Adding 2nd Battery - Who can install it?

Looking at adding a 2nd 5.2kwh battery to my setup (4kw PV, 3.6kw invertor, 5.2kwh battery)

Have been quoted £2800 by the company that installed my system

But I've found I can order the battery directly online for delivery for about £1700.

If I have it installed independently of the original installers, will I still be able to have it registered on my setup and show up properly?

My neighbour works at a power plant and knows plenty of certified electricians who could install it. My carpenter friend works on a building site around the corner and also knows plenty of certified electricians.

Going from about £1000 to install it, to about £300 is a huge saving that means I could get it done sooner rather than later... I admit I was more concerned about the budget for the setup than I was the capacity and have since learned the hard way I should have gone for the 9.5kwh battery at the time.

I can afford the 2k it will probably cost me at the moment... can't afford £2800 for some time as too many other expenses eating up extra cash for the next 4-5 months.

Anomnomnomaly You'll need someone with a GivEnergy engineer account to set it up. Once you've found someone, you can ask support to transfer account ownership to the new installer as they'll need to recommission your install. Had a second 5.2 installed in aug for £2150 in SE england. So may just need to shop around

theoretically, can we not complete the free GivEnergy Training course, create GivEnergy login, and sign in as an engineer and then deploy the battery after it's installed? Also, the new 9.5 batteries are plug and play, just mount and attach the cable, modify the master slave switch and done, nothing fancy.

deepanshus Not unless you're a qualified electrician as that's a pre-requisite for the training course.

If you are a qualified electrician you can complete the GE course and install their equipment.

Installing the battery is pretty easy. Site, and plug in.
However, getting Giv to initiate a commission, i.e. recognise it, is where the "specialism" comes in.
Although saying that, my installer made a right hash of fitting my 2nd battery. Forgot to make sure both batteries had the same firmware before calling Giv for a commission. What should have been a half hour visit turned into a full day.

thewhalw21 So the issue would be that the company who installed my original system have ownership of the account?

They're the ones who said it was going to cost about £2800 for another 5.2kwh battery.

Maybe if I have a chat with them and make it clear I can/will purchase the equipment myself and all they have to do is install and commission it... The price will drop. Charging £1000 for a few hrs work becomes very obvious and excessive that way.

Some other people have been down this road before. It doesn't look that straightfoward...

https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/1470-purchased-95kw-system-from-its-and-no-one-willing-to-install
https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/1656-i-would-like-to-install-a-second-battery-to-my-house
https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/1969-possible-to-self-install-95kw-battery/15

Anomnomnomaly I had the same issue with my installers. I think the issue was they didn't want to install an add on and didn't want to do it with me supplying the battery.

Just takes an email to the support desk asking them to transfer ownership to the new installer and then they can get started.

Ok, so I just bought a 9.2 battery, did the dip switches and plugged it in? I take it that I am not going to get the benefit until someone commissions it formally through the engineer portal?

RBisset No one have don it so no one know how it will work.

Vestas Any one done it? Do their request any certificate or you number to confirm you are qualify electricians?

RBisset yes the battery will need to be commissioned through the engineer portal. Not sure if GE can do this remotely

HipHopAst engineers have their own accounts where they're able to connect to installations and make changes

Good grief! It never occurred to me that buying a battery and adding it would mean you cannot use it? So basically I have a £2,400 paperweight in my garage? I wonder whether I could get an engineer to commission it remotely? It does seem a bit weird that the battery is unusable until a select group of people log in to the restrictive portal?

Won’t be liked advice but I’d personally just switch it on, worse case it sits there. You might not see that you have 2 packs on the portal / app but so long as the BMS is connecting it to the battery bus it should just follow the other one in theory.
No dice then ask GE nicely - plug and play wiring after all.
Worst case find someone to do it via engineer account.
(Vaguely remember someone in similar position saying theirs just appeared in the portal overnight but whether that was a prod from GE or not I don’t know)

Good advice hoggy.

It is plugged in and switched on but from the panel lights I can see it is static , neither charging or discharging.

I have logged into the customer cloud inverter control panel but you cannot add a battery to it that way.

I am so annoyed. I got taken in by being plug and play - I didn’t think the addition of a 2nd battery to an authorised and certified installation would require more engineer fees.

It would be good for GivEnergy to make a formal statement on this.
Similarly what happens if you buy a used battery. Is the warranty still valid for life and cycles.

SteveCook IIRC the GE warranty doc states the warranty is only valid when it remains in the originally installed property.

Cdent Thanks. So any secondhand battery is effectively "buyer beware"

SteveCook potentially yes, no doubt GE would blame issues on transport or incorrect uninstallation

Please note, that having installed your own battery can cause major system issues in occurrences such as batteries going flat without following our correct procedures. The battery should be installed and signed off in the commissioning via an approved installer with access to the portal. GivEnergy will not commission this for you.

Any issues that come as an event of having an unrecorded piece of equipment added to the system will potentially require a GivEnergy call out fee which would most likely indicate a charge.

Please leave the battery off and disconnected until such time an approved installer can fit the product.

Adam-Reynolds I think GivEnergy ought to make this very clear and not hide it away on the small print. The website should say batteries cannot be installed by anyone other than a GE certified engineer. If you go to Google shopping there are loads of companies selling your batteries and this vital information is nowhere to be seen. This is your main battery page https://givenergy.co.uk/products/battery-storage/ and there is nothing written to notify the consumer of that restriction.

Roddyb I have to say I think this requiring a GE certified engineer is a restrictive trade practice. Other battery suppliers do not have this restriction so its not inherently required for home storage batteries.
I can understand the original equipment, inverters, etc have to be done properly, but a battery is pretty much plug and play of the cable and a few dip switches.

Unfortunately it is where we are at the moment.

See, told you it wouldn't be liked advice and as if by magic.... 🤣

Cdent I mean if you apply for online courses how do they check that you are qualified engineer? After this few hours course they will give you access to engineer account.

HipHopAst
You have to be a certified electrician to attend. And rightly so.

It's moving to "hands on" training as opposed to just Teams call shortly as well.

Amateur connects own battery bought on Alibaba to pv inverter

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/10/30/cause-of-30-kwh-battery-explosion-in-germany-remains-unclear/

HipHopAst oh, they'll definitely check you're qualified before you attend the course

From the T&Cs of the signup page of the Installer training.

I mean, I was on it for other reasons, but I think that's more of a honesty box kind of thing (or was at the time?). There's been end users sat in on them before because of interest/boredom weirdly.
Things will however become immediately obvious if you don't know what your doing when it's an in person event (like it used to be before Covid).
Not sure how that'll impact the installer network, if a competitor doesn't require time off & travel up/down to attend it will they switch allegiance - perhaps.

(Before anyone asks yes I'm qualified electrically & no I'm not remote commissioning your battery)

geoffreycoan I also note that in the Welcome information pack given to the purchaser at commissioning, there is NO MENTION of additional batteries needing to be plugged in and commissioned by an approved installer. All those who tell me it is in the T&C's are right but it well hidden. This should be made very clear at the outset and I will take no lectures from GE on this point - very deceptive.

I have been a competent person under the Wiring Regs for 40 years, but I don't pay the £400/pa (or whatever it is now) bribe to become 'registered'. I have, in the past issued inspection certificates for domestic wiring installations, but can no longer legally do so. Neither could the electrician who did most of the work at the 22 acre site where I worked, from 240 to 11kV...
Oddly (sensibly), the Gas Acts contain no such restrictive requirement unless one is performing the job as a trades person. Merely requiring that the practitioner be competent.

As far as dotting the I's and crossing the T's of part P planning requirements, I shall continue to work on the house that I rewired in 1986 and the workshop that I built and wired in 2004 without any feelings of guilt. My children can get an independent inspection when they inherit it after SWMBO and I have popped our clogs should they need to.

It should be noted that The only battery on my system was installed by me, as a result of my installer not wanting to visit or pay for a subcontractor after said battery arrived 7 months after the original installation, due to shortages, GE were happy with this...