Thank you very much!)

Hello from Ukraine!sorry for my english,so,we have a big problem with electricity,can you recomand this station?

Sorry if this is a silly question but wanted to ask….. when charging your car does it just trickle charge or does it charge using what you’re producing there and then and top up extra by drawing from the grid?

Hello Nigel, nice to watch your content again, used to watch when you had the Kona, stopped when you changed to the Mini, nothing personal I prefer the Korean EV's. Anyway this video is very interesting to me. I had a Kona Premium SE which I loved, sold it for Model Y which I had for a year, too techy for me so sold that 3 months ago, lost thousands as you do . I've lost many thousands over the years through depreciation, buying a used car still under warranty is my best best. I'm now looking to buy another EV, only looking at Kia's, around the £16 - £18k mark for a good one, top of the range, once you've had heated seats and steering wheel there's no going back when you reach a certain age you feel the cold more. What are your views on heat pumps, my Kona had it and was very impressive with instant heat on a frosty morning and the efficiency ? I'm certain your Soul does not have a heat pump, I contacted Kia about this. It was a £1k option on the Kona Ultimate. E Niro 4+ has it as standard. Quite liked the cooled seats in the Kona that the Soul doesn't have, Niro does. Niro doesn't have the heads up display which I loved in the Kona, much safer. As you can see I'm struggling with what to get. Kia warranty so much better, ah decisions. If anyone wants to sell a good one to me let me know, no dealers thanks. Great video. Will be watching all the Soul ones, to be pedantic why do you call them E Souls, no one else does, not even Kia.

The infill was femiliar. It must have some 3D printer in its DNA 😂

Interesting... any chance of a link to that 12v voltage gauge? The 12v battery went 5 years into my original Soul EV's life. It was during a very cold winter which I assumed was the issue, but maybe not now!

Moles will never dare move in now you have RoboCop.

Might have missed it. Does it detect frog sized objects?

Would you have to have 2 of them if you have a front and back garden lawn or can you move them between detached areas of grass easily?

I have a couple of robot vaccums, first one is like my Robot Mower and bounces around at various angles and randomly covers the area. My newer robot vaccum has a sensor and maps the area and then performs in the same way as you mower. The two technologies are very similar.

Impressive how everyone is jumping on these

I love gadgets, and I'd have one in a heartbeat... if only they did one that was suited to a 40m2 lawn ie a tiny mobot!

Looked at another way, At 2,200£ , there is a man brings his own lawn mower and will do my lawn f0r £100 or less. That is 220 cuts and we do maybe 30 a year? Probably less. So does it have a 7 year life? Or does my nice man need the job more than I need a robot lawn mower?

How often do the blades need sharpening/replacing? How much does it cost?

How does it cope with mole hills? Of which I have loads…

If you get the cheaper end of the robot mowers, they cerainly have a perimeter wire. It was not a problem fitting this. Worst part is that it follows a permanent path back home and after a very wet start to the year, it did dig a few holes where it turns to follow the wire. Burying a paving slab or some half bricks seems to have helped and reduced further digging! Apples that fall from our tress are an absolute pain and need to be cleared from the garden, to allow it to work, otherwise it climbs them and complains it has been lifted. Our garden is far from flat with many undulations and in general it does very well. Edit to add that my neighbour loves to watch the mower going trundling around the garden and finds it therapeautic.

Not sent for a test... but for free so you could review positively hopefully I'm sure you honest generally with your thoughts, but really it does get tiring to listen/see so many things that people review which they havn't paid for with their own money... or if you haven't tried all the alternatives and actually know whats available and can compare in a detailed review.

I have the Luba 5000. I'd honestly put no-go zones around any permanent obstacles. If you rely on the obstacle avoidance at some point it *will* get stuck on things, ride over them, jam a disc,. etc. It's just a matter of time. I'd try to use the avoidance as a last resort / backup for if things accidentally get left on the lawn (furniture, sleeping dog, etc).

Stupid review

We've had a robot lawmower for years. It's just fantastic. The lawn always looks good and it's so quiet that we set ours to run at night! All you need is strimmer to do the edges now and again. You just need to make sure all the usual obstacles are out of the way before it starts and it's rather hassle free!

Who empties the grass collector - human or robot? Pity it needs mains power to charge and cannot solar charge/ power it

RTK = Real Time Kinematic - a system that sends corrections to the standard GPS system enabling a robot to get centimetre positioning accuracy.

Let the grass and weeds grow. We aren't seeing enough insects flying around and total lack of wasps is concerning as they do an essential job.

How does this homage to Bigtrak deal with a doggy deposit, obliteration or circumvention? Also, why make the thing white? It's not like it'll be immune to grass and soil stains, but can it drive itself to the local carwash? Thanks for another fun video.

I'm an installer so lucky that I just have to pay for the parts. We're in the Scottish Highlands and with our 30 panels and 15kw battery we generate enough electricity (28kw/24hrs at this time of year) to be fully off grid from March - October, and then just off grid in daylight hours in winter

July 2024, 13.4kw of Solar generated 1321kwh Early July was poor but late July helped. Shropshire: Uk. 9.9kwh imported (through fluctuations as half of my system is AC Coupled) 827kwh exported (Mostly during flux 4-7pm)

Hi Nigel, your videos are very objective and interesting, you're doing a great job, excellent, I like your work a lot, please keep going. I am attracted by your energy independence state with solar and battery working together. I hope more people would have chance to achieve it.👍 Solis is doing very well in the UK market, their team are all professional and responsible for clients, I think they are the most cost-effective inverter brands, and they achieve big success. When I visited SNEC Exhibition in June, Solis booth is the most busy one, a lot of clients there. I like this brand too.🤝 We are building a platform for installers to choose the most suitable and cost effective batteries for their projects, could we have any chance to work together with you for helping British resident achieve energy independence a little bit?😃 I would be very appreciate for your time and your reply. Best regards, Crystal.😊

Had mine installed right at the end of June so just had the first full month. 8kWp E/S/N facing and got 957kWh. Keep seeing people saying it's been a dull month but I'm fairly happy so far!

Only 493kwh wsw 3.4kwh array in Cornwall this month. Not the best July and generally dull. Compares to 600+ KWh in June, the drop off has been unusually steep so hoping for a bounce back this month

The battery in petrol car suffered badly in lockdown when it was not driven for weeks. It was deep discharged several times and I had to get a replacement. Why would this happen in a EV when the 12V is topped up from the 400V?

Interesting numbers - thanks for the detailed report. Question: Payback time seems to be around 10-13 years if I understood your description of system part costs? Are the figures for costs all-inclusive i.e. parts, labour, commissioning etc and do you consider the purchase cost of the EV's as part of the expense?

My 2020 Soul went flat thanks to Octopus trying to control the main battery charger, my issue was I didn't always want it to charge the car, so told the Zappi not to charge it. But because it tried to communicate with the car it killed the battery. Once one of these batteries go flat, they never recover to the their full potential, so the next time it failed was because i left the tailgate open for no more than 20 minutes. I bought a new battery from Tanya and also Octopus now control the Zappi so there is little chance of it flattening again. I also use utility mode or leave the car on rather than just relying on the 12v if i'm sitting in the car waiting for something.

My 7kW array in Cambridgeshire has generated 760kWh in the month, little bit less than possible, but still more than enough for our needs. As we've been away our bill will be a credit!

Hi Nigel, Near Lincoln UK, 7.56kWh solar PV E/W split toatl 808kWh produced. Imported 979.4kWh from grid and exported 499.8kWh. EV Used 391.59kWh all at 7p overnight. So £90 per month for whole home use, ASHP for heating and 1,000 miles per month in EV.

in ireland i pay on average 21 pence per 1 kwh, it is exactly 3 times more than you pay, so I don't think I'll be switching any time soon. I use 250 kwh per month and that cost me 78 pounds, without heating. i use three hundered liters of oil that cost about 270 pounds but that is far from comfortable, I only use it when temerature drops down to 5 degrees and have it on for maybe one hour a day. still I dont thing that electric heating (that is a heat pump) is going to imrove anything in my case.

I have free standing solar panels out on the front drive quite often and they aren’t stolen, how? The Renogy Solar Suitcase versions have handles and I feed a 10m security cable through them that’s then padlocked to my car wheel. 😊

Thanks for sharing that comprehensive information you have produced from the data. I have a GE AIO and that just about runs the house in the bad months of solar having been filled over night. Just not worth getting a 2nd one on a cost basis unless I move heating to electric. I am bemused about the [guess] 20% loss in/out of the AIO of kWs which they don't tell you about. My issue is daft PV installer put a string together of 10 Panels that are facing 90deg off from each other and that consistently is 1kW less than the 11 panels which are in the same SE orientation of the 6 from the 10 above. Unfortunately I was not aware as much as now, having watched you and others on here and did not think I needed to help design a PV system when an "expert" was being paid a lot to do it ! Real pain is the Solis inverter has a 3rd input so they could have split the 10 panel array if they had only had a brain. So as I would need to get the scafold back to rewire roof I am left frustrated. Aware they could have put optimisers or even micro inverters but they did not. Grrrr I would suggest micro inverters are the way to go as you can see what each panel is doing and we are all hung up on data :)

This is my first year with solar so I have no comparison. 6KWp south facing and I’ve generated 824kWh in the East Midlands. Very cloudy month apart from 1 week.

Hi all, can anyone confirm whether this 12 volt status of charge or not charging whilst driving EV 's is the same for all manufacturers? I ask since we have a usb monitor in our Corsa EV ,from new, it always shows 13.5 to 14.5 when driving whether long or short drives. This tells me the 12 volt battery is always getting a small charge just like an ice car alternator system! The only time the USB shows a lower 12v or 11.5 is when accessories position is on but car not yet 'live' Once car is set to 'live' USB volt drops initially to 5 to 8 volts then quickly to 13.5 or 14.5 volts as charging is activated.Any comments?

Ok compare time. Generation 1.635mwh (data directly from 3 solis inverters) import 720.64kwh export 1.558mwh. 3 arrays, largest 8 kw solis inverter 8x 300w + 11x 400w panels 6.8kw total East facing, 111 kwp. 5kw solis inverter 14x 330w panels 4.62kw West facing, 96 kwp. 3kw solis inverter 5x 415w + 5x425w 4.2kw North South split, 102 kwp. Dual GivEnergy AC3’s with a 8.2 and 9.5kw battery pack. Daikin ASHP. 2 EV's my son has a Corsa E and I have a Volvo XC40 recharge twin. Last month my son used 157.9kwh I used 230.2kwh. I do have a small amount of day time grid use, due to my battery system reaction time and sometimes pulling more than my 6kw battery inverter can handle so my average price per kwh is 7.3p so last month my Octopus bill (not including standing charge) £52.85 grid use, £233.73export credit. £180.88 credit for the month. I am wondering how long to keep going with this maximum export model. At a guess looking at old incomplete data as only had my 3rd array in this year I think this would work from 1st March to 31st October. 9 months of the year potentially profitable? Payback period. No idea, my system has been changed so many times, my tariffs have changed. Last year I made a lot more from export etc. Didn't fully understand the saving sessions and lost out on those at the start too etc etc. When I bought this house it already had a heat pump and was 100% electric. The estimate usage was 6Mhw at todays rates thats £1283 per year. Taking last years data at todays export rate they now pay me £780+. So £2360 saving/profit? My DD is £1 per month.

It could be argued that the cost of the panels and batteries can be added to the value of your property, so kinda pays for itself right away.

PS - those original Nissan Leaf solar panels on the spoiler for the 12v were ideal. We use them on small aircraft too for the instrument batteries. Keeps the battery charged and healthy, unless regularly garaged.

Thanks, Nigel. Getting my first EV soon, so good to know to keep an eye on the 12v. When I was growing up, and much later - when my own family were young, - nursing old an 12v along was a given. The best we achieved was 12 years out of our Zafira's original Vauxhall battery. It got swapped by RAC one day after a no - start. They were called out again a week later to a no start - it was the alternator that had failed - so just poor diagnosis or an intermittent charging fault. Shame, I reckon the original battery would have lasted longer 😁😁🤣🤣

Do you cost in your meter cost?

The payback is interesting, it's a big outlay so you're allowed to keep an eye on when you get your money back. But the main thing is even if it never pays you back you're making the grid greener plus all your power is green 💚

Thanks , July solar output equalled May at 574 KWh , so disappointing, my 5.1 KWP south facing setup in Central Scotland generating 112 KWh per installed KWp . July here was just cloudy and cool with only 2 days I remember being sunny all day.