Help on Solar Panels Quote

Hexane

Screwdriva said:

love.sale said:

I did ask for solaredge battery but he says that growat is pretty good so we got pretty confused. 

 
Also if i get 14 or 16 panels do we need bigger inverter. Right now he said he will put 3.6Kwh?  

If you go for 14+ panels, you should get a larger inverter, ideally a 4kWh. 

??? With 14 x 400W panels at maximum output, that would be used up in less than 45 minutes!

Hexane

Personally I would be going for OPTION 2 on the grounds of - if you have the roof space, use it.

ecraig

love.sale said:

ecraig said:

We had light renewables do our installation. 12 panels with the optimisers. Same panels, same ac dc stuff and the same battery. Price was virtually the same but we didn't have the iboost but had 12 panels vs 10.
Really happy with the equipment, quality, neatness and speed of installation.
If you want 14 panels, ask for 14. It will probably be around £1200 more.
Half the companies we contacted suggested optimisers. Half said not. I'm glad we did for the insurance of future shading as trees do grow..! 

You had same battery? How is the performance? 

Also in how many days you received your MSE certificate? 

Battery is great! Typically By 11.30am to 1.30pm its upto 100% charged.
At 5pm when it's dusky the battery kicks in.
By 9am its around 30% full.

So in that time over evening/night/early morning we typically have lots of lights on, a big TV, the oven, kettle, coffee machine, washing machine, 10.5kwh electric shower. 

We haven't really changed how much energy we use but now are more careful like we do the washer/dryer. Wait for it to finish. Then the dishwasher etc.
SE battery is huge just so you know. Doubt you'll get that in your loft. Growatt battery is smaller and easier to handle. I have no Regrets about having the growatt battery vs the other quotes I received (teala, fox, giv, that funny brand that looks like a small server). 
I will post a pic of our install so you can assess how neat they are.

Mcs cert arrived 1 business day after installation. Within a week I also got some insurance certificate and building control certificate. Napit stuff.
More paperwork than I expected. They are a professional outfit. 
G98 not arrived yet but apparently they are slow anyway. 

And its a rained a lot since installation, and my roof hasn't leaked, so that's awesome too! 

I do 100% rate them. Happy to answer any more questions you might have.



Update at 7.12 on 14/09.
Just checked and have 51% left on the battery. Must have not been so energy demanding last night.
But the washing machine is on right now.. 

love.sale

Screwdriva said:

love.sale said:

I did ask for solaredge battery but he says that growat is pretty good so we got pretty confused. 

 
Also if i get 14 or 16 panels do we need bigger inverter. Right now he said he will put 3.6Kwh?  

SolarEdge is a better company to deal with - I would insist on their battery if I were you. The reasons installers recommend Growatt is higher margin, lower price and higher availability. But you should always chose a brand with good warranty support and seamless integration (with their own inverter). 

If you go for 14+ panels, you should get a larger inverter, ideally a 4kWh. But if you go with 12 panels, you can stay with the SolarEdge 3.68 inverter and G98. 

If I was installing a hot water diverter, I would only go with MyEnergi's Eddi because it integrates very well with their Zappi EV charger and their app is amazing! 

ecraig said:

We had light renewables do our installation. 12 panels with the optimisers. Same panels, same ac dc stuff and the same battery. Price was virtually the same but we didn't have the iboost but had 12 panels vs 10.
Really happy with the equipment, quality, neatness and speed of installation.
If you want 14 panels, ask for 14. It will probably be around £1200 more.
Half the companies we contacted suggested optimisers. Half said not. I'm glad we did for the insurance of future shading as trees do grow..! 

Great news! Glad it worked out for you Craig! 

Thanks alot for all your suggestions. I will have a chat with him now. Do they install MyEnergi's Eddi for hot water? 

Screwdriva

love.sale said:

Thanks alot for all your suggestions. I will have a chat with him now. Do they install MyEnergi's Eddi for hot water? 

I'm not sure but don't be put off if they don't. Many do. It can always be added later by anyone and its relatively straightforward.

Waywardmike

There is one pro to going with the AC coupled inverter (Growatt or other) that no one seems to talk about.

On a sunny day in the middle few hours of the day, I don't have to stagger any of my appliance usage.  My PV will kick out 3kW+ (4kw panels/3.68 inverter) and my AC inverter/battery will kick out 3.2kW at max.  I can load the house with 6Kw+ before I'm drawing from the grid.

I fitted a battery to a legacy system but even if I was starting from scratch I don't think I would go hybrid.  More equipment to fail though.

Screwdriva

Waywardmike said:

There is one pro to going with the AC coupled inverter (Growatt or other) that no one seems to talk about.

A Powerwall will handle 5.7 kW I believe?

Harry1986

ecraig said:

We had light renewables do our installation. 12 panels with the optimisers. Same panels, same ac dc stuff and the same battery. Price was virtually the same but we didn't have the iboost but had 12 panels vs 10.
Really happy with the equipment, quality, neatness and speed of installation.
If you want 14 panels, ask for 14. It will probably be around £1200 more.
Half the companies we contacted suggested optimisers. Half said not. I'm glad we did for the insurance of future shading as trees do grow..! 

I am having installation done soon by them.
do you mind sharing how their installation works? Like scaffolding, time etc 

ecraig

Harry1986 said:

ecraig said:

We had light renewables do our installation. 12 panels with the optimisers. Same panels, same ac dc stuff and the same battery. Price was virtually the same but we didn't have the iboost but had 12 panels vs 10.
Really happy with the equipment, quality, neatness and speed of installation.
If you want 14 panels, ask for 14. It will probably be around £1200 more.
Half the companies we contacted suggested optimisers. Half said not. I'm glad we did for the insurance of future shading as trees do grow..! 

I am having installation done soon by them.
do you mind sharing how their installation works? Like scaffolding, time etc 

Straightforward, no nonsense approach. Maybe our house setting was simple.
They done 2 installs in the area on my install day. I was the afternoon Job. 

Took between 7 to 8 hours 'start to finish'. 

Nothing was delivered in advance.

Daryl, Mike and an electrician (matt, I think) came in the morning to drop off a bunch of boxes and to clarify with me where the panels were going and to clarify where the external wires go. The electrician checked the loft etc. All of this was already discussed at survey, so no new surprises.

Afternoon arrives and 3 roofers come with the panels and battery in the van. No scaffs used for ours. Just ladders.
I guess they would otherwise spend 4 hours putting up and down a platform tower.

Then they make a whole load of noise and put the panels up. Avoid Teams calls when the roofers are there! Maybe spent 1.5 hrs each side of the roof, so 3 hours on the roof fitting the rails, optimisers (which are huge), wires and panels. Very kind and courteous guys. 

They done the job well, kindly asked to use the loo, and asked for us when they wanted to show us what they had done and check if we were happy.

Then electricians, wire runners, people, Daryl come whilst they are here, and do all the fuse board, external wiring, and loft stuff/inverter/battery stuff. They just get on with it, don't faff around. They took good time to build a rapport and demonstrate the equipment/apps. 

In all I think I saw 8 different people, all of whom were professional and courteous and kind. I regularly offered drinks but they came prepared. 

Installation finished at around 7.15pm I guess. Maybe 7.30pm.

No solar production as it was too dark, and I didnt see any solar production happen till around 10.30am the following morning (Saturday). But I think that's the time when the solaredge was activated

Invoice followed on the next working day. I paid it that day in full and got paperwork extremely fast. G98 pending.

All in all, very easy. You're in safe hands. 

Officer_Dibble

They've got a couple of new guys in the office at Light Renewables who seem to be on the ball and catching up with the old missing paperwork. I still wouldn't pay in full before getting the paperwork through though. My installation with them back in March wasn't quite as straightforward (the "survey" suggested 12 panels would fit where they were never going to fit) but it was still more or less sorted within the day.