Solar panels….?

[cougie uk]

Quick question for those with battery storage - with something like the Octopus agile tariffs where you can charge the battery up overnight on cheap rate electricity, is this done automatically or is there something in the set-up with the system that you have to do manually?

I had the survey done today and I'm very tempted to go ahead with this.

You have to set your inverter.

I've changed my tariff a few times and have to remember to adjust the times on the inverter.

Some tariffs are cheap from 0.30 and others 2.30 so you have to keep on top of it. And also check with the clocks going back! Mine was out in march but fine with the October hour. Weird.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Battery is full and still generating 3kw so I have put the immersion heater on. I did a bit of research and decided it wasn't worth the extra to fit an automatic solar diverter as I could send it to the battery. I am planning to fit a Smart immersion heater switch so I can control it remotely and set timers / schedules for when the tariffs are low.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Low sun equals not a great deal but I’m happy with this as it’s topped up my 10kW battery all day whilst we have done washing etc . Battery will get another top up overnight at the cheap rate ! Through the week I’ve been load shifting to the cheap rate , it’s been working out ok .

 

[Buck]

…decided it wasn't worth the extra to fit an automatic solar diverter as I could send it to the battery. I am planning to fit a Smart immersion heater switch so I can control it remotely and set timers / schedules for when the tariffs are low.

Totally agree. The return on investment is long ( as you can get more exporting) so we didn't have one out in and I’m going to do the same as you for times when solar is high and batteries are full.

 

[chris-suffolk]

Totally agree. The return on investment is long ( as you can get more exporting) so we didn't have one out in and I’m going to do the same as you for times when solar is high and batteries are full.

Obviously this only applies to new installs. I get paid whether I export or not, so I divert all available spare into the immersion heater.

 

[Buck]

True. For newer installs it makes sense to not allow the system to self manage so as to optimise returns.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Just mentioning that they are doing those winter saving things where they pay you to reduce your usage for an hour or two

there was one a week or so ago

thing is - as I have batteries I can fiddle it by setting it up to charge in the hour before the savings period then allow the batteries to take all the loads in the savings period

different companies do it different ways and call it different names

Also - some of them seem to be able to take exports into account this year which they did not last year

not sur ehow much use that is as they are normally at night
but I guess that is you have enough batteries then you could export from them


anyway - just making sure people know

 

[Legs]

Just about to push the button on getting solar panels on our roofs (10 panels west-facing, 3 panels east-facing, 1 panel south-facing).
14 x 450W Aiko Black Hole panels (6.3kWp), 5kW inverter, 10.42kWh battery storage, optimisers, and EPS changeover for running in power cuts.

Edit: now signed and paid deposit. A bit scary! Installation 4 January!

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Just got a message that there is another "demand Flexibility" thingy tonight

not much notice but that seesm to be the way it is being done this year

 

[Tenkaykev]

Just got a message that there is another "demand Flexibility" thingy tonight

not much notice but that seesm to be the way it is being done this year

We only had our smart meter installed less than two weeks ago. This means that we can't sign up to the saving sessions as they don't have enough usage history to base their calculations on. I do get awarded 800 " Octopoints " for each session that I apply for and can't join.
As it's a National Grid run scheme the various energy companies who participate run their own schemes.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

We only had our smart meter installed less than two weeks ago. This means that we can't sign up to the saving sessions as they don't have enough usage history to base their calculations on. I do get awarded 800 " Octopoints " for each session that I apply for and can't join.
As it's a National Grid run scheme the various energy companies who participate run their own schemes.

Try asking on the Hugo app on you mobile

They might be more accommodating - but they do need some older data for the calculation
this is defined by the people running it so they have limited flexibility - but it might be worth a go

 

[Tenkaykev]

Try asking on the Hugo app on you mobile

They might be more accommodating - but they do need some older data for the calculation
this is defined by the people running it so they have limited flexibility - but it might be worth a go

Thank you. I downloaded the excellent " Octo-Aid " app which shows far more data than the official Octopus app. The app must be pulling the information from Octopus so it's reassuring to know they have the data but aren't yet showing it to me in the official app.
Coincidentally, last night the Octopus app let me register for my first session 👍 I switched loads of stuff off and then half an hour later got the notification that the saving session was about to start, I had got the time wrong 😮

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

The criteria defined this year rely quite a lot on the previous day

which messed us up as we went out for dinner the previous day so no cooking or kettle and all that

makes sense - if I knew beforehand I might be tempted to do some washing and cooking during the same tiem period - which just makes the problem move to another day!

did use nearly zero electric during the period as the batteries were doing everything

It'll take a day or so before I can see the savings - we shall see how it goes!

 

[Tenkaykev]

The criteria defined this year rely quite a lot on the previous day

which messed us up as we went out for dinner the previous day so no cooking or kettle and all that

makes sense - if I knew beforehand I might be tempted to do some washing and cooking during the same tiem period - which just makes the problem move to another day!

did use nearly zero electric during the period as the batteries were doing everything

It'll take a day or so before I can see the savings - we shall see how it goes!

Because of the lack of smart meter data my app is telling me that I've used far more energy than the previous month as the reference from the old " dumb " meters are showing as zero. I see some people with home batteries are exporting during the saving period as apparently this is being counted in this seasons settings.

 

[Alex321]

Thank you. I downloaded the excellent " Octo-Aid " app which shows far more data than the official Octopus app. The app must be pulling the information from Octopus so it's reassuring to know they have the data but aren't yet showing it to me in the official app.
Coincidentally, last night the Octopus app let me register for my first session 👍 I switched loads of stuff off and then half an hour later got the notification that the saving session was about to start, I had got the time wrong 😮

Unfortunately, that app is only available for iphone/ipad, not for Android, which my devices are