Sidewinder

Yes, I wouldn't worry too much about those startup peaks. I do think you need/could optimise the whole system for longevity etc. Not mentioned but I would look at the following: 1) Because your array is split, each direction should be on it's own MPPT for max. performance. Means another Axpert in parallel. 2) You don't mention if you have a BMV, but using the Axpert's SOC is as handy as a A+++ fridge on the South Pole! You already have ICC, so use it's capabilities to control the Axpert. 3) Also discussed here on the forum, but a Battery Balancer is best for longevity of your bank, specially if you run of battery during the night.

So last weekend I also "cleaned" my panels. Just a few minutes of hosing down from the borehole. Panels is not easy to get to even with a regular extension ladder. So the red line is a "regular" profile, and 'cos they are a bit oversized, the inverter "clips" the top of at just over 6 kW. The spike on the light brown graph is around 2 pm, when the panels were "cleaned". The delta is about 1 kW, but I think the cleaning only contributes less than a half of that. The cooling down is very effective. Now that makes me scheme......how about an automated "Cooling" system. And then recycle the water as water into the veggie patch. Damn...the temps on the Inv. is already peaking at 49 Deg. Better add those extra fans then..... maybe add another Inv..... Ag well, I rather braai this weekend

Hi All, I suppose the obvious questioned never asked is the following: Can one parallel a Voltronic of the same family with another with a different rating, e.g. a Infinisolar V series 5kW with a Infinsolar V series 4 kW? Same question applies for the Super, Plus or even old Axpert series What say ye?

I wrote my own code,....well, lets put it like this, at least i tried, and it is working, sort of....(reading my geyser temp) I could get MQTT going, but EmonCms would not give me anything, until I read about the fact that one need to enable mqtt_server = true somewhere in one of the emoncms startup files. Once I did that, all hell broke loose, well,,, ICC reported "Err Uploading data" on the tread page. Took me a full day to get things sort of going again, Still have the ICC error, but at least emoncms is storing all my data again, and mqtt post via emoncms seems to be working nicely. But coding is not my forte.

For those who need to switch up to 4 "things", I got the ITE 4CH WIFI RELAY BOARD from Communica. http://www.communica.co.za/Catalog/Details/P3950181762 Be careful though, if you overwrite the factory software with your custom code like I did, switching "things" on & off from your cellphone is no longer possible. Unless someone can send me the link of the original firmware

@andrew9484, The quick answer, from my side, would be to ensure that your batteries are fully charged and goes into float long before the solar production subsides. Hopefully that rate is lower than the max rate of charge for your batteries. From the life cycle graph, a 75% SOC you should get about 1300 cycles. So your not getting close to that, as they are supposed to last a lot longer than what your are experiencing. Have a look on the BMV what is the deepest discharge and how many cycles it has reported. Also try and get the Battery Efficiency number. This will tell you how much energy your are loosing, i.e. charge 100 kWh, use 80 kWh, therefore efficiency is 80%. Also using the Axpert to switch between Solar and Battery will damage your batteries, you need another device to control this, using the BMV, which you already have. There is plenty of threads regarding this, and the shortcomings of the Axpert. Regarding the batteries, there would only be two recommendations: 1) Lipo / Powerwall type if you have the $$$ or 2) Trojan - the RE version, but you also need $$ and upgrade the firmware. The trojan's are still problematic, even with the new firmware, but workarounds are possible, due the the voltage limitation and lack of equalisation capability of the axpert. Only the new Infinisolar Super 4kW addresses this. I'm sure other will add more info to guide you to a working towards a good working system.

The link that @Mark gave, is usefull, as it allows one to sort on the headings (just click on the heading). The little arrow indicates which column is being used. However, not all pvout members are members of the Southern Africa Team, hence the different results, plus only 25 rows are shown, no more. I know of 2 views: 1) Live Outputs: https://www.pvoutput.org/live.jsp - not sortable but everybodies on it Suppose people who are registed use/get this 2) Live Southern Africa 163.841kW: https://pvoutput.org/liveteam.jsp?o=e&d=desc&tid=1102 - Sortable Only top 25. This one is usefull if you are not a registered member and just browsing.

I would have thought PAYG meters designed for solar systems to be able to feedback, from a user perspective, but the Muni etc obviously don't want that. But's this is the situation today. Maybe when SA is over the phobia of small scale IPP's, those with PV should be able to feedback, but the PAYG meter needs to be exchanged (again).

Exagetely

Nice light for hunting crocodiles at night.....did I get it?

I'm going to load ESPEasy on my NodeMCU and play this weekend, time permitting.

Wow, that Node-Red looks Italian (Spagetti)

Probably need more than a few hours, once I get started......on Solar controlling things.

Great, would love to put a few hours aside when I go past Machadodorp on way to York Rally (old Sasol Rally) in Sabie next year ! I wish.

Cool, at least now readers can use Windows for this type of setup as well. I'm sure the data doesn't give a damn if it is Linux or Windows

Yes, I've also investigated and got MQTT running, but haven't put enough effort in getting Node-red working to control things, dependent on certain values or not. That's what I'm after.

No, ICC only reads and logs the Voltronic range of invertor's data, but included in that is EMONCMS and it's associated databases, SQL Lite, I think. Not an expert at that. So you can read/write etc any data to the database via emoncms. So even if you don't have ICC, if you have a pi or simular (linux) box, you can install emoncms and its goodies as a standalone setup.

@PaulF007, Just a quick correction, you can read the above "Feed API help", but the correct one is actually "Input API help", which you can find on the Input field page. Obviously, also assuming that you are a ICC user. Haven't tried this with the Windows version. I'm using Pi3.

After reading temps, I write directly to EMONCMS. Howto: Click on the Feeds button in EMONCMS, to the top right there is a API help button. Once you've read through the example, you'll see how easy it really is. Just replace all the relevant info to suit your installation, e.g. ip address, which node to write to, names etc. You should first try (the emoncms write command syntax from your browser that is on a pc on the same ip network. If you get a response that says "OK", then when you refresh your Feeds page, the new node will appear automatically. E.G. Node 2. If you have an older ICC Emoncms installation, ICC (ver2 and up) is writing data to Node 0. Node 1 is not used anymore, was used by ICC pre ver 2.0. Click on Node2 to open it, and the data variable will appear there. Once you've done that successfully, you can edit your Arduino code and add the very same "write command" instruction in your main loop, and the data will appear every x second, depending on the delay you've set between temp reads.

@PaulF007, That's a great idea, I have been googling that kind of setup. The cost of 2 x controllers (2 x R1,5k) is a lot more than a simple NodeMCU (R200) + relays (R150) to control. I have successfully logged my normal geyser's temps into EMONCMS. Just need to add the delta temps cals and switch that pump!, but yes time permitting, and I'm not that hot on C coding. I've mentally added this to my long long to do list......

Thinking what the deleted post's content was, I thought of the following. A blockage, or even a partial one, should not impede the system too much, as the pump would just take longer to circulate the warm water through the system, as it works on a delta temp principle. And I think therein lies a possible indication of the problem. Not enough solar energy is being translated into heat, so I will concentrate my search to the collector/tube manifold, as @Carl suggested. But before I take it apart, I will switch the pump off, and see if the T1 probe in the collector climbs to +- 185 Deg, as I've seen it do that before, doing previous maintenance. Wish these Chinese controllers parameters can be logged and graphed, like what we do with ICC & EmonCms. Anyone keen to de-crypt the bus (RS-232/488?) between the relay controller and the LCD display and feed it into a Pi?

Weird, the system modified both post edited, and now the second (or is it the first double) post has disappeared!

Thanks for the feedback @maxomill, 200 liter one is 6 years old, with the 150 add a year later, and been in daily use since then, approx 5 years. Would not have thought scaling would be a problem this early, but hey, who knows what "additives" the Muni add to the water. The system is 22mm copper pipes throughout, but i see no unions were used when terminating the pipes to the geysers, so disassembly and re-assembly is going to be a mission. May as well add the unions while I'm at it.

Post deleted, double post!

I haven't pulled one of the tubes yet. So the construction is not 100% clear. I thinking its a longish copper blob closely coupled to the collector tube, through which the water flows and heats up, so if it was scaling, it would be inside the collector. Or does it actually operate differently. I don't think the seal at the top where the tube fits into the collector would withstand Municipal water pressure. But thanks, may need to pull a tube and inspect this weekend.