I had solar and battery installed a year ago before my tariff ran out and the expensive electricity started. I had already installed a ZAPPI, the solar install added EDDI and HARVI to the mix. It worked reasonably well but not quite what I was hoping for. The battery capacity wasn't enough (7kWh) and inverter although 6kW would only supply 3kW on battery.
I obtained quotes for more battery storage and additional inverter that were frankly, ridiculous. I went down the DIY route using a Victron inverter and LifeP04 cells from Fogstar (UK Based), I built a 14kWh battery with it's own 5kW inverter housed in a small shed from Amazon for less than £4200.
My system no charges up from Octopus Intelligent overnight at 7.5p kWh and runs the house all day. If the weather is good the solar charges the batteries (this reduces the overnight charge), heats the immersion and charges 2 x EV. I havent used any peak rate electricity since 24th December when I switched my DIY system on. This system is less than a quarter the cost of similar systems and is easy enough to build. All of my electricity is now at 7.5p kWh or less if the weather is good.
I had a 9.6kW Solar array and a Tesla Powerwall 2 installed late 2019 and found out pretty quickly that it probably wasn’t big enough (we are big electric users here as we have an annexe that was built with no gas and lots of electric radiators with the person living there likes to keep on - I will be investigating replacing these rads with Infrared ones).
I will be adding an additional 3.3 kW array and another Powerwall 2 in hopefully the next month or so. The installer will be adding another inverter to to avoid any solar clipping.
The biggest thing I tell people when they’re considering solar and a battery is to know and understand your consumption and heavy usage periods, and factor winter into them if you’re monitoring in warmer and lighter months.
But I think it’s one of the best investments I’ve ever made. I was limited at the time battery wise because of capacity and scaling I was looking for, but the choice now is better than ever with the cost really falling, and the modular ability now of many of these systems (one of my main reasons originally for choosing the Powerwall) makes them an even better investment at compelling prices. Knowing they can be expanded easily too should make this, if you can afford it, a no brainier.
thank you JDMB for that information, since my Tesla battery was connected I use zero grid power which is a REALLY wonderful feeling. I had the installers out a couple of times and they had no idea how to reduce the 1.4 setting to use less grid. I have no need to change any settings now and whilst I thought I'd gone through every option on the Zappi2 it might benefit others if you could print the MGL, Minimum Green Level, setting and how to find it.
Much appreciated, it's so much easier to find out how to do something on this site than try to wade through the hundreds of digital pages of the official MG Manuals.
Hi
@RichDragon ,
Am really pleased this was of some help to you.
There is a really good explanation of it from MyEnergi’s Dr Chris
here , but the documentation is, as you’ve found, not great.
It is mentioned in the user guide
Here , but again the instructions aren’t great, but the post from Dr Chris explains it better.
The key thing here is that it has to be set in the app but is only available using the Eco++ setting, at which the slider for the MGL is then visible.
powers the battery, even though it still takes.from the mains electricity partly even on eco ++ setting. If you've got any spare cash I would definitely recommend installing renewables. I explained to the family it's like buying your electricity in advance and then the war started and I feel for anyone paying "normal leccie bills". I only use the gas boiler when family calls as I use various electric fires connected to smart plugs and my favourite is the electric blanket. Oops sorry us oldies like to prattle on!
Turned off and been fine ever since.
