Anyone had Solar PV fitted?

[bonusmedia]

I'm close to exchanging on my new house and looking at improvements from the energy efficiency info.

Some stuff, like cavity wall insulation etc is a no brainer. Just wondering about solar PV, at first look it seems like a good deal with a payback of about 5 years and then some nice profit from the feed in tariff for another 15 years.

The price for a standard 4 KW system seems to be between £5k and £6k but there are so many different installers and setups it's not easy working out what is a good deal.

If anyone has done this who did you go with, what kit did you get and how has it worked out?

If it's going to happen it might as well be soon before the tariff gets cut any further

 

[suggs]

Ikea now do solar panel supply / fitting and there is a 15% off for ikea family members (free to register) might be worth checking out.

 

[spiderspider]

We have them.

We live in a little tiny village, where there is no gas, so everything is electric.

During the winter their contribution is negligible. But during the summer, I think we spend about £10 per month on electric (Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep). Ours are all handled by EDF and we don't get the money from them, that goes to supply and install.

What we do get, is whenever they are working we get that power, unless we don't need it, and it then goes back to the grid, and money to EDF.

We have a 3 bed detached, think we have 10 panels on the roof, and would recommend them to anyone.

 

[martin-s]

This stuff is ugly as hell - I wouldn't touch it

 

[accelerator]

LED light bulbs will also save you money.

 

[Edwin]

LED light bulbs will also save you money.

I'll second that. We live in a new build where the builders went stir crazy for GU10 bulbs (the halogen spot type that are recessed into the ceiling). Our dining room/lounge alone has over 30 in small clusters - which, at 50W each, would mean we'd be using as much electricity as a small kettle if we turned all of them on.

So we swapped them all for LEDs, and now even if we leave most of the lights on we're burning about the same amount of electricity as one bright old-style incandescent lightbulb...

TIP: good LEDs last for a long time, but they won't last forever. And companies in that space seem to go out of business fairly regularly (it's a very tough market). So even if they come with a decent warranty, it's worth buying a few more than you need and sticking them in the cupboard - that way, you'll have matching spares if the company you bought them from goes under.

 

[accelerator]

Yes, LED light bulbs are a really nice technology. Long lasting, no flicker, and no mercury like the fluorescent energy saving bulbs.

Just on the solar panels, I've not looked at the numbers closely, but I think it is getting harder for home owners to manage a profitable install.

Solar panels themselves aren't that expensive, it's the install you're paying for.

Rgds

 

[namealot]

I've currently got several deliveries of both MR16 (they fit into GU53 fittings) and GU10 LEDs in various boxes here mostly from Megaman and Kosnic. Initially I'd hoped to retrofit MR16 LED lamps to the existing fittings which are mostly low voltage GU53 with MR16 50W halogen lamps in. Unfortunately because I require a large number of them to dim it becomes expensive because there are far fewer MR16 LEDs that dim and look aesthetically pleasing (many look like alien eyes) and because the existing halogen 12V transformers don't allow the LEDs to dim through the full range before they either flicker or just shut off completely. A decent Megaman dimmable MR16 LED lamp and Megaman replacement LED driver costs about £38 per fitting. It works out far cheaper to remove the existing fittings and switch to GU10 240V mains fittings which do not require a driver/transformer and because there is more choice of LED GU10 lamps.

I have tested two fittings but need approximately 71 here. Luckily I found a nice GU10 Robus fitting for £3.25 per fitting at the quantity I require. Many fittings, especially those with a wire to hold the lamp in situ look cheap in my opinion and I got rid of all of those years ago and replaced with better looking fittings. There's a nice fitting by Scolmore (Click GU300) which is probably the easiest to fit because of its click connection feature but it's almost four times the price of the Robus that I like. The fittings I have currently are the GU53 variant of those.

I've been testing Kosnic lamps. Their MR16 non dimmable are unfortunately flickering badly in locations where I have retrofitted them to existing GU53 fittings that have halogen transformers. This is despite not having a dimmer in those locations. They're obviously no good. I'm also testing GU10 Kosnic LED lamps that cost from about £9-£17 depending on their style and whether they dim or don't dim.

Another thing to consider with LEDs which isn't something to consider with halogen is colour temperature and lumens. I've decided to try Cool White in the kitchen and in the bathrooms instead of warm white (similar to halogen) because it has a higher colour temperature. Daylight is higher still but is more suited to design studios. Warm white seems to work best for bedrooms and sitting rooms. Different LEDs give out more luminosity, usually depending on the voltage. I have some samples that are 500lm.

The final hurdle is seeing if everything works with your existing dinner and, if not, deciding whether to change the dimmer. I may have blown my SceneStyle 4 but have a Varilight 4 gang in premium black in order which I think may operate better. Since I like to have control over both the circuits (aka channels) and scenes (combinations of circuits/channels) on the switch it can be difficult to find suitable dimmers. If I have to replace the SceneStyle with a Varilight then it may require the introduction of a remote control to be able to do everything I require. Some dimmers have a minimum load requirement and others don't and that can affect whether they work well with LEDs.

That’s a lot of faffing around when don’t need to change the complete fitting just remove transformers and MR16 lamp holders(GU53 fittings) and replace with GU 10 lampholder cost about £0.50 retail 0.20 wholesale

https://www.lowenergysupermarket.co...nversion-les?gclid=CJizpKTywMQCFSKc2wodKZwAQw

Dimmers with retro fit led bulbs it’s basically down too leading edge or trailing edge( or very occasionally Inductive Dimmers)
http://www.universal-lighting.co.uk/buying-guides/choosing_the_correct_dimmer_switch

http://www.lyco.co.uk/advice/dimmers-trailing-edge-v-leading-edge/

For the amount that can be used with a single dimmer

http://www.lightbulbs-direct.com/article/led-dimmer-switch-compatibility/

Also if your replacing complete fitting check the cut out size of the existing light they vary from 58mm to over 85 mm its important if you don’t want to be there hours cutting the holes out or paying someone else to do it and the fixing clips at the sides some are for both single skin plaster board and double skin some just single skin people think all downlights are the same sizes etc which there not...


Solar panels it’s all BS really if there are more than two houses on same sub station all the rest won’t be feeding back into the grid so much for green hype lol

Most places that have solar panel don’t have green meter ( alt old meter run backwards ) amount saved can be assessed and even less have invertors that allows power created to be used in the house in the event of power cut????

If your just after the energy deal dosh then doesn’t matter what firm cheapest install.

If you want to be able to use the power created in the event of a power cut then
Go with one that invertors allows use when power fails and that will supply batteries for power storage..

If it’s about saving dosh then if installation allows Ground source heat pumps is the best investment along with under floor heating heats in the winter cools in the summer very little maintenance cavity wall insulation I’d be very careful house construction materials etc can lead to a multitude of damp problems

 

[bonusmedia]

Cheers folks

 

[namealot]

Forgot to say ask what inverter they use e.g. Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter or Modified Sine, If they don’t know then don’t’ use them some use the cheapo modified some believe you can get headaches become hypersensitive to it juries out on that one. But they certainly create noisy power pain in the arse for sensitive equipment PC, TV’s radio a lot of led stuff etc Bet they'll not put that in the sales gumf

Might explain it better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PebWCLvGjzs

 

[bonusmedia]

Forgot to say ask what inverter they use e.g. Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter or Modified Sine, If they don’t know then don’t’ use them some use the cheapo modified some believe you can get headaches become hypersensitive to it juries out on that one. But they certainly create noisy power pain in the arse for sensitive equipment PC, TV’s radio a lot of led stuff etc Bet they'll not put that in the sales gumf

Might explain it better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PebWCLvGjzs

very useful, thanks for that!