Current Setup - What to do next?

[pops106]

Hello all, just wanting to get some opinions on what to do next or if I'm at a point now to call it a day adding to my system.

I have around 2.2kw of panels;
4 x 260w in series to a PowMr 60amp controller
4 x 215w in series then in parallel with another 4 x 75w ish (270w badly smashed panels) to another PowMr 60a controller
Breakers on panels to controllers

2.6kwh of batteries which is 4 x 55ah AGM in series for 48v was 8 x but got some are not happy batteries.
Breakers on controllers to batteries
No breaker currently on batteries to inverter, do I need one here ?

This all then connects to a GTIL 1000W inverter which has a limiter for zero export via CT clamp.

Everything in I have spent around £800 all DIY.

I am on a peak / off peak tariff
Peak 01:30am > 8:30pm 15.18p
Off peak 8:30pm > 01:30am 5.5p

I am shifting most of my loads like dishwasher and washing machine but the main bulk is chargers for batteries and the hottub which is set to bring the temp up to 42C off peak and it slowly drops during the day to 34C to reduce peak usage.

I am covering most of my peak costs with solar/batteries as you can see from the graphs, light blue is off peak, dark blue on peak.

So a good day looks like this;




Bad day looks like this;




So everything I have added up to now has been super cost effective but I don't know if I am at the point I will be throwing money at it and not really seeing any cost benefit.

I could possibly replace the 4 broken panels if I come across some cheap ones again to increase PV and I will likely sort my battery problem to double the capacity but spending £800 on some lifepo4 and replace the chargers etc I am going to spend more on that then the whole system cost up to now and isn't really going to save me much in the long run.

At the end of the day it started out as a bit of fun/hobby but worked out well so slowly added bits.

I really appreciate your opinions.

Cheers

 

[pollenface]

Sounds like you got a good idea what you're doing.

The longer you can keep it functioning to offset your draw from the grid, the more economical it will become over time.

 

[pops106]

Sounds like you got a good idea what you're doing.

The longer you can keep it functioning to offset your draw from the grid, the more economical it will become over time.

Thanks, i like to tell myself im doing something right lol.

I can replace the broken panels for about £200 that would give me 0.5kw more PV which would help with later in the day, maybe save an extra 30p a day so could pay back in 2 years. It would obviously help keep batteries charged etc but its hard to work out when you are zero export and covering usage anyway.

If 3 of my 4 batteries are ok i just need 1 more which is £15 that would double battery capacity but i would need more chargers £80 so £95 in total. I could then bring the solar on at 01:30am when the peak tariff kicks in and should get me through to sun up time. That would save me about 20p a day so would pay off in under 2 years.

So i would be almost zero peak cost.

Panels seem to last forever so I know they will survive longer than ROI, batteries would be a real unknown as they are already second hand but I can capacity test them and match up best I can and rely on my balancer a bit.

This all obviously only makes sense if nothing explodes.

 

[Bossrox]

I started out as a hobby gathering the materials need to get a basic system going & like you, my power company has peak hours 3 hours a day & I just wanted to put together a system I could run off during peak hours to avoid that rip off. Since then, my system is now 42 300 watt panels for 12kw, 2 100 amp chargers, 3 inverters, 1 6kw & 2 4kw's, I just use the 6kw, the others were my starters & now back ups & 4000 a/hrs worth of lead /acid batts. I get 90% of my power from my current system but I'll need another dozen panels & wanting to build a 500 a/hr lithium bank to get me strong enough to go off grid. Your system generates some nice graphics & stats, mine isn't anywhere as comprehensive as yours.

 

[pops106]

I started out as a hobby gathering the materials need to get a basic system going & like you, my power company has peak hours 3 hours a day & I just wanted to put together a system I could run off during peak hours to avoid that rip off. Since then, my system is now 42 300 watt panels for 12kw, 2 100 amp chargers, 3 inverters, 1 6kw & 2 4kw's, I just use the 6kw, the others were my starters & now back ups & 4000 a/hrs worth of lead /acid batts. I get 90% of my power from my current system but I'll need another dozen panels & wanting to build a 500 a/hr lithium bank to get me strong enough to go off grid. Your system generates some nice graphics & stats, mine isn't anywhere as comprehensive as yours.

This is kind of what I am worried about is that I just keep growing and growing. I only really have space for 12 panels which is what I have got now so I probably should replace the bust panels and I guess going forward I could upgrade to bigger panels and sell on the old ones as I go it would certainly help in the winter months.

If you are interested in the graphs and stats it is actually from Home Assistant they have just introduced a new energy panel which you feed with your consumption, production and export sensors and it does the rest.

I then have smart plugs on all my major appliances and use home assistant to then monitor and automate switching devices on and off so the dishwasher for example if someone sets it going after 3pm the sensor detects anything over 10w on the smart plug and powers the dishwasher off, then it sends an alert out of my google home hubs saying "Dishwasher paused until 8:30pm". It powers back on at 8:30pm and continues the cycle or if the misses really wants it on she can just say "ok google, switch on the dishwasher"

Then does all my lights, heating and CCTV etc.



Its a bit of work getting everything up and running but I am a massive fan.