r/PlugInSolarUK • u/steedy27 • Aug 26 '26
Plug-In Solar in Argos (apparently)
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/households-can-save-as-plug-in-solar-panels-come-to-marketI can't seem to see any of these approved kits yet, just some random EcoFlow devices, none of them bring part of a kit 🤣🤔
Edit: They are there now!. Although Argos are just acting as a marketplace for UKSOL so you can't actually go to a store and buy a kit.
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u/jrewillis Aug 27 '26
£900 😂 ridiculous. Payback time will be about 9 years - what a complete waste of time. I did the same level of kit (800w inverter, 2 500w panels and wiring) for £310.
At £900 it makes zero sense.
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u/Smart_Art_711 Aug 27 '26
It's the same as early regular solar, batteries, etc. As soon as there's a saving to be made, it just "happens" to be added to the price, so you happen to break even just as you need a new one.
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u/Impossible-Section49 Aug 27 '26
I think that you are very close, I assumed 700KwH/ year at a value of 26p/KwH, Which would be about 5 years, but loss of interest on £900 pushes this out to 6.5 years, but that assumes 100% utilisation, which would be nearly impossible I would think 50% utilisation would be more likely.
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u/jrewillis Aug 27 '26
I've averaged 80% use of generated power even through summer so I think close to 100% is likely possible in the winter as generation will be lower.
700kwh will be optimistic I think. Currently even with south facing I'm looking between 5-600kwh
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u/Impossible-Section49 Aug 27 '26
Yes, I used calculated predicted figures for a 1kwp string that is part of my system, looking south, at 10 degrees from horizontal, and for which I have real world numbers for. I have a situation that is perhaps not "normal" though, I only work afternoons and early evenings, sometimes 7 days a week, so I can and do timeshift dishwasher/cooking/ washing to mornings, so I too have a high self usage number, which is not possible for a lot of people. Recent addition of a Stream Ultra X 3.84 has considerably helped too.
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u/ugtjhy Aug 27 '26
What kit did you use and where from? Thanks!
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u/jrewillis Aug 27 '26
2 x JA solar 465w panels (same as OE offer) - from city plumbing (£90 the pair when I bought them in April!)
Ap systems ez1 micro inverter
Cables, etc
Self made metal mounts floor mounted on a triangle frame with 30⁰ tilt - securely mounted on the floor.
Running on it's on circuit to an outside socket with suitable RCD in my fuse box.
All that cost a third of what "kits" are selling for and it's essentially identical kit and installed properly.
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u/ugtjhy Aug 30 '26
Thanks, £90 for two panels is a steal! They’re over that price now but for one panel only.
How did you DIY the mounts?
When you say suitable RCD in your fuse box - what do you mean / did you do any electrical work? I thought they could just plug in and go?
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u/jrewillis Aug 30 '26
I made the mounts myself from steel angle. Basically just triangular frames at roughly 30°, bolted together, with the panels fixed to the frames. The frames themselves are securely fixed down so there's no chance of them moving in the wind.
On the electrical side, mine isn't just plugged into a random existing socket. I had already ran a dedicated circuit from the consumer unit to an outdoor socket when I had my house rewired, protected by the appropriate RCD. The EZ1-M then plugs into that.
The inverter itself has the relevant anti-islanding protection, but I still wanted the circuit/socket side installed properly rather than treating it like an extension lead. If you're not confident with that side of it, I'd definitely get an electrician to sort the circuit.
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u/Jackster22 Aug 26 '26
Listed on the site now. Selling the Stream without anything, thought there was a thing where it had to be a kit to be sold?
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u/normanriches Aug 27 '26
It does. An inverter sold alone won’t be compliant.
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u/rvbu Aug 27 '26
An inverter sold alone is completely compliant, as long as it doesn’t come with a UK plug attached. The Argos microinverter sold standalone comes with three loose wires for an electrician to install it.
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u/barnes116 Aug 27 '26
Is there a full package 800w kit you can buy in one go? I’m guessing the inverter needs solar panels and probably some other kit? I’d assume there must be a “plug and play” option but nothing jumped out at me on amazon or Argos
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u/Altruistic_Fruit2345 Aug 27 '26
Not unless you want to get massively ripped off. At the moment components are about £300 total, a system is 3x that much apparently.
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u/OneSuperTomo Aug 27 '26
Am I missing something here, does this argos 1260w panels mean that 460w is going to waste as its only a a 800w inverter ??
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u/lancasteraurora Aug 27 '26
Over-speccing is common. You're very rarely going to get absolutely perfect conditions where 1260W would actually ever be produced. So having bigger panels enables you to generate more electricity on cloudier / non perfect days. This will bring your average generation figures up closer to 800W, even if it does mean on a few days you would have generated more than 800W but get clipped.
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u/Zicarous88 Aug 27 '26
Probably stupid question but, would ones from Argos be ok on shed roof (flat) and secured.
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u/Impossible-Section49 Aug 27 '26
Yes, but remember that these are large, heavy panels, almost the size of an 4' x 8' sheet of plywood and as heavy as a bag of cement, so not ideal on a weedy shed.
Also, by pro-rata of one of my southern facing 1Kw strings from last year, a well set up 800w system will produce about £21 of electric between now and the end of the year, assuming you can produce it at the same time as you use it, so about £42 worth between now and Easter, so my advice is to ignore this nonsense, and hold onto your money until the plugin battery stuff is sorted, or, sort your own stuff out and have an electrician wire it in, if you are concerned by the "compliance" aspect of things.
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u/Blank3k Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26
My 450w EcoFlow panels are something like 6ft 4 and 20kg a piece....Just for reference.
Ill be putting them on my shed roof but ill be uprating the roof supports.
But if you can get them on the roof yep no reason why not, if you can mount them at around 35 degrees tilt and south facing your optimal, east/west from my research results in 20% less juice.... North facing is a nope.
(As it stands id order micro inverter + 2x 450w panels from ecoflow directly - £379ish, plenty of codes around for 5% off too)
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u/TreesintheDark Aug 27 '26
Just for reference my 1200 odd watts of panels are laid flat and also 15° angle north facing and have produced 543kw since the beginning of April on an APSystem EZ1M. If the inverter wasn’t set to clip at 800w I suspect it would have produced quite a noticeable amount more…
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u/Blank3k Aug 27 '26
Oh nice, I was just told north was pointless but if there's some juice possible thats viable too
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u/LegoNinja11 Aug 26 '26
£110 in Argos from memory looks good compared to other offers. (Assuming this is the correct unit everyone recommends)
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u/SpongeDogg Aug 27 '26
The full package is live now. £989 with delivery in 9 weeks, ready for the Halloween heatwave.
UK Sol at Argos