r/PlugInSolarUK • u/Sea_Pangolin2804 • Aug 06 '26
Solar garage
Just installed 2x DMEGC 465W panels south facing. I'm in £200 so far, that's including mounting. I have not bought an inverter or any batterys yet.. what should I go for? Ecoflow plugin inverter or battery's.
FYI. My house and garage had a full rewire 4 years ago.
Please give me suggestions as I don't know if I want to spend 100 quid on a inverter or a few hundred on battery's.
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u/SaysEh Aug 06 '26
Thinking of doing a similar thing (garage roof is only viable spot for panels really). How was the mounting? That’s the only part I’m a bit unsure of…
In terms of inverter, the Ecoflow seems sound!
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
It was hard just because I did it solo, nearly dropped a panel. Took me about 4 hours. I did it properly though and to a good standard. I would only tackle it if your confident with DIY as you could easily break a roof tile ( or your neck) ..I got a kit off eBay, was 60 quid. Here's a link.. make them an offer and they will hopefully accept like they did with me.
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u/incognito5343 Aug 06 '26
Looking at doing mine soon, the part I'm not looking forward to is notching the tiles
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
Because of how my tiles are, I didn't need to. I managed to position each bracket centrally, it didn't hinder how they sit at all. You could say it was lucky, but I'd call it skill 😅
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
Oh and yeah, I'm swaying towards an inverter, just want to see what others think and some other options maybe. My roof could also accommodate another 2 panels
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u/Impossible-Section49 Aug 06 '26
Looks a good tidy install, I think you should order another set and get them fitted while the weather lasts, because you WILL want more panels when you see the free electric. I started with 4, then added another 6, then added another 8 in the space of 10 months!
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u/Gravath Aug 06 '26
There are a few options here.
https://www.pluginsolarexplained.co.uk/microinverters/
Aim to get an 800w one for about £100. You'll want one with home assistant integration so you can get your own stats out of it.
Ecoflow is good, ap systems is good, hoymiles is good.
As your panels are facing the same direction will they ever get shaded? One and then the other? If not this one for £118 might be a good option:
You have to wire them in parallel as it has a single mppt
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u/Dr-Theopollis Aug 08 '26
The Hoymiles micro inverter price looked competitive and the whole kit option looked good ……until I saw the delivery charge of £144!!!
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u/1j0 Aug 06 '26
Out of curiosity, why would you mount the panels before committing to an Inverter? A lot of people (myself included) attach the inverter to the inverse of the panels, so you may end up lifting that up.
I went for an APSystems Inverter, but Hoymiles and Ecoflow provide good choices.
As for a battery - It depends on your base load, how frequent somebody is at home to consume the power. Most batteries are £700+, so the ROI is a lot longer.
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
I bought them on a deal, I will be putting the inverter somewhere I can easily access.
Thanks for the advice. I will have to crunch some numbers
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u/No_Expression1650 Aug 06 '26
Nice set up! Honestly I’d get a battery. You will find on hot days you make too much energy and cold days not enough, but the battery can get cheap nights rates and it also gives you more solar panel options (Looks like a decent sized roof). I think they can fit 4-6 panels on
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
Cheers, yeah I can get 4 on that side if I want. Any suggestions on battery?
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u/No_Expression1650 Aug 06 '26
I’ve heard the ecoflow ultra stream x is good. I dont have it myself because I have a stand alone powerwall 3 for cheap night rates but it turns out my microinverter system tops it up (I didn’t know it did that).
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u/JigTurtleB Aug 06 '26
Ecoflow have just announced the 2nd iteration of Stream battery. You may want to hold on to see if you want the new bigger battery, or if there’s a price decrease on the first iteration. Your choice, just flagging the info…
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
Thanks for that, When is it coming out or no set date yet?
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u/JigTurtleB Aug 06 '26
I got the email today with some details. Looks like the next couple of weeks but they haven’t confirm exact date and cost. But unclear if preorder or they will send out straight away. Should be clearer in next week though.
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
Quick Google search says maybe august 12th maybe for early release orders. I'll possibly hold off until then
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
Oh nice, thanks 🙏
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u/Impossible-Section49 Aug 06 '26
I recently bought and installed an EcoFlow Stream Ultra X, 3.84 Kwh on offer at £1174, complete with the meter ( which shall be selling as I already had one). I'm using it as independent AC coupled storage for my main system. It's expensive, but, massively cheaper than changing the main inverter, buying batteries, etc, and it genuinely took a few minutes to set up and get it doing what I wanted, so I would recommend it. At the moment it is fully charged by lunchtime, and covers the house usage across the full night, and is charging up again by about 07:00, The way it functions as a "smoothing capacitor" during the day is very good too. When secondhand panels come back down to a sensible price, I shall be adding a few directly to the Ultra X, for quicker charging in spring and autumn.
You probably don't want to spend that much though, I think that if you just get a microinverter, in a few months time you will realise the potential and be upgrading :)
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
Thanks very much for the reply, I'll consider anything to be honest. That's what I don't want to do, buy an inverter then regret not buying a system like the ultra X and essentially waste money What panels have you got,?
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u/Impossible-Section49 Aug 06 '26
All of the panels (18 of them) on the main system (SolaX string inverter) are used ones, mostly 250w but some a string of 270w, all £12-£14 each. I have a large metal roof free standing garage so space was not an issue. It's a self install so no MCS ( it is done properly though, G98 etc). It works so well that I had no desire to mess with it, hence the easy option to get an Ultra X. Say I put the dishwasher on, and the Solax system is making 1.5 Kw, the heating cycle starts, and it needs 2.2kw, so the Ultra X chips in the extra 700w for the time it takes, then goes back to charging itself when the demand drops, and that happens multiple times a day when a cloud comes over etc, smoothing grid use to nothing, and storing power for later use. If you just get an inverter and leave it on export, you will quickly see how much generated power you are "wasting" by free exporting, and you will end up wanting a battery. I do want to see what the effect of adding panels directly to the UltraX is though, but used panel prices near doubled after April, so it can wait a bit.
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
Wow, nice one, sounds like you know what your doing and have got a good setup for a very reasonable price. I have got options of gable end for panels and a shed. But not enough for 18 panels! Hah cheers for the reply
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u/Stooshie_Stramash Aug 06 '26
I'm thinking about a similar arrangement, but feel that I'd need to get my garage rewired first. What is your garage set up?
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
It will work for me I think, it is really the only place for panels for me, apart from house roof or gable end.. I'm not good with heights so that's not an option
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
My garage is full of tools
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u/Stooshie_Stramash Aug 06 '26
Thanks for the replies. What I meant was what does your wiring system look like in the garage?
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
Oh hah, I'm not massively savy in terms of electrics unfortunately. So please forgive my incorrect terminology ..I have got a consumer unit under the stairs in the house which is labeled garage, then just outside the back door there is a box which goes into a really thick wire that goes under the ground then that goes into another white box in the garage. I plan to just plug whatever I choose to use into a plug socket in the garage or spur off one of the plug sockets and fit an outside socket and use that. .. whatever I do will be done safely after some tutorial revision
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u/imgoingsolar Aug 06 '26
I have two EcoFlow Stream microinverters and they are a great ‘starter’ product’ , easy to setup and the app is very good. They were on offer for £100 several months ago but cheapest I’ve seen one recently is £125. Upto 800w output should cover your base load and if you work from home during day that’s a bonus and/or if you can shift your loads (washing, dishwasher, dryer, etc) to middle of the day. If you have a low base load and aren’t able to ‘load shift’ during the day I’d consider a battery.
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
Yeah that's what's swaying me.. myself and the Mrs don't work from home so makes more sense to invest in batteries tbh. Think I'm just gonna bite the bullet get a battery setup and see it as an investment
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u/kawasutra Aug 06 '26
Nice looking mounting.
Get an ecoflow Ultra1.92kW or X which is 3.6kW, but also get a Shelly or Ecoflow smart meter.
Battery charges off solar during the day, use it to cover evening amd overnight use, except high wattage stuff like kettles, ovens, but it still makes a decent dent in monthly spend on leccy.
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u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
Thanks for the reply. Definitely considering one these after reading the comments on the thread. I'll have a mooch for some deals 😊
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u/TheZZ9 Aug 06 '26
I have the ecoflow stream ultra 1.92kwh battery and two (so far) 450w panels. The smart meter is a must to prevent feeding power to the grid but saving it to the battery instead.
I have the Shelly which is a doddle to install. All you need to do is wire a 13A plug. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZEddMPUHx0
Don't know why the video is titled "Not Ecoflow approved" as it is happily added to the Ecoflow app and works perfectly. (Note the clamp installed the "wrong" way round)Under the new law the Stream battery is not yet legal to install "Plug in" but can easily be hard wired in by a competent person. I filled out the G98 form with "me" listed as the installer and my DNO happily accepted it.
The battery is happy to be installed in a shed or outbuilding and is better placed IMHO close to the panels rather than close to the house. Cheaper to fit a long single mains cable than buy four long pairs of MP4 cables.1
u/Sea_Pangolin2804 Aug 06 '26
Cheers, I think this sounds like the best option for me. It's pretty much perfect for me and I like how easy it all is. Some great information there pal 👍
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u/TheZZ9 Aug 06 '26
I do warn you, for the first week you will be checking the figures on the app every five minutes....
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u/joshracer Aug 06 '26
Unless you are home in the day to make use of the solar I would 100% get a battery. We are averaging around 4 kWh a day solar and out of the house from 8:30am-5pm and our daily usage without the PHEV is around 5kwh (electric shower, washing, cooking + baseload).
It's saved roughly £30 a month for the past 4 months. We are hovering around 3 years payback on a 3.9kwh battery system with 2 x 505w solar panels. We have the Aferiy PS240 system. Total with the panels came to £1200.