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Etienne

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About Etienne

  • Birthday 03/11/1975

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    Male
  • Location
    Cape Town

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  1. I have 3 x 150W solar panels connected in parallel (12V system). Can I just connect more panels of any type in parallel, providing they are 12V, or are there some other specs that I should try match? the panels are on the roof of a caravan, but when parked in shade obviously they don’t work, so I’d like to try adding flexible panels to plug in when needed - they can stand away from my nice shady camp spot... Etienne
  2. Thanks. Sorry, I forgot to mention: they're good 'ol flooded lead acids. I'll change the battery monitor then. Etienne
  3. Hi guys, I have a 800W Axpert installed in my motorhome, to supply power for TV's and charge tablets and provide other entertainment for the kids. The Axpert is only connected to 220V (not solar) - so acts purely as a inverter, and not as a solar charger. It charges the batteries when on 220V. I have 4x 105AH batteries connected in parallel right next to the Axpert, with 16mm2 cables (so no voltage drop). My problem is this: When approaching full charge (or maybe in float stage, I'm not sure), the Axpert pushes the voltage on the batteries to 14.6V. This makes my Victron battery monitor squeel. Is 14.6V ok? Are the batteries getting damaged? Should I change the alarm limit on the battery monitor? Or is there something wrong with the Axpert? Thanks Etienne
  4. Ok. That is making more sense. Not what I want to hear. It actually p!sses me off a bit. What I have in essence been supplied with is a 160W system. On a good day. For interest's sake, I attach the quote that the guys gave me. It was sized to be almost 2.2kWh per day. What you're telling me is I can get about 0.8kWh per day. The trick comes with the 250W panel providing 7 amps at 36 volts but stepping down to 12 volts, but still only giving 7 amps. That is a three times reduction in power output. I clearly need an MPPT. The more I research this stuff, the more I realise that these installers don't know jack... Ettiene Du Plessis.pdf
  5. Guys, sorry for not monitoring, but you've all run away with a assumption that is incorrect. I stated in my first post that max draw is 40%. I only switch those lights on when testing. Normal daily draw is about 10%. Zero draw over weekends or at night. In this scenario, I get about 9 day use, and as reported earlier, batteries fail on a Monday or Tuesday. Illogical considering that they've had the whole weekend of summertime sunshine, with zero load. Settings and current status attached. Chris: I loaded that Dropbox link while at our head office this morning, and forgot that the proxy server stops Dropbox. Now correctly synchronised, so the link will work again: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/30819730/AxpertKS-1-5KVA_manual.pdf
  6. Chris, I understand what you mean about the batteries getting discharged, BUT, the system runs for a good week before batteries are flat. This tells me that the solar panels are providing power during the day, but in early morning, or late afternoon, when solar is not providing enough juice, it draws supplementary power from the batteries, such that the batteries then slowly discharge, but never get recharged. The inverter is the Axpert 1kVA, which is a 12V inverter. The batteries, 2x 12V 200AH, are connected in parallel. The solar panels are...umm...I attach a photo of the sticker, is that what we would call a 24V panel? Connected in parallel. The input voltage from the PV varies dramatically. The screen snip above, in my first post, is 11V. I attach a log from earlier in the month. One can see it goes up to as much as 28 volts...what I'm reading now in the manual, is that potentially, on the 1kVA inverter, we should be using 12V panels? Ugh. The question I need answered is this: Do you think the inverter is faulty? If so, who do I go to? The supplier just tells me that I'm overloading the system, that's why the batteries go flat. I had that argument with him in November last year. But my mind was made up that something is critically wrong after the December holiday, the batteries didn't charge over the entire time that we were gone... Etienne Edit: I tried to upload the Axpert user manual - too big. Here is dropbox link: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/30819730/AxpertKS-1-5KVA_manual.pdf History_datas.pdf
  7. Hi guys, I had a Axpert 800W (or 1kVA) Inverter / charger installed late last year, to run a small site office, with two computers, a printer and 3G router. I have an issue with it that the batteries continually run flat (2 x 200AH batteries). This is connected on 2 x 250W solar panels in parallel. The installer claims that we're overloading the system, but load reported by the inverter never goes above 40% (40% in extreme...with the fluorescent lights in the container on...normally off). I believe that the inverter is faulty, and not charging batteries when on solar. I have now moved this unit to a place where it can be plugged into 220V (i.e. grid power). After a few days on grid power, it seems that the batteries are charged. As an experiment, I then disconnect the grid power, and the unit works well for about a week, and then the batteries are flat again. To add fuel to the fire on this one, the batteries tend to go flat on a Monday or Tuesday - at a time when they should have had a whole weekend to charge. I attach a screen snip of Watchpower, while plugged into the inverter. There are no readings on the batteries...this leads me to have more questions than answers. Are there any clever opinions / comments from the experts? (Similarly, the PV input voltage tends to fluctuage tremendously...shown here on only 11V...when it should be 24 I think)... Etienne
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