DJ1

In the end I built this to measure and control everything...

So COMM is the magic word. Everything is marked as COMM as it has become the buzz word these days.

A 5.5kWh supercapacitor will be the size of a garage (nothing commercially available has an energy density of more than 8Wh/l). I would definitely exchange a "supercapacitor" for LFP.

Yes, that is not a capacitor, I would take any of their claims with a shovel of salt.

@Powerforum Store can we look into this matter. That also does not look like a super capacitor to me.
J

I would steer clear of people who call something it isn't. "Bait and switch" is a tactic of scammers.

In the end I built this to measure and control everything...

I think there is more to it...

@Marcodp Thank you for sharing.
First, the mounting position on panels. This picture is for JASolar 365 - 390W Panels (just to illustrate the principle):

The vertical mounting hole sets are spaced 1150 and 1400mm apart. I understand that the ideal clamping position is between these sets of holes (along green lines).
On to the shadow. Learn from my mistake, as I mounted my panels too close to my solar geyser. During the winter months, it casts a shadow on the closest two or three panels (depending on time of day), affecting performance of the entire string. Yesterday I moved those three panels out of the shade. Here are the results between yesterday and today (both days: clear blue skies):

Excuse the readability, but I resized one graph to show equal vertical scales. Orange line shows 3kW. The winter's reduced power generation from having a roof inclined at 15-20 degrees is nowhere near the reduction in performance due to shading. Today the batteries were full just after 1pm, whereas yesterday charging was still underway at 4pm when I disconnected for the relocation (mains charging required). Peak power of a string of 9*455W on one MPPT has increased by ((4.63-3.31)/3.31 😃 40% just due to removing the partial shadow (similar in extent to your chimney's) from 3 panels. Before moving the panels, I may have been better off just disconnecting 2 or 3 panels. (If you want to try that yourself during the day, just remember to disconnect the breaker feeding DC to the inverter before disconnecting the cables at the panels.)

Month "0" and "12" should be the same. You can ignore either. Wasn't sure what was the best way to do it...

Hi Solarcrazy,
Attached is a spreadsheet I created that you can use to play around with theoretical values. I got the equations from https://www.itacanet.org/the-sun-as-a-source-of-energy/part-3-calculating-solar-angles/. You can add different strings (consisting of panels at different orientations) together to form a bigger plant. Keep in mind that it assumes perfect sunshine and no obstructions. Hope this helps.

Solar Angles.xlsx

For now I'm running MultiSIBControl app with 2 rules at 5 minute intervals.
1) Switch to Grid if: Grid is available AND Battery SOC is below 99% AND Solar input is below 100W
2) Switch to solar if battery SOC is above 99% between 08H00 and 16H00
The last 2 days it worked well to prevent battery power being used.