Net balcony power plant in the test: strong, cheap, but without panel mounts

Netto’s balcony power plant has been available for a few months, but is often sold out. The price has dropped from originally over 600 euros to 500 euros. The set includes two 410 watt solar panels, an inverter with an output power of 600 watts and a connection cable for a conventional Schuko socket. Suspension or elevation are not included in the scope of delivery.

This individual test is part of our balcony power plant theme world, where we test individual systems or explain which fastening systems are available for solar panels.

Those who opt for a balcony power plant at the discounter Netto currently have six different packages to choose from. In addition to the tested set from Juskys, there are also almost identical sets from Tronitechnik, Vale and Veska to choose from. All sets have one thing in common: a bracket or even an elevation is not included in the scope of delivery. Appropriate brackets for the roof or balcony are available in the discounter’s online shop from 39 euros per panel. A fair price! Other providers usually charge significantly more.

Since the corresponding solution was not available at the time of ordering, we opted for a set for two panels on Amazon. This allows mounting on round railings and enables an angle of inclination of up to 45 degrees. The price has risen to 100 euros in the past few weeks – the solution from Netto is already available for around 80 euros.

The balcony power plant was delivered in two partial deliveries after around a week.

The scope of delivery includes:

Our bracket is identical to the one from Netto. The package for the two panels consists of countless individual parts that are partially assembled and neatly finished. But it’s not as easy as with Ikea, pliers and an Allen key are not included in the scope of delivery.

The total costs for our test package are around 580 to 600 euros, which is still below the price of the complete set Anker Solix (test report), but above the price of the Yuma Flat (test report). The German provider Priwatt offers a comparable set for around 550 euros.

After unpacking and sorting the parts, the round hooks are installed to hang them on the balcony railing. To do this, two of the suspensions are screwed onto each panel. The standard mounting holes and the parts from the mounting set fit together easily. Now we hang the panel on the railing and secure the round hooks with one screw each. Now we can screw two outriggers to the underside of each panel. This also works without any problems. After setting the desired angle of installation, we fix the length of the outriggers and attach the bracket to the balcony.

Instead of hanging directly on one of the panels, we hang our inverter on the inside of the balcony railing. After all parts are attached, the two panels are connected to the inverter and this to the grid.

From a technical point of view, the construction is child’s play – in practice, however, you should be at least two people, better three! At least if the mini PV system is to be installed on the roof or balcony. The reason for this is the enormous dimensions of the panels and their weight. Anyone who does not want to risk damage to material or even the assembly team should work very conscientiously and carefully. Even transporting the panels, which measure 175 x 110 x 3 cm and weigh around 25 kg, to the balcony can be difficult, depending on the circumstances. You should be extremely careful here in the wind! We lifted the panels to the first floor using a pulley system. This would not have been possible without other helpers. If you only want to set up your solar modules in the garden, you can easily do it yourself.

Additionally, the height and shape of our balcony railing doesn’t seem to be standard size, so we had to improvise a little to get the lower support arms fixed at the desired angle. Ultimately, this was easily possible with an additional board – but simply screwing it on and hanging it up didn’t work in this case.

After hanging up, all parts were finally tightened and in some places small rubber wedges were clamped between them so that nothing rattled or wobbled even in strong winds. In practice, this has worked reliably. Even in strong winds, everything stays in place and doesn’t wobble.

For commissioning, the Schuko plug is now plugged into the nearest socket – not into a multiple socket! An adapter plug with an electricity meter can be used, but is unnecessary thanks to the WLAN connection and app. Now it’s time to set up the Solarman Smart app on our Android smartphone – at least that’s what we thought. In order for the communication between the inverter and the mobile phone to work, however, electricity must first flow. However, since our assembly didn’t finish until the evening, setting up the software had to wait until the next day.

When the sun finally shines, we can easily connect to the inverter, name it and integrate it into the home WLAN. From now on, the current performance and various statistics should be visible at any time via smartphone. But at first they are not. Although the app shows that all components are online and operational, the display says no current is flowing. Restarting the app and disconnecting and reconnecting the inverter does not help either.

A little patience is simply required here. When we look at the app again an hour later, performance is finally displayed. Not much because of the bad weather, but at least the electricity is flowing. From then on, the connection and the display of the data work – albeit with a slight time lag.

Our test balcony faces south to south-east and only gets a few hours of direct sunlight a day due to the surrounding trees and the hillside location of the property. In May, only the yield from shortly before noon to around four p.m. is interesting, which is why we are currently planning to place the balcony power plant at a different location.

Despite the rainy and cloudy spring in Bavaria and the few hours of light, the daily yield is between 1.5 and 2.3 kWh (as of May 2023). At our current electricity price, that is a saving of around 65 to 90 cents per day or 192 euros in the months of March to October with an average of 2 kWh per day and an assumed price of 40 cents per kWh. Our yield will certainly be higher in the summer months, but 2 kWh per day should be a good average value – at least given the current position of the panels. Relocating could mean up to two hours more direct sunshine, which would pay off in hard cash. Then at least 3 kWh daily average yield should be possible. But even with current proceeds, our solution would be paid off in about three years.

Unfortunately, there is no information on the product and performance guarantee of the balcony power plant either on the Netto website or in the Juskys online shop. Most well-known balcony power plant providers offer a performance guarantee of 25 to 30 years, as well as a product guarantee on the inverter of up to 12 years. As soon as we get an answer to our query, we will submit it here.

Only once in about four weeks did we have connection problems and could not establish a connection. The data was available again about an hour later.

The set from Netto costs around 500 euros. There are also 80 to 100 euros for the balcony mount for the two panels. The price is good, unfortunately the inverter cannot be updated to 800 watts.

The topic of registration cannot be deadlocked at balcony power plants. According to the manual, the system should be registered in the market master data register – this can also be done online. According to the consumer center, this is an unnecessary bureaucratic effort for the consumer for systems below 800 watts (read here). In the worst case, there is a risk of fines if you fail to register.

Adequate instructions, an intuitive app and properly processed, strong components: the Juskys balcony power station set from Netto convinced us. If you are looking for a small mini PV system with two times 410 watts, you will get a fair price and decent quality here.

However, you have to purchase the brackets for the photovoltaic modules individually, as they are not already included in the set. We recommend the appropriate kits from the Netto online shop. These are about cheaper than comparable models on Amazon.

It is just a pity that the inverter will not receive an update for a feed-in of up to 800 watts in the event of a change in the law. Such devices are available from Priwatt, for example.