going to run out before the next off peak period so that cancels out any benefit of a higher output.

To get any significant benefit from dual inverters, you'd need a battery pack with at least 20kWh & obviously a consumption to match. The ROI for me would be at least 30 years.

Timo2020

Curious about LUX inverters....

I've also had the dodgy ESE letter offering £1000 "grant". I tried to find out what they were supplying and a cost, but they insist the approach of sending salesman to your house, just like the old double glazing hard sell companies!
But I did find some resources on the web page that suggests they supply a LUX inverter.
I've never heard of LUX before and can't find any suppliers for this make, which rings alarm bells for me.
Just wondered if anyone has experience of buying or installing in UK.

Solarchaser

Yeah several of us have installed lux ourselves or had them installed.

I'm surprised you couldn't find anyone selling them though.
I put lux inverter into Google and 3rd, 4th and 5th results are uk companies selling them.

Now as it turns out those 3 companies are ran by the same 2 people, but they are the uk reseller for lux, so it's who I bought them from 2 years ago

Tomcat21

I’m writing to ask those who have Solar panels and home batteries if you charge your batteries during off peak times which company do you purchase your energy through.  Thanks 

Magnitio

Tomcat21 said:

I’m writing to ask those who have Solar panels and home batteries if you charge your batteries during off peak times which company do you purchase your energy through.  Thanks 

Octopus. Flux tariff during Summer and Agile in Winter.

Reed_Richards

E.on Next on their Next Drive EV tariff - but I only just got the EV and have not shopped around.  Octopus tariffs seem to give you less time for a bit less per kWh with a "penalty" period of time when you pay more than usual.