Solar Sheds & Other Non-t6 Solar Projects - How We Done It -

[Sackmycook]

I've cancelled my home installation.

The company I had signed up with didn't give me confidence.

Fobbed me off when I asked for a breakdown of equipment costs and labour. The timescale had slipped and contact was non-existent.

So, now looking at alternatives including Ecoflow Stream.....

 

[Sackmycook]

@Dellmassive any idea how I get the solar generation to populate ?

 

[Johny]

This is what you want to be achieving, my record daily yield May 2025

 

[Sackmycook]

It's kicked into life now ...

 

[Dellmassive]

@Dellmassive any idea how I get the solar generation to populate ?

View attachment 320944

Connect to WiFi and give it some time.

 

[Stay Frosty]

With your shed setup Lee what is the state of play regarding what looks like getting on for at least 25kWh of Pylontech batteries and how do you get that into your mains to either use it yourself or export?
I'm ok with my camper setup but thinking an 800w balcony setup is just playing at reducing the house electric bill?

 

[Dellmassive]

My stats show we use 25kwh daily average..... Hense the 25kwh battery.

We have 12* panels on the shed roofs giving about 7kw peak.

And we have a 8kw hybrid sunsynk inverter connected to the house via a beefy cable and CT clamp on the main incomer. ( We use 1kwh tick over, and blip peaks of 6kw during a 24hr window)

It's all tied together with new metal RCBOs mains CU. And sub box in the shed.

In the summer it's enough to power the house for the 24hr ... With minimal export, so £0 import charge, bar the standing order.

And in winter (no solar), we charge the battery bank during the night cheap rates and use back during the day... Which effectively halves our electric bill.

Happy days.

What I need now is more panels so I can get more power and start to export more, which I'll get paid for.... Which will start to offset the standing charge and the winter import charges.

...

 

[Stay Frosty]

Thanks for the reply mate as I'm thinking I've got a 6.00mm2 SWA going from the house to the garage that could be fed in reverse if I bung panels on the shed and gazebo taking their output to the garage.
Wouldn't be able to install on the garage roof due to two large conifers shading that so probably 3kW at best but I thought once you go above a balcony type install everything goes major league with notifying the DNO and changeover switches?
I'll read up more but it feels like a battery pack in the garage, EV tariff and some panels is the way forward.

 

[Dellmassive]

Thanks for the reply mate as I'm thinking I've got a 6.00mm2 SWA going from the house to the garage that could be fed in reverse if I bung panels on the shed and gazebo taking their output to the garage.
Wouldn't be able to install on the garage roof due to two large conifers shading that so probably 3kW at best but I thought once you go above a balcony type install everything goes major league with notifying the DNO and changeover switches?
I'll read up more but it feels like a battery pack in the garage, EV tariff and some panels is the way forward.

i started with the 800w Ecoflow, and seeing as i tick over at 1000w - there was no chance of any export, so i dint apply for the G98 approval.

which it would of failed anyway as it was plugged in to a 3pin socket - though an easy fix to just cut the plug aff and wire it into a spur.


++

i very quickly swapped that out to a Sunsynk 3.6kw and added more PV panels.

at this point i got the sparks in to run in a new 10mm2 feed, fit a new sub board and replace the CU to the latest edition.

then done a self application for G98 - which got approved from the DNO,

the next challenge was to get it approved with the supplier - Octopus, as my install was not MCS installed. - but Octopus allowed a self declared install with appropriate ICR paperwork from the sparks.






then we added more and more battery storage . . . . . untill we covered ma full 24hr use.



.


then we upgraded the inverter to the 8kw version - and looked at G99 approval.

but to be fair, the PV size and battery size is perfectly balance to not export anything anyway. - but we do charge at night, but the charge rate can be set in the APP, from 0-8kw. - and yep that 90A at 50v DC. hense the beefy DC JEAN MULLER fuses.






.

its all monitored 24/7 with APPS, WIFI, CCTV, data loggers etc etc - i find it all facinating



here is my smart meter now -

£0 import

176w Export.






.

 

[Dellmassive]

here is some data from yesterday:

PV input from sun . .



..

Battery bank power,
charged from mains @ 7kw 12:30-2:30am,
running house @ 1kw
being charged from PV 7:30am-4:00pm





import/export from Grid - (just 2hrs import at night cheap rate charge)




Domestic load - what the house used





mixed data + temps:






.....


yesterdays Octopus Agile import/export rates - set in 30min slots.




and what i paid for the 2hrs overnight topup charge. .






.

.




yesterdays overall ---






.

 

[Sackmycook]

Right, got the bug now.
Looking at Ecoflow Stream series of batteries.....
Might start with one and expand later.....
Not too fussed about exporting currently, just want to be able to contribute to the house cost during the day from solar, send any excess to the batteries and also charge batteries overnight at 5.2p KWh.
I'm assuming that the battery will only give the house 800w through the grid as that's the UK limits.

 

[Stay Frosty]

Right, got the bug now.
Looking at Ecoflow Stream series of batteries.....
Might start with one and expand later.....
Not too fussed about exporting currently, just want to be able to contribute to the house cost during the day from solar, send any excess to the batteries and also charge batteries overnight at 5.2p KWh.
I'm assuming that the battery will only give the house 800w through the grid as that's the UK limits.

I thought the batteries through the inverter are powering the house, the 800 Watts is the export safety limit without going full bore G98 and the DNO being told what's going on in the case of the grid still being powered by Lee when they thought they had it isolated to work on?

 

[Sackmycook]

Yes, I think you are right. I'm just trying to decipher this diagram from Ecoflow....

 

[Sackmycook]

Is it right that if I plug batteries in to the socket to feed the house, I will always be limited to 800w.
The only way of getting more is to plug the appliances directly to the battery ?

What would be the way of getting more into the house ? Is this when the DNO extras come into play?

 

[Stay Frosty]

Lee will be back to help us but the impression I get is that as soon as you've got potentially more power than you can store ie. during any sunny period then you need to apply for the G licence as during these times you are effectively squirting power into the grid and that power has to be in phase and at the same voltage as the supply.
In the event that this occurs when the grid is off locally ie power cut or DNO working on normally live power line then you will be powering into what should be a dead grid so the isolation should be automatic your end for safety, this is also the reason a grid tied power system can't power your own house during a power cut... I think?

 

[Dellmassive]

Is it right that if I plug batteries in to the socket to feed the house, I will always be limited to 800w.
The only way of getting more is to plug the appliances directly to the battery ?

What would be the way of getting more into the house ? Is this when the DNO extras come into play?

plug in is limited to 800w - which is not official in the UK - Yet.

anything bigger needs to be connected to the house by an electrician.

that pic above seems to show 800w max into the house.

what Ecoflow are you looking at - Stream AC Pro?

 

[Skyliner33]

Is it right that if I plug batteries in to the socket to feed the house, I will always be limited to 800w.
The only way of getting more is to plug the appliances directly to the battery ?

What would be the way of getting more into the house ? Is this when the DNO extras come into play?

Edited as @Dellmassive beat me too it.

 

[Skyliner33]

plug in is limited to 800w - which is not official in the UK - Yet.

anything bigger needs to be connected to the house by an electrician.

that pic above seems to show 800w max into the house.

what Ecoflow are you looking at - Stream AC Pro?

Its all a bit of a muddle at the moment imho. Things like the DJI Power is G98 certified. But apparently should be wired onto its own spur not plugged in. I honestly cant see how that makes a difference safety wise.

 

[Dellmassive]

ah, i get it now. . .

this is showing you the traditional setup,

with the paneles going into the microinverter - then adding a battery.

and yes its limited to 800W.






+++++++++++++

 

[Dellmassive]

Its all a bit of a muddle at the moment imho. Things like the DJI Power is G98 certified. But apparently should be wired onto its own spur not plugged in. I honestly cant see how that makes a difference safety wise.

its to stop people plugging the units into extension leads and causing overheating and possible fire risk.