Elysium5057

Hi everyone, Managed to upgrade all 3 inverters to 73.00e, as suggested. Also, plan in the works to get someone to come fix my string config - rudimentary solution of covering a portion of each panel in a string worked like a charm, albeit sore on the eye 🙂 @Coulomb, I’m in the process of fine tuning the Kettlekomp feature as per the manual. Just like to clarify the following portion: If the final cut-off voltage differs from its original value by more than 0.2 V in either direction, reduce or increase it by 0.5 V so that it is within +-0.2 V of its original value. I noted my setting 29 at 42V, and increased the bar to show full (settled at 42.4V). Upon this, with the kettle test it worked 100% with no adjustment needed. When I read the above though, I was a bit unsure on what to execute given the instruction to “increase by 0.5V” if my change of set 29 was by more than 0.2V (which it was). Do I increase my setting 29 by a further 0.5V or what do I do? Would appreciate clarification 🙂

Thanks so much @Coulomb and @Sidewinder for your very helpful advice. Noted. For reiteration purposes, see below image of isolator box for 12 panels. Guessing from this its clear that the installer did the installation using 4s3p, and now I'm sitting with the hefty work of fixing it. 3 times. Ample sun at 7:30am, which I cannot use: Noted. Thanks for the suggestion! You are correct! The omie I bought the house from, in my opinion, just threw money on the issue and the installer didn't really question or suggest otherwise. Granted, he wasn't really load-conscious and had a lot going at home when he was living here (3 aircons / underfloor heating possibly as well / no Geyser timer for load management / 15 year old fridge and freezer etc etc). My family is much more conscious about this and I don't unnecessarily run things without thinking of the utility bill - hence me really trying to solve our issues with the solar input throughout the day, to be off-grid. I don't want to wait until 11am for my MASSIVE solar availability to come online. Already implemented a wireless CBI switch on my geyser to handle warming cycles. So I can comfortably warm a 200L to 70c without worrying about the consumption throughout the day. The wife loves the hot water compared to my previous 55c solution at the flat! Great. Your extensive work here and my extensive reading quickly made me aware that this is a must and it is on my to-do list. Thanks for also confirming the correct one, you can imagine for someone new this is a deep rabbit hole to jump into 🙂 Yet again, I'm already hooked and value all the knowledge everyone is providing.

Actually, I can confirm the setup now - just jumped on a ladder to look at one of the isolator boxes close to the panels (yes, they're not close to the inverters :-/) If I look at this correctly, it is 4s3p (as suspected), which means my fears were substantiated. This is for 12 panels. Something that has exasperated the problem - I have removed two palm trees, thinking smartly that it would give me much better wattage in the morning, and that is why this issue has now started earlier in the day and takes longer to get to 145V! The irony. At 7:45am this morning the voltage on the PV read 155/153/154V for the 3 inverters, so, too much 😕 Solution? Change over to 3s4p?

Thanks Sidewinder. Guessing the spec of the panels as I haven't had time to jump up on the roof to see what the sticker (eludes to model for specs I presume) says. This seems to align with the information I currently have: http://www.solarsolved.co.za/datasheets/solarpanels/ILBHelios/255Watt.pdf Unfortunately, currently, I have NO way of providing the latter panel arrangement. I am literally figuring this whole thing out with my father (luckily much more clued up than me) as we go along. Previous owner didn't provide (or probably know) all of this detail, and at the time we didn't think of it. Having read up on string calculations, we are guessing that the installer might have got it wrong, adding more panels in series than what he should have? Hence overreaching the max voltage rating of the inverters. Doing the math, the setup should be max 3s4p (for 12 panels per inverter), if I understand the terminology correct. Max 3 panels per string, 4 in parallel. It might be that they did something other than this (switched around) which is causing the issues, especially with the COLD weather last two days. We are going to start hunting this weekend to get more answers on the setup which would infer our assumptions and I'll report back as I know more. I take it we have to look at wiring and what was done in the 3 isolator boxes to get to an answer. Thanks though for giving the breadcrumb, it probably put us on the right path!

Thanks. That being said, am I just stuck with this situation, or can I do something about it? If the above is the case, why does "restarting" immediately brings solar into the mix and solve my problem? 😕 Label as requested: For context, early morning sun exposure on 24 of the 36 panels (I would guess feeding 2 of the 3 inverters):

Hi guys Very new to the forum and to the world of solar, having taken over an installation with my new home. My inverters have been misbehaving this last week where they aren't switching over to Solar, and just keep on running on utility. > Previous to this, they take a LONG while to switch over to solar in the mornings (sometimes only at 9:30 or 10am, when there has been a LOT of sunshine already on the PV). I have now resorted to intervene these last few days by restarting them, whereby the immediately they go over to solar feed as if nothing was wrong. Not having vast knowledge of anything solar, I would really appreciate if there is some obvious things that might be the issue here. The low-down on my installation and settings: 3 x RCT (Axpert) MKS-MKS+ 1-5KVA (15 kW) "hybrid" inverters, running in parallel 40 x Shoto 12V 100AH battery bank -- already 3/4 years old and already giving issues. I do know that this is my Achilles heel currently, but still, inverters should still be feeding solar to the house if they provide enough power, which they do if it works correctly. 36 x ILB HELIOS 255W solar panels As you can see, daytime shouldn't be a issue at all. My base load is minimal and I manage all major loads very close. On current readings, around 12:30 I get from the best placed sets (2 x 12 panels) 2.1kW and 1.9kW respectively. The other 12-set around 1.6kW. So power throughout the day if properly managed, is totally off-grid. Inverter settings rundown - firmware 72.4: > I do acknowledge that I have to update firmware with Columb's extensive work here (on my to-do list): 1 SOL 13 54V 2 70A 16 OSO 3 APL 23 byd 4 SdS 25 FdS 5 AGn 26 56,4V 6 Lf(?)E 27 54V 7 tfE 28 PAL 9 50Hz 29 42V 11 30A 30 ONE 12 46V 31 SbE When I checked my Master this morning, this is what I am seeing. Note the PV input vs zero wattage at 8:30am in the morning (full sun exposure on panels) and MINIMAL load on the system and batteries at 48.5V (yes, crude estimation as I have come to learn). This is not close to any major event that might've trigged the utility switch-over (geyser / kettle etc). It stayed like this until I manually intervened at 11:30! Would really appreciate any expert guidance here with my limited knowledge. Obviously there must be something that isn't right that is invoking this behaviour. I don't know if the bad apples in my battery bank (there are quite a few already tested with manual meter) is causing something like this? TIA!

Hello everyone, New homeowner here, which inadvertently made me the new owner of a massive solar installation as well (well, massive in my opinion). We really bought our property for the peaceful backyard, and also for all the extra's the omie added over the years because he could 🙂 This includes, the solar array generation plant! After I have started reading into solar, this whole world quickly blew up into a VERY complicated maze to navigate with so many nuances. So I did what any other person would, started Googling and trying to understand as far as possible. I am not a technical guy, but my job lends me to understand difficult concepts that I am unfamiliar with - so I'm taking this as a challenge. Loadshedding, funny enough, isn't a big deal (during COVID) in our neighbourhood due to us being close to a testing site which means we haven't had any the last year. That being said, with the state of my battery bank, I really don't know how long it would last me until SOC is achieved? I would ensure geyser + all major loads will be pulled from the equation if that ever happens (really just evenings as PV is strong and I operate off-grid in the day). My aim: Stabilisation of settings on inverters Getting the most out of my PV panels Not a lot that can be done here. Just hosed and wiped them down recently for the dirt layer. Removed 2 palms that was causing lots of shade on two major sets of panels 9am in the morning! Not sure why the omie didn't remove them after spending so much money 😕 Preventing further deterioration of the bad battery bank (EXPENSIVE to just throw money on it currently) Implementing a way to monitor my installation wirelessly (I like tech, and I like comfort in stead of walking to my garage every couple of hours). From what I can gather, a RsbPi + the ICC software will do the trick? Is this expensive? So what does this little installation have to offer on a 200sqm house? Let me oblige: 3 x RCT (Axpert) MKS-MKS+ 1-5KVA (15 kW) "hybrid" inverters, with two spares! 40 x Shoto 100AH battery bank -- already 3/4 years old and already giving issues (more on this below) 36 x (yes you read right) ILB HELIOS 255W solar panels On current readings, around 12:30 I get from the best placed sets (2 x 12 panels) 2.1kW and 1.9kW respectively. The other set around 1.6kW. So power throughout the day if properly managed, is totally off-grid. My wife, myself and the little guy depending on our wellfare are people that don't consume energy indulgently. Some house background to give context: All lights fitted with LED 3w/5w My dad helped recently install a nifty new CBI Wifi timer on the geyser so that we can shift the load on our very normal 3kw 200L geyser. Heats up fully between 10 and 12 and then a top-up at 14:30....that's it! Working like a charm. Basic fibre, router and access point tech running 24/7. Cooking (oven and ceramic top) only used really from 4-6pm. Kettle throughout the day. Alarm and electric fence running 24/7 Built in fridge and freezer that are 10-15 years old, so they are more power hungry (planning on ripping them out and using my more efficient Defy's) Dishwasher, washing machine and dryer is used throughout the day, preferably not in unison and not while the geyser is on. Load management 🙂 Borehole + pressure pump that only operates for the garden when irrigation system is on (planning to change this so that the house can use the water as well). Inverter settings rundown - firmware 72.4: 1 SOL 13 54V 2 70A 16 OSO 3 APL 23 byd 4 SdS 25 FdS 5 AGn 26 56,4V 6 Lf(?)E 27 54V 7 tfE 28 PAL 9 50Hz 29 42V 11 30A 30 ONE 12 46V 31 SbE Batteries: Currently no fancy BMS and yes, I do know this is vital to prevent the current situation of how the battery bank looks. Relying solely on manual voltage readings which already have produced worrying results. I did a reading 5am in the morning when they were discharged to their managed SOC % to get an idea of the struggling ones: There are 10 batteries below 11V readings (10.xx V all of them) There are 2 batteries between 11-12V Last battery in the bank is 8.46V! > My dad, with more knowledge than me on anything electrical, suggested we use a battery charger on the struggling batteries first to bring the bank more into unison, voltage wise. Acknowledged that there are definitive bad eggs which is influencing the whole bank which we might need to pull out, 4 at a time. > Will be applying the manual approach for now to identify those which we need to remove. That is the approach currently, which we know isn't the ideal one. Any better ideas? > Acknowledged, the best thing in the future will be to replace this whole bank with Lithium sets that have proper BMS in place. Just no there with finances, unfortunately. In conclusion: My needs are simple and currently being fulfilled by this massive installation, especially throughout the day. That being said, I would really like to preserve and ensure longevity on this due to the fact that so much money has been spent on this. That being said, I do not plan on investing massive amounts of money currently on this system (just bough a house, remember). I tend to type books, so for those that made it to here, thank you and I do appreciate your time and knowledge!