I know this looks like I've already had a go at it, but I haven't I promise. The comically small amount of bubble wrap in the centre gave me a good chuckle though. God knows how I got away with a small scuff on one corner.
1.1kw Hoymiles kit from CityPlumbing.
Can anyone using a Solarbank 4 with Home Assistant (plus the official Anker integration) confirm how frequently you can adjust the discharge power?
My smart meter updates in Home Assistant roughly every 8 seconds, and I'd want to keep matching the discharge power against that value.
I looked everywhere for a 15 metre power cable and finally found one in stock. Bit pricey but birthday money bought it with fitted plug .from sotel.de in Germany took 4 days to arrive. All in £50.91.
Up to now, I think most of us have been working on the assumption that a compliant UK plug-in solar system had to be sold as a complete kit, meaning panels, microinverter, cables and mounting equipment.
That assumption came from the wording in the Plug-in Solar Device Interim Product Specification:
“A mounting system should be supplied as part of a complete plug-in solar kit depending on customer mounting requirements.”
It now looks like the phrase “depending on customer mounting requirements” may be doing much more work in that sentence than many of us probably realised.
This week, the ENA approved several plug-in solar configurations from Worldwide Solar Ltd that do not include any mounting equipment, and a couple of those are already being sold.
In the ENA submissions (like this example), these kits are clearly marked as “mounting system not included”, so this wasn’t an omission or something hidden in the paperwork. The supplier has been completely open about the fact that these configurations are being supplied without mounting equipment.
I’d always read the wording above as meaning mounting formed part of the complete kit, but these approvals suggest that may not be how the ENA is interpreting it in practice.
One possibility is that the ENA’s main concern is the electrical side of the kit, meaning the PV modules, microinverter, cabling and how the system connects to the household installation.
If that’s the case, mounting hardware may simply sit outside the part of the product they are actually assessing for compliance.
That would explain how a configuration can be approved without a mount being supplied, even though the interim product specification talks about a complete kit including mounting depending on customer requirements.
I haven’t seen the ENA spell that out explicitly, so that part is just my interpretation based on these approvals.
Either way, assuming the approvals aren’t an error, this seems like very good news.
It potentially means you can have a fully compliant plug-in solar setup without being locked into whatever mounting system the kit supplier bundles with it. That gives people much more flexibility for flat roofs, sheds, walls, ground mounting, or reusing suitable mounting hardware they already have.
For context: 94 of the 109 plug-in solar kits approved so far include mounting equipment. These 15 new Worldwide Solar Ltd approvals last week are the first to specifically exclude mounting.
All these kits come with 4M of cable. I need about 10M. I read somewhere that I cannot use a extension lead. Is that still the case?
How frowned upon is my idea...
I can get nicely priced plug in solar units (1000W panels, 800W inverters, so within the new UK spec), but it'll basically only just cover my daily usage as I work from home.
So I'd like a second of the same kit. And then I'd like to install a battery, so any excess goes to that and I take the excess back from the battery in the evening.
The plug in solar units explicitly state they must not be connected to a battery - which is fine. I'll connect to the AC.
I don't intend on registering the plug in solar units as I don't want to sell back to the grid. I will probably utilise 100% of the energy every day.
Am I "allowed" to do this? Two plug in solar products, plus battery, no professional install except for the mounting of the solar units.
I'm looking at installing an EcoFlow STREAM 5000 in the UK and I'm trying to understand the electrical side properly before doing anything.
My cabin is supplied from the house via 3-core 6mm² SWA protected by a B32. The cabin has its own consumer unit, but with no spare ways.
This is the proposed circuit from the cabin cu.
B20 RCBO → 2.5mm² T&E radial → outside socket → double socket → proposed 13A switched FCU → EcoFlow STREAM 5000
The 2.5mm² cable run is only a few metres. Around 600mm currently passes under/alongside 20mm Kingspan, although I can reroute that section out of the insulation if necessary.
The existing loads are:
Weber Smoker on the outside socket occasionally
Samsung heat-pump tumble dryer
800W microwave occasionally
Nothing else
The STREAM would be hardwired through the FCU and I'd limit maximum AC discharge to 2.5kW (~10.9A).
It will also be using the EcoFlow Smart Meter/CT system to dynamically control charge/discharge according to household demand.
What I'm specifically trying to establish is:
Would you connect a STREAM 5000 to the end of this existing B20 radial through a 13A FCU, or would you insist on a dedicated circuit?
If not, what specific requirement prevents it?
Does the potential combined supply of B20 + ~10.9A generation mean the 2.5mm² conductors have to be rated for ~30.9A, even though the STREAM dynamically follows household demand?
Would upgrading the radial to 4mm²/6mm² and keeping it clear of insulation change anything?
Is a BS 1363 13A FCU appropriate for sustained bidirectional operation at up to 10.9A?
Most importantly: has anyone here actually installed a STREAM 5000 (or equivalent 2.5kW AC battery) onto an existing socket radial/ring through an FCU rather than running a dedicated circuit? If so, what protection/cable arrangement did you use?
I'm particularly interested in answers from electricians/installers familiar with this, because I've seen conflicting advice about the revised generation/battery requirements.
I'm not asking whether plugging it into a normal 13A socket is okay. I'm specifically asking about a fixed, fused connection to an existing final circuit.
Thanks in advanced — interested to see how people are actually designing these in the UK.
we are all buying the bits and DIYing, yes?
I'm looking at installing an EcoFlow STREAM 5000 in the UK and I'm trying to understand the electrical side properly before doing anything.
My cabin is supplied from the house via 3-core 6mm² SWA protected by a B32. The cabin has its own consumer unit, but with no spare ways.
This is the proposed circuit from the cabin cu.
B20 RCBO → 2.5mm² T&E radial → outside socket → double socket → proposed 13A switched FCU → EcoFlow STREAM 5000
The 2.5mm² cable run is only a few metres. Around 600mm currently passes under/alongside 20mm Kingspan, although I can reroute that section out of the insulation if necessary.
The existing loads are:
Weber Smoker on the outside socket occasionally
Samsung heat-pump tumble dryer
800W microwave occasionally
Nothing else
The STREAM would be hardwired through the FCU and I'd limit maximum AC discharge to 2.5kW (\~10.9A).
It will also be using the EcoFlow Smart Meter/CT system to dynamically control charge/discharge according to household demand.
What I'm specifically trying to establish is:
Would you connect a STREAM 5000 to the end of this existing B20 radial through a 13A FCU, or would you insist on a dedicated circuit?
If not, what specific requirement prevents it?
Does the potential combined supply of B20 + \~10.9A generation mean the 2.5mm² conductors have to be rated for \~30.9A, even though the STREAM dynamically follows household demand?
Would upgrading the radial to 4mm²/6mm² and keeping it clear of insulation change anything?
Is a BS 1363 13A FCU appropriate for sustained bidirectional operation at up to 10.9A?
Most importantly: has anyone here actually installed a STREAM 5000 (or equivalent 2.5kW AC battery) onto an existing socket radial/ring through an FCU rather than running a dedicated circuit? If so, what protection/cable arrangement did you use?
I'm particularly interested in answers from electricians/installers familiar with this, because I've seen conflicting advice about the revised generation/battery requirements.
I'm not asking whether plugging it into a normal 13A socket is okay. I'm specifically asking about a fixed, fused connection to an existing final circuit.
Thanks in advanced — interested to see how people are actually designing these in the UK.
Afternoon.
I'm guessing that this ecoflow stream on Amazon doesn't have the cable with it as it's not pictured. Is that right??
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0F2FTSZKG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A18SFDBBXM535C&th=1
I've got a stream already and know that the cable was packaged separately but also there was some hoo-har about the cables at the time.
Delivery came yesterday and I'm a bit surprised by the size. One 5kWh unit measures about 460 by 355mm on the face, so it's more of a squat microwave-sized box than a PC tower, nothing like the tall cabinet I'd pictured. Had mentally reserved half the garage wall for it and it doesn't need the height, the width's not far off though.
Mounting it on the garage wall next to the consumer unit, the electrician is coming Friday. Cable run is going to be less than a metre.
For anyone who's already got theirs installed, how much clearance did you leave around it for ventilation? The manual says 100mm but wondering if people are giving it more in practice.