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Hi guys - any updates on this parallel error...? I have the same on 3 x MKSii on single phase. They used to be fine as three phase and not current sharing... @Denarius, did that upgrade of yours solve the issue long term? Much appreciated

Make sure you have the comms cable that came with the Kodak the correct way around... On the one end it has a label "pylon'... Don't ask me how i know this🙈 It happens to the best of us....

Well... this is the beauty of it (so far...) - I had the bag made and it cost me about 1/5 of the commercial offering of a real 'biobag' or much smaller (1/3) 'jojo' tank type readymade models! That was when i decided it is worth trying it out...

HI Jay I am in WC in two weeks time... Always keen to help others out. It is really do-able, more so than I ever thought...

Since then it has been fun trying to convert every single gas appliance that i can put my hand on to see if it can work on biogas. The Alva space heater took a lot of tweaking but it works (so far only on one panel or so), but even the safety cutoff/thermocouple still operates. What one really needs is a huge variety of different sized jets to swop out - it seems to be a very sensitive matter - just too much or just too little and it won't burn or would only burn sort-of. My wife's Smeg (!) has also been stripped and reassembled and it is now a multi-fuel machine... The oven i couldn't get converted and allowed wifey to keep that on LPG as my (unmentioned...) forecast would be that, even if i got it to work on biogas, it won't be as predictable as LPG heat and there goes those nice nice Red Velvet cakes as well as keeping her on board regarding this exciting new energy source... Below are the two types of gas (es? - one gas many gasses/gees/gases...;-) burning side-by-side. LPG now suddenly looks green compared to the bluer colour of the biogas. Admittedly, the biogas is lower in 'oempf' so the same size flame is less heat and takes a little longer to get something to the boil. The key is just to get more gas to flow whilst still getting the air mixture right. And all this time, which we are not cooking or I am not testing the gas it is bubbling out of my over-pressure container... Over time one will probably get a very good idea of how much it is really producing, but a couple of nights ago I left the valve open outside. By the morning it was still blowing out, even though the pressure had dropped from about 20mBar to 5. After plugging it in the burner it still boiled the kettle in no time and that is the cup of coffee you can see above... I haven't yet installed a pressure system (tyres on the bag...) as it is operating at max all the rest of the time. Next items to convert are gas geysers (at least Dewhot have indicated they have successfully done this and can supply me with the jets) and then... the generator. The latter probably won't happen too soon.

Thanks - yes nothing on that system. it is worth noting that in the original biogas 'bible' (A Chinese Biogas Manual) not a single mention is made of any such thing safety feature or need therefore. And this is after thousands of small scale digesters of various kinds have been operating for decades across the Chinese countryside. Maybe they didn't know of such a measure that can be taken, but I am quite sure if it was a big risk and many explosions happened due to flash backs, it would at least have been mentioned. Anyhow, it is a simple thing to put in yes.

After some tweaking and opening up jets and getting the right air mixture, I managed to have a very nice steady burner flame going by the next morning. And it was coffee-time!

I had learnt that the first couple of 'bloats' will not be very rich in methane and be mostly CO2, but i still tried to light it at the end every now and again... After day 7 I was getting a wee bit worried that I had build a huge CO2 emitting rumen... I mixed it again (pump the thinnest stuff from the bottom outlet tank back to the inlet tank). The next evening i could hardly believe it when i saw the first signs of a magical blue flame...

By now i had finally connected my first section of gas piping - I used old rigid 32mm water piping. One needs to avoid low points and design the running of your pipes to firstly drain out any moisture - water vapour is always part of the gas coming out and this condensates in the pipe and will eventually block the flow of gas at the lowest points. Within about three days there was action, a very fat white worm was starting to bloat!

Ok ,now it is allowing me to add photos again... So after 'ditch' was finally ready we installed the bag. The next important step was to 'prime' this monster and it took about 10 000L of manure slurry that I carted from a nearby dairyfarm. I don't have a decent slurry pump yet and i realised that the stuff i was sucking is too thin. I then got hold of a tractor trailer load of wasted sorghum silage - we mixed this in with the thin stuff. This stuff just reeked of "potential' energy...!

Wow.. That's interesting. Well, the top half/more than half of the inlet hole is open and as far as i understand one needs to especially warm up the new slurry coming in... so perhaps one can put a tank 'in' this tank above the slurry that is on the way in... OK, now i read your reply properly... you mean the poly tunnel keep it warm.. Yes, i was thinking about that initially, but i heard to many stories of rats and stuff eventually getting to the bladder en there goes the gas..

It will eventually be 90% cowdung. I started it with about 70% dung slurry from a nearby dairy as well as some waste sorghum silage

Cool DeepBass, Yes i have seen. Why can i not load more photo's now....?

Note the blocks on top - that is the pressure regulation system! Needless to say - the chap inspired me and off i went to University of Google for a good few months (ask my wife... i was gone-gone). Anyone who has looked at the subject will soon see there are various kinds of anaerobic (without oxygen) digester types each with it's own positives and negatives. Cost was the main concern for me even though I realised I need to get to quite a sizable setup to even think about additional heating as well as supplying cooking gas also to the other cottages. I have long thought of starting up a 'hobby dairy' or some intensive livestock feeding setup and when i then made the link to have biogas from the waste it was another reason to go through the effort as there will be a beautiful synergy. Without going through all the detail, the biogas model I decided to go with is basically the horizontal operation 'plug-flow' model using a type of 'biobag' as the actual digester. In most instances this is the cheapest way to go bigger with the main downside being insulation in winter. For this reason I put the whole system sub-grade and am busy insulation the roof structure. Even from Moeghesi I learn that wintertime is not great for producing biogas in our region.... The microbes do not like temperatures colder than 10C and also do not like fluctuating day and night temps. Insulation, as well as some winter solar/gas heating, i do realise will be key to adequate winter gas production. My choice of site was simple - a sloped area, below some old diary infrastructure, which is also quite close to the house/point/s of use. 'Stable' waste will be drained straight into the digesters pre-mixing and mixing tank. On the third photo the in and outlet tanks are being casted.

Hi all Thought it is about time that I contribute something to this forum. I wanted to start earlier to show how the project progressed, but I was too worried that it might not work...! It all started after visiting a youngster close to us in the former Transkei - in the corner of his kitchen was a two-plastic-drum-model biogas digester! With about 2L of cattle manure slurry he was cooking his daily meal on a little gas hob. It was an incredible eye opener for me! The concept was just too simple not to try it at home. We have been living off-grid on solar since being back on the farm for about 4 years now. It has been great, but the one area of improvement is that i still need to buy LPG for cooking and heating. It is not a huge bill, but on the heating front I would love to do much more to heat up the old farmhouse during wintertime. We have also renovated another 8 cottages/living unit which we rent out as I have shown. All operate off-grid but cook with gas mainly. Generally, as you all know, solar is not good at anything to do with heating and this is where gas generally comes into its own. Attached photos are of Moeghesi's inhouse digester - pipe off the top, straight to hob - and it works! He also had concrete built one outside - but this was not operational due to a crack/gas leak.

Hi Guys I can also now confirm that the 72 40 firmware does indeed take any AVR genny more readily. I have two axperts (not in parralel) and the one with older firmware doens't want anything to do with anything but a proper inverter-generator.

Hi Gerald Very interested in your setup - so by grid-tie you mean feeding back into grid or not? We are thinking of doing this on my Dad's farm and if one can feed back into grid it makes a lot of sense otherwise not really at all.. I only have experience with off grid setups really...

These guys confirmed they have tested the Axpert and it is acceptable... i think it is great that one won't need to replace all our existing components when it comes to replacing batteries! The sales guy made the following remarks which are sounding nearly convincing: Die twee sterkste punte wat ons probeer maak met verkope, is die volgende: - Al ons batterye kan in 1 uur heeltemaal vol gelaai word (alhoewel ons 2 ure aanbeveel). - Cycles @ %DoD (depth of discharge): a. 3600 cycles @ 100% DoD b. 5000 cycles @ 80% DoD c. 7000 cycles @ 70% DoD As ‘n mens bg. siklusse vergelyk met loodsuur en die koste per kWh uitwerk, is ons batterye aansienlik goedkoper as loodsuur.

Hi again guys. @Mike, have you ever tested to see if the Watt readings the Zonhan claims to be giving are realistic? I have a cheapie DC watt meter installed and it always reads about 50% less in Watts than what the 'blue box' turbine charge controller would claim, especially at lower speeds. I am more and more convinced the watt meter is correct - when the solar MPPT is floating (with constant loads) and the wind charge is coming and going the solar Watts 'dropped' by the solar MPPT is much more in line with what the independent watt meter reads than that of the wind charger...(if you get what i mean)?

As with all of you, I am super keen to find new battery tech that works and is feasible... Has anybody here got experience with these guys? http://bluenova.co.za/residential-products.html From the pricelists I get: BN52V-144-7.4kHC R 72 080 (that's a 52V bank @144ah, 7.4kwh usable) guarantee of something like 10 years at this level of use. This compares to about 450ah LA batteries roughly around R30-40 000. If they do last at least twice longer it could start to look worth it...? What i also want to know - the settings needed on your MPPT are as below (if i look at it the Axpert SCC should work!?) - what you guys think? if one can use one's existing components that would be awesome. Parameter Cell V Value 12V Eq Comment V high cut-off 4.00 V 64.0 V 16.0 V Over voltage. Battery will isolate automatically. V bypass 3.50 V 56.0 V 14.0 V Internal set to battery for balancing. V high set 3.51 V 56.2 V 14.0 V 100% SoC. Constant voltage set point. Charger must pause until Vfloat is reached. V float 3.40 V 54.4 V 13.6 V Charger must reconnect when this voltage is reached. V reconnect 3.00 V 48.0 V 12.0 V Mains or generator must reconnect to charge batteries. V low set 2.90 V 46.4 V 11.6 V Inverter must switch off the load. V low cut-off 2.70 V 43.2 V 10.8 V Under voltage. Battery will isolate automatically. I charge max 100 A Set to max value of the battery specification I discharge max 100 A Set to max value of the battery specification

Resurrecting an old thread, very interesting and applicable to me: I did our farmhouse (no eskom, not even the option thereof) 3.5 years ago using Outback only (80Amp Flexmax & 3048 Inverter). Due to the reasons above - off grid and days' couriering away if problems happen. Did Outback serve me well? yes and no. Due to cost, i never got (and really needed) the interface (MATE) and the inverter (due to noise and no info/screen on it anyway) went under the floor with batterybank. Flexmax in livingroom (bloody noisy though...). Loong story short - vermin were active at one point under the floor and pissed into the inverter and blew it... Supplier says sorry, my fault no fix or replacement (5 year warrentee). Luckily (after some fighting) insurance pays out... For the price on one 3kw inverter i BUY THREE 4kw axperts. By that time i was already using Axperts elsewhere and completely impressed with them and their flexibility (esp at the price). Now i have two 4kw units (one supplying my house, second to cottage we added) and the thirds at a separate farmhouse we fixed and put on solar. Altogether i know of about 15 units used (mainly offgrid), and not one single issue yet (except difficulty to get it to take a AVR genny to charge...). They're so quiet, now located in my livingroom and looked after. Flexmax still used for charging (figures given are very nice yes...) but seems like the Aux output (which i used for starting my borebole pump at Float) is not working anymore so will probably switch over to Axpert's SCC soon (to send flexmax for repairs). Axpert's dry contact doing perfectly now to start and stop pump via a contactor. Many basic fuctions on Axperts I use now (like setting Low DC cutoff, AC charge Amps etc) was not an option with OUtback (you have to have Mate) when i had it. I dunno, the 'good' and pricey brands will have hard time winning me over again. I must just find out from you guys how to properly monitor Axpert via ALL these software options developed...? JUST looking for kwh for PV load, bat use and load per day!? Please tell me which, willing to pay as long as it works.. I have read pages and pages of the threads but can't really get understand as they get stuck in 'geek-language'...

Hi Paul Just this afternoon a friend and I connected his solar for the first time and he has a 0.75kw booster pump. it seems to draw about 0.9kw according to the axpert in reality and the surge power is probably much higher but not an issue. on my own system i run a normal single phase .55kw borehole pump and it works perfectly - also draws a bit more (around 750w) but no issues with surge power or the like ( i am assuming that is what you are worried about?). Cheers en sterkte

Hi TTT. Yes, thanks i get that - the original investment in batts at my friend's should have been bigger, but his main problem is they can't seem to get their nightly use down which is the most important thing as we all know. They should have it down to 3 or 4 kwh during night time hours, but they can't seem to get below something crazy like 12kwh. He has 21.6 kwh total stored - so it's over 50%...So he needs to boost batteries a few hours at night unfortunately - now he is using eskom and paying line fees even though he already had the generator and had the goal of being offgrid...

Hi Mark We are in the original bundus - farm near Cedarville, between Matatiele and Kokstad - Kzn/EC boundary