FoxESS battery and electricity tariffs

Hi ​@Holtop , just be sure that whichever tech is fitted can work with each other. It doesn’t always.

We added batteries to our system a few years ago and have got more added since - you might want to check if what is fitted is modular and expandable.

The tariff depends as suppliers change offers from time to time. You can get an idea by thinking if you want to charge the batteries on an off peak rate to use later (useful in winter) but you might have more than you want in summer and therefore want to export any surplus.

Hey ​@Holtop,

Welcome to the community!

What an exciting journey you’re about to embark on with solar panels and batteries! As BPLightlog mentioned, it’s a good idea to check if the FOX ESS batteries are modular. I did a little digging and found a Reddit thread in r/Solar featuring a helpful user named Wyndstrike, who seemed to confirm that they're indeed modular. There’s also some great feedback there from both installers and other owners that you might find useful.

Oh, and don’t miss BPLightlog’s blog about getting solar panels installed—it’s packed with helpful information!

Keep us updated on your journey.

​Hi @BPLightlog,

Thanks for your reply. It’s all being fitted together so one would like to think it should all work together but I’ll see if I can investigate this.

And that’s good to know re: tariffs.

Another installer has given us a quote and asked whether we’d like 2x Dura5 batteries or a Dura16 battery. We’re a 4 bed house but quite a low usage household (1900kWh on electricity last year). However, we’re going to add a heat pump this year. The array was roughly 6.6kW. 
Don’t suppose you’d have any insight as to what would be best?

Thanks again

Hi ​@Chris_OVO,

Thanks for all the info! I’ll be sure to check out the blog

In our experience, often the bigger the battery capacity the better. We originally started with a 4.8kWh battery but have now expanded that to 14.4kWh (and I’d still like more). Hence why I mentioned modular and the ability to add capacity later.

The 6.6kW array sounds a decent size so you’ll need reasonable storage capacity to make the most of the generation.

The Heat Pump will add a fair bit to the household usage and if you go for a peak/off-peak tariff, you will want enough capacity to tide you over the peak tariff times.

We had a heat pump installed last March so have just had a year’s experience of it.