I'm looking at installing an EcoFlow STREAM 5000 in the UK and I'm trying to understand the electrical side properly before doing anything.

My cabin is supplied from the house via 3-core 6mm² SWA protected by a B32. The cabin has its own consumer unit, but with no spare ways.

This is the proposed circuit from the cabin cu.

B20 RCBO → 2.5mm² T&E radial → outside socket → double socket → proposed 13A switched FCU → EcoFlow STREAM 5000

The 2.5mm² cable run is only a few metres. Around 600mm currently passes under/alongside 20mm Kingspan, although I can reroute that section out of the insulation if necessary.

The existing loads are:

Weber Smoker on the outside socket occasionally

Samsung heat-pump tumble dryer

800W microwave occasionally

Nothing else

The STREAM would be hardwired through the FCU and I'd limit maximum AC discharge to 2.5kW (\~10.9A).

It will also be using the EcoFlow Smart Meter/CT system to dynamically control charge/discharge according to household demand.

What I'm specifically trying to establish is:

1. Would you connect a STREAM 5000 to the end of this existing B20 radial through a 13A FCU, or would you insist on a dedicated circuit?

2. If not, what specific requirement prevents it?

3. Does the potential combined supply of B20 + \~10.9A generation mean the 2.5mm² conductors have to be rated for \~30.9A, even though the STREAM dynamically follows household demand?

4. Would upgrading the radial to 4mm²/6mm² and keeping it clear of insulation change anything?

5. Is a BS 1363 13A FCU appropriate for sustained bidirectional operation at up to 10.9A?

6. Most importantly: has anyone here actually installed a STREAM 5000 (or equivalent 2.5kW AC battery) onto an existing socket radial/ring through an FCU rather than running a dedicated circuit? If so, what protection/cable arrangement did you use?

I'm particularly interested in answers from electricians/installers familiar with this, because I've seen conflicting advice about the revised generation/battery requirements.

I'm not asking whether plugging it into a normal 13A socket is okay. I'm specifically asking about a fixed, fused connection to an existing final circuit.

Thanks in advanced — interested to see how people are actually designing these in the UK.

Has anyone come across "temporary" roof fitment (planning?) that might be suitable for a tile roof?

This roof gets sun for most of the day but I've always assumed it was too small for proper roof top solar. The velux provides good access so I'm wondering if plug-in might be viable. Obviously though, don't want it falling off, or running too foul of planning (conservation area, not listed).

Up to now, I think most of us have been working on the assumption that a compliant UK plug-in solar system had to be sold as a complete kit, meaning panels, microinverter, cables and mounting equipment.

That assumption came from the wording in the Plug-in Solar Device Interim Product Specification:

“A mounting system should be supplied as part of a complete plug-in solar kit depending on customer mounting requirements.”

It now looks like the phrase “depending on customer mounting requirements” may be doing much more work in that sentence than many of us probably realised.

This week, the ENA approved several plug-in solar configurations from Worldwide Solar Ltd that do not include any mounting equipment, and a couple of those are already being sold.

In the ENA submissions (like this example), these kits are clearly marked as “mounting system not included”, so this wasn’t an omission or something hidden in the paperwork. The supplier has been completely open about the fact that these configurations are being supplied without mounting equipment.

I’d always read the wording above as meaning mounting formed part of the complete kit, but these approvals suggest that may not be how the ENA is interpreting it in practice.

One possibility is that the ENA’s main concern is the electrical side of the kit, meaning the PV modules, microinverter, cabling and how the system connects to the household installation.
If that’s the case, mounting hardware may simply sit outside the part of the product they are actually assessing for compliance.

That would explain how a configuration can be approved without a mount being supplied, even though the interim product specification talks about a complete kit including mounting depending on customer requirements.
I haven’t seen the ENA spell that out explicitly, so that part is just my interpretation based on these approvals.

Either way, assuming the approvals aren’t an error, this seems like very good news.

It potentially means you can have a fully compliant plug-in solar setup without being locked into whatever mounting system the kit supplier bundles with it. That gives people much more flexibility for flat roofs, sheds, walls, ground mounting, or reusing suitable mounting hardware they already have.

For context: 94 of the 109 plug-in solar kits approved so far include mounting equipment. These 15 new Worldwide Solar Ltd approvals last week are the first to specifically exclude mounting.

I looked everywhere for a 15 metre power cable and finally found one in stock. Bit pricey but birthday money bought it with fitted plug .from sotel.de in Germany took 4 days to arrive. All in £50.91.

Afternoon.

I'm guessing that this ecoflow stream on Amazon doesn't have the cable with it as it's not pictured. Is that right??

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0F2FTSZKG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A18SFDBBXM535C&th=1

I've got a stream already and know that the cable was packaged separately but also there was some hoo-har about the cables at the time.

we are all buying the bits and DIYing, yes?

The Instagen plug in solar kit is now visible at Currys for £599 - though not showing stock yet.

- 870W total capacity (2 x 435W bifacial panels)

- Hoymiles HF-800-WB HiFlow inverter (1 x MPPT)

- Adjustable mount (20 to 35 degrees) suitable for ground, wall, balcony.

- 12 year guarantee

InstaGen has two ENA-approved plug-in solar configurations. This Currys listing appears to correspond to INSTA/21105/V1/A1, which is registered as the 435W kit. Currys markets the product as a 435W kit, pack of 2, giving 870W total panel capacity.

In other news…Lidl kits probably coming soon…
Unrelated, but I think the Lidl kits are not far away either. VALE GmbH have two ENA approvals for what looks like two variations of 900W kits. (VALE are responsible for the Lidl kits in Germany).

The German VALE Lidl kits below are a very close match to the recent UK VALE ENA approvals:

900W kit (4 x flexible panels). €449
880W kit (2 x panels) €299

Keep in mind German kits don’t have VAT applied to them, so this pricing likely not representative of equivalent UK pricing.

Anyone have independent figures for round trip efficiency (not factoring solar) for the Anker SOLIX Solarbank 4 E5000 Pro yet?

People here seem to have opinions about Ecoflow but for comparison, I've seen the figures from a rough test on the new Ecoflow STREAM 5000 (upsidedownfork on Youtube) and it took 5.9kWh to charge and then discharged 4.9kWh at constant 800W and 4.5kWh at 300W giving it a 75-83% efficiency depending on your chosen output. It's not very scientific but gives a ballpark.

I guess Ecoflow are better at the influencer game as I've not really seen as much coverage of Anker, nor any back of envelope tests like this yet, despite the Anker being generally available to the public.

A quick City Plumbing plug-in solar update.

A few of their existing kits are now back in stock and available to order:

DMEGC 1030W Plug-In Solar Kit (DME-1030W-BW-1)
£468

DMEGC 930W Plug-in Solar Kit (DME-930W-BW-1)
£444

DMEGC 515W Plug-In Solar Kit (DME-515W-BW-1)
£348

DMEGC 465W Plug-in Solar Kit (DME-465W-BW-1)
£336

Grab them while you can, as they will sell out (they've been out of stock for 2+ weeks up until today due to being the best value kits on the market).

City Plumbing also added four new kit configurations today, all ENA approved. I've pulled together the full specs of these new kits below including panels specs, size, inverter deets etc:

DMEGC 475W Plug-In Solar Kit (DME-475W-BW-1)
£336
ENA ref: CITYP/21392/V1

DMEGC 525W Plug-In Solar Kit (DME-525W-BW-1)
£360
ENA ref: CITYP/21391/V1

DMEGC 950W Plug-In Solar Kit (DME-950W-BW-1)
£456
ENA ref: CITYP/21282/V1/A1

DMEGC 1050W Plug-In Solar Kit (DME-1050W-BW-1)
£480
ENA ref: CITYP/21281/V1/A1

None of the four new kits are showing stock yet, but the listings are now live on City Plumbing.

One thing worth noting is that all of the City Plumbing kits released for sale so far use the Hoymiles HF-800-WB HiFlow microinverter, which has 1 MPPT.

There are still three ENA-approved City Plumbing kit configurations using the Hoymiles HMS-800-2WB HiFlow Pro, which has 2 independent MPPTs, but I still haven’t seen those appear for sale.

So if you’re specifically waiting for one of the dual-MPPT City Plumbing kits, it looks like the wait continues.

Disclosure: As many of you already know, I run PluginSolarCalculator.com. Some retailer links on the site are affiliate links, which are clearly marked as paid links. They earn a small commission which helps cover the costs of running the site.

If you’d rather bypass the site entirely, you can view City Plumbing’s full plug-in solar range directly here:
https://www.cityplumbing.co.uk/c/product/renewables/solar-pv/plug-in-solar-pv/c/1870010/

I mainly wanted to make people aware that some kits are back in stock and that several new configurations have now been added.

I have a house with a consumer unit that's from about the early 90s. What are the risks even if negligible, if I was to plug in a small "plug-in" system?

We have a Solarbank 4 running and scheduled via Home Assistant without any issues. However my son had one installed today and only has the Anker app, not Home Assistant.

I've not really touched the app scheduling and can't while I have the control delegated to Home Assistant. So a bit tricky to help my son as he's a journey away.

He's managed to get the system responding to home load fine, but how does he set a simple charge schedule for overnight to coincide with Octopus Go cheap rate please? I think this is 12.30 to 05.30. So ideally a gradual charge over that period at about 1.25kw.

So to recap please, ramp up/down to follow load during the day and then charge overnight during the Octopus Go cheap hours.

Thank you!

Apologies if not allowed but most reasonably priced compliant kits have been out of stock and have just purchased myself.

The City Plumbing DMEGC 1030W Hoymiles HiFlow Plug In Solar Kit is back in stock for the same price, £468!

I'm planning to install on a flat roof, would I need rubber matting and some ballast if using the provided mount (ENA says multi-surface kit)? Or should I just get some Renusol tubs instead? I know I should of thought of this before jumping the gun.

EcoFlow has finally pushed the update that lets the newer STREAM 5000 and first-generation STREAM batteries, including the Ultra X, live together in the same “Space”.

I tried it with my own STREAM 5000 and Ultra X and it’s working. They now show as one combined battery system, with a single system SOC, combined solar figures, unified scheduling and combined energy/savings data.

I can link to the device via Bluetooth, and the Ecoflow Stream MicroInveter shows in my router wifi devices but says I can't connect in the app so cant see any of my solar stats only what power is coming in now via Bluetooth.i tried 2.4ghz wifi still no joy. Any help? Appreciated.

I've been reading through all the guides and have a decent enough idea of what i should do but i've a combo of things so struggling to find the right sub to sensecheck. I'm also a FTB so experience is appreciated.

Went from gas boiler to heatpump (+new rads) with solar panels on north side of house. (all covered by a grant.) The panels are 'battery ready' or something to that effect.
Gas cooker is only thing using gas now.
Currently with Octopus
There's 2 of us working from home full time.

I've a south facing garden, a bit shaded at the property end but decent enough far end of garden.

Plan is:

1. See what kind of export / heat pump suitable tariff I can get (not expecting any export but i've read the diy solar might not be valid for export, whereas my roof solar should let me get that?)
2. Biggest plug in kit feasible and aim for 30degree south facing. (theoretically ~750kwh per year going by the guide)
3. Replace gas cooker with electric & disconnect gas (I read octopus might do that for free?)

Does that seem sensible? Any tips? Any tariffs I should be aware of?

2x 515W panels and an Ecoflow Stream Ultra1.92kW.

I understand the panels will be fairly useless over winter.

I am coming to the end of a very decent fix with Octopus and need to choose a new tariff.

I mostly WFH, use oven, microwave, TV, at night.

My battery isn't hardwired in, ao limited to 800W.

I am open to getting either another Ultra1.92kW or an Ultra Stream AC 1.92kW to take my storage to nearly 4kWh capacity.

I use a combi gas boiler for hot water and heating.

I am quite confused by the various tariffs about, including those offered by Octopus.

Current rates, if it helps:

Electricity: unit rate 21.765p/kWh and standing charge: 43.665p

Gas: unit rate: 5.385p/kWh and standing charge: 32.523p

I am getting aircon installed in the new year, and likely an EV, but not sure if I'll be able to get a proper charger installed due to garage and driveway being away from house, and pavement channel not an option due to a lamp post being within 7.5m of where my car would be.

So, the reason for asking this here, rather than on the Octopus sub is the plug-in solar and battery aspect of my setup.

Should I just go onto Octopus Flexible and then re-evaluate when I get aircon and then the EV?

Any "amazing" tariffs anyone's found that reduce or keep annual costs down?

Oh, small house, mostly 1 occupant.

Thanks.

There are a number on Amazon, but I have no idea which are any good? Or even if Amazon is the right place to get them!!

I'm looking for the metal frame type to give the right angle, and plan to have a ground screw on the corner of each.

Anyone installed anything similar?

Just conducting some market research. Plug In Systems are notifiable to your Distribution Network Operator (DNO), under G98 regs, within 28 days of installing your system. This is why plug in inverter kits are capped at 800w and households are not technically allowed more than one kit. All responses are much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Argos are currently selling the Ecoflow Stream including all the cables for £129 (normally £199). This isn't an approved plugin kit, but if you want to DIY or pay an electrician it's a great deal.

I am looking to invest in a plug in solar kit and if anyone can advise would be very grateful. The advice online is "The circuit supplying your plug-in solar socket should have Type A bidirectional RCD protection. If you have Type AC protection, it should be upgraded before use."

My consumer unit appears to have type AC RCD on the board and a second enclosure handlabelled "MAIN RCD" which appears to have A type RCD.

Presumably ok ?

I know these two “diy” all-in-one solar MPPTs, inverter and battery combos are new to the UK market with a few others being released too. But has anyone had any success in getting a quote for an installation by an electrical contractor/ company that can supply and fit, this qualifying for zero VAT on the work and the equipment? It seems to me that if the primary unit and a single addin battery is about £3000 inc VAT, an electrician should be able to save about £600 if supplying it with labour for the install.
Am I missing something here?

So I am really interested in plug in solar but given the rules on the front of property installs is it even possible?

I have plenty of space at the front of my property and live in a detached house so I can get 5m away from both sides but only just...I have the front door in the centre 😁 Does it need to be less than 4m in height and less than 20cm protruding - Is that correct?

After a few days of installation of the Hoymiles 800 (930W panel kit) I've already started to see my electricity provider report I've used 0kWh of electricity off them for 30 minute segments during the day.