Video it to prove it!

I started with three modules (9.6kw), a year later expanded to five (16kw), next week (two years later) we’re adding another three for 25kw.
I’m going with a new installer, the original wouldn’t return my email requesting a quote, to be honest, I don’t even know if they’re still in business….disappointed doesn’t express how I feel.
Not the first time this has happened with solar suppliers either, it seems good follow up these days is hard to find.
I obtained the new installer through Solarquotes so, thanks.
Back to batteries though…😉
Since fitting the system, we’ve had zero power bills, we’re always in credit in spite of falling FIT.
Recently changed electricty supplier as a result, hunted the best FIT and still in credit after three months.
Regardless of FIT, we’re now future proofed against electricity prices.
Best decision we made!

I would suggest that in many cases, buyers remorse comes about by unscrupulous sales people and or practices.

For example, when I bought my 15 kw 3 phase system, I specifically stated at the time that within 12-18 months I intended to buy batteries and didn’t want to have to spend lots of money changing inverters or such. (Apart from the battery cost and installation of course)
I was sold 3 x 5kw grid tie inverters, a bit like the picture.

The bonus was that the electricity supplier was going to pay me 14 cent FIT, uncapped. Stupidly I believed them.
For the uninitiated the solar supplier has no control over your FIT.

So when the time came, it was a giant headache. Apparently what I wanted done was nearly impossible. (Batteries charging when the sun shone regardless of the grid being up or down, and power to all 3 phases when the grid was down)

They wanted me to replace all 3 inverters with hybrids. I reminded them of our conversation we had 18 months earlier to no avail.

So I ditched the supplier of the panels and ditched 2 of the 3, 5kw inverters and bought a Fronius Gen 24 3 phase Hybrid inverter and 33kw of BYD batteries from a different company that was genuinely interested in discussing MY needs rather than what they wanted to sell me.
Interestingly though, throughout this unpleasant business, I obtained 10 quotes from 10 different suppliers and they all gave me a slightly different version of the same BS.
For clarity my final solution came in 5k over the most expensive of the 10 quotes.
So, did I have buyers remorse? Yep.

So good people, when people tell you to do your research, you may think jumping on FB is the answer, well it ain’t. Use Google and when you find a company you feel might be ok, ask them for reference sites and ring the references. I did it in the end and made my decision on that basis.
You are going to spend your hard earned cash, do so armed with other peoples real experiences and you probably won’t suffer from buyers remorse.

I would be very wary of expanding a Sungrow battery installation.

Since I doubled the number of modules, to 19.2kwhs I only ever get 16Kwhs discharged from 100% state of Charge “SoC” to 0%. Sungrow’s data sheet & marketing state their battery power is 100% usable. This is false & misleading, by Sungrow’s own admission to me, in writing. In order to justify the reduced capacity of my installation Sungrow say that when their Isolarcloud app shows 0%SoC it is really 5% and this 5% is not usable.
And this isnt half my problem, 1/3rd of it actually.

I am not sure if my 9.6kWh system was actually that or even only 95% of that. My 19.2Kwh system is really only 16kWhrs – that’s a shortfall of 15%+. And Sungrow are not interested in satisfying that issue.

Sungrow might still be competitive in the market even if their battery isnt 100% usable. I suggest that my 16kwhs for the price of 19 kwhs is not though.
I made my decision on the basis that it was 100% usable. And even if only 95% usable I have a missing 10%. It is very disappointing to say the least.

Also, I was aware Sungrow and the installer could control my system to trouble shoot etc. However, I had assumed that before any such tinkering, such as draining the battery at 5kw to the grid for a pittance of a FiT late in the afternoon when I could have used it to heat the house or charge an EV, Sungrow would have TOLD me in advance. Actually, I thought that they might be REQUIRED TO ASK if they could. But no. Even after complaining about it twice before they do it again. Perhaps they are all like this but I would be surprised.

I wonder if regulators are aware of this, especially as they are trying to encourage householders to install these systems only for them to be controlled by faceless unaccountable people without permission of the actual owner of the property.

Now that’s an idea, Bill – fill not just the roof, but the north wall too.
I did build a 25m long north facing 40-degree tilted roof into the extension. Here at nearly 40 degrees south, that gives:
Equinox: cos(37.93 – 40) = 99.9% optimal
Winter solstice: cos(37.93 – 40 + 23.44) = 93% optimal

The north wall’s 90 degree tilt would then be:
Equinox: cos(37.93 – 90) = 61% optimal
Winter solstice: cos(37.93 – 90 + 23.44) = 88% optimal

As it’s in June – July that total array yield hits a nadir, finding extra roof on the walls, at 88% efficiency, is not shabby at all. (And a significant revelation.) Add that I’d only have to go through the wall to wire to the MPPTs or inverters, and greater convenience would be hard to find. The incidental sun shielding wouldn’t add a lot, as the wall is insulated. (But I did note today that inside the garage, a closed north facing light coloured roller door radiated enough IR heat to be felt on the skin at several meters.)

My experience is that rain massacres PV yield, whether because it’s thicker/denser clouds which precipitate, or due to the changed cloud composition. When it rains, I figure it’s time to minimise consumption, to conserve battery SoC, in case it lasts for days. (Cruising through winter without starting the generator would confirm the adequacy of my system design.)

Some retired folk take up gardening, but a solar installation is more fun than a train set, I figure. (Though I did bring home a 50m roll of netting yesterday, to keep the kangaroos off my cabbages. That should work better than having to open the bedroom window in the middle of the night to berate them. They don’t necessarily move unless you shine a bright light at them. (The kangaroos, not the cabbages.))

Most Battery’s under charge seem to consume everything produced by the Solar and as a result export to the grid only seems to happen when the Battery has had as much as it can take.

Such an approach when looked at through the micro lens makes sense, get the free power while its available and if happens that you get all that you need then provide export to the grid.

When you look at that scenario through the big picture lens then as Battery’s become widespread then solar grid export which is good when its controllable, will dissapear in much of the grid until lunch time and then it’ll be back as it always was as a problem because its too much…

Surely with the connectivity and intelligence available to us today we could get a better distributed charging scenario so that solar export will continue to be available while ever the sun is up, and charging should be staggered across all battery owners so that instead of the Battery becoming another source of Grid control issues we use charge of it as a means of stabilising the grid?

Thoughts?