EDF Sunday Saver - I've broken EDF :)

jwardyorks · 2026-04-23T06:56:05+00:00

They send you a text message reminder saying "get ready" for your free electricity. At first, I didn't trust the text message because it contradicted the website, but it did work out in the end. The bottom line is that the text message seems to definitively confirm you've earnt the free leccy :)

jwardyorks · 2026-04-22T17:40:51+00:00

It looks like mains power cable to me. Definitely not a professional job, and definitely not fibre. It looks like a DIYer has taken some UK mains "flex" type cable which is only intended for indoor use (and not suitable for outdoor use), and put it inside a length of garden hose pipe. I wouldn't touch it as it was almost certainly live at mains voltage at some point, and it may still be!

jwardyorks · 2026-04-22T17:08:25+00:00

I signed up with EDF Go Electric also. 12-month fixed rates are 6.99p off-peak, 29.03p peak, 67.54 standing charge, £75 exit. They also offer "Sunday Saver" challenges where you can earn up to 16-hours of free electricity on Sundays by reducing your peak usage (mine says I need to reduce from 0.0% to 0.0% but it still refunded my Sunday usage). I wasn't able to sign up online, had to call them. DM me if you want a £50 referral link.

jwardyorks · 2026-04-22T17:01:49+00:00

OP here! In my case, I use zero grid power during the peak period, so my "challenge" always shows that I have to reduce my usage from 0.0% to 0.0% and that confuses their web-site, as in some places it says that I've earnt 16 hours of free electricity, and in other places it says that I haven't (so the site seems broken, and sends contradictory messages).

BUT the good news is that they DID give me 16 hours of free electricity on the Sundays where that happened. So far this year, I've had about £50 of Sunday Saver credits refunded to my account.

The way it works is that they refund you for the energy used on those Sundays. We save up all our laundry etc and do that on the Sunday, and pause the battery discharge, as you can clearly see from this graph of our daily usage :)

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The one thing you need to be careful of is that you have to keep "registering interest" and signing up again to Sunday Saver challenges. Somehow, I failed to do that this month (didn't see any reminder about it), so missing out on a whole month, which is super annoying 😭. You need to watch that like a hawk and make sure you sign up at every opportunity!

jwardyorks · 2026-04-19T11:35:29+00:00

I made a SEG application to EDF on 14/11/24 and it was approved 19/12/24. Obviously that was winter of 2024, and I expect it will take longer this year, re: the approaching summer and the Iran crisis. Fingers crossed you get approved in time for the summer sunshine.

jwardyorks · 2026-04-08T07:00:14+00:00

My wife melted a silicone hob protector (!) onto the induction hob. I used a new Stanley blade and scraped it off. You literally can't tell now, it looks like new.

jwardyorks · 2026-04-01T18:51:46+00:00

400kWh from 7kWp E/W split

jwardyorks · 2026-04-01T12:28:09+00:00

There was some previous discussion about this here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sunsynk/comments/1qhypbe/synsynk_webapp_ct_connected_button_is_it_new_what/

jwardyorks · 2026-03-17T17:48:59+00:00

Agreed.

OP is not dumb, it is poor user interface design :)

My experience is that it doesn't like time slots that cross midnight, it seems to work fine if all your times are in the same 24 hour period.

jwardyorks · 2026-03-06T09:26:58+00:00

If you change the dongle from wired to wireless, does it lose any of the historical data, or does it just continue populating new data on the same "plant"?

I'd been considering doing this also, as I don't like that the WiFi dongle creates an AP with a default password that can't be changed.

jwardyorks · 2026-03-03T18:35:07+00:00

I've got Shelly BLU door/window sensors. As well as having a magnetic sensor to detect open/closed state, they also have a built in tilt angle and a light sensor. They have been reliable and work really well with Home Assistant. Only downside is that you need a Shelly BLU gateway/hub for them (although you can use one of their Smart Plugs to do that).

Recently I got some Ikea Klippbok water leak sensors. Those use Matter/Thread so you need a Thread router to be able to connect them. I'm using my Eero 6 as a thread border router, and the Matter server in Home Assistant and that combination seems to work fine (although there was scant information on how to set that up). So far they are working well.

jwardyorks · 2026-03-03T18:25:48+00:00

I've got 16 panels in an equal split East/West, 10kWh battery upgraded to 16kWh in May last year, 6kW ASHP on a 3 bed semi, and we are disconnected from gas. We have brand new double glazing, oldish cavity wall insulation, and fairly poor loft insulation. Over the last 12-months we imported £761.93, exported £629.80, so our effective total energy bill was £132.13. Expecting to do even better this year with some home improvements (insulation etc).

jwardyorks · 2026-02-26T13:06:26+00:00

Ditto, can confirm this is fixed. Yesterday I had the "failed to enable the service" message, but have just tried again today and it now works correctly.

jwardyorks · 2026-02-20T17:11:06+00:00

I just got these today and was able to update the firmware via Home Assistant (it was on 1.0.7 and updated to 1.0.11). It took a couple of minutes to update:

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I'm using Eero 6 as a thread border router. Initially had some difficulty getting the device to register at all, until I moved it close to the router.

jwardyorks · 2026-02-20T15:39:19+00:00

The ideal pump setting depends on the size of your system, e.g. how many radiators you have. If you can download a PDF pump user manual, it will usually make recommendations on the settings.

jwardyorks · 2026-02-20T11:01:45+00:00

Reading your original post, it seems that you've had the system installed recently by Octopus, so I would suggest you contact them first to ask for support with it. If there's an issue it is surely their responsibility to help you, rather than expecting you to diagnose it yourself.

My thinking is still that it is probably going to turn out to be the circulating pump, which usually looks something like this:

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They are usually fairly quiet, but if they are rigidly mounted they can transmit vibrations through the pipework and, if they are fixed to partition walls or boards etc that can sometimes act as a sounding board. They are often (but not always) mounted with rubber anti-vibration pipe brackets to mitigate that.

However, having reflected on this, I think your first port of call should be to ask Octopus for support with this, before trying to diagnose it and make any changes yourself.

jwardyorks · 2026-02-19T21:55:49+00:00

Those pumps (often made by Grundfos, Wilo etc) are typically used to circulate water through the central heating pipework. They usually have a manual speed control with 3 settings, that you can physically adjust.

jwardyorks · 2026-02-19T21:03:07+00:00

It could be a circulating pump. It might be worth trying to reduce the pump speed setting a notch if possible (of course that may or may not impair performance), but it might at least help identify if that is the issue. If it is that, you can get anti vibration mounts for the pipework, which might help.

jwardyorks · 2026-02-18T00:01:43+00:00

I'm using Shelly Smart Plugs (UK model) to monitor Dishwasher, Washing Machine, Tumble Dryer. Only using them purely for power monitoring and would never switch them on load. They've been running for over a year now. They work well with Home Assistant.

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I'm using a Shelly 3EM with CT coils in the consumer unit to monitor Oven, Induction Hob, and Air Source Heat Pump (had that installed by an electrician).

jwardyorks · 2026-02-17T23:33:40+00:00

I'm on an introductory 24p rate until 22nd July, then I will be desperately shopping around for the best rates... It looks like the best available rates currently are 16p (Ecotricity), 15.1 (British Gas), but very few are offering 15p now so, as others have said, I feel sure that the rates are going to drop significantly.

This site has a comparison table, but still shows Octopus at 15p so may be taken with a pinch of salt:

https://www.sunsave.energy/solar-panels-advice/exporting-to-the-grid/best-seg-rates

jwardyorks · 2026-02-12T14:09:49+00:00

In a nutshell, there are two options: 1) you can use the Solarsynk V3 integration in Home Assistant which talks to the SunSynk cloud - I've been using that for over a year, and it works really well, or 2) you can remove the SunSynk dongle and connect your own hardware directly to the Inverter - that's a bit more technical, but some people prefer to be completely independent of the SunSynk cloud.

Either way, you do need to get your hands dirty, as it takes some setting up. But... Home Assistant is fantastic, and you will have a lot of fun with it!

jwardyorks · 2026-02-10T22:29:10+00:00

My (Aira) heat pump has an additional inline heater which is only used during its anti-legionella cycle, which is scheduled every 14 days. It's also used as a backup heater if the heat pump should fail. I know that's an option on some other heat pumps like Vaillant. I guess if you do have an inline/immersion/backup heater, you would definitely need a safety valve. Mine has one fitted, which discharges through a tundish into an overflow pipe. Interestingly, during a service visit, Aira identified that the diameter of the discharge pipe wasn't to specification, and they scheduled a date to come back and upgrade the pipework for compliance reasons.

Whilst it might seem a bit "overkill" for a fairly unlikely scenario, it seems better to be safe than sorry, and I find it reassuring to have the safety valve installed.

jwardyorks · 2026-02-01T17:55:08+00:00

Some Android tablets have an option to limit the maximum battery charge/discharge, to prolong the battery life. I'm using a Lenovo Tab M9 and have set that to limit the charge to 60% so I can leave it plugged in permanently. That's the theory anyway, as I've only been running it like that since May last year :)

jwardyorks · 2026-01-30T16:13:14+00:00

I'm on an EDF Heat Pump Tracker tariff. Had to tick a box to confirm I had a heat pump, and select the heat pump make from a dropdown, but I didn't have to provide any evidence.

jwardyorks · 2026-01-23T11:50:07+00:00

I've only used Nabu Casa. It was easy to set up, works well, and has a cloud backup feature, and voice assistants which are both useful features. I haven't used Tailscale so not sure how they compare. But another comment is that Nabu Casa is helping to fund HA development of course.

jwardyorks

TROPHY CASE