Vetplant

No worries, sold them yesterday as mentioned in posts above. 14.3kWh is a nice size, enjoy.

Currently concluding the sale with the buyer, but I will reply with info that might help other users. My original set lasted 5 years. The Warranty of the replacement batteries is coupled to the original invoice date of the first set of batteries. However, I registered the set when I bought them, thus giving me 10 years of Warranty. As a result the warranty is still valid for a further 5 years. Pylontech gave me the option to extend the warranty another 5 years if I pay R2000 for the extension.

Update: Currently On-Hold for someone else.

Cool, I work in Centurion. Let me know once you are sure that you want it and we can discuss a meet up point if you are happy with my asking price.

I might have one available for you. Where are you based?

SOLD Item: Pylontech US3000C X2

Long story short: -Uneconomical to repair -Going for a new system in the Luxpower. -Quote received, which was sent to Insurance for approval. -Should be installed tomorrow.

Well my joy was short-lived. Timeline: 17h40: "Yay, wiring redone, let's check"... System restart as normal, all things running fine, no errors. Change settings to previous as system was DEFAULT (Values as suggested by Coulomb a while back). Switch the house supply over to inverter. "HAPPINESS", just before 18h00 load shedding. 19h40: Power goes out in the house. "WHAT NOW?!" Get to inverter. Fault 58. "But, why?" Nothing dramatically happened in the house at 19h40?! Restart attempt, Sorry Fault 53. "Fine, will wait to restart after grid is back." 20h15: Restart again, grid available. Large "POP". FAULT 09. BACK to SQUARE ONE. Might be time to consider replacing the inverter altogether, not looking forward to faultfinding this if the system failed so quickly after a Repair.

Handed it in on 21 Feb at Inverter Repair Specialists in Rayton. (081 016 9101, [email protected]) Quote received and Paid on Monday 26 Feb. Collected it today, 27 Feb at 14h00. Connected back up at 17h40, all systems running like normal. Happy customer. Now just need to reconfirm my ideal setting, as it was all set back to default. I very quickly set it up before 18h00 load shedding slot and all is running smoothly as I type this.

Update: I handed the inverter in this morning and saw about 7 inverters standing there ready for collection after repairs. I asked the lady if there is a spike in repairs and she noted that there was a definite uptick in repairs and they reckon there is an increase in lightning damage coming through. We have had some hectic electric storms the past two weeks in Pretoorsdorp In my case, if it is Lightning damage, I don't think it came through the PV lines, I have lightning protection breakers in place and they are intact. It could be that there was induced current on the GRID lines feeding the inverter that initiated the damage.

UPDATE: During faultfinding, while starting up, there was a loud "POP" and an ember coming from the inverter... I have now made contact with our local inverter repair guy. Let's see if it is repairable. Back to Loadshedding with the plebs in the meantime.

Hi everyone, hopefully someone can give guidance as to the best way to resolve this new issue that arose: System installed in March 2021, Wiring completed by Qualified electrician, been running smoothly ever since until this weekend. KODAK OG5.48 2x Pylontech US3000C 8x Canadian Solar 435Wp panels Surge protection on Panels DB and all necessary change-over/isolation switches present. First point, we were not at the house with the first two failures, nothing switched on by us at any time of the Fault occuring. SAT 17 FEB 12:30 - No strange usage spikes, but it is the exact time that the pool pump needs to stop and switch off. Nothing else scheduled to start at that time. Inverter cuts supply to the home. As we were away for the weekend, I asked my mom to come through to reset whole system at around 14h36. Fault ?? (unknown fault code, I think my Mom Noted 51) Everything Runs Fine after restart. SUN 18 FEB 08:54 - No strange usage spikes, nothing scheduled to start at that time. But it lines up almost exactly with when the batteries reached 100% charge after a slight discharge during the night. Inverter cuts supply to the home. We are still away. I return to the system by 15h25. Fault 51 (Over current or Surge) I do the restart myself and everything starts up fine. SUN 18 FEB 21:11 - We are all in bed, settling in for the night. No strange usage spikes, nothing scheduled to start at that time. Fault 51 (Over Current or Surge) I go to inverter, but this time it doesn't want to restart. I bypass the inverter and just run the house from supplied Grid power. (Didn't take not of the error on restart, I'll try restart again this afternoon and fill in this detail) My thinking on next steps: -Try to start up the inverter with minimal Load, just one Lights circuit or similar. -Try to isolate and see if the problem is external, maybe pool pump, Fridge, other system/s. If above fails, I will be forced to take the unit to a repair facility. Can anyone advise someone that can have a look at KODAK inverters? PS. Any advice welcome

Bought 8x Canadian Solar Poly Perc HiKu 435W panels in 2021. I am now in a position where it makes sense to max out the allowed panel inputs on my Kodak OG5.48. I currently have the 8x panels in a single string. Adding 4 more panels to it will go past the allowed MPPT max voltage, so will split them 6-6. (4old+2new per string). I already have a 2 String combiner Box, always knew I might expand the system in the future, so will just split the stings to be combined by the Combiner Box. Now the question: Any advice as to where I can get similar Panels(Size and look)? The exact wattage isn't crucial, I just want a system that looks fairly similar. Thus, if JA or other brands have the same size and look, I'll be happy to go that route. But it is probably safer to go for panels in the same series as what I have. Existing panels part number: CS3W-435P aNY ADVICE

Finally got around to testing an inverter-generator on the KODAK and VOILA: All is happy and the Kodak accepts and draws power from this Inverter-Generator. Now, I need to find someone to buy my old 5kW Generator to then enable the purchase of an inverter generator, hopefully I get enough for it to invest in a near-silent generator.

I did my Pre-load experiment and for some reason the Kodak inverter doesn't want to jump over to the generator for supply. The mains supply was off, unit set to UTILITY and the batteries were nice and low but still it wouldn't make the switch. I am hoping to borrow a near-silent type inverter generator from a work colleague soon to see whether the Kodak is more appreciative of the power from that generator.

Thanks. In that case I'll rather then go for the 2x 6s setup. Adding a single panel to my existing 8 doesn't seem worth the effort then.

Thanks, from the KODAK Installation Manual: So if I read this correctly, and looking at my the panels under considerations, I should be able to do 10 panels in Series? Open Circuit Voltage: 10x 48.6V = 468V vs Inverter Max of 500V Panels Operating Voltage: 10x 40.1V = 401V vs MPPT max of 450V

I need a sanity check on my logic, please Current System: Coping well, but I think it is worthwhile to add some more panels to ensure I maximize my Solar Generation abilities.(2x Pylontechs not shown, hsould probably make them 3x in the future) Upgrade Option A1: Add two panels of the same specs. Benefits: Easy install as I just extend the same string Negatives: Not maximising the 5kW abilities of the system. Upgrade Option A2: Add two panels of slightly lower spec due to Stock Availability issues. Benefits: Easy install as I just extend the same string Negatives: Lower Amperage of additional panels will pull down the existing panels, albeit only slightly. Not maximising the 5kW abilities of the system. Upgrade Option B1: Add 4 panels of Same spec, convert to two strings. Benefits: Should be maximizing Solar Production now. Combiner Box already in place. Negatives: Slightly more hassle as I need to install additional Solar leads to the newly configured 2nd string. Solar generation will start slightly later in the morning and end sooner in the afternoon due to lower PV String voltage(I think?) Upgrade Option B2: Add 4 panels of different spec(Stock constraint), convert to two strings. Benefits: Should be maximizing Solar Production now. Combiner Box already in place. Negatives: Slightly more hassle as I need to install additional Solar leads to the newly configured 2nd string. Solar generation will start slightly later in the morning and end sooner in the afternoon due to lower PV String voltage. Lower specced Panels will pull down existing panels. Price differences currently: 435W Panels= R3300 4x panels = R13 200 (I paid R2200 per panel 16 months ago, including delivery fees. Should have just bought 12 at the time 🤦‍♂️) 425W Panels= R3000 4x panels = 12 000 QUESTION: Is there an obvious best solution here? Or should I just go with any one of the above? Please ignore this last picture, it is a Zombie. I keep deleting it but it just comes back:

Thanks for this thread. I've had my system for 16 months now and never needed the Generator. However, yesterday the power did NOT come back after a 2PM-4PM stint, so was concerned we won't make it through the night. I tried the Generator as AC input, but the inverter never switched over to it, despite showing 220V/50Hz clearly in the display of the "AC". I'll try the Load trick on the Generator a little later today and revert with the outcome of the experiment.

Hi @Coulomb, sorry for the silly question, but would it be fair to assume the same solution would work on the KODAK VMIII OG 5.48? I would like a finer control of my Back-to-grid point, so I will try to use Setting 29 like you described above to fine tune that point, if possible. My hardware: KODAK VMIII OG 5.48 Pylontech US3000C x2 If I select "PYLON" on the Inverter for battery type, the setting values differ significantly from your advised values you shared in other threads. I have tried going to USE and then changing the values, but as soon as I select PYLON, it just reverts those settings to it's default. So I'll just leave it on USE and see if I can get my Back-to-grid point under finer control. It currently only jumps back to grid at around 18%, which is a bit low for me. So I will try to get it to do the switch at around 25%. I would also like to bump this up even higher when the Loadshedding season starts again, just to ensure enough of a buffer for normal use.

Thanks, that sounds like a good work-around. I'll try it and report back.

Thanks, I suspected something like that. But there must be a setting where it switches over to power itself from the Grid, because the inverter still works when the batteries reach 15% and it stops dropping in voltage at that point. I'd like to keep my Battery charge at the same point when I switch over to UTILITY. Hoping @Coulombhas some advice on how to achieve this.

Quick question, don't know if this is an underlying issue on the Inverter or the Batteries, or if this normal: Inverter: KODAK VMIII (OG5.48) Batteries: 2x pylontech us3000c. Panels: 8x CANADIAN SOLAR 435W SOLAR PANEL (CS-435W) Scenario: System runs on SBU(Solar->Batteries->Utility), but when I anticipate bad solar incidence or if I suspect Load-Shedding is a risk I change to UTILITY ONLY during the night. I would expect the batteries to hold their charge as my load is then directly linked to the GRID. However, the batteries seem to drain at a noticeable rate through the night. See picture below. Question: -What is causing this drain on the batteries? -Is there a setting that can be changed to prevent the batteries from running down through the night?

Getting cheap EV options into the market is the thing that will start to sway the momentum in favour of EVs. I can see myself selling one of our ICE vehicles and reinvesting in a small EV for school runs, basic groceries, going to family that lives in the same suburb. https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/eleksa-to-launch-r200000-citybug-electric-car-in-south-africa-2021-08-24 I see these guys are very close to me, might just pop into their shop to see this thing for myself.

Thanks for the advice 👏