Solar panel survey visit - questions to ask.

Alnat1

They sound like standard warranty periods, I got the same with my system. I can also understand that they cannot guarantee certain brands at the moment. 

I'd say it's probably a little pricey but not stupidly high. The market is what it is, and installers get to charge a bit more now. The system sounds fine for a household using around 3000-4000kWh/yr, some excess generation in summer, a bit from the grid over winter. Get too much on the roof or too much battery and ROI goes over 10 years.

Astria

Bod_1234 said:

powerful_Rogue said:

Not really an amazing quote. What do they mean by Tier1 panels? Have they not told you the brand? What's the warranty on the panels and the inverter?

Warranties: 12 Year Panel Product Warranty, 25 Year Panel Performance Warranty, 10 Year Inverter Product Warranty, 10 Year Battery Product Warranty

Usually they told me they stated exact panel, however due to the current market conditions, they will only state Tier 1, which is from a well established manufacturer with efficiency in excess of 20%

That sounds to me like "Whatever we can get our hands on", I would be wanting to know the exact make and model before they decided to fit them, even if it meant having to wait for the delivery, considering how much you are going to be shelling out.

Bod_1234

Astria said:

That sounds to me like "Whatever we can get our hands on", I would be wanting to know the exact make and model before they decided to fit them, even if it meant having to wait for the delivery, considering how much you are going to be shelling out.

It's exactly whatever we can get our hands on.  That is where the market is globally at the moment. Being honest about this is better than promising unobtanium.

I'm happy with tier 1 labels, which was all from reputable manufacturers, made in the same way, likely from the same factories, graded the same way and have very similar efficiency.

Thanks all for the replies, I had some useful questions prepared and feel I know alot more about PV.

I have created a new thread in the other forum to continue my search for the right quote..

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6397568/getting-initial-pv-quotes#latest

diyeco

When i did a supply for a family member (for off-grid) the batteries went in a concrete bunker with airflow from wall vents, in the double garage, the inverter went on the wall (with nothing flammable in range), and an electrical fire suppression system.

I'm not aware of any particular fire risks from inverters/batteries, ours are in the integral garage, many have them in the loft. 

I advised our household insurance company when we had the solar/battery installed and they advised there was no change in our premium. If there was such a great fire risk, I'm sure we would be paying more?

Re Li Battery Safety, suggest a read of (cannot post links yet so rebuild it!)

https://  drive.google.com/file/d/1LtUSyXkNc4Ab5Eh2SsyGj0o-w3zRkiV6/view

I do not know enough to advise, but my DIY PV / Li battery installation has the Li batteries a few metres from a building, and in 3"-4" concrete lined boxes.  When a Li battery "goes off", I think it is largely inextinguishable - the fire brigade just wait / try to drag it away.

The article relates to Aus/NZ, who it seems are a few years ahead of us in laws / insurance experience.

Astria

Bod_1234 said:

Astria said:

That sounds to me like "Whatever we can get our hands on", I would be wanting to know the exact make and model before they decided to fit them, even if it meant having to wait for the delivery, considering how much you are going to be shelling out.

It's exactly whatever we can get our hands on.  That is where the market is globally at the moment. Being honest about this is better than promising unobtanium.

What I meant was that when I was looking for solar panels, they actually said to me "We now have some X make panels in, please see attached details, if you want them we'll allocate them to your job, else we'll allocate them to someone else". I said they were fine and they installed them. So I knew what I was getting rather than just turning up with random panels.
To be honest, all they did was install the panels on the roof, they were left unconnected as I said I wanted to do the rest. Maybe I'm a special case

[Deleted User]

diyeco said:

When i did a supply for a family member (for off-grid) the batteries went in a concrete bunker with airflow from wall vents, in the double garage, the inverter went on the wall (with nothing flammable in range), and an electrical fire suppression system.

I'm not aware of any particular fire risks from inverters/batteries, ours are in the integral garage, many have them in the loft. 

I advised our household insurance company when we had the solar/battery installed and they advised there was no change in our premium. If there was such a great fire risk, I'm sure we would be paying more?

Re Li Battery Safety, suggest a read of (cannot post links yet so rebuild it!)

https://  drive.google.com/file/d/1LtUSyXkNc4Ab5Eh2SsyGj0o-w3zRkiV6/view

I do not know enough to advise, but my DIY PV / Li battery installation has the Li batteries a few metres from a building, and in 3"-4" concrete lined boxes.  When a Li battery "goes off", I think it is largely inextinguishable - the fire brigade just wait / try to drag it away.

The article relates to Aus/NZ, who it seems are a few years ahead of us in laws / insurance experience.

You don't know enough to advise, but have a DIY Li-ion battery system?

Wow.

And S.Korea is the place to look rather than Aus/NZ.

diyeco

You don't know enough to advise, but have a DIY Li-ion battery system?
Wow

It might be others say I can advise, but I find these forums have lots of strong opinions on what is good / bad, and I don't want to be seen as one of them.  You for instance seem well qualified, aware of the risks (you started this aspect), so I was aiming to support your view with that article I had been passed.

My "DIY" system has 13 Canadian Solar panels, 2 VW ID3 Li Battery modules with 3rd party BMS, 2 Victron inverters and Victron MPPTs.  More than happy how it works, always open to advice (hence the concrete boxes), but it's a big step from being happy in "my" system for me, to advocating it for others.  That was my point 

Coffeekup

Ohh good thread, seen some comments here I've ot seem elsewhere, nice one guy's.. bookmarked for future reference.