Plug in solar

tfhnota

Just to note, the cheap panels from cityplumbing for £50 have been out of stock for a while and it is more like £200 delivered for a pair of more expensive panels, so catching up with the kits, albeit better panels.

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81960233#Comment_81960233

Not one of the u-tube people that I have watched are running them have used external sockets. All seem to be run into sheds, garages etc. Which are linked to house wiring.

My plan would be side or roof of garage & into garage power supply which is linked to house.

lohr500

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81959936#Comment_81959936

@TroubledTarts : Thanks for your post.

I was contemplating bring a balcony kit back from Germany when we are there in May, but your comments got me thinking about building a DIY version using UK sourced components.

If anything fails within the warranty period it would be easier to sort out if I buy the items in the UK rather than Germany.

I've looked on the City Plumbing website and see what you mean about prices.

Do you know of a good website for solar newbies to pick up basic assembly tips and do's/don'ts ?

I'm pretty handy when it comes to electrics and mechanics, so putting a kit together doesn't worry me.

What I am not clear on is how the wiring works for the two panels and what cabling I would need to order to connect two panels to the micro inverter. City Plumbing sell an 800W plug and play wi-fi controlled micro-inverter for £94 and it appears to have one DC input.

I appreciate that plug in solar has yet to be approved in the UK so I would be taking a chance.

TroubledTarts

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81960553#Comment_81960553

Hi Lohr,

I too was looking at that one input micro inverter and looking at the hoymiles website that one has a maximum input voltage of 100v so can take two 400w+ panels connected together in series or parallel.

I noticed Hoymiles comes with a 12 years warranty so am tempted to order one for the July delivery timescale they suggest on the city plumbing website.

Sadly it looks like everyone and their dog is snapping up the cheap £50-60 400w panels so if you see any available I suggest grabbing a couple as even the supply at City plumbing has gone now and we were even looking at extending our shed roof collection from 2 to 4.

As for how easy solar panels are to connect there are various kits on Amazon and other places and I expect this to ramp up.depending on what you need. For our shed roof install £12 brackets and some black waterproof sealant.

The rest is plug and play really, watch a video on solar panels in series or parallel to work out voltage, consider if you need longer cables either solar cables or power.

Where would you want to put yours?

Ectophile

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81960061#Comment_81960061

If the government wants to, they can bypass the BSI. British Standards are not law. The government may write regulations that refer to British Standards, or not, as they see fit.

A quick amendment to the Plugs and Sockets Regulations may be all that's actually needed to make plug in solar legal.

lohr500

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81960685#Comment_81960685

I'm thinking I would put them either on the top of our flat roofed garage which has a mains socket inside it, or on the patio in front of the house where I already have a two way waterproof mains socket in place.
Both would give an unrestricted south facing aspect for the panels.

Just a bit reluctant to use the garage roof as it has a rubber waterproof top surface and I am loathed to drill holes through to secure the mounting brackets for the panels.

tfhnota

When buying panels you have to look at its max voltage, add ten percent for winter when it spikes in cold weather and then compare that to the max voltage of the inverter (it will either turn off or burn out if voltage is excessive). You can ask AI on Google or Grok how to pair the panels to match the inverter. they will have different current and voltage depending whether they are in series or parallel. It is also worth getting AI to do the calculation for a non-plug-and-play system in case you want to use the panels with a charge controller, inverter and battery on a separate circuit (not connected to the mains circuit) in case you want to upgrade later on as a lot of the 800w will be lost to the grid in plug-and-play unless they mandate export payments (unlikely). Cheap used panels, if you have transport, are available on FB Marketplace, but you will need three or four of the older ones to get 1000W, so more cabling and supports. If the you buy a pallet-load of new ones I suspect you could make a minor profit reselling any excess (prices are still reasonable in bulk).

TroubledTarts

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81961046#Comment_81961046

You can get solar mounting trays, effectively large plastic trays you fill with stones and gravel to stop the panels taking off in high winds but they are not cheap but could then go on your garage roof or patio.

With the triangular ground mounts you can drill them or use sand bags to keep them from moving so that's probably a slightly cheaper option just for patiom

I can understand not wanting to drill into you garage rubber roof.

TroubledTarts

Ok bear with me hear I have a spark in a few of my grey cells.

My two 450w solar panels are connected to an ecoflow delta max which in turn charges two other delta max 2. Today it produced roughly 4kwh including losses charging the other batteries.

At the moment I don't want to buy any more panels but heres the idea

The delta max units have a DC out 126w out now can I use that cigaretee lighter socket out to solar plugs and plug those into a micro inverter to send 126w (effectively our baseload) to the house 24/7.

Mad maybe, answers on a postcard

QrizB

Do you know of a good website for solar newbies to pick up basic assembly tips and do's/don'ts ?

There's a guide written by a German guy in (mostly) English here:

https://balkon.solar/news/2025/05/28/solar-secondlife-magazine-draft/

Cheap used panels, if you have transport, are available on FB Marketplace, but you will need three or four of the older ones to get 1000W

Also on eBay. I know someone who bought four used panels and a secondhand inverter, wired them together and plugged it into an outdoor socket ~5 years ago. They've been generating ever since.

If you're going to DIY and don't want a preconfigured kit of parts that's guaranteed to work together, it's definitely an option.

Here's an example of a very budget setup:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/178045535256

Four of those would be £65.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/267636913215

Second hand inverter for £70.

Add cables and connectors and you'll be in action for well under £200.