@toodles 

You are lucky you don’t have nosy and interfering neighbours. If I so much as approach a TPO tree with a pole saw I get them taking photos of me. We have a massive horse chestnut on our boundary that was suffering from the newly invasive horse chestnut miner moth. So I hoisted a pheromone trap into the tree to try and limit the damage, the next day I had the planning department knocking on my door to investigate.

@papahuhu They came to ‘axe you’ what you were up to?

Posted by: @papahuhu

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@toodles 

You are lucky you don’t have nosy and interfering neighbours. If I so much as approach a TPO tree with a pole saw I get them taking photos of me. We have a massive horse chestnut on our boundary that was suffering from the newly invasive horse chestnut miner moth. So I hoisted a pheromone trap into the tree to try and limit the damage, the next day I had the planning department knocking on my door to investigate.

I can't help but feel the answer to that is to do a daily "adjustment" to or "investigation" of that pheromone trap. After a few days of the same report from your neighbours, I'd imagine the planning department'd become a little slower to pop round. Crying "Wolf" can work in your favour....

@majordennisbloodnok 

Lot of retired folk round here, unfortunately for them and me, with nothing better to do. If I really wanted to get rid of the trees (or perhaps the neighbours too 😀) a couple of copper nails is all it would take.

@papahuhu Driven into their feet?!

@editor - here's my take on your December generation figures:

@toodles I was thinking along biblical lines, I’ve got some fence posts that would make a sturdy cross. I could put it in the front garden to remind the others.

Full year 2025 figures per the Sunsynk app are 4,326kWh PV generation and 1,594kWh of export.  The system was installed in December 2022, and the 2023 PV generation of 4,425kWh remains the best figure achieved, but I'm at 97.8% of that total and I have a general expectation that the system will become less efficient with age, so it could be that plus weather variation that are potential causes.  We have tree shading in the garden due to mature trees with TPO's on them, so the production will always be compromised to an extent.

The export figure of 1,594kWh is (only just) the highest one yet, vs 1,549kWh reported in 2023.  Octopus have paid me for 1,710.94kWh of export, so Sunsynk seems to be under-reporting the figure, presumably as it doesn't register the background trickle of constant export that I believe is a protection built into the system, but it at least provides me with a consistent comparative figure.

There's no forced discharging built into our configuration.  We simply charge the batteries overnight on the Intelligent Go 7p rate and let the system discharge the excess during the day at 15p when the batteries are full from solar recharging.

@transparent, excellent observation... my issue with batteries is still the massive capital expense... I'm still struggling with the maths. Maybe in the next house when we have a smart meter.

You could relocate a storage battery to a new house if you wanted to!

Although Fogstar seem to no longer offer DIY Assembly options,
battery enclosures with the Jikong BMS (2A active balancing) are available from sellers on Alibaba, for as little as $320 (+carr +VAT)

The LiFePO₄ cells are available from the same suppliers, and are often supplied from stocks already in EU warehouses.
That reduces shipping costs and time.

The overall cost for the enclosure and a set of sixteen 314Ah cells should be around £1680 incl carriage and tax.

Unlike buying from AliExpress, you should directly contact sellers on Alibaba and ask for 'a package deal'.
They can give you various options for both delivery times and for who does the import paperwork.

'DOD' means that the Supplier handles all the administration, and includes UK taxes, which they pay to HMRC on your behalf.

@transparent, this is where my DIY inability hampers me... would definitely consider the cheapo route and install myself, but don't have the skills 🙄 

Not sure there's any electricians around here I'd trust to do this for me... hmmm.

@editor 

i can’t believe you run a heat pump without being on a time of use tariff. I’m sure your power bill would make my toes curl.