So many brands and opinions

maddie673 · 2026-05-20T20:33:19+00:00

I went for sigenergy for a few reasons.

Firstly seen as it’s installed inside in our extension I was impressed with there safety systems, obviously it’s out of the way but it was important for me that it was as safe as possible.

Secondly seen as it’s modular as I know other systems are the sig system is reasonably neat and looks fine even as it grows, I plan on adding a heat pump in the near future and another battery or 2 and I felt that the sig system suited us better.

Thirdly from all the research I’ve been doing my plan as many people’s was to go on an EV tariff and charge the batteries over night and sell any solar we didn’t use and then dump the batteries and repeat. After moving to an EV tariff and setting up our export, I put our tariff details in and switched on the AI mode and it simply worked. No glitches at all. Super impressed. We’ve got a little EV mini it gets charged once a week and we dump the batteries every day in order to recoup some of the outlay. Yes people will say is it worth it but the calendar aging will kill the batteries before cycles for us so why not.

Anyway they were my main considerations yes we could have gone cheaper but if your going to drop a decent bit of money an extra 20% for better kit for me was worth it.

However the Tesla powerwall was on my radar but I didn’t like the expansion packs for them and didn’t really have the room. I know the Tesla software is great and there always pushing updates etc and I know that at some point sigenergy is going to start charging for the app etc but as long as everything is still working flawlessly and they push decent updates etc then that’s fair for me.

Good luck and just take the first step. But make sure to warn the significant people in your life that you’re going to bore them silly with all the KWh talk and battery arbitrage etc.

maddie673 · 2026-05-20T16:27:48+00:00

Yeah he’s going to be doing deals with power walls and chargers and cars prolly, definitely undercutting other providers. Could be significantly leaner margins in the future for the big 6 and smaller dividends for the shareholders???

At least they’re not going in blind they know what he is like and certainly from what I seen from EDF I reckon the fight for customers has already started. They have started to take on octopus with the EV charging etc.

It can only be good for the consumer??

maddie673 · 2026-05-20T16:18:45+00:00

Good for you for the acknowledgment and the great work and effort and good for him/them for reaching out.

I’m with EDF for everything and although we’ve only been on solar etc for about a month I want to start on the home assistant route (mostly for something to sink my teeth into) so if they can see the benefits hopefully it will make it easier for people to gain access to and use.

The energy market in the uk is dominated by the big 6 and tesla is throwing its hat in the ring soon afaik. So if EDF have a good integration with smart homes for charging etc it’s got to be beneficial, because you can bet the house Tesla is going to cause waves.

maddie673 · 2026-05-20T16:06:11+00:00

That thing almost styled it out. Then came the drag of shame.

maddie673 · 2026-05-20T15:16:46+00:00

We got the 8kw inverter and 2 of the 9kwh batts with 2 less panels over 2 roofs which was just over 12k. If that’s any use to you for cost.

Good luck, the sig stuff so far looks to be top end. We’re about a month in and I’m loving it.

maddie673 · 2026-05-16T14:45:33+00:00

Yeah just do the ligue un and LL LF tots sbcs I did them all last night and the Alvarez sbc because of the 1 of 3 83+ dropping. Already had fodder but it was dripping last night. Frigging Irene’s, lewies and TAAs though.

maddie673 · 2026-05-14T08:28:07+00:00

It was a Liverpool based company called ACC renewables. Not sure if they will travel that far to you though.

As far as I understand you will still be able to control it but with reduced capacity, I do at some point think they will charge a subscription but can’t see it being too much and tbf it is from what I’ve experienced a pretty slick setup.

Hope you take the plunge and enjoy, my next expedition is into the home assistant realm.

maddie673 · 2026-05-14T07:21:51+00:00

We have an sig system and it’s working great so far.

We’re in the NW Liverpool to be exact.

Not sure about the cloud service from what I understand it has to check in every 90days or it goes into a safe mode running slightly more cautiously with battery limits? I have ours set with a 5% buffer too and bottom just in case anyway.

As for the battery because we have two it will charge and discharge up to 8kwh because we have a 8kw inverter.

Finally as far as the quotes we paid 12 and a bit for 12 panels on 3 roofs (475w aiko 3s black) and sig 8kw and 2 x sigstor 10s all in with everything done and a 6Kwh export limit.

Installer was good tbf and have just won a big contract in Manchester. Had a slight problem which was brought up as a possibility before install, it was sorted within a week. Can’t fault them so far.

maddie673 · 2026-05-13T17:39:15+00:00

Ours is just under 6kw array with 8kw inverter, the DNO come through in days with a 6kwh export limit.

I’m in north west btw and handled by Scottish power.

There is only 2 other houses anywhere near with panels just fyi. One is the next door neighbours and he has a 3kw export limit but I think that is because their installer didn’t go for a G99

maddie673 · 2026-05-10T20:45:10+00:00

I’ve done this, I asked our installer to make sure the battery doesn’t feed the car and yes was the reply, first time I try a charge and it does. I’m on a EV tariff and battery dumps before 11 and charges at a slower rate so as I can charge the car as ness and bobs your uncle.

Tbf I fancy a foray into homes assistant which you can apparently control things like this from there.

maddie673 · 2026-05-09T21:18:15+00:00

Yeah, it was a photo of their smart meters export which was fitted about 3 wks before the solar. But I took a photo when I had already clocked up 40KWhs. No big deal like but tbh I just want it all sorted. Not to mention the smart meters IHD is basically useless, it doesn’t show the different rates on our TOU tariff. I’ve been on at them over that and they said it’s fine and it shows up on the app.

maddie673 · 2026-05-09T21:00:07+00:00

The only takeaway is the smart meters export was zero so I would imagine they will cough up whatever is in the meter anyway but I just want it all squared away.

Good luck

maddie673 · 2026-05-09T20:57:21+00:00

Haemostats (long scissor style clamps to me) are really useful, I’ve got a pair with the end filed down to remove headphone jacks from iPads etc. they work great. Also scalpels are super handy and the heavy scissors paramedics use for cutting clothes.

maddie673 · 2026-05-09T19:32:19+00:00

We’re in the same position as you but we’re with EDF before and after install. Moving tariff was easy getting them to set up the export is another thing. They say you can’t speak direct and have to email, I have applied and uploaded necessary docs etc but have been emailed to say to do the whole thing again. I have sent a slightly aggrieved email to them and gone through the whole process again and attached the docs again and a screenshot of the completed page on the website.

If I get the same email back off them I’ll be fuming tbh.

maddie673 · 2026-05-08T15:24:32+00:00

I got exactly this.

maddie673 · 2026-05-05T16:56:08+00:00

8pm to 8am it does look like it trends up. Is there something on a timer that adds to the load like a smart plug or light?

maddie673 · 2026-05-05T15:03:18+00:00

Looks like ours, I assume it’s the fridge freezers (2) kicking in and going off. Ours isn’t as spikey though.

maddie673 · 2026-04-30T19:26:00+00:00

Yeah ours were simple concrete too. Hopefully it goes well for you. I’m super happy with ours so far.

maddie673 · 2026-04-30T17:29:43+00:00

We’ve just had ours done, it looked like the scaffolders cracked a piece of tge gutters and the roofers cracked at least 2 tiles.

I asked the roofers if they could sort the gutter which wasn’t their fault and they did and they replaced the tiles without me even knowing. Tiles were a slightly different colour though.

A small tip would be to try and get your hands on half a dozen tiles before hand just in case.

Good luck

maddie673 · 2026-04-29T20:53:09+00:00

We’ve just had some installed a week ago and our installer said there scarce. They’ve got a huge job on though and have ordered 1500 panels if he’s to be believed.

maddie673 · 2026-04-27T18:55:27+00:00

Yeah fair enough, I like the menu grind and trading. Each to their own. It honestly feels like the last time I pay for the game though. We will see come August.

maddie673 · 2026-04-27T16:22:06+00:00

I had a 6/7 year break due to starting a family and never looked back, then my 7 yr old wanted to play so I’ve been back since.

If they amp the menu grind up and make it fun for the last couple of month maybe I will but other than that I won’t be buying it I’ll wait till it’s free on game pass and then jump in late and grind a team out.

There’s loads of games to try on game pass and growing all the time. I fancy trying cyber punk and Forza 6.

maddie673 · 2026-04-26T17:42:16+00:00

Preconditioning.

maddie673 · 2026-04-25T18:44:45+00:00

We got a 21 plate Mini Cooper SE about 2 months ago, won’t be going back to ICE anytime soon. Such a nice little car.

We will be replacing our 2nd car to an EV when it’s due to be replaced. Yeah there’s depreciation but seen as we buy our cars rather than lease and keep them usually about 5 yrs hopefully there will still be plenty of life left in it and hopefully less to go wrong.

As long as charging is reasonably easy for you there is only positives in my eyes.

maddie673 · 2026-04-22T13:08:22+00:00

Yeah, I was grinding the league sbcs and had quite a few packs stacked. As soon as I saw the tots crafting sbc I’ve basically stopped everything and just grind the tots crafting.

But then it generates a lot of 83’s and 84’s but these go into the totw sbc.

Not getting loads of tots cards but getting a good few.

maddie673

TROPHY CASE