Solar PV and batteries

[MadWayne]

Okay I only have a small 2K system,  and when its cloudy output is very low as you would expect.

However in the interest in saving on bills, I wondered what calculations I need to do to see if a Direct Solar Power Storage (also known as DC Coupled and Hybrid)  is worth it/ viable and how much I should expect to pay it installed into the loft.

We are LED friendly and other than me on the PC all night, router, security systems,  gas fire and cooker.
The only things to run away with the electric are toaster, kettle and the shower and dont expect the batteries would cope very long with an 8kW shower running or 3 kW kettle, no idea what the toaster is.

at the moment below are a few questions I have, price fitted whilst important, to validate its worth need to know

1.  how much power can these direct solar power storage devices store?
2. how efficent are the batteries that store the power?
3. how much power is needed to charge up the batteries?
4. how can i tell they are under performing.?
5. best way to measure night consumption?
6. do the batteries kick in once the panel stops producing or can it be set to a timer, ie to run after we have had our showers and last brew for the evening?

I can see during the day that we regular produce more power than we are consuming, exceptions being the heavy consumers of power.


Thanks