On-grid domestic battery storage

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  • 1961Nick
    1961Nick Posts: 2,074 Forumite
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    orrery wrote: »
    - we've installed one of these devices, specifically optimised for outdoor usage, powered by both solar and wind, for drying clothes.......

    How's that working for you this week?:rotfl:
    4kWp (black/black) - Sofar Inverter - SSE(141°) - 30° pitch - North Lincs
    Installed June 2013 - PVGIS = 3400
    Sofar ME3000SP Inverter & 5 x Pylontech US2000B Plus & 3 x US2000C Batteries - 19.2kWh
  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,355 Forumite
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    1961Nick wrote: »
    How's that working for you this week?:rotfl:
    Hi

    Probably the same as it is here .... no particular need for an expensive battery storage solution when a cheap worn clothes buffer storage solution (ie laundry bin/basket) will deliver better energy savings & efficiency benefits ... ;)

    HTH
    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
  • 1961Nick
    1961Nick Posts: 2,074 Forumite
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    zeupater wrote: »
    Hi

    Probably the same as it is here .... no particular need for an expensive battery storage solution when a cheap worn clothes buffer storage solution (ie laundry bin/basket) will deliver better energy savings & efficiency benefits ... ;)

    HTH
    Z
    The "expensive battery storage solution" is working about as well as a washing line is this week!:D
    4kWp (black/black) - Sofar Inverter - SSE(141°) - 30° pitch - North Lincs
    Installed June 2013 - PVGIS = 3400
    Sofar ME3000SP Inverter & 5 x Pylontech US2000B Plus & 3 x US2000C Batteries - 19.2kWh
  • joefizz
    joefizz Posts: 676 Forumite
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    1961Nick wrote: »
    The "expensive battery storage solution" is working about as well as a washing line is this week!:D


    About 3 years ago I finally cracked and bought a tumble dryer. In August.
    I went to the local suppliers and he said it had been their best seller electrically for the previous 3 years, long summer holidays here, kids off, 3 wet/cold 'summers'.
    I ended up buying for the same reason, couldnt get clothes dry in the summer without putting the heating on and drying on radiators.


    Of course its been great since ;-) well last year it was...
    ...over in England for the week and had to put the tumble dryer on at the weekend to make sure the clothes were dry to pack for this week. Only needed it on to partially dry the clothes, not fully, enough to run off the battery staggered with usage during the day.
  • 1961Nick
    1961Nick Posts: 2,074 Forumite
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    joefizz wrote: »
    About 3 years ago I finally cracked and bought a tumble dryer. In August.
    I went to the local suppliers and he said it had been their best seller electrically for the previous 3 years, long summer holidays here, kids off, 3 wet/cold 'summers'.
    I ended up buying for the same reason, couldnt get clothes dry in the summer without putting the heating on and drying on radiators.


    Of course its been great since ;-) well last year it was...
    ...over in England for the week and had to put the tumble dryer on at the weekend to make sure the clothes were dry to pack for this week. Only needed it on to partially dry the clothes, not fully, enough to run off the battery staggered with usage during the day.
    I've recently changed our TD to a heat pump model. It seems to be using a lot less energy than the previous one & the utility room isn't getting as hot which should further improve it's efficiency.
    4kWp (black/black) - Sofar Inverter - SSE(141°) - 30° pitch - North Lincs
    Installed June 2013 - PVGIS = 3400
    Sofar ME3000SP Inverter & 5 x Pylontech US2000B Plus & 3 x US2000C Batteries - 19.2kWh
  • zeupater
    zeupater Posts: 5,355 Forumite
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    1961Nick wrote: »
    The "expensive battery storage solution" is working about as well as a washing line is this week!:D
    Hi

    Conversely, our laundry bin, like most others, is extremely efficient as it consumes very little energy ..... also, like most other households, we have considerably more clothes than we actually need so it's simply a matter of timing & matching demand to availability of supply as opposed to following a habitual schedule ....

    The timing of the next wash cycle will pretty much be in line with fair weather conditions as it's been for quite a few years .... :cool:

    HTH
    Z
    "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. " ...... Aristotle
    B)
  • mmmmikey
    mmmmikey Posts: 1,642 Forumite
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    zeupater wrote: »
    ...our laundry bin, like most others, is extremely efficient as it consumes very little energy...

    I have one of those, but it seems to be broken. I used to throw my clothes in, and without me doing anything a few days later they'd be back in the drawer, washed and ironed - really clever, but I'm not sure how it worked. It doesn't work any more and I have to take the clothes out and do everything manually. I think my ex may have broken it out of spite when she left, because that's when it stopped working.

    In other news the PowerVault is back up and running again. Only a minor fault, but as it is new the techies wanted to come and test it. Rather than replace the single faulty component they replaced the whole thing so they could take the broken one back to the lab and test it further. Had a very interesting discussion with them while they were here - the more I deal with them the more I like them. Although would not have chosen to have a fault, in a way re-assuring to have tested the warranty/repair process and for it to have worked so well. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them, very pleased with the service and whole approach.

    Will pick up where I left of with working out how to use it to best effect. The next few days should be good for testing it to it's full potential. Not cold enough to make it worth using the storage heaters but cold enough to need low-power heaters on and off through the day. And probably just about enough sun between the clouds to keep the battery charged.

    Plan is to charge it on E7 overnight, use it for cooking breakfast and early morning heating (panel heater in lounge and low-power fan-heater in bathroom). Then it should recharge during the day ready for dinner, evening heating (ASHP in bedroom and low-power fan heater in bathroom). Based on historical data (admittedly limited) I'd expect to use 5-6kWh peak rate electricity per day for this at a cost of about £1 to £1.20. The challenge for the PowerVault is to do this using 3-4kWh of off-peak electricity and solar PV at a cost of about 15p to 20p.

    Part of the challenge will be measuring this accurately as my supply meter only has a resolution of 1kWh and I'm not entirely confident about the data from the PowerVault. Easy enough to do over a month, but not so easy day by day.

    Will post an update with results of testing etc. as I get them, Mike
  • 1961Nick
    1961Nick Posts: 2,074 Forumite
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    edited 19 May 2019 at 7:37AM
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    Despite having batteries, I'm still exporting just over 10% & this figure is likely to rise as we get more consecutive sunny days.

    I considered an iBoost, but integrating it with battery storage appears to be a lottery if you don't want it draining your batteries. Also, the potential savings are meagre - 300 kWh of gas costs about a tenner!

    My solution is adding the immersion heater to Hive. Using a spare 1 gang socket to replace the fused spur & a Hive socket (Xmas lights - so it's redundant 11 months of the year), I can now control the immersion heater from my phone.:)

    I've set up Hive 'Actions' for 1 hour & 2 hours so I don't have to remember to turn it off! The batteries are removing any risk of importing if there's cloud cover.

    The earliest my batteries reach 100% is around 1.00pm which coincides with the cylinder being at it's coolest, so the timing is ideal. I've used it once so far & it works - it took about 1.2 kWh out of battery storage but that was replenished before sunset.
    4kWp (black/black) - Sofar Inverter - SSE(141°) - 30° pitch - North Lincs
    Installed June 2013 - PVGIS = 3400
    Sofar ME3000SP Inverter & 5 x Pylontech US2000B Plus & 3 x US2000C Batteries - 19.2kWh
  • Martyn1981
    Martyn1981 Posts: 14,764 Forumite
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    Hiya Nick, quick question, what power rating does the immersion have? I'm assuming 2 or 3kW? If so, could you switch it out for a 1kW which would reduce the chances of import and reduce the demand on the battery (power demand, not energy) for, I assume, some reduced wear and tear benefits.

    A lot of assumptions and guesses in there ..... :think:
    Mart. Cardiff. 5.58 kWp PV systems (3.58 ESE & 2.0 WNW). Two A2A units for cleaner heating.

    For general PV advice please see the PV FAQ thread on the Green & Ethical Board.
  • 1961Nick
    1961Nick Posts: 2,074 Forumite
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    Martyn1981 wrote: »
    Hiya Nick, quick question, what power rating does the immersion have? I'm assuming 2 or 3kW? If so, could you switch it out for a 1kW which would reduce the chances of import and reduce the demand on the battery (power demand, not energy) for, I assume, some reduced wear and tear benefits.

    A lot of assumptions and guesses in there ..... :think:
    It's a 3 kWh element - Hive sockets are rated at 13A so fortunately there was no need to change the element, keeping the project cost at zero!:cool: Mid afternoon generation on a sunny day is around 2.5kWh so the demand on the battery is about 800W (including the 300W house background).

    It'll only ever be a minor saving but it will save some wear & tear on the boiler during summer. There's a lot of 32mm & 28mm pipework between my boiler & the cylinder so the 'transmission' losses must be pretty high when the CH is idle.
    4kWp (black/black) - Sofar Inverter - SSE(141°) - 30° pitch - North Lincs
    Installed June 2013 - PVGIS = 3400
    Sofar ME3000SP Inverter & 5 x Pylontech US2000B Plus & 3 x US2000C Batteries - 19.2kWh
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