2 hours ago, lol-lol said:

With the plunging prices it is difficult to know when is the optimum time to buy though scared mongering keeps saying China will look to increase the margin it makes and EU, rather than UK, Anti Dumping Duty can add quite a bit to the landed cost.

I am buying 100w solar panels at sub £33 and as they are on self adjusting in 2 axis solar trackers they are more effective.

Batteries, mounted within solar generators so they have solar to battery charging and built in invertors which can do AC supply as well as the multiple Type C and A outputs for laptops etc.

Aim has to be no mains electricity used during the day time so all electrical power is from. Solar or cheap Nightime electricity downloaded abd used during the high priced time.

Next EV will have V2L ie almost definitely a Megane e MY 26.

I've wondered for a while... Do you really go round each morning unplugging all your electrical items from the mains and plugging them into the little batteries you have and then do the same in reverse at night???

Edited 13 October, 202513 Oct by skomaz

22 minutes ago, skomaz said:

I've wondered for a while... Do you really go round each morning unplugging all your electrical items from the mains and plugging them into the lite batteries you have and then do the same in reverse at night???

Only the Fridge Freezer and the TV when i use that and the laptop.

Don't change plugs on router, sky, BT box and the water pump for the gas boiler as they only use a few watts where as fridge freezer and TV use quite carefully bit more. Boiling the kettle, microwave use,air fryer etc just use from the mains as their use is short in time.

Fridge Freezer would use about 2 kwh in the Expensive time of day, TV about 1 kwh of expensive day time if not run off batteries.

The 3 EVs are the big save and the above small by comparison. I may put 50 Kwh in to two of the EVs in a night and that is near £10 saving per day if I was on a single rate tariff of 28p per kwh instead of paying 8.5p per jwh as i do.

Even if people had a near linear usage across each hour of the day I reckon they would be as well off on dual tine zone tariffs.

Of course when there is free electricity sessions i will use the sockets, charge the EVs etc and that has got me about £50 credited to my Octopus account.

Not too much hassle as I have 1 and 2 kwh batteries close to each high power usage device.

Edited 13 October, 202513 Oct by lol-lol

8 hours ago, skomaz said:

I've wondered for a while... Do you really go round each morning unplugging all your electrical items from the mains and plugging them into the little batteries you have and then do the same in reverse at night???

You aren't the only one who's been wondering that!😆

9 hours ago, lol-lol said:

Only the Fridge Freezer and the TV when i use that and the laptop.

Not too much hassle as I have 1 and 2 kwh batteries close to each high power usage device.

Blimey... Thats a bit crazy... Think I have better things to do with my time

34 minutes ago, skomaz said:

Blimey... Thats a bit crazy... Think I have better things to do with my time

Takes 2 seconds. Keeping a TV on standby can use significant energy so instead of plugging it in to mains in the morning plug it in to the solar generator power.

It's not only about saving money for better things but not adding to the electrical load at peak times when The Grid brings online those dirty gas etc power stations so environmental as well as economic. Passing on less climate charge burden to the children, grandchildren and next generations.

Edited 14 October, 202514 Oct by lol-lol

9 hours ago, lol-lol said:

Only the Fridge Freezer and the TV when i use that and the laptop.

Don't change plugs on router, sky, BT box and the water pump for the gas boiler as they only use a few watts where as fridge freezer and TV use quite carefully bit more. Boiling the kettle, microwave use,air fryer etc just use from the mains as their use is short in time.

Fridge Freezer would use about 2 kwh in the Expensive time of day, TV about 1 kwh of expensive day time if not run off batteries.

The 3 EVs are the big save and the above small by comparison. I may put 50 Kwh in to two of the EVs in a night and that is near £10 saving per day if I was on a single rate tariff of 28p per kwh instead of paying 8.5p per jwh as i do.

Even if people had a near linear usage across each hour of the day I reckon they would be as well off on dual tine zone tariffs.

Of course when there is free electricity sessions i will use the sockets, charge the EVs etc and that has got me about £50 credited to my Octopus account.

Not too much hassle as I have 1 and 2 kwh batteries close to each high power usage device.

Why am I seeing this image of you, now I can't get that image out of my head, its an image worm. 🙄🤔😉

9 hours ago, lol-lol said:

Only the Fridge Freezer and the TV when i use that and the laptop.

Don't change plugs on router, sky, BT box and the water pump for the gas boiler as they only use a few watts where as fridge freezer and TV use quite carefully bit more. Boiling the kettle, microwave use,air fryer etc just use from the mains as their use is short in time.

Fridge Freezer would use about 2 kwh in the Expensive time of day, TV about 1 kwh of expensive day time if not run off batteries.

The 3 EVs are the big save and the above small by comparison. I may put 50 Kwh in to two of the EVs in a night and that is near £10 saving per day if I was on a single rate tariff of 28p per kwh instead of paying 8.5p per jwh as i do.

Even if people had a near linear usage across each hour of the day I reckon they would be as well off on dual tine zone tariffs.

Of course when there is free electricity sessions i will use the sockets, charge the EVs etc and that has got me about £50 credited to my Octopus account.

Not too much hassle as I have 1 and 2 kwh batteries close to each high power usage device.

Have you thought about just getting a home battery installed? Takes out all the hassle.

I'm sure I've seen products that allow you to plug in their portable battery as home battery and retain the portable flexibility if you desire. At least that product was available in US.

1 minute ago, Graham Butcher said:

Why am I seeing this image of you, now I can't get that image out of my head, its an image worm. 🙄🤔😉

It's more of a game than saving every penny. Just how low canone go for energy use.

I am using sub 50w in normal dat use, except for the occasional use of coffee machine etc.

At night when the 8.5p per kwh kicks in that goes up to around 14 kw withEV charging, home batteries etc.

3 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

It's more of a game than saving every penny. Just how low canone go for energy use.

I am using sub 50w in normal dat use, except for the occasional use of coffee machine etc.

At night when the 8.5p per kwh kicks in that goes up to around 14 kw withEV charging, home batteries etc.

I bet your energy supplier is frothing at the mouth, seeing the lengths you go to to avoid paying for power all day unless of course it is in the free period and they will see your demand shoot up to a massive peak in order to cram every single watt of energy into your storage and cars.

How much do those batteries cost? I've had a look around a bit myself as they can be useful for other things as well but struggle to find a 2 kWh battery for less than about £600-700.

Have you got them a lot cheaper than that?

7 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

I bet your energy supplier is frothing at the mouth, seeing the lengths you go to to avoid paying for power all day unless of course it is in the free period and they will see your demand shoot up to a massive peak in order to cram every single watt of energy into your storage and cars.

Economics 101.

This is not a zero sum game.

Suppliers offer cheap rates not out of kindness of their heart. They do it because they are buying it in cheaply or even getting paid. They are able to pass the savings on to consumers using different tariffs/schemes.

As always, key is to be in a position to take advantage of that. You are then happy you are saving on bills.

Supplier is happy that you can buy their cheap electricity so they can even get money for selling grid excess.

Grid is happy that their excess demand is being consumed.

Everyone should be happy that the average electricity price is being driven down thanks to people buying when there's low demand.

17 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

You are then happy you are saving on bills.

@lol-lol But does the saving in electricity bills pay for the purchase of the multiple small batteries? What's the payback period?

16 minutes ago, Dieselgate said:

How much do those batteries cost? I've had a look around a bit myself as they can be useful for other things as well but struggle to find a 2 kWh battery for less than about £600-700.

Have you got them a lot cheaper than that?

A 2kwh one on Amazon is £899, it sure is going to take a time to get payback, which they claim has 3,000 times recharge cycle so the real question is, do they ever get into the realms of paying for themselves?

44 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

Why am I seeing this image of you, now I can't get that image out of my head, its an image worm. 🙄🤔😉

I thought that was an image of Starmer counting all the fuel duty and vat you’re giving him.

2 minutes ago, classic said:

I thought that was an image of Starmer counting all the fuel duty and vat you’re giving him.

That made me chuckle, yep, and we are having to pay more so you can continue to enjoy the low taxation and VAT on your car, ain't we petrol heads kind and considerate 😁😁

Edited 14 October, 202514 Oct by Graham Butcher

7 minutes ago, Dieselgate said:

How much do those batteries cost? I've had a look around a bit myself as they can be useful for other things as well but struggle to find a 2 kWh battery for less than about £600-700.

Have you got them a lot cheaper than that?

Depends if you want them professionally installed or a portable one and swap around plugs every day.

Portable are subject to regular VAT due to being a regular product. They are cheaper to buy because no install cost but it's a hassle plugging it in every day.

Installed ones have 0% VAT until 2027 and places like Heatable do 0% loan on some of them.

Cheapest ones that doesn't work in powercut should be very cheap. Quick quote on Heatable says £6k for 14 kWh for their Alpha system.

MSE article:

Is solar battery storage worth it?

1 hour ago, Graham Butcher said:

A 2kwh one on Amazon is £899, it sure is going to take a time to get payback, which they claim has 3,000 times recharge cycle so the real question is, do they ever get into the realms of paying for themselves?

Without link, I can't see suitability, whether it needs other stuff to work. Does it require inverter or is it a portable standalone?

Quick maths say:

3000 cycles for 2 kWh = 6000 kWh

Let's say 25p peak, 8p off peak => 17p/kWh difference.

0.17 * 6000 => £1000 grid saving

For a portable, not forgetting other benefits: usable when out and about, usable as UPS and during power cut.

But then, as with all battery, iPhones say they have cycle life of 1000 and after that it still retains charges and usable with reduced battery life.

2 hours ago, lol-lol said:

Takes 2 seconds. Keeping a TV on standby can use significant energy so instead of plugging it in to mains in the morning plug it in to the solar generator power.

So turn the bugger off properly then instead of leaving it on standby????

2 hours ago, Dieselgate said:

How much do those batteries cost? I've had a look around a bit myself as they can be useful for other things as well but struggle to find a 2 kWh battery for less than about £600-700.

Have you got them a lot cheaper than that?

Indeed - the 'pay back' period on that is ging to be quite a long time??

So charge a 2kwh battery up over night and the next day save 34p

£600 for the battery

3,000 days later (over 8 years) you save £400........... 13p a day if the battery did last that long

36 minutes ago, Stonekeeper said:

So charge a 2kwh battery up over night and the next day save 34p

£600 for the battery

3,000 days later (over 8 years) you save £400........... 13p a day if the battery did last that long

Or, in the case of the amazon one, @£899, assuming it did last 3000 charge cycles, once a day, 8.22 years to save yourself 34p a day, you could save yourself £120.10, or 4p a day, is it really worth the hassle?

There is also one @£599 which works out at 14p a day savings, £421 if it only lasted 3,000 cycles, still have to ask myself if its really worth it.

Edited 14 October, 202514 Oct by Graham Butcher

^ Save £400 after making back the £600 purchase cost of battery. Total ~£1000 of electricity saving.

Not counting free sessions, saving sessions, charging from solar or changes to electricity price.

For an installed system, the only hassle is the half day during install.

Best way to save is do what pensioners have to do in the UK switch everything off and go and sit in the library

56 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

For an installed system, the only hassle is the half day during install.

Indeed, but at £6k that is a very hefty outlay.

I am very interested in a home battery but would definitely be wanting one that can provide power in a power cut as having the added resilience is something I'm keen to have but unless the rates drop substantially in the near future I'm not that keen to invest.

Are there any around that can be 'uninstalled' and moved to another house once fitted?

5 hours ago, Dieselgate said:

How much do those batteries cost? I've had a look around a bit myself as they can be useful for other things as well but struggle to find a 2 kWh battery for less than about £600-700.

Have you got them a lot cheaper than that?

Wait for Black Friday and Cybermonday

14 minutes ago, Dieselgate said:

Indeed, but at £6k that is a very hefty outlay.

I am very interested in a home battery but would definitely be wanting one that can provide power in a power cut as having the added resilience is something I'm keen to have but unless the rates drop substantially in the near future I'm not that keen to invest.

Are there any around that can be 'uninstalled' and moved to another house once fitted?

The ease of removal I guess it would depend on your install. Most of installed system are not designed to be taken with you to a different property.

But I'd argue home battery and solar does add value to a property just as new kitchen. A new kitchen is going to be a lot more expensive.......