We size off-grid systems for UK conditions — daily load assessment, winter generation analysis, battery and panel specification, MPPT and inverter selection. Remote consultation costs £245.
Book your free diagnostic callHow consultations workMy issue was assessed and resolved quickly once the engineer was able to look at the problem. This took a little longer than I had expected (3 days) and keeping the PC on all day/everyday with Sentinel open was a little cumbersome I thought. That said, with little support coming from GivEnergy nowadays it was good to find someone who knew the platform and could resolve my issue.
Had issues with 10yr+ installation. 1 inverter going into alarm mode, unable to access monitoring apps and wanted someone to review and document worthiness of the 2 systems I have. As you will find with older systems, the original installers have moved on, other companies only want to replace and install new, or make up silly prices as they don't want the work, so struggling for 18 month plus trying to source someone to do this. Ronald managed to fit me in the day after contact as he was in the area. Spent a couple of hours on site, found issue with the inverter alarm and he monitoring this to find a total solution, got me back onto the monitoring apps, provided a report on the installations and identified potential areas of concern. These are the people you need for diagnostic reviews of your installations, long term industry professionals, who have a wealth of knowledge gained through working in the industry, know the differing systems and how to contact and approah the companies involved. These are the people you need if you are having issues with installers and / or product and/or supply companies.
I can add to the list of customers who had already 'given up' on GivEnergy due to their appalling customer service, and that was before they went into administration. So you can imagine my desperation when, having changed my ISP and my Inverter, predictably, proving to be the only device that didn't connect automatically to my new network, I found zero prospect of any customer support with GivEnergy having called in the administrators just five days earlier! The salvation came from Solar Tech Support. My IT advisor stumbled across their web site and some very helpful tips for beleaguered GivEnergy customers, as well as an offer to provide direct assistance. Nothing ventured, I decided to drop them an E-Mail, with very low expectations based on my experience of GivEnergy customer support. Within an hour Ron had responded with some pin point advice, and after a few exchanges of E-Mails he had nailed the problem, enabling the combined efforts of my IT advisor and solar installer to resolve it and reconnect my Inverter. Thank you Solar Tech Support, and Ron in particular, for coming to the aid of a deserted and despondent GivEnergy customer. Expert, razor sharp advice and first class customer service, even though I wasn't officially a customer.
Ronald was able to organise a brilliant electrician with extensive experience of GivEnergy systems local to me in the SW. I have now got a fully functioning system and suspect that my electricity bill will be substantially reduced or in credit over a year. Also when said electrician discovered an overvoltage in the my local grid, Ronald prepared a very lucid and comprehensive report of the situation which I have now supplied to my local grid. Cannot recommend Ron and Dan enough.
My GivEnergy Solar/Inverter/Batteries system went down and the GivEnergy Administrators are totally non- existent/useless. Luckily, I found Ron, who used to be a GivEnergy Installer, and beyond my wildest dreams, he sorted everything out remotely from 200 miles away. His approach to everything is very professional and I cannot recommend him more highly. Thanks very much Ron!!
Absolutely wonderful support. I have a GivEnergy system that was installed in 2022, and a firmware update was flagged in the app, so I proceeded to update the software .... and immediately regretted it, as my inverter came up with an error, and was not working at all! With no GivEnergy support available, and my installer saying there was nothing he could do, I googled help, and found Ron. What a stroke of good luck! Submitted an on line enquiry late morning, and received phone call just after 5 pm, and later that evening Ron was able to supply me with old firmware no longer available on the GivEnergy web site. I was then able to update the firmware using a GivEnergy youtube video as reference, and hey presto the system was back up and running. One further slight adjustment by Ron and we are back normal. What a relief. I have no hesitation in recommending Solar Tech Support if you have a problem. Great service! And if you are a GivEnergy system owner, whatever you do, DO NOT UPDATE FIRMWARE!
Always size for the worst-case month. A UK off-grid system must work in January, not just July. The worst-case month determines your battery bank size and panel array. If you design for average annual generation, your system will run short of energy for three to four months every year.
The first step is understanding how much energy you actually need each day. Underestimating is the most common cause of undersized systems.
For each appliance: multiply rated wattage × hours used per day = watt-hours (Wh). Then add 20–25% for inverter conversion losses and cable resistance.
High-draw items — electric showers (7–10kW), immersion heaters (2–3kW), and induction hobs (1–3kW per zone) — add significantly to both daily Wh and peak inverter demand. Consider whether alternatives are available: a heat pump water heater uses 3–4× less energy than an immersion heater for the same hot water output.
Always size for the worst month. These are conservative December/January figures for south-facing panels at optimal tilt.
These are averages — individual cloudy days can produce 0.2–0.4 PSH. This is why battery autonomy (step 3) is essential: your system must store enough energy to cover 2–3 consecutive low-generation days.
Your battery bank must cover the load for the number of consecutive cloudy days you want to withstand without a generator.
Cold-weather capacity loss reduces effective battery size — a LiFePO4 bank in a 5°C shed delivers approximately 80–85% of rated capacity. Add 15–20% to the calculated bank size if the battery will be in an unheated space. See our cold weather battery guide for details.
The panel array must generate enough energy to fully recharge the battery bank within the available winter peak sun hours.
The MPPT controller must handle the full panel array current. The inverter must handle the peak simultaneous load with headroom for surge.
Tell us your location, daily load estimate, and available roof or ground space. We'll calculate battery, panel, MPPT, and inverter requirements using UK-specific winter generation data.
Due to unprecedented demand we’re currently only carrying out on-site work in Yorkshire, and replies are taking up to 7 days. Remote diagnostics continue for the whole UK as normal.
Every message is read and answered, so please don’t send it twice; that only slows the queue.
We use cookies to measure traffic and ads, sharing limited hashed data with Meta and Google. Decline keeps only essential cookies. Privacy policy