Solar panels….?

[Alex321]

No idea if it was the right thing to do or not, but it had been on 20W since yesterday morning, no alarms on it, but it appears to have done the trick, it's now producing 200w which for the grey day seems about right.

TBH it was one of the reasons I don't like to have anything electronic installed in the loft, they always need reseting at some point, I have our router, a switch, a networked HDD all up in the loft & they are a RPITA after a powercut.

Our inverter, battery etc are all outside. Originally we were thinking of having them in the garage, but when they looked at the location of our meter (opposite end of the house), it was decided it made more sense to put them on the outside of pine end wall.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Our inverter, battery etc are all outside. Originally we were thinking of having them in the garage, but when they looked at the location of our meter (opposite end of the house), it was decided it made more sense to put them on the outside of pine end wall.

All our stuff is under the stairs which is accessed from the utility room, so that when it all catches fire the first thing that burns is our escape route.

 

[CXRAndy]

All our stuff is under the stairs which is accessed from the utility room, so that when it all catches fire the first thing that burns is our escape route.

On a serious note

Id be cladding that cupboard in fire retardant board and installing a heat alarm connected to the main fire alarms

 

[CXRAndy]

After receiving planning I've put the enquiries out to 10 companies locally yesterday. Four have already replied, one arranged site visit for next week. Lets see what they come up with.

 

[T4tomo]

Our inverter, battery etc are all outside. Originally we were thinking of having them in the garage, but when they looked at the location of our meter (opposite end of the house), it was decided it made more sense to put them on the outside of pine end wall.

How big is all that Gubbins and does it need to be near the meter? My meter is outside on the side wall, but hat is a narrow-ish side return to the back garden so wouldn't want that blocking. House lack storage, but does as a single story extension out the back, so sticking it on the roof of that would make sense. or is it the sort of stuff you could bolt to the outside side wall above head height so you don't restrict access?

 

[Deleted member 26715]

installing a heat alarm connected to the main fire alarms

We'd have to the have fire alarms fitted first, oh how dangerously we live

 

[Alex321]

How big is all that Gubbins and does it need to be near the meter? My meter is outside on the side wall, but hat is a narrow-ish side return to the back garden so wouldn't want that blocking. House lack storage, but does as a single story extension out the back, so sticking it on the roof of that would make sense. or is it the sort of stuff you could bolt to the outside side wall above head height so you don't restrict access?

It is also a fairly narrow side-return to the garden in our case, with a gravel base.

Everything but the battery is at or above head height. It doesn't stick out all that much - less than a foot for most of it, probably about a foot for the battery. It could all have been bolted to the wall above head height, apart from the battery, but then you would need ladders to access it all when needed - not that I expect to be accessing any of it myself anyhow.

The battery does have to be on a solid base - we had to get a couple of paving slabs for it to rest on.

Ours is probably about 15' from the meter. It doesn't have to be close, but it is less hassle with routing cables if it is reasonably close.

This shows the size of the side passage where the solar stuff is now installed (estate agent photo from before we bought)

 

[T4tomo]

This shows the size of the side passage where the solar stuff is now installed (estate agent photo from before we bought)

its almost invisible

I realise you are probably at work, but a photo of the gubbins would be good in due course

 

[jowwy]

After receiving planning I've put the enquiries out to 10 companies locally yesterday. Four have already replied, one arranged site visit for next week. Lets see what they come up with.

why did you need planning permission?? im guessing thats what you meant

 

[Alex321]

its almost invisible

I realise you are probably at work, but a photo of the gubbins would be good in due course

I'll try to get a photo over the weekend.

But at the moment we have all our patio chairs put away for the winter (which means down that passage with a cover over them), and we decided to lean two of hem against the battery and cover bot chairs and battery with one cover (battery doesn't need covering, but we thought it wouldn't hurt).

 

[Milkfloat]

This is what mine looks like. Inverter on the wall with 3 isolation switches and a meter that is not really needed except to satisfy regs. The two batteries are on the floor. The pile off stuff on the floor to the left is spare cables and manuals. Since this photo I fitted a power socket in case of power cuts so at least I can run my router and some lights via and extension cable.

 

[Alex321]

why did you need planning permission?? im guessing thats what you meant

There are some areas where planning permission is required for almost anything. Until 2020, we lived inside the Brecon Beacons National Park, and we needed planning permission even to change the windows for double glazed ones (our house was not a listed building). I'm pretty sure we would have needed it for solar there as well.

 

[kipster]

Mine is all in an upstairs box room.

It was the easiest place to put it all for wiring from the panels and to the consumer unit. It's also out of the way and the room is used for storing junk.

 

[T4tomo]

cheers. its smaller than I thought actually

 

[jowwy]

There are some areas where planning permission is required for almost anything. Until 2020, we lived inside the Brecon Beacons National Park, and we needed planning permission even to change the windows for double glazed ones (our house was not a listed building). I'm pretty sure we would have needed it for solar there as well.

No……were do you think i live???