Second opinion on PV/Battery quote

Officer_Dibble

Hi Risingsun - the rogue apostrophes tell me that's a Light Renewables quote. Or perhaps I should say Light Renewable's.

They installed a very similar system for us a month ago (the SPH4000 will actually be a SPH3600, but they won't bother telling you before installing). It's all up and running very nicely, the inverter seems to behave pretty sensibly and switch quite quickly. The app isn't the greatest, but most of the info you need's there most of the time.

Mark's over-optomistic projections for the savings from the iBoost are nonsensical. I fitted a smart fused spur for the thermostat instead, which is programmed to switch on at lunchtime if it's sunny. A bit crude but a lot cheaper, and the life expectancy of iBoosts doesn't seem good. The "emergency power back up supply" is just the EPS output from the inverter, which they don't wire up to anything.

On the positive side they're cheap and can fit quickly. I was foolishly bounced into settling the bill over the phone before the paperwork was completed. Don't under any circumstances do that. They just disappear - very unprofessional. I dread to think what they'll be like if any work's needed under guarantee. Don't trust their "surveyor" if  you're in doubt about anything. The one who did our survey was the electrician - the roofers knew as soon as they arrived that the panels wouldn't fit. The electrician also left the central heating controller blown up and a nice dent in the fridge. Otherwise satisfactory.

QrizB

Solarchaser said:

ggmf said:

Despite limited shading, I'd still look at Tigo TS4-O's and cloud, say TS4-O's are around £40 each plus cloud for £200'ish.

Added advantage is reporting, you can quickly see if you have a panel problem. The Growatt will be able to show if you have a problem with a string but not which panel(s). I'm sure somebody will be along shortly advising that you stay clear of Growattt and anything Chinese. Early days and I've not had a problem with the Growatt inverter or battery, the Growatt reporting is a bit pants though.

As advised, I'm along to tell you to avoid growatt, not Chinese inverters encompassing all.
I have lux Chinese inverters and they are good.
I've had growatt, id avoid growatt.

I can't speak for Growatt's hybrid inveters but I've got a second-hand one of their 1000-S minis here on my toy array and it's been working fine for a year now.

I'm not using the reporting so can't comment on that (I haven't yet bothered to buy the dongle).

MikeHEQA

I would be inclined to add more to the South roof, 6 front 4 East roof.  I have no shading issues so left out the tigo optimisers saving the £600, but added an iBoost + and an  iBoost Buddy (located downstairs hall wall next to Nest Thermostat, very informative device showing all generation of Solar and import eg when boiling a kettle and also when charging the EV at 7kw, at a glance instead of looking at various apps and can locate anywhere in house showing all details for iBoost+ (situated in upstairs airing cupboard only looked at it when installed), for guarantee to comply for warranty, to be installed within 3m of hot water tank... read the install instructions if more distant warranty void; made a good saving on Gas on hot water  

I went for the Solax X1 Boost 3.6kW inverter, not Hybrid one with same name, so that next year will add Solax AC 3.6 inverter and pylontech or Solax battery(s) to it.  Solax App and web portal online GUI is good but like most solar inverters updates every 5 mins... Depending where you are try UPS Solar for a quote.

RisingSun86

Officer_Dibble said:

Hi Risingsun - the rogue apostrophes tell me that's a Light Renewables quote. Or perhaps I should say Light Renewable's.

They installed a very similar system for us a month ago (the SPH4000 will actually be a SPH3600, but they won't bother telling you before installing). It's all up and running very nicely, the inverter seems to behave pretty sensibly and switch quite quickly. The app isn't the greatest, but most of the info you need's there most of the time.

Mark's over-optomistic projections for the savings from the iBoost are nonsensical. I fitted a smart fused spur for the thermostat instead, which is programmed to switch on at lunchtime if it's sunny. A bit crude but a lot cheaper, and the life expectancy of iBoosts doesn't seem good. The "emergency power back up supply" is just the EPS output from the inverter, which they don't wire up to anything.

On the positive side they're cheap and can fit quickly. I was foolishly bounced into settling the bill over the phone before the paperwork was completed. Don't under any circumstances do that. They just disappear - very unprofessional. I dread to think what they'll be like if any work's needed under guarantee. Don't trust their "surveyor" if  you're in doubt about anything. The one who did our survey was the electrician - the roofers knew as soon as they arrived that the panels wouldn't fit. The electrician also left the central heating controller blown up and a nice dent in the fridge. Otherwise satisfactory.

Thanks for this, and you’re right as to who it is!

I had to ask for the Iboost, they didn’t offer me it and didn’t receive and projections on that particular item. I don’t trust half the projections I receive from these companies anyway. 

I don’t really understand what’s needed on the paperwork. I got the impression I’ll be needing to do this myself as I was told I’d need to supply bank details etc. Maybe this is the SEG form though and they’ll handle the G98. I’ll be sure to take your advice regarding final payment, thanks!

Curious as to how they’d dent your fridge lol!

I can’t say good enough things about these guys at this stage. Hopefully the good service continues at surveyor and install stages!

Solarchaser

QrizB said:

Solarchaser said:

ggmf said:

Despite limited shading, I'd still look at Tigo TS4-O's and cloud, say TS4-O's are around £40 each plus cloud for £200'ish.

Added advantage is reporting, you can quickly see if you have a panel problem. The Growatt will be able to show if you have a problem with a string but not which panel(s). I'm sure somebody will be along shortly advising that you stay clear of Growattt and anything Chinese. Early days and I've not had a problem with the Growatt inverter or battery, the Growatt reporting is a bit pants though.

As advised, I'm along to tell you to avoid growatt, not Chinese inverters encompassing all.
I have lux Chinese inverters and they are good.
I've had growatt, id avoid growatt.

I can't speak for Growatt's hybrid inveters but I've got a second-hand one of their 1000-S minis here on my toy array and it's been working fine for a year now.

I'm not using the reporting so can't comment on that (I haven't yet bothered to buy the dongle).

Pretty sure I have a dongle somewhere, useless to me, yours if you want it.

SteveI99

Solarchaser if not wanted more than willing to buy from you if name price 

thanks

Officer_Dibble

Rising Sun - the fridge dent was because the fuse box is above the fridge. He carefully borrowed a towel and propped his ladder against a unit when I was watching. Later in the day when I wasn't there he was less careful - ladder against the fridge door. The world hasn't ended, just very careless. Yes, they're a nice bunch until they've got the money and stop taking an interest! No real regret about using them - I'd still be waiting for installation and paying much more with anyone else.

Officer_Dibble

Oh, and the iBoost - won't it fight with the battery? Assuming you usually use gas CH to heat the tank, you don't want to end up with a tank full of hot water thanks to the iBoost but not enough in the battery to get you through the night. That's why I went with the smart spur - a tankful of hot water if it's a sunny day, but doesn't switch on if it cloudy. If it's somewhere in between I can give it a manual boost if I want.

Solarchaser

Solarchaser said:

QrizB said:

Solarchaser said:

ggmf said:

Despite limited shading, I'd still look at Tigo TS4-O's and cloud, say TS4-O's are around £40 each plus cloud for £200'ish.

Added advantage is reporting, you can quickly see if you have a panel problem. The Growatt will be able to show if you have a problem with a string but not which panel(s). I'm sure somebody will be along shortly advising that you stay clear of Growattt and anything Chinese. Early days and I've not had a problem with the Growatt inverter or battery, the Growatt reporting is a bit pants though.

As advised, I'm along to tell you to avoid growatt, not Chinese inverters encompassing all.
I have lux Chinese inverters and they are good.
I've had growatt, id avoid growatt.

I can't speak for Growatt's hybrid inveters but I've got a second-hand one of their 1000-S minis here on my toy array and it's been working fine for a year now.

I'm not using the reporting so can't comment on that (I haven't yet bothered to buy the dongle).

Pretty sure I have a dongle somewhere, useless to me, yours if you want it.

Apologies,  now I've searched for it its an sp-ct not a shinelink dongle as I thought. 
A wireless ct that talks to the inverter.
Not an sph inverter though, hence why it was no good to me

QrizB

Solarchaser said:

Solarchaser said:

QrizB said:

I can't speak for Growatt's hybrid inveters but I've got a second-hand one of their 1000-S minis here on my toy array and it's been working fine for a year now.

I'm not using the reporting so can't comment on that (I haven't yet bothered to buy the dongle).

Pretty sure I have a dongle somewhere, useless to me, yours if you want it.

Apologies,  now I've searched for it its an sp-ct not a shinelink dongle as I thought. 
A wireless ct that talks to the inverter.
Not an sph inverter though, hence why it was no good to me

No worries, there might be someone else that needs one of those!