Run house off batteries during the day, no solar.

[Roger440]

You can get optimiser that basically feed any spare elsewhere, like your hot water and un my case heat store tank. Soin theory nothing should go into the grid. Heres the newer version of what I have.

eddi is the ultimate solar diverter | myenergi UK

eddi is our state-of-the-art solar diverter, designed and manufactured right here in the UK. You can use solar energy to heat your water… for free!

www.myenergi.com

Hmmm. What does it actually do? Their website has a lot of words on it, but no explanation of what it actually does, or even how it does it.

On the website it says "Solar PV owners without an eddi waste large amounts of their self-generated energy by giving any unused electricity freely, or cheaply back to the grid"

How can that possibly be true? The electricity doesnt decide where to go. If ive got 3 kw coming in from my panels, and im using 4kw of "stuff" then im using it all. Conversley if im making 3kw from my panels, but im not using anything, where can the power go other than into the grid. Unless you have storage, i cant see what problem its solving

Sorry, might be being dumb?

 

[Gareth J]

It's a "solar diverter" there are several companies/models. Solic200, iBoost, the Eddi mentioned.

They all work more or less the same, by monitoring import/export of electricity via a CT clamp on the incoming. If you start exporting, they ramp up the element in your immersion (or any resistive load) a little at a time, fluctuating power to try to keep export at or close to zero.

Some have more bells and whistles (Eddi) while others are no frills but reliable (Solic200).

They are of little use now that FiT is no longer a thing and you can get paid to export. Back in the day of FiT, you got paid for whatever you generated and you could happily minimise export with no financial loss. Now, if you currently heat your hot water via fossil fuels, sadly, it's probably more cost effective to continue to do so and sell your excess power. Or in your case, spin your meter backwards.

Still worth it if you heat things via resistive electric loads though.

 

[addjunkie]

With a diverter as above, it puts spare somewhere you connect it too, so assuming you have batteries too, you would put spare into them as a priority, once batteries are full, and youve still go spare juice youd export for money, or put-it into your heating/ hot water system. I do know one house who uses spare to heat his green house.

 

[Roger440]

With a diverter as above, it puts spare somewhere you connect it too, so assuming you have batteries too, you would put spare into them as a priority, once batteries are full, and youve still go spare juice youd export for money, or put-it into your heating/ hot water system. I do know one house who uses spare to heat his green house.

I can see some logic if you have storage. I assume though, in order for it to work it needs to be connected to the things you want to divert power too? Or whatever controls that device. So a significant amount of wiring too?

I cant envisage a situation outside of mid summer where i cant use all i produce. And in mid summer i genuinely wont have a use for the excess power.

I really, really, want to keep it simple, with a absolute minimum of unreliable electronic devices.

 

[Roger440]

It's a "solar diverter" there are several companies/models. Solic200, iBoost, the Eddi mentioned.

They all work more or less the same, by monitoring import/export of electricity via a CT clamp on the incoming. If you start exporting, they ramp up the element in your immersion (or any resistive load) a little at a time, fluctuating power to try to keep export at or close to zero.

Some have more bells and whistles (Eddi) while others are no frills but reliable (Solic200).

They are of little use now that FiT is no longer a thing and you can get paid to export. Back in the day of FiT, you got paid for whatever you generated and you could happily minimise export with no financial loss. Now, if you currently heat your hot water via fossil fuels, sadly, it's probably more cost effective to continue to do so and sell your excess power. Or in your case, spin your meter backwards.

Still worth it if you heat things via resistive electric loads though.

Thanks for the explanation.

I think you are right, with electricity prices as daft as they are, better burning oil to heat water. If we assume 70% efficency of an oil boiler, with 10kWh of energy per lite, in round numbers, the price you get for electricty sold to the grid would need to fall well below 10-11p kWh. Seems "unlikely" any time soon.

I dont think this is a device for me?

 

[Gareth J]

I really, really, want to keep it simple, with a absolute minimum of unreliable electronic devices.

Sell your inverters for whatever you can get for them.
Buy this or an equivalent;

Solis S6-GR1P3.6K-DC Dual MPPT 3.6kW Solar Inverter

<p>Since 2005, Ginlong Solis have been at the forefront of developments in the solar inverter industry. The company are internationally renowned for their reliable, innovative and cost-effective energy management solutions: tailoring their inverters to the demands of regional markets. Ginlong...

www.tradesparky.com

Plug your panels into it.

Get an electrician to wire the mains into the AC side and draw you a single line diagram you'll need for the form.

Inform the DNO with the correct form.

Don't muck around with high voltage DC from the panels. Work in the dark if you have to or invest in 1000V gloves.

 

[Gareth J]

I dont think this is a device for me?

I think you are correct.

 

[Roger440]

Sell your inverters for whatever you can get for them.
Buy this or an equivalent;

Solis S6-GR1P3.6K-DC Dual MPPT 3.6kW Solar Inverter

<p>Since 2005, Ginlong Solis have been at the forefront of developments in the solar inverter industry. The company are internationally renowned for their reliable, innovative and cost-effective energy management solutions: tailoring their inverters to the demands of regional markets. Ginlong...

www.tradesparky.com

Plug your panels into it.

Get an electrician to wire the mains into the AC side and draw you a single line diagram you'll need for the form.

Inform the DNO with the correct form.

Don't muck around with high voltage DC from the panels. Work in the dark if you have to or invest in 1000V gloves.

Thanks. Pains me to bin good stuff, but maybe its the best way?

The electrician part then becomes the main challenge.

 

[drjim]

The wiring is a piece of cake and although you SHOULD get an electrician/part P to do it you can do it yourself easily, the inverter will come with an installation manual which will be in chinglish with pictures.

Point halves of array in different directions, maybe even E/W split rather than SE/SW and connect it up.

 

[Roger440]

The wiring is a piece of cake and although you SHOULD get an electrician/part P to do it you can do it yourself easily, the inverter will come with an installation manual which will be in chinglish with pictures.

Point halves of array in different directions, maybe even E/W split rather than SE/SW and connect it up.

Agreed, i can wire it up, perfectly capable of that.

But, if i do make a G98 application, that approach comes unstuck with the "state the qualifications/accreditations of the installer. Im not "sure i qualified in 1990 with the 16th edition" is unlikely to impress the DNO

Assuming they actually read them of course?

 

[gaz1]

id keep your other inverters and add those onto another system to also generate as well

 

[Gareth J]

Thanks. Pains me to bin good stuff, but maybe its the best way?

The electrician part then becomes the main challenge.

In my opinion, yes. With the original inverters, you won't meet the g98 criteria as they total too much power. And it's easier to wire in one inverter rather than two. Could even just get a bigger second hand one. But if you are wiring up the AC side too, and, if you were elec. trained, you'd be more than competent I'm sure, I too would be tempted to use what's there.

One thing to note, some inverters are fussy regarding how they are fed, some will throw 30mA RCDs occasionally so are best fed from their own supply and appropriate protection gubbins, which should be detailed in the manual. Plenty of people just tap into the house DB with a new MCB though.

You must notify DNO. That said, a mate of mine did a small installation and never got around to notifying. No reason not to other than time pressure. It's been running for 5years now without repercussions. I've no idea what those repercussions might be or the chances of getting caught.