Which Home Battery?

Harry has made the jump into the home battery sector, but which one has he gone for and why?

#homebattery #homeenergy #battery

[ElectricVehicleMan]

I know, I know! I'm useless! - This (due to what happened near the end of the vid) is why this has only turned up for members a day earlier than Public.
Let's call it a blip! 🤨

[itsmyview]

check how hot your loft gets in summer, might be pushing 50, so inside the battery/inverter unit will be a lot more, electronics dont like excessive temperatures

[DanEVSolar]

Good choice Harry. I do like the GivEnergy equipment and it has been flawless in the 13 months I’ve had it. 👍

[Jawlf]

I do have a Tesla Powerwall as I got mine in 2020 and it was the only option for the full house backup and using the solar if off grid. I worked out my swap to electric, EV, ASHP and solar PV is currently saving me £4, 500 a year compared to no special tariff and an ICE car.
I am sure solar will follow soon for Harry and that he will start to become obsessed with it!

[stevenbarrett]

We have the AlphaESS solar and 5.4Kw battery pack, saves us an absolute fortune, paid for itself in 2 years, who knew electricity prices were going to quadruple ! In winter we use the Octopus cheap rate overnight to top up the car and battery which we then use first thing in the morning instead of full priced electricity, reduced our total energy costs from £250 to £150 virtually overnight

[gavjlewis]

I think the only thing that would make me mount the battery higher up would be potential flooding in the future. Would be nice to keep the battery up out the water.
Never flooded yet but you never know in the future.

[NaKoa]

Thanks for another down-to-earth explanation about Fredʻs home battery system. I have a Generac PWRcell system integrated into my PV system. Like you it checked off a few boxes that I considered important, like DC-DC charging of the battery so minimum losses, it can restart the system with no grid power connection, it was flexible as to the capacity I could initially install from 2.7kWh to 16.2kWh for one battery bay (newer systems are now 3kWh to 18kWh), two can be connected if needed. At the beginning of the video you talk about the position of the battery and its height off the floor, the only thing I would be concerned with if my property is built on or near a flood prone area, if so I would defiantly mount the battery higher off the ground just to protect it should the home get flooded.

[martyn]

We had Pylontech batteries( 8.3 kw )fitted a year ago with a solis inverter.
The batteries charge between 12.30 am and 4.30 am at 9 p kwh.
Using octopus Go we are saving £1, 000 per year on Electricity.
97 % of electricity we use is at the cheaper rate of 9 p.
We Also charge our car at 9p per kwh between 12.30 am and 4.30 am which saves £614 per year.
I have worked out it should pay for itself in 4 years.
We have no solar panels as for the cost of them it would take 15 years to recoup the cost.
When you are getting electricity a 9 p per kwh solar panels are not so attractive.
In hindsight we wish we had a slightly larger batteries of at least 10 kw .

[imamiddleagedman]

I’ve got the power wall as the battery needed to go in a side porch to the house which is classed as outside and it was actually cheaper than the available alternative at the time. Got a second one last month in prep for a heat pump. Only real annoyance is Tesla decides how much to charge the battery and I can’t control export. They’ve undercharged the battery when I had only one, despite a storm coming and knowing the solar wouldn’t be any use. If I could have more control then I wouldn’t be able to fault it.

[ians]

Thanks guys wondering when we were seeing Harry's AIO install.
I was going with your setup of Hybrid inverter and 2 x 9kW batteries but went for the AIO instead at the same price.
I wanted the 6kW output (which it does give) and the EPS automated backup in powercut. Boil a kettle with the oven on and you are way over a Hybrid Inverter output.

It is brilliant but had many issues with it and hopefully getting it swapped tomorrow for a new one.
The support is good but very busy.
It took 6weeks and the 3rd set of batteries to get it working in the first place. Then it wiped out the batteries again and another 6weeks (Christmas has not helped obviously) to get another visit & swap.

So only had it working for 2Months out of 5; but when it does it is great.

Need more battery though and very very disappointed that there is no expansion on the horizon really. Marketing info says there will be but 6mths after placing the order still no idea when from Givenrgy. I did get solar too and when there is some solar it lasts the day, but no solar (as we have had, not far from you in Bingley) and it can run out. There must be some losses in getting the electricity back out of the AIO or it does not give 13.5kW. New software in teh replacement so we will see if that is better.

[michaelbond]

I have SolarEdge inverter for solar PV installed 10 years ago. Solar iBoost has paid for itself diverting excess solar to hot water. FoxESS battery stack of 12+kWh with additional 5kW inverter installed in May and Extended to 20+kWh in November.
With air source heat pump installed 2 years ago, office ASHP 1 yaar ago, and move to EV cbarging on 13A in April, we are still learning how much we consume!
Currently using 40kWh a day total in cold weather. Still less than £120pm on Octopus Go ...
Only wish is that I had one platform to manage the things! No regrets itherwise.

[PabloTBrave]

Having seen many home solar and home battery systems over last few years I'd be tempted to go the victron route. Excellent app web interfacex regualr firmware updates, completely modular so of you need a silly sized mppt or Invertors they will have one, full off grid, and a company excellent reliability as they operate on boats in sea where if it breaks you could die, and a long history

[JurassicJungle]

I would need to check but I don't think the AIo is supported installed higher up the wall. The rear bracket is to hold it against the wall, I am almost certain the installation asked for the unit to be sat on it's adjustable feet. Also that AIO has not been installed with the required install clearance. It shoule have 25cm free space either side of the battery, it looks mich closer than that to the rear wall.

[DrTerryBooth]

Is power protection that important in a home battery? We've had UPSes for years. If you want that you need a gateway installed after the electric meter, after all.

[ChrisJay]

Idd love to know a rough price and who you used as the installer *being based quite close in Brighouse

[yorklad]

Who was your installer? Im in York so if you recommend im hoping they cover my area.

[oldevertonianwithloadsofpa]

Hi I had a Give Energy installed in July 2022 I think the battery size is 2 x 9 kWh packs and I’m on the Octopus Intelligent Go so they charge every night 11.30pm until 5.30am. I chose 18 KWh size because we heat the house using a heat pump and in the winter it would soon empty a single 9 kWh battery hence I went for 2. Summer is fine as I can then use the battery to charge the car even in the day. I think it's been really money saving.
My only wish is that i could charge and discharge at a higher rate than 3 kWh( like Harry can discharge at 6 kWh. can you also charge at 6 kWh? If so that would be excellent!
My current charge is 3 kWh x 6 hours so i can fill my batteries to 100% every night.
Thanks for another excellent video lads.

[vandit]

I went for giv 9.5. I was tempted by the AIO but my installer had installed a few and a had a lot of teething problems and didn’t recommend it. I’ve seen a few posts on groups that backed up the issues mentioned. I’m sure loads are fine. But actually my 9.5 has been enough, even with a heatpump. I’m always in 7.5p leccy.

[joseywales]

@4:14 you'd think that it would decrease install costs but the GivEnergy kit is so fiddly to commission. Unless you have a 2.4Ghz wifi signal directly on top of the gateway and battery location they are extremely difficult to get connected to your network. LAN doesn't even work properly. Installers can easily spend half a day or more just trying to get the kit commissioned. Some go easily enough, like this one seems to have done, but others are a total nightmare. Most contemporary products from other manufacturers have much better connectivity. I've lost count of the number of jobs where we've had to install wifi extenders to get the GivEnergy kit working.

[MrDAVIDATKIN]

Thanks both of you for making this video. I'm very tempted to get a battery but like yourselves being a Yorkhireman and careful with the brass I need to see what the payback period is. Even with 2 electric cars, utilizing Octopus Go, I'm only spending about £120pm. I can't see solar being a financially viable option with no South facing roof but a battery alone may well be. I shall follow yours and Harry's battery story while at the same time hoping the prices come down. Keep up the good work.