Issues with Solar Quotes and my spec

dnme · 08-06-2026 08:08PM #1

Hi folks,
I wonder if any of you could guide me when it comes to my solar installation requirements. Ive run the spec below by a few installers now and I seem to be running into the following issues.

They are telling me that I am not allowed to have full house backup. (Im pretty sure I can)
They are telling me that I cannot have auto switch over to battery when there is a power cut (Im pretty sure I can)
Bird protection. On this, they are scratching their heads and omitting it from quotes.
Quotes are coming in very high (14-18k)

I wonder if you'd mind looking at the spec and maybe telling me if I'm doing anything wrong or if Im an outlier in any way. I'm very much appreciate advice from people more knowledgeable than me. Many thanks.

Solar Install Requirements

15 × 440–460 W south-facing panels (~6.7 kWp)
10 kWh battery
Hybrid inverter
Automatic outage switchover
Whole-house backup capability preferred
Solar continues charging battery during outage where supported
Solar immersion diverter for hot water cylinder
EV charger ready
Full bird mesh protection
Elevated high wind site
Tariff-aware battery charging support
Surge protection and isolators

With regard to app
Avoid current or future dependency on any cloud service
Absolutely no current nor future requirement to pay a subscription of any kind! (deal breaker)
Home Assistant integration (Modbus TCP/local API preferred) (Important) / CT clamp consumption monitoring

Further Info

I have built a new shed with pitched tiled roof. The shed is 8x8m. One side is south facing with an area of roughly 54m/sq. Considering a boundary of 500mm I should be able to fit 14/15 panels on one side. Inside the shed there is a dedicated plant room for solar. There is also a new Consumer Unit in there. It is cabled back to the house using 10mm/sq armoured cable.
I live alone and m home throughout each day. I consume 12.5 units per day.

graememk · 08-06-2026 08:33PM

All your requirements are possible.

First all I'd ditch the solar immersion diverter.

EV charger ready isn't really a thing, if you want to charge from solar, it's the EV charge point that monitors stuff for itself, and handles that.

There has been issues with the seai changing the goalposts re running from backup power etc.. and some now use that to not want to deal with it.

Do you need automatic changeover? How many outages do you get?

Would a ups on the essential gear be ok to carry you over the interruption.

Solar in the shed would be fine, but you would need the likes of a cat5/6 cable to carry the ct signal from the meter box/main consumer unit so the inverter can monitor the power coming in and out of the house.

Solar charging while power is out is dependent on the fireman switch getting power when running on backup power.

As for local HA control that's going to be on you to setup. Deye/Sunsynk have good modbus support and in home assistant. The S6 solis also looks like a deye, but I have not looked into the modbus for them.

If looking to avoid lock-in with batteries... It seems like you might be up for the battery kits, avoid sigenergy, Huawei and Anker as they all use proprietary batteries.

You want an inverter to support the generic 48v (actually 51.2v) batteries.

As for changeover, you would need a separate cable from the inverter to the changeover switch, and this needs to be connected to the main grid and also the supply to your consumer unit.

No clue on the bird protection, none here and I've no issues.

dnme · 08-06-2026 09:20PM

Many thanks. I should point out the whole Home Assistant, CT Clamps etc is totally up to me but just added it to the requirements for info. I may want to get rid of that from the spec.

When you say

Do you need automatic changeover? How many outages do you get?

Would a ups on the essential gear be ok to carry you over the interruption.

My response is, this stuff is costing a lot of money. Why shouldn't it be able to auto changeover. If it was dark, wet etc, Id be rightly pissed off having to fumble my way to some switch (even worse if it was in shed) to get power back on, esp after paying a lot of money for a solar install. Believe it or not, we get a lot of power cuts here. 10+ per year. Its notorious.

graememk · 08-06-2026 10:34PM

That's why I asked about power cuts. We only get 1-2 a year and it's usually red weather warning storm. 10 is a lot.

There is the inverters with gateway boxes that do the seamless switch but they are the same ones with the battery lock in. (And higher cost)

Keep looking around for quotes, your gonna have to balance choice (and open ness) with convenience and higher cost.

ted1 · 08-06-2026 11:21PM

Some batteries / inverters will only discharge at 3.6kw. For a whole house you need to make sure the discharge is high enough

dnme · 09-06-2026 12:41AM

Also bear in mind I live alone, and my whole house usage is very modest. I burn 12.5 units per day consistent for years. During a power cut I would not be running ovens or immersions. I'd need the likes of my homelab, router, wifi, TV etc. Very light usage but spread across rooms, floors etc Thus it makes sense for me to look for whole house backup.

witnessmenow · 09-06-2026 08:22AM

Im getting solar installed next week and had some similar requirements to you. I was getting quotes in March so can't imagine it's changed that much.

A few installers told me the same, but most allowed a full house backup. This was a deal breaker for me (since it was an option)
There are definitely options that support this, like the sig energy gateway. I opted for manual, power cuts are not super frequent for us. Something like the Solis s6 seems to also support it , but I haven't heard anybody with it on here or the Facebook group
This wasn't something I quoted for, but it is something I asked the installer I am going with after we committed. He said he's only ever installed bird protection once before so not a common request but he said he'd do it if it was something we wanted. We are going for it. Who knows if it's the right choice! We have starlings that next in our roof that we need to block off and my worry was they would start nesting under the panels next year.
That is high. I am getting Solis s6, 20 panels, 20kWh of battery, bird mesh for less than that (manual change over though)

And then from your further requirement list

panels continue to charge during change over - I also asked all installers about this and most allowed it to happen.
Local API support - I think all of the apps operate though the cloud. But integrating with home assistant is a well trodden path in the solar world. The Solis systems definitely support local modbus integration.
Tarrif aware battery - at least the initial offering of dynamic pricing is very unfavorable so it looks like at least for the moment EV rates are still the way to go, so timers are all that are needed. But even dynamic becomes viable, your HA integration requirement will mean that this isn't important. HA will be able to look after this.

Regarding the Shed: this isn't a thing for me so I not something I've looked into.

magicbastarder · 09-06-2026 08:35AM

Also bear in mind I live alone, and my whole house usage is very modest. I burn 12.5 units per day consistent for years.

i know this is not helping your initial question, but that's not modest, unless you're heating the house with electricity. it's higher than the household average for the country - which would generally be multi-occupancy houses. the national average is usually cited at about 4,200 units p.a. and you're at over 4,500.

my wife and i use less than 11 a day between us; a colleague who lives on his own uses less than six a day in a three bed semi.

before spending a heap of money on an install, your best ROI may be examining your current usage?

ted1 · 09-06-2026 09:37AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124535542#Comment_124535542

we use about 14,400 MWh of electricity a year and have gas heating…

The EV uses about 6MWh of that . The immersion uses 1MWh.

Our Solar system generates about 6 MWh a year

i think 4.5MWh is very low and they need to clarify if that includes heating with Gas, Oil, heat pumps etc

graememk · 09-06-2026 10:58AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124535542#Comment_124535542

My house "idle" is that 😂 add in a server, it doesn't take long to bump up to 500w!

On export alone a system of that size would be worth 1000-1200 a year.

14-18k is too high though.

dnme · 09-06-2026 12:37PM

Many thanks for all the fantastic helpful responses. I would say, my power requirements are in fact light. Whats bumps me up is a homelab (IT Server, Cameras, Rack etc) running 24/7. It is very efficient but running all the time including ll night. Without that, my usage would be 60% of what it is. But its still a lightish consumer of power perfect for the likes of whole house backup as i have IT gear in multiple locations etc.

white_westie · 10-06-2026 11:17PM

Just to jump in on Op's question about cloud service dependency and local access - so if you have no internet, you have no access to the inverter or battery control data?

If so, what are peoples thoughts on security going forward. We all know there are security holes in everything, and nothing in these internet connected devices ever gets patched, so is it a cause for concern?

TIA

WW

graememk · 11-06-2026 08:00AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124541287#Comment_124541287

With nearly all systems, with no internet, you don't have remote access or access to data, as it's all in the cloud, most inverters you still can do stuff on the inverter itself.

My thoughts... Local control of everything, via home assistant. Have I pulled the WiFi loggers, not yet 😂

ArrBee · 17-06-2026 02:05PM

I dont have answers, but as I'm looking into getting PV, I have a few questions in line with the OP's.

specifically, are there options for local monitoring or are all solutions cloud based?

Issues with Solar Quotes and my spec

Further Info

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