Hey Folks!
I've recently put in a Axpert VM3 5K system and am currently experimenting with it before getting it integrated into any DB boards.
Currently I have 8x 310W panels in series giving the inverter 300v at around 7 amps for around ~2000W of power
I also have a 2.4kwh 48v lithium battery for load shedding.
I have a small current meter on the input side of the inverter, and can see the current out of the inverter through the 'powerwatch' app on my phone through bluetooth.
With the inverter in SUB/ Solar-Util-Bat mode, all of the required power gets drawn from the eskom grid, and PV power is not used at all, my current meter sees 300w coming into the inverter from eskom, and the inverter tells me there is 300w coming out to power my computer which I have plugged in as a test load.
I've tested this with small 50w load, and running a 1000w aircon, it only draws power from the grid in SUB and is not supplementing with solar energy.
Those familiar with the VM3 will know there's a display icon which shows BYPASS ------>
The inverter is permanently on bypass unless I obviously turn off the eskom power, or change the inverter mode to SBU Solar-Bat-util, which then drains the battery which I want to keep full for load shedding. On this mode there is a "back to grid" voltage, but because I have a lithium battery, the settings on the VM3 does not let me set the back to grid voltage high enough to not drain the battery by a large amount.
Without Eskom available, I can then see the inverter start to draw current from the panels, and it draws exactly the right amount of power from the panels to power the load, I've even managed to run my 1000w aircon just from the panels.
Everywhere I look, I see that the VM3 has a "grid assist" function where it can mix PV & Eskom through a AC/DC/AC chain, but I can't figure out how to get this to work, and the solar panels are not being used during the day unless I remember to manually switch off & on the eskom power to the inverter
I'm wondering if it's a firmware thing?
According to the phone app at least, my current firmware version is 00041.15 for "Main CPU Version"
Anyone got any ideas? Have I missed a really obvious setting?