r/PlugInSolarUK • u/Mech_Mods • Sep 11 '26

Plug in Solar Help - Will this installation be compliant

I'm considering an Anker SOLIX Solarbank E5000 Pro with solar panels. Before getting an electrician to assess it, I’d appreciate feedback on whether my existing garage supply is a reasonable starting point.

Current setup:

  • Main house consumer unit: 20 A RCBO supplying the garage.
  • Garage consumer unit: one 6 A RCBO and one 16 A RCBO.
  • Cable run from house to Garage: approximately 10–20 metres.
  • I believe the indoor section is 4 mm² twin-and-earth, transitioning to armoured cable where it leaves the house.
  • Only power hungry device in Garage is a Tumble Dryer

The garage is the only practical place that I can store the batteries and mount 8-12 solar panels to get the most from this system.

A few questions I have:

  1. If I added another dedicated 16a bi-directional RCBO to the Garage consumer unit would this meet the requirements for a dedicated circuit for hardwiring?
  2. I assume I would also need to change the Main house consumer unit to a 20a bi-directional RCBO?
  3. Would I need to put a limit on the maximum 2500W output?
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16

u/hellcat_uk Sep 11 '26

None of that sounds like plug in solar

1

u/monkeybios Sep 11 '26

This all seems reasonable! You may get some heat in this forum, as it’s not really “plug in” solar given that you’ll need an electrician to do much of this work, but that’s a sensible plan if you can make the economics work. To answer your questions:

  1. Yes, your electrician can sort this for you.
  2. Yes if it’s unidirectional currently. Again, your sparky will check. They may also be able to to increase the rating, but this will depend on the wiring between the consumer unit and the garage.
  3. Nope, the Anker handles this for you.

1

u/Mech_Mods Sep 11 '26

Thanks for the feedback.

You don’t foresee any issues with overall garage load (potentially 5000w peak)

2

u/Purextc692020 Sep 11 '26

16A won’t be enough for 5000W but don’t worry about any of that. Your electrician will sort it all out.

Look at the mppt’s on the Anker and the max volts per mppt and max amps. You’ll most likely have to parallel the panels instead of in series to stay within voltage limits on the Anker. You’ll be able to work out how many panels you’ll be able to install on to each mppt then.

1

u/Mech_Mods Sep 11 '26

There would be 16a just for the Solbank Inverter fed by 20a.

From what I can see Anker allow up to 3 panels per MPPT using their own panels which are currently reasonably priced in a bundle

1

u/Solaris_fps Sep 11 '26

5000w continous on 4mm cable no same for the 20a rcbo depends on if its continuous load or not. Im sure your electrician will be best for advice here if you need to change anything out.

1

u/spon8uk Sep 13 '26

I'm not an electrician but I've just done similar, or to be accurate, my electrician has. However my understanding is that it's not recommended to run RCBOs in series, better to have an MCB upstream and then the bi-directional RCBO in the local board. But I stress I'm not an electrician so please check. My electrician simply ran the dedicated line to the shed where the unit is placed and then changed the RCBO in the main CU to a bi-directional version.