Hi all,
Does anyone know of any Giv hardware being sold off cheap anywhere? I'm specifically interested in getting an AIO2 expansion battery and any spares I might need for the AIO2 main unit, MPPT unit and Gateway 2.
Secondhand interests me too, if anyone's going to rip out their AIO2 kit.
However, it'll need to be cheap! 😃
Cheers 🙂
I don't think many AIO2's have been sold. If they had sold loads they wouldn't be in the predicament that they are in.
From what I have heard, the AIO2 is well built and should be really reliable. Broken ones for spares or repair are going to be rare.
Not that I've seen. Since the cat is out the bag in so much that you don't need an installer account to add a battery - it just works - I've noticed battery prices on eBay have gone up!
Inverters still worth little but they always were.
Early days of administration though so maybe there's stock hiding to be sold.
hoggy It’s hilarious! Everyone’s falling over themselves to pour even more cash into a failed ecosystem all of a sudden…
hoggy Since the cat is out the bag in so much that you don't need an installer account to add a battery - it just works -
So what was the reason GE made such a fuss about only allowing a limited number of electricians to install one?
Robgy it's for registering it to the portal for warranty. Which is not really relevant now.
hoggy for registering it to the portal
Was that the only reason?
Robgy for batteries yes.
For inverters no - the portal did set up things like the G99/G98 code and so on. It's not impossible to replicate but as it relies on someone buying a brand new in box inverter to test theories on it's probably not that high up the list (unless someone has one that we can experiment on)
ectoplasmosis yeah, can't believe the reaction at the moment. Whilst I was also looking, there's no way I'm paying the prices some are at the moment. Will see where prices settle in 6 months, one the initial excitement subsides. If still high, there are other options
I called around a few places today and nobody had an AIO2 expansion battery. The AIO2 may be the rarest system, and expansion batteries are going to be even rarer...
One distributor kindly took my number and said they'd call me if they heard of anything.
@hoggy I've not seen the process for adding a battery without the installer account, would you mind sharing please?
@ectoplasmosis this isn't pouring more cash into a failed ecosystem. This is me making the best of a bad situation - I don't want to pay full price, I'm looking for a bargain! 😃
madbilly sorry missed this one - are you talking about AIO2 specifically?
I keep checking the price of batteries, if the 9.5kwh drops to 1500 ish I'd be tempted in expanding my capacity. Done the maths a few times as one 9.5kwh just isn't quite enough for our house most days to see me from dusk til dawn but the maths didn't add up.
Keep reading that they are just plug and play aswell other than setting the dip switches as long as a certain software setting has been left on when commissioning.
hoggy yes only aio2
So - seen a few 'bulk' listings come up on a certain auction site in the last week or so - but nothing at a level where I'd say it was amazing value. Someone's got a bunch of used and tested 9.5s at 1950 (+ £100 postage) each and some 5.2s for 950 each.
Just watched a 'used but working' gen 1 hybrid 5Kw - collection in person only - go for £261.
Still too rich for my blood at this point. I think it's a question of waiting for the 'replaced because of the bankruptcy' used stock to kick through.
MikeyHaz They're having a laugh - you can buy new (6 year warranty) batteries cheaper than that.
Vestas I agree completely.
MikeyHaz Somewhere around £750 for the 9kWh used batteries and £350 for the 5.2kWh used batteries should be an absolute maximum given the batteries are used, obsolete and unsupported.
I have no doubt some muppets will buy at those prices though. Personally you'd have to pay me to take them - no point in throwing good money after bad....
I've got an 8.2 and a 5.2 battery... I was thinking of replacing the 5.2 with a larger one... but given the state of the company. It would have to be a bargain... an 8.2 or 9.5 for around 1k at the most.
I'm still sending more to the grid than I like... last year it was just over 800kwh still... whilst still importing some 1500kwh... although 80% of that is between Nov-Feb.
But given that we use in the region of 5000-5200kwh a year on the house... it's not as bad as it could be.
On a really sunny day like the last couple of weeks of April, we were generating 27kwh a day (4kw array), batteries were at 55-60% full after running through the previous evening/night. So it only takes 5-6kwh to refill them... house use takes another 8kwh or so during the day. So that's around 15kwh export some days... more when the days are longer and generation hits around 30kwh..
Given we earn just 12p/kwh now... and electric rates are going up as are standing charges... it's more important to use as much as possible than ever.
Anomnomnomaly On a really sunny day like the last couple of weeks of April, we were generating 27kwh a day (4kw array), batteries were at 55-60% full after running through the previous evening/night
based on those figures there is no benefit in the summer for you having more battery storage. In an overnight period you’re not using what you store in your current batteries each day and grid importing, so adding more batteries would mean you would just have more unused kWh sitting there.
Possibly better economic case in the winter when there’s less generation, but would depend on what you can import at on the cheap rate vs what you save from not grid importing at expensive rate.
Your current export at 12p is building up a credit for the winter so whilst it might feel like you are missing out, it’s probably the right strategy.
Anomnomnomaly My situation is very similar with 5kWh annual house load. I have less battery (2x 5.2kWh) but if they start at 100% charge at 8pm they just carry me through to 8am next morning when the panels pick things up again. Bigger batteries will not improve things most days except when a sunny day is followed by a grey day i.e. for holding charge for more than 12 hours. This doesn't happen often enough to give me a reasonable payback period.
By switching certain items off overnight I have fine tuned this to maximise my batteries discharge each day without running out thereby minimising my grid usage down to below 1kWh most days exporting any excess.
In winter there isn't enough solar to even fully charge the batteries some days so then I use the batteries to charge at the cheapest grid rates to cover 16 hours if I can and a few more kWh of batteries might be useful (for November to January).
Windy Miller My situation is very similar with 5kWh annual house load.
?????
mrand31 Probably meant 5MWh.
danielnepomuceno DOH that's what I meant to say. Actual last year was 5375kWh.
geoffreycoan I agree but I'd like to emphasise that the economics of battery storage has changed dramatically in the last two years. For example Fogstar 16kWh LV batteries are about £2k - heating/fire suppression built in, support for a fair few inverters,
People shouldn't be thinking that a used, unsupported GE 9.5kWh battery is a bargain at £1k. Its not. Its overpriced. £750 top whack and that better be a 24/25 serial number.
I've just received a G99 approval for 10kW export & 18kW import which should allow me to go ahead with a replacement 10kW Inverter & 27kW of storage.
As a result I will at some point have a Gen2 3.6kW Hybrid inverter & 2 x Gen 2 9.5kWh batteries available for disposal. Everything is currently working well & the batteries are in good shape. 1 is 3.5 years old & the other 2 years. I'm not going to give them away but if anyone is interested let me know.
CGoode have you decided what system you're going for?
I'd like a bigger inverter and more battery storage but not just yet.
Robgy I had a quote for Sigenergy but it was more than my budget so I'm leaning towards Eleven Energy & their Sodium Iron batteries in 2 stacks of three with 3 incoming strings & a manual whole house backup changeover. Eleven do have a Gateway coming but it's not available yet. TBH a manual changeover would be OK or, we just wait & retrofit the Gateway at a later date. Haven't decided yet.
Space for the 2 x battery stacks with bases & top boxes in my garage is the biggest challenge as they have a bigger footprint & are taller than my existing Giv 9.5's. I need another meeting with the local installer to thrash out a few of the details before I pull the trigger.
CGoode Hmm, I'll be looking for a 2nd 9.5 battery soon, pref with 600-700 cycles max to match my existing.
wrighar Not sure what the cycle numbers are on mine. One battery is older than the other by about 6-8 months & both are charged to 100% every night from whatever SOC they are in at 11.30pm at night when the Octopus cheap rate kicks in. I don't regularly force discharge them.
Ideally I'd prefer to sell them as a pair rather than individually. That said if more than one person is interested then I could sell them separately. As for location I'm just off the M1 at Junction 14 & it would have to be a buyer collect senario as I can't move them with my bad back.
Both batteries & Inverter are working well atm & are on Firm 3020. I have resisted updating the firmware since Giv went under. Assuming I go ahead with the new system, the new model Eleven Inverter becomes available in Midsummer Wholesale stock in July so the install won't happen before then - probably sometime in August at the earliest. I can supply any further info on the kit as required.
The 9.5kWh batteries weigh over 100kg. What do you use to move them?
Is a car sufficient, or a van or lorry better? Lorry with tail-lift? Sack trucks? Wheeled trolleys? Engine hoist?
Other lifting gear?
CGoode I'm leaning towards Eleven Energy & their Sodium Iron batterie
Be interested in how this goes if you do buy them. I think there ability to handle a cold / hot garage would be of interest.
M_J Yes. No heaters needed to keep them running in cold weather. Operating temp range is -20c to +55c so my unheated garage should be no problem - if I can make space for them!!
Rubikcube Don't know. They've got handles on them & two guys lifted them into position on wall brackets when they were installed & they arrived on a pallet. I've got a wheeled trolley the buyer could use to get them to the kerbside after that it's brute force & ignorance to get them into a vehicle. If it we me I would rent a tail-lift van or rent a 300kg wheeled scissor lift to avoid a hernia!!
M_J
FYI here's the spec sheet for the new Galvani stackable sodium battery from Eleven Energy.
https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66eae4ff6d4ef6a930621579/699325498ae6f351bc9d9272_eleven-stackable-battery-datasheet.pdf
The only real drawback I can see is that you are limited to 4 battery packs per stack so that's 18kWh per stack max. I need two stacks of 3 batts for 27kWh so the footprint is larger than most other LFP batteries of a similar capacity. Also, these Eleven Na batteries can only ne used with Eleven inverters as charging / discharging & voltages are different to LFP battery Inverters.
Much to my surprise I got a G99 approval from National Grid for 10kW export & 18kW import so I'm all good to go with the Eleven 10kW 1phase hybrid inverter.
I've got another meeting with my installer in a week or so to discuss final details after which I will probably go ahead with the install. Meantime I'm trying to make space in my garage to shoehorn the new kit in!! 40 years of accumulated tools & other stuff doesn't help!!
CGoode Meantime I'm trying to make space in my garage to shoehorn the new kit in!! 40 years of accumulated tools & other stuff doesn't help!!
A win win as you get to declutter as well...
A pity you are locked into their eco system, but I guess that's the case with the majority of battery suppliers.
Good luck with it and I hope it goes smoothly...
Our next battery system will have to go outside as lofts aren't allowed anymore so that is very attractive to me.
I would probably have some sort of roof built to keep the worst of the rain off. Ideally the installer would be able to offer advice or even quote for it as an add-on.
pwdst
And put a big cage around it, or a big guard dog. Some people will nick anything
pwdst
There are some covers available for batteries & inverters. More decorative than for security I think.
https://solartradinguk.co.uk/product-category/battery-covers/?filter_cover-height=1500&filter_cover-width=600&filter_cover-depth=400
I am far more concerned about weatherproofing that security in a locked garden with security lights and cameras. Lifting them over the locked gate would likely be a multiperson job and I assume would make a lot of noise even if it didn't trigger the lights and camera.
pwdst Our next battery system will have to go outside as lofts aren't allowed anymore so that is very attractive to me.
AFAICT indoors and lofts are still allowed, it's a recommendation, not a requirement. trouble is that fewer installers are likely to see the logic in the statement.
I'd certainly prefer the loft if I end up installing more capacity...
Just been offered out of the blue a new 9.5 MK3 battery fitted for 3.5k. Not heard of the company but they know I have Giv products
Email last night? Yeah ... I'm wondering where they got my email address from ...
Not sure why I would pay full wack for a discontinued product from someone I've never heard of?
SimonClarke discontinued product
And more importantly without a manufacturers warranty
mrand31 As I understand it the new regulations brought in this April change that from guidance to requirements and these will be enforceable from October.
Unfortunately the regulations are not published FOC so unless homeowners are willing to pay the three figure price for the regulations, and read both them and any supplementary material to understand them then we have to rely on second hand reports and that our contractors are correctly following them.
Following the GivEnergy mailshots, this arrived overnight.
I dont know who these people are, I dont know how they got my email address, but it looks a rubbish offer.
£3,450 without any warranty!!
SteveCook Meet the man himself James that is. Not so sure about the claims concerning the capacity though
and no reviews since 2024 presumably when the Website was created. Very good website though for a small concern, puts a lot of larger companies to shame.
duplada Very good website
Which doesn't contain compulsory information like address. If you trade in the UK then by law you must provide a postal address in a prominent postition on the website.
Also a single mobile number for contact isn't something I'd trust.
Company address is a residential property & company doesn't appear to do much business.
Add that to the spam & overpriced batteries, well make your own minds up about how likely he is to support the batteries he's selling for the 6 years the CRA 2015 mandates.
Dodgy as hell is my opinion 😃
Vestas I wonder if this is one of the installers who GivEnergy asked to provide a quote when we responded to the "battery offer" of a few months ago?
I never heard back
Vestas Which doesn't contain compulsory information like address. If you trade in the UK then by law you must provide a postal address in a prominent postition on the website.
My comment was concerning the design of the web site , nothing else. I do wonder about posting stuff on here sometimes. Anyone, who has a modicum of intelligence, can spot the warning signs, and don't need a bullet point list thank you.
geoffreycoan Dunno but I bet the people getting the spam are still on the GE email marketing list. I opted out some time ago and repeated the process when they opted me back in without permission to spam their proposed portal/app charges.
geoffreycoan
On the original Dec mailshot, I ticked the box that said "use my original installer", yet this is the second unknown (to me) installer that has contacted me with a not very good offer.
SteveCook not very good offer.
Masterful understatement 🙂
pwdst Never mind getting it over a locked gate. Don’t know why an installer would want to attempt 80kg plus into a loft…
Maxwell
Don't you have a crane attached to the purlin over the loft hatch?
Mine's very handy. 😃
J14... Milton Keynes... I grew up there. Only moved away to be near the sea and mountains a few years ago.
Anomnomnomaly
I'm the other side of the M1 J14 - Newport Pagnell. Been there 40 years after moving out of London via Watford.
mrand31 I did say to my wife that not having one was a deal breaker when we moved. But she didn’t buy that. And here we are.