What do we think?

[scottish cleaning service]

Basically Octopus and other energy suppliers have an off peak tariff. So their normal tariff is say 28p/Kwh but off peak is 7p/Kwh. Say you use 10Kwh a day, under standard tariff that would cost £2.80. If you have a 12Kw battery and charged it on the off peak tariff over night that would cost you 70p, then during the day you use the battery to power your home (can be set to charge on low tariff and run house automatically) . So you save £2.10 a day by running off the battery. The kicker is the battery, when you can get one, will set you back about £6500!!! So it would take over 8 years to pay back the cost of the battery by the savings made!!!

Batteries generally seem to have 10 year guaranty so they savings aren't great. Plus IF energy prices come down then you might not even break even, or off peak energy tariff could be discontinued!

I'm on my third £3k Festool battery because the other two burnt out. Don't think batteries can be relied upon for years of use. This battery power station they call it is on the way out and I will get my money back. I heard of a few other people sending their batteries back because they fail to charge after many cycles. I thought it sounded too good to be true and obviously was.

 

[ched999uk]

I'm on my third £3k Festool battery because the other two burnt out. Don't think batteries can be relied upon for years of use. This battery power station they call it is on the way out and I will get my money back. I heard of a few other people sending their batteries back because they fail to charge after many cycles. I thought it sounded too good to be true and obviously was.

Those battery packs are not really designed for the things people use them for. The 'house' batteries are generally a different (more expensive) battery technology plus as they are designed for static use they can be kept in their perfect temp range much easier.
The 'house' batteries generally have to be connected to an appropriate inverter and that managed loads and charging. Where as your type have less sophisticated load management as they are trying to keep costs and weight down.
I must admit I had my doubts about your Festoon battery and what you were talking about using it for before you bought it. While you were using it within the specs I think the manufacturers exaggerated their specs a fair bit to make it look better in the knowledge that very few would pull high loads for high levels of discharge! You will probably find if you pulled half the power there wouldn't have been any issues. That's not on you, the manufacturers should have been honest!

There are Big companies making 'house' batteries like Tesla! They have a history and the expertise to construct batteries that meet their specs and in most cases exceed their specs.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

When battery drills came out in 1990's they had little power for screwing but they soon sorted that out. So I think it will be the same for power stations of the future. Everything is becoming battery now and we can't fault the Festool batteries for power tools. I've had batteries that have been charge over 1000 times and still going strong which is hard to believe. I would like an electric van but they can't load over 700kgs so its a no go.

 

[Daftoldgit]

My brother in law had a wind turbine and a stack of old milk float batteries, this was 30 odd years ago!

 

[scottish cleaning service]

My brother in law had a wind turbine and a stack of old milk float batteries, this was 30 odd years ago!

Ernie and he was the fastest Milkman in the West.

 

[Iron Giant]

Energy price increase Can someone explain why Electricity prices are also creeping up. Who is benefitting from all these wind farms

If you think they are creeping up you are in for a shock if you don't get yourself on a fixed tariff asap, we are on our current fixed deal until October, then go onto another fixed deal when the current one ends we were emailed 3 days ago and offered 3 different tariffs, we are currently paying £100 a month which sees us into credit as we don't use much energy,

Our new direct debit in October is £260 because both the unit price for both energies has doubled as has the standing charge the estimated annual cost for us over the next 12 months from October is £3,111 that's £400 less than the current cap due to come in, we are lucky in that we know it will be less because we have installed a new combi boiler and other things

As for the green electricity, it doesn't go to many homes at all, on the whole, we are at some point having a massive solar farm built not too far from us it's about future proofing us things will be massively upscaled plus the small reactors been built by Rolls Royce

 

[Iron Giant]

In the last month we have been going round the house looking at what is actually plugged in and on 'standby'. In 'the office' I had PC, monitors, amp, tv, freeview, freesat, laptop, aerial booster, etc all on standby that are only actually used when I'm in the office. So they all went on a smart plug

Which smart plugs did you opt for I found the Meross ones and only need 2 at £13.72 so I know that will be a saving over the TV on standby well two tv's as I watch the tv in bed then my wife just puts it on standby that will save around £10 a year at the old electricity unit price but more moving forward I spend that extra money on beer

 

[ched999uk]

Which smart plugs did you opt for I found the Meross ones and only need 2 at £13.72 so I know that will be a saving over the TV on standby well two tv's as I watch the tv in bed then my wife just puts it on standby that will save around £10 a year at the old electricity unit price but more moving forward I spend that extra money on beer

Unfortunately I have a few different types - so different app for each type!
eWeLink ones I started with and aren't really plugs more inline boxes - these are the most flexible as you can have cyclic timers like on for 45 mins off for 15 and repeat (good for my little booster pump). I also have a 4 channel one that used has 4 change over relays. I used to use it to control 2 boilers.
TP-Link ones which are nice and reliable and work well. The Kaza app is nice and easy too. One has energy consumption which is handy. They are a bit big, so fitting in a 4 way can be tricky. These work with Alexa which is handy.

GoSund ones are OK but the app has too many adverts, although these do show a monthly and daily electricity usage which is very handy. Even though the app is a bit advert heavy I would buy more of these as the electricity monitoring is very handy. These also work with Alexa and Google.

I just wish the all worked on the same app as I have to remember which device type is controlling what at home before opening the right app.

 

[Iron Giant]

Unfortunately I have a few different types - so different app for each type!
eWeLink ones I started with and aren't really plugs more inline boxes - these are the most flexible as you can have cyclic timers like on for 45 mins off for 15 and repeat (good for my little booster pump). I also have a 4 channel one that used has 4 change over relays. I used to use it to control 2 boilers.
TP-Link ones which are nice and reliable and work well. The Kaza app is nice and easy too. One has energy consumption which is handy. They are a bit big, so fitting in a 4 way can be tricky. These work with Alexa which is handy.

GoSund ones are OK but the app has too many adverts, although these do show a monthly and daily electricity usage which is very handy. Even though the app is a bit advert heavy I would buy more of these as the electricity monitoring is very handy. These also work with Alexa and Google.

I just wish the all worked on the same app as I have to remember which device type is controlling what at home before opening the right app.

Thanks for this, sounds too ott for me I'm not a geek like you ? the TP-Link ones look the best option with over 49K reviews and a decent app I want the best as some of the stuff sold doesn't have the best longevity as they are so cheaply made not too bothered about monitoring consumption just more about have stuff switched off at plugs that aren't as easily accessible and drain energy if we all took proactive steps we'd save money but also reduce the UK carbon footprint by a considerable amount collectively.

I would turn off the wi-fi router as they use around £55 a year on average never knew this until this week but with the ring doorbell you need wifi for it to record activity

 

[ched999uk]

Thanks for this, sounds too ott for me I'm not a geek like you ? the TP-Link ones look the best option with over 49K reviews and a decent app I want the best as some of the stuff sold doesn't have the best longevity as they are so cheaply made not too bothered about monitoring consumption just more about have stuff switched off at plugs that aren't as easily accessible and drain energy if we all took proactive steps we'd save money but also reduce the UK carbon footprint by a considerable amount collectively.

I would turn off the wi-fi router as they use around £55 a year on average never knew this until this week but with the ring doorbell you need wifi for it to record activity

The TPLink ones we have are an older design with an oval shape.

It is quite surprising how much you can cut down on consumption. When I used to do my yearly spreadsheets to see who would be cheapest for energy our daily electricity came out at about 15Kw per day. Since we had a smart meter fitted about a month ago (should have done it earlier but avoided due to Covid and having someone in house) our usage is now down to about 10Kw a day. Although maybe we use more electricity in winter - I just don't have records to check.

That's just by switching things off at the wall when not in use and about 4 smart plugs that we already had just used in different locations, i.e. used to have desk lamp on one as was difficult to get to switch, now have whole desk on smart plug - PC, 2 x monitors, Amp, TV, Freeview, Freesat, laptop, hub, lamp, etc
Had RaspberryPi, Fire stick on 24/7 and AV Amp on standby even though none of them are used till 11pm till 2am. Now on smart plug that has schedule to appropriate time.
Hopefully getting cavity wall insulation and room in roof insulated in next few weeks so that should help a little.

We are trying to cut down on usage without really changing how we live.

 

[Iron Giant]

The TPLink ones we have are an older design with an oval shape.

It is quite surprising how much you can cut down on consumption. When I used to do my yearly spreadsheets to see who would be cheapest for energy our daily electricity came out at about 15Kw per day. Since we had a smart meter fitted about a month ago (should have done it earlier but avoided due to Covid and having someone in house) our usage is now down to about 10Kw a day. Although maybe we use more electricity in winter - I just don't have records to check.

That's just by switching things off at the wall when not in use and about 4 smart plugs that we already had just used in different locations, i.e. used to have desk lamp on one as was difficult to get to switch, now have whole desk on smart plug - PC, 2 x monitors, Amp, TV, Freeview, Freesat, laptop, hub, lamp, etc
Had RaspberryPi, Fire stick on 24/7 and AV Amp on standby even though none of them are used till 11pm till 2am. Now on smart plug that has schedule to appropriate time.
Hopefully getting cavity wall insulation and room in roof insulated in next few weeks so that should help a little.

We are trying to cut down on usage without really changing how we live.

Got both meters changed last year for smart ones although the little display monitor went in the bin as it never worked from the off and Octopus said don't worry we can still take your readings that didn't work so well when they said we hadn't been billed correctly because the gas readings hadn't been going through and 10 months after they were fitted we owed them £300 they dropped it to £150 as a goodwill gesture after I kicked off,

The new boiler, oven and induction hob should save is a bit of money as they were all over 17 years old, I'll save where we can it's always the tv that we can't get to, I watch tv in bed and my wife just turns it off at the remote so the smart plugs will be ideal for these, a wifi router costs around £55 a year to run but no chance of turn that off over night with smart cameras that need wifi to capture and send activity

 

[Iron Giant]

TP-Link ones which are nice and reliable and work well.

I got two of these today and set up was very easy via the Tapo app easy to set up a schedule and just turn the plugs off and on as required

 

[johnny bravo]

have you a Link Iron G to these plugs.

Im going to use 2 Calor Gas heaters with 15 kg bottles in. Just turn off and on when needed . See if they save putting heating on when not needed 13 kg Butane £36 see how long it lasts

 

[Iron Giant]

have you a Link Iron G to these plugs.

Im going to use 2 Calor Gas heaters with 15 kg bottles in. Just turn off and on when needed . See if they save putting heating on when not needed 13 kg Butane £36 see how long it lasts

Just google TP smart plugs or search on Amazon I bought a twin pack for less than £14

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

I would turn off the wi-fi router as they use around £55 a year on average never knew this until this week but with the ring doorbell you need wifi for it to record activity

Don’t turn the router off. It’ll think there is a line fault and throttle your connection. ?

 

[adamangler]

Im on a fixed rate till december this year so havent seen any increase yet still paying my direct debit of £120 a month for both gas and electric.

Reckon im in for a big shock come January though

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I reckon it will cost us a pound just to charge our batteries over night.

 

[ched999uk]

I reckon it will cost us a pound just to charge our batteries over night.

I would be surprised if that cost more than about 30p say 50 amps at 13v = 680watts so just over half a unit of electricity.
The nasty bit is winter heating, I believe they talk about average house needing 5Kw of heating to maintain 20Deg C - OK so depends on how insulated and how bit house is. So if electricity is 53p a unit that's £2.65 per Hour!!!!! If gas then more like 90p an Hour!! When you multiply that up for say 8 hrs a day then that's looking nasty (£21 a day electricity or £7.20 Gas) so per month Electricity heating = £630 Gas = £216.

 

[Iron Giant]

Don’t turn the router off. It’ll think there is a line fault and throttle your connection. ?

I've since found that out plus the isp's say they do firmware updates overnight so shouldn't be switched

 

[scottish cleaning service]

I would be surprised if that cost more than about 30p say 50 amps at 13v = 680watts so just over half a unit of electricity.
The nasty bit is winter heating, I believe they talk about average house needing 5Kw of heating to maintain 20Deg C - OK so depends on how insulated and how bit house is. So if electricity is 53p a unit that's £2.65 per Hour!!!!! If gas then more like 90p an Hour!! When you multiply that up for say 8 hrs a day then that's looking nasty (£21 a day electricity or £7.20 Gas) so per month Electricity heating = £630 Gas = £216.

Aye, looks like I will be buying a 15 tog duvet if there is any left. ?

 

[johnny bravo]

router left on for cctv