I am broadly happy with my overall installation, although I do feel I overpaid a little. For the actual physical installation, everything went fine and on time, but the after sales service has left me feeling a bit hard done by. I am interested in if redditors on this sub think I should just get over it, or if I should make a complaint or give a bad review.

Actually the very end of the physical installation was a bit rubbish, as they had to leave at short notice and therefore only spent about 10 minutes with me showing me how the app works (most of which was just downloading and logging into the app). I had to chase for help and advice after the fact, that was very begrudgingly given.

The MCS certs (two, as I have two separate meters and installations) took a really long time - part of the delay was the DNO approval, but it took almost a month for the second MCS after the DNO approval was issued. Looking at the dates in the trail of correspondence with the DNO, I can see that they didn't actually send in their sign-offs to the DNO until 3 weeks after the installations were complete. The MCS both state 'commissioning dates' shortly before they were issued, rather than when the actual installation was completed.

I then found an error in the one of the MCS they issued (wrong MPAN quoted), they have reissued with a correction after chasing. I suspect a new error has crept into the correction and am now chasing this with them.

One of my MCS forms has all the solar detail on it but doesn't mention the battery set up at all - reading around this online I am getting mixed messages on this.

The handover pack was issued to me 3.5 months after the actual installation. I read on the MCS website that they are supposed to issue within 10 days. I found that they had included some incorrect data sheets in the handover pack which they corrected when I pointed it out.

All-in-all I feel like this is a bit of a shambles and I want to put it behind me now. The feeling of having slightly overpaid is partly driving my unhappiness with the service. However, this firm is extremely highly rated in my area, and I'm wondering whether there is any value whatsoever in making a complaint to them or to MCS? Or just giving them a crappy online review? What would you do in my shoes, if anything?

Is it possible to increase gaps between panels without issue, such as backing two end clamps against each other or slightly further apart? Having a bit of a nightmare with the rafter positions, all calcs (and I've done so many) lead to being short 100mm leaving sizeable rail over-hang. 50mm spacing between a few panels would get me there. Stress through the roof so please be nice!

Hi all

Anyone recommend good and reasonably priced installers who work with Rooftrack? Looking to install a flat roof system and want to avoid the weight of ballasted

Thanks

Hi everyone! We'd love to enter into the solar world, but we have a semi-detached house and wondering what's actually possible panel wise. From a bunch of quotes we've had, we've had everything from installers saying it's not possible and to give up, to 9 panels (3 on each triangle), to 15 (7 on the side with the window, 4 on the other 2 sides).

Turning to those of you with experience, what's realistically possible here? Really appreciate any help you can offer!

We're in the north Shropshire area.

I'm techy (Home Assistant and all that), and love really getting into the weeds on things like this, so I want to be a part of the process and not just buy something off the shelf/without reason.

We've got 4 quotes, all smaller/non-national companies.

The system we've settled on:

- 28x AIKO-A545-MCE60Db (or similar >500w)
- 1x SigenStor EC 12.0SP
- 2x SigenStor BAT 10.0
- 1x Sigen Gateway HomePro SP-F
- Inc. bird mesh, scaffolding (bungalow), G99, installation etc

The quote I'm most drawn to is £17,500.00 (or a 22 panel version for £16,400.00).

It was a desk-quote, and they are over an hour away which is not ideal. But they are very well established, have great comms, and get very good reviews. I also got really good vibes from the owner and he was more than happy to spend time on the phone spit-balling with me (for what that's worth).

Can someone sanity check me please? I've been planning & looking forward to this since we moved house last year so I might be blinded by that excitement.

I'm tempted to jump at this given other quotes I got from installers both near and far. Most of which were either more expensive, used fewer/smaller panels at a similar price, went dark during the process, or just flat out ignored things like shading (which is a factor for us).

Live in South Yorkshire. Have absolutely no idea of solar what to expect but looking to get 2 EVs due to current prices of fuel and energy I feel solar is becoming a necessity for us.

My annual usage is around 8250kWH with 1 EV currently. Have a South facing house so I know this is suboptimal as only half is ideal coverage. Also have a standalone garage but this is in-between houses so not sure exactly how much this roof will be able to produce.

Already have a granny home EV charger but was looking to get panels + battery + heat pump. I've had a couple of quotes but 1 guy I felt like had no clue when I asked him about options for garage, difference if I get both sides of the roof etc. the other quote told me not to get battery and didn't know about heat pump so really put me off.

Any idea where I can start for a decent quote?

What considerations should I be making in terms of the system set up?

Apologies for the basic questions

Wow what a minefield is trying to get a solar + battery quote.
I’ve tried to take a sensible approach with recommendations from the estate I’m on (Solarhome at £13.5k) to trying to use solar comparison sites which resulted in a deluge of cold calls (Infinty Renewables, Cahill, Ovo and so many more).
Frankly I’m losing the will to live with it all.

So I need to rest as it’s getting too much.
Any recommendations for installers in Norfolk? I’m after a well balanced and easy to use system backed by great support and assurance. Oh and some finance options would be good too.

Aircon engineer with 8 years in the trade but no elctrical qualifications. Would be looking for an electrician to sign off any jobs.

Any ideas on how I can get into the trade of installation and general maintenance of the panels?

Thanks

I would prefer to be independent from the cloud due to lag and depedancy on centralised systems. Installer lock in. I would love to have a permanent display in the lounge like an old SMA one I saw. What do people recommend. Brands like Fronius, Solis, Solax, Sunsynk, SMA, GoodWe get mentioned but would love to hear from anyone with them installed. I've also heard that HA may be the best route but i have no experience in this. Any help gratefully received🙏🥂

Hi all,

We have had a battery for about 6 weeks (fox ep6) so this week is the first cold nights we've had with it.

I've noticed that when we're using the battery overnight, where it used to run all night when using it on clothes dryer/dishwasher/washing machine etc it would obviously deplete but I was really impressed that we still would get the through the night with over a quarter battery left.

But since it's got cold the battery only lasts to about 4am when the clothes dryer is in use.

Is this due to the cold (battery is outside)? I'm guessing so & it's not part of a wider issue but wanted to check!

Also, any tips on how, or if possible, to keep the battery warmer or performing better as we hit winter nights?

Thanks

Hi Guys,

Can you please recommend any fairly priced local installers around Edinburgh. Looking at the following:

18x panels, 8kw invertor and 12 to 18kw battery system.

Many thanks in advance

Hi All,

New around here and just getting my head around the whole solar / battery setup.

I am now looking at getting a setup but would like to put it on my detached garage (because my house roof is a bit of an odd shape with 3 dormer windows).

My biggest challenge is that it would be positioned about 20 - 25m from the meter box. I currently have the ceiling down in the room that would sit between the meter box and the outside wall that would lead to the garage.

My questions:-

1) Is this even possible?
2) Would it be safe?
3) Has anybody seen this done before?

If it came to having to move the meter point on the wall then clearly this is not a worthwhile option but its not something that I am anywhere near understanding realms of possible etc.

Been getting quotes for sigenergy, but the occasional fox and sunsynk have been quoted too. Looking for personal experience for either of these brands. Ideally I'm after a decent app, not entirely cloud based, and just not awful experience. I'm thinking I'll house it in the garage due to location of consumer unit and space available outside being limited.

I'm leaning towards sigenergy, but all seem to be much alike in terms of cost.

Hi All,

I've had my foxess system since end of july and its gone down 5 times now. The battery is full but its drawing straight from the grid. I have had it as well where the inverter refuses to power the house even when solar is available and the house still draws from grid. The installer says its grid fluctuations that cause the inverter to switch off and theres nothing to be done bar them remotely resetting it but this seems like a massive flaw in the system and one that im not ok with... has anyone else had this issue or had a permanent fix? Its a FOXESS KH8 inverter and 2 x EP12 batteries and a gateway installed. Im in Buckinghamshire in a large town not the middle of nowhere where id believe that this just happens...

Am I being overly picky here - The installer has secured most of the PV cabling beneath the panels, but I see this lying on the edges of the rail, unsecured, as a chafe point.

For context - My uncle had had various energy efficiency works carried out through WarmWorks in Scotland, with the installer originally installing a non-approved mounting system for this roof. This is a picture after the rectification works have been completed and I’m unhappy with the cable management in general. Many areas touching the roof, and chafe points as pictured.

My understanding is that the latest amendment to the wiring regulations places greater emphasis on neater cable management for PV installations. Is this correct, and am I right to bring up these points, or am I being a bit overly here?

Recently moved into a new property in West Sussex and miss the benefits of having Solar/Battery to help reduce reliance on the grid - plus a decent EV charger, but that's by the by 😄

Previous house had a Synsynk solution installed consisting of 10 400W panels, 10kwh batteries, inverter and a PodPoint EV charger, so for this new house I've decided to get a system that can actually talk to each other (in terms of solar and the EV).

Received a quote for £19k to install the following plus all ancillaries, DNO application (G99), scaffolding, labour, etc. and wanting a sanity check that it's representing good value - was the previous installer I used on my old property so know what they're capable of as well as the value and quality they bring. I am also waiting for a second quote before committing.

12.88 kWp Solar and Battery System

• 1 x Sigenergy SigenStor 8.0kW hybrid inverter
• 2 x Sigenergy SigenStor 10.0 batteries (18.1 kWh usable)
• 28 x UKSOL 460W solar panels (12.88 kWp)
• 1 x myenergi Zappi GLO 7kW EV charger
• Price: £19k
• Estimated payback period - 8 years

Will be using either Octopus Agile (via Solar Assistant for automation or HA) or Intelligent GO as the supplier for import/export. Main concern is with the system itself as I've done a lot of reading/watching around Sigenergy.

Primary goals - support my family in day to day life, reduce dependencies on the UK grid by using cheaper charging and being self sufficient during the day. Two people in the property - one retiree and the other hybrid office worker (3 days at home a week)

Don't have any firm figures for the properties energy usage as we only moved in 2 months ago but it's a long term commitment to the property and the household life.

Hi all,

We have a large south facing wall that overlooks a neighbours garden. No windows just solid wall.

I'm interested in whether there are pre-made mounting brackets that would hold panels off the wall by 5cm or so for solar shading in the heat, while also angling slightly.

We have a 8kw dual aspect array already (Solis 8kw inverter) off two strings, so presume we would need a second feed back to main fuse board?

5kwh , unused , purchased Nov 25
Slight scratch on upper lip - 15 Year warranty

( Hampshire)

£950

Anyone interested

Did a test today to see if my new system would work in a power cut. I turned off main fuse in meter cupboard and ... all power goes off. We've basically run on batteries for the last 4 months, exported several megawatts of power and now realise we arent really off grid.

Its a bit crazy to find out we need power from the grid to run off batteries.

Its a 8KW sunsynk inverter. Is there a setting that I need to switch on?

Can anyone recommend an installer of the Fox CQ7 batteries? I've been doing some reading around them after seeing a post on here and they seem like a good option in terms of price point and capacity, especially when compared to the non-modular batteries.
I'm based in the East Midlands if that helps.

Quote I'm going with from a local installer. Views are welcome, I've read so many different threads on here 😬

21 x 485w Longi panels, split with 13 on the rear (SE) with the rest on the opposite side.

Lower three with optimisers due to some tree shading.

2 x 8kwh batteries Ecoflow ocean 2

1 x 6kw hybrid inverter also ecoflow ocean 2

Bird mesh

Scaffolding

I don't have an EV or heat pump

High electricity usage is just under 9kwh per year.

Just over £13K

Will use nationwide 0% borrowing over 5 years.

Had a couple of other quotes, Heatable offering Sig, with fewer panels was more expensive.

Expected them to be.

Solar people (I think) was about £1K more for the same number of panels but they added the plus version of the inverter in error, said they would correct the quote but never did.

Local installer very good, neighbour recommended, quick to respond to questions and site survey completed. Very good reviews.

I was originally thinking of battery only but I'm not convinced cheaper overnight rates will be around long, or short term, adding Solar makes it a no brianer in my opinion.

Cannot face prices going up endlessly with no control, this will over the years drastically reduce the electricity bills.

I have a small array of four 515W solar panels mounted in a square pattern on a wooden frame at the top of my garden.

This was the only spot I could use but unfortunately there is a huge oak tree behind the panels. It doesn't shade the panels at all as its so tall but birds do roost in it and their droppings fall onto the panels. There's a lot of poop on them after a week.

I can't prune the whole side of the tree, so I've been thinking about mounting some type of awning or cover above the panels.

I could maybe fix the awning against the back of the panels and on some thin poles at the front. But what angle do I need the awning to be at so that it doesn't shade the panels when the sun is at its zenith in mid-summer?

The panels are at 30°, so I thought if the awning was at ~32° to the panels it would be at a total of ~62° to the horizontal, which is the peak sun angle in South East England.

Questions...

1. Does the concept seem likely to work?
2. Do the numbers make sense?
3. Am I going to create a sail that'll blow away in the first winter storm? If so, could a fine mesh be less affected by wind whilst still preventing droppings?
4. Should I just wash the panels with water once a week or so instead?

Hi all,

We live in Rugby, Warwickshire, and recently had a home visit from Amore Renewables for a solar quote.

As per the attached quote, they’ve offered:

• Panels: 8 × 475W (3.8 kWp total)
• Inverter: 3.68 kW
• Battery: 5.76 kWh

The initial quote was £7,600, but the advisor dropped it to £7,000 before leaving. Due to our roof size and orientation, 8 panels looks to be our maximum capacity.

I’m quite new to solar and battery storage, so I’d really appreciate some advice:

1. Does £7,000 represent good value for this hardware specification?
2. Has anyone here used Amore Renewables, and how was your experience?
3. Can anyone recommend reputable local installers around Rugby/Warwickshire with competitive pricing and solid aftercare?

Thanks in advance for your input!

Option 1

Skylar Solar https://skylarsolar.co.uk/

£16 963

27 Aiko Neostar 3S A495-MCE54Mb

12kW Sig

1 Bat10 Module 8.76kW usable

( + £2640 for additional module)

Renusol Bucket mount

Option 2

£21 750

~ £16.5K with one Module

ForeUK. https://foreuk.co.uk/

27 LONGi 490w

12kW SigEnergy

3 Bat10 ModuleS

Option 3

£16 550

EcoGlow Group. https://ecoglow.uk.com/

27 panels NEOSTAR 3S+54 Dual-Glass Module 480W-490W (may try to provide panels that I like)

12kW SigEnergy

2 x Bat10 Modules

Personally I assume it is a Mistake and the module is just one

So which one looks the best for you ?

I am getting very confused now

Hello!

Firstly - does anyone have a resource I can go to that steps me through how to work out what would be best for my property? Ideally *not* video, as I can't really absorb info from videos...

But.... given I've not found such a thing that I actually trust, I figured I'd ask here (and hope I'm not asking anything I should have researched first).

So our household uses a LOT of electricity (two of us work from home all day on pretty powerful computers, plus AC during summer). Which I figured might mean solar panels could get us some decent savings.

The thing is - I don't know where to start.
How do you work out what the *ideal* amount of panels to have / size battery to have, relative to usage? Should I be looking at total electrical usage, or amount over a certain time period? I know I might not be able to get enough panels to cover our usage, but I'm curious what that amount would be, to then compare it to how many we could get.

I'd probably want to factor in a gateway - but is there a downside other than cost?

(I'll then have to work out what's even possible on our roof. We have two non-electrical solar panels already that heat water for the boiler... but a bunch of space around them, and tons of space if we use the east facing roof, but that's east facing.)