RyC

An update on this. Since I started charging the battery to 100% at least once per week I've had no issues. Works like a bomb

I currently have one connected to my system. I did have some issues but it seems these where more related to my understanding of batteries and bad advice from the installer. Since I started fully charging the battery to 100% to load balance the cells properly (at least once per week) I've not had a single issue.

So after reading up more and I made a decision to fully charge to 100% once per week. What I see happening does not make sense. Battery would be at 85% and SOC will get to 98% fairly quickly (90 min). After this the battery takes for ages to get to 100%. For instance today SOC has been at 98% for 2 hours. My app shows that I've produced 2kWh and most of it went to charging. The numbers do not add up....... All I can get from this is that the % reading on the battery is not accurate? This would explain why I get drops from 60% to 10% in a short time. Could be due to imbalance in cells? My plan going forward is to charge to 100% and keep it there to balance the cells once a week. Hope this solves my issues going forward as it should help with overall battery health.

CAN cable

Please explain? So if my battery is discharging (as it should during loadshedding) and shows 64% after 90min of use and then suddenly drops to 10% that is "ok"? Note that the drop occurred during as well as outside loadshedding hours....

We've been having issues and I need some advice. Started a couple of months ago, SOC sits at 50%+ and then drops to 10%, no heavy loads at the time the drop occurs. Drop happens within minutes. After the third incident the installer came and replaced the battery (same make and model). Been running fine until last week, same issue. SOC dropped from 64% to 10%. So installer had the old battery tested and the battery checks out. New battery we've only had one instance but I'm expecting more.... Battery is connected to a Deye 5kw inverter. Made sure that the inverter firmware is on the latest version. These incidents happen randomly and every time the SOC was above 50%. No other issues with the battery. Charges / discharges fine under normal circumstances. Any ideas? Installer is checking with suppliers if there is an updated BMS available.

Success!!!!! Tried to get this done via the Solarman app using the setup process there (normal and quick), nothing worked. Decided to ask our friend Google and came across this video: Connected to my AP, went to the web address on my phone. Accessed with the username / pwd and set it up from the menu there. Worked first time! At least if anyone else have similar issues here is a solution 🙂

Had an error and invertor shut down (F59) not even sure what this means as the book does not have a description of it. Anyway, shut everything down and eventually inverter came back up. Everything was running smoothly again. Except the logger. Now we had similar issues during the installation with the logger and eventually it worked (no apparent reason as to why). Did a soft reset on the logger, no change. Not connecting to the network. Hard reset and trying to configure the network and it fails on the last step (verify). Removed logger. Plugged it back in. Waited couple of minutes and retry network setup, all goes well until the verify step and then it fails. I can see the logger restarting in the process (one of the steps). Logger is on separate network, network is running as I can connect to it and then internet. Can also connect to the logger AP. Driving me nuts. Any ideas?

Given the current situation (load shedding + terrible weather) it just re-enforces my plan to expand my current system beginning next year. During this year I intend to not just save the money but add solutions (like gas stove / geyser timer) to further assist. I'll probably never go completely off-grid. Just knowing that the family can function and we can work from home with no interruptions is enough for me. Saving on electricity is a bonus.

CBI Astute smart controller on special at Leroy Merlin for R379. Picked up mine at Little Falls branch this morning.

Thanks, still battling to understand some of these concepts 😁. I'll set the discharge current lower and up the charge current. On the cards for end of year will be expanding my solar panel installation as well as adding another battery. Based on previous load shedding experience (with current settings) the battery depletes by around 40% overnight if we have 2 sessions of 2.5 hrs.

So I could set my charge up (to say 40A) and my discharge down to 100A (Max):

Ok, so based on this datasheet the recommended charge / discharge A is 50: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0536/3964/3304/files/51.2V16cell-100Ah-Resi-5.12Kwh-SHOTO.pdf?v=1630084875 The installer set the charge to 30A (should be fine there?) BUT I see the discharge A is set to 120A on the inverter. Do I need to adjust down to 45A or lower? My BMS system charges the battery to 100% at intervals irrespective of the inverter SOC settings. Current settings are to charge to 80% during the day. Overnight this obviously drops down.

So when my installation was done I found the following article: https://www.solacity.com/how-to-keep-lifepo4-lithium-ion-batteries-happy/ I specifically remembered this section: "LFP batteries can also last a very long time. Our Battle Born LFP batteries are rated at 3000 cycles, at a full 100% charge/discharge cycle. If you did that every day it makes for over 8 years of cycling! They last even longer when used in less-than-100% cycles, in fact for simplicity you can use a linear relationship: 50% discharge cycles means twice the cycles, 33% discharge cycles and you can reasonably expect three times the cycles." Is this true? Would exercising your battery accordingly increase the life of the battery?

Changed settings so SOC drops to 50% between midnight and 5. When we have loadshedding I'll change to make sure we are fully covered. How important is it to charge to 100%? I have noticed that between the inverter and BMS the battery is charged to 100% every couple of days (irrespective of the 80% setting currently in place)

Much appreciated for all the comments and advice. Will start implementing some of these and feedback. Reason for thinking of adding another battery would be to cover current load for 12 hours overnight. If there ever was a major crisis. Had a chat with a friend last night and he also suggested above pipe system to assist with geyser.

Currently the inverter is set to keep the battery at 80% SOC. During the last load shedding round the SOC dropped to 40% after 5 hours of load shedding overnight so we still had some juice left. One more battery will definitely put us in the clear if we have extended load shedding and / or other electricity problems. System is grid tied, plan is not currently to go off-grid. We are seeing small savings on electricity although the idea was rather to focus on backup and expansion.

Decided over December that working from home and load shedding does not mix well. Also see the maintenance at Koeberg plant having a major impact on the grid this year. Discussed with my installer and got the following: Deye 5kw Inverter 1 x Shoto 5.12 kw Li-ion battery 6 x JA 540w Panels The installation was completed with future expansion planned for end of this year. Additional 6 panels and one more Shoto Battery. Also looking at replacing our stove with gas in the next couple of months. Oven for now will have to stay, it's a duel Defy thermo fan oven. Decided to join this forum as I would like to expand my knowledge about alternatives and get some ideas on maximizing my solar installation.