George Christian

Hi All I want to " Remote in" to my batteries as I suspect a bad cell. Is there a program I can download to hook up to the batteries via the laptop. My laptop does not have an RS232 port , just USB and an a network ( Ethernet) port. Any ideas please.

OK OK, you are dealing with a 5volt engineer here, and a Soutie to boot, so go easy on me. I am on the forum to learn and bitch a bit and in learning, make sure that I am not being screwed over by circus providers, sorry service providers.. So, its Surfix, not Surfex, or god forbid Norsk and not Norse, and its Flat Twin and earth and not Flex and earth. Anyway, the COC is happening next week and all shall be revealed. Once its properly ours, a battery back up will follow in the form of a 48volt Hybrid, sans panels for a while, watch this space. Uploading Attachment...

No problems with the SPD at all, if it needs it, it must go in, and I'll check on my JHB house as well, I don't recall one . My original bitch remains, no crystal clear regulations on wiring for thatch roofed houses, unless someone out there can enlighten me. Thanks for all the help so far.

Yip, both contractors were more worried about the lightning conduction , which, by the way needs it's own CoC , Needs to have less than 10 ohms from the base of the conductor to two test earth spikes at 6 and 12 meters away. AND a phat big 16mm sq copper cable running back to the DB. Its apparently a big bone of contention in the industry as to why you would want to route all that lightning voltage back to your DB and hence potentially every appliance plugged in Wire mesh on roof must also be earthed. All plastic conduit and trunking sold through bonifide distributors has to be flame retardant and metal piping has to be earth strapped and is a bitch for DIY work, so plastic it's going to be. DB must also now have a surge/ arrestor and double pole earth leakage .

Hi All We are having a problem with electricians providing a quote to CoC our holiday home. It is a thatched roof and some of the wiring runs close to the thatch without being in conduit. This must obviously be remedied but the difference in opinion on how is about R40 000 worth. All or most of the wiring is twin flex. One guy wants to rip all the house wiring out and replace with Surfex the other wants to just encase all the twin flex in conduits, and one in between with some Surfex and some conducting. Is there a definitive specification in the regulations for thatched roof house wiring and where do I access this please. Will eventually be going solar, with the panels on top of the water tower and car port, but for now it the CoC problem.

All done I haven't managed to do any real deep cycle or capacity tests but it has done well running the fridge freezing lots of water over long periods. I'm out of time before a trip so its going as is, and I may take the old battery (deep cycle under the hood) just in case.

The center piece which separates the batteries from the BMS and provides a solid base for the terminal and BMS connections. the screws securing the busbars are countersunk and pinned with a superglue type gunk and then still have an insulating sheet and sponge sheet before the battery. And then, battery stuffing time. Still to go, terminating and fitting the BMS , fitting the front and top cover, top balancing and then testing.

Box almost done . I got these busbars with my last Freedom Won battery for my solar system.Again a bit of overkill, but hell they were free, they are pure copper and certainly will do the job.

Yip, got that thank you. Strange that they are black. It may look a bit wrong on the mock up but I am making the positive pole close to where it shows. The cells will be connected in a circular fashion . Hopefully things will be clearer ( to all) after I get the case mostly built on the weekend.

Good day all, Please advise on which section of the forum I should post this on. I am making a second battery to fit in a very specific space in my vehicle. Only 99% sure that it will all work out, but anyone who wants to come along for the ride is welcome. Constructive criticism very welcome, and indeed I will be looking to others who may be able to assist with final testing and with some minor machining of the plastic casing parts. To those who just love the sound of their own voices please move on to another post. 4 x 105 AH cells BMS from Overkill 120 AH Engineering plastic from DEMS (Polypropylene) Other parts we will make up as we go along and on advice The battery will not be a very high performance model, although the cells can charge and discharge at 1C. I just run a fridge, night lights, charging for mobiles and a small 150 inverter for camera batteries. Charging will be via one Victron dc dc 30 amp charger and, on a good a day 15 extra amps from the solar on the tent roof. I believe that I can cram all this into a 280 x 110 x 200 package, so nice and neat. So no it's not meant to rival the fancy stuff but should give an honest 105AH and hopefully last forever on my non agressive charge discharge cycles. Enjoy the ride.

Hi All I have this inverter coupled to 2 Freedom Won e towers and a single string of 5 x 545 CJ panels. My batteries "talk" to the inverter via the supplied Voltronic Axpert inverter RS485 cable, I think. Works very well in SBU mode and most of my house is hooked up. Geyser , oven, a " Welding" plug point in the garage and an "Iron"plug in the laundry still on Eskom. I am now at the point where I want to get the best out of the system and do some fine tuning. I have the Watch Power app installed but find it very basic unless I am missing something. Questions: The Watch Power " Back to grid "settings are in volts even though I have programmed Lithium into the App and the inverter. Would % not be so much better with a lithium battery?? Can this be changed. I used Lib on the App, what is Lic for?? My "back to grid" is at 48Volts and "back to discharge" is at 54Volts!! Is this OK I did go back to grid once , after some paving contractors used an angle grinder for the whole morning. Under these conditions, the Utility ( Eskom AC) only supplied a few amps which took care of the house needs and charged at about 6 amps. I would prefer the good old 30 amps charging which I got before the PV went in when I still used the system as a UPS. Can I change this?? Can the relay on the inverter be programmed to operate the geyser (Non essential loads) when battery is full and housed demand is low. If so, how? Are there any other Apps or Programs which offer better parameter programming and more importantly data displayed than the Watch Power. Thanking you. G

Yes, solar pomping away at 234 volts and probably and my 5 x 545 panels can pop 12 Amp fuses during cloud eadge events so now changed to 15. By rebooting, do you mean switch off and on again?? 220, battery and panels.?? By the way, if i do do this, what is the correct sequence to switch back on?? If the problem persists, then who do I contact on the issue?? Thank you all for the very quick responses. This forum makes me feel very much less alone out here in the solar world. OK, doff old me, you want me to switch of the solar and see if it goes away?? will report back G

Hi All The display on my close to 1 years old inverter is starting to bomb out by the look of it. At the moment it's just the date and error code and battery current inon the bottom and bottom right, but, in my experiance these things do not get better, and only get worse. I still have to check the warranty, but assuming it's over, then what are my options. It's all working so well , I really dont want to take it in for repair, and would prefer to do it myself or get-a-guy-in. Has this happened to anyone else Is it a regular Kodak problem what are my options.

Metal Center in JHB still cuts to size and they have a selection of copper sheets . Also what looks like a scrap bin, but the prices, per weight, remain the same. G