Advice on PV panels and system.

[Zenith63]

Thanks all for the replies. I have, so far, resisted the pressure to join FB but this, and other areas of interest, are persuading me to take the plunge.

FWIW the boards.ie Renewable Energies forum is also excellent. The site is a mess, but at least you can avoid Facebook!

 

[Slim]

Battery or no battery? One of the factors persuading me to go the route of adding a battery is that, if we had a power cut, we would be able to run lights and TV etc. However, in conversation with the contractor that will soon be quoting for the job, he said that in the event of a power cut, a 'fireman' switch would prevent us from using the battery power, in order to protect any lineman who might be trying to fix a problem etc.

Is this your understanding also?

 

[hazelgreen]

Yes that is the case.... but I think you can take a feed off the battery but not permitted.

 

[Blackrock1]

Battery or no battery? One of the factors persuading me to go the route of adding a battery is that, if we had a power cut, we would be able to run lights and TV etc. However, in conversation with the contractor that will soon be quoting for the job, he said that in the event of a power cut, a 'fireman' switch would prevent us from using the battery power, in order to protect any lineman who might be trying to fix a problem etc.

Is this your understanding also?

You can have a changeover switch installed but it’s expensive, they can also wire some sockets to the battery that you can use but depending on where it’s situated not that useful.

The real benefit of a battery is charging it with cheap electricity to use during peak price times, we use too much electricity to make it worth while unless we could get a 20 kwh battery