Andre grobler

Thanks i will google those terms

5kW is quite a bit, it is quite funny when wfh on the farm is more stable due to solar and dish based internet… than working from the swanky office with generators and fibre yadda yadda

It is called change detection software…. And it just compares images of different dates, they can classify solar panels by image analysis -satelite or aerial - and then compare that with geocoded addresses, and their database, it would require good data handling skills, but totally doable

So we are on a farm and have a system, with three rental units including our own house. Eskom line connection fee is more than the kwh related amount we consume. We want to go completely offgrid… because neighbours paid eskom r15k to go prepaid 3 years ago and they are still not converted… Would it be feasible to install a system at each unit, and use the existing wiring to connect all the units into a private grid, so one could share excess power by prioritising load, battery then feedback to grid? And also use grid to charge batteries. Then if say someday we need more we can add panels or a new system anywhere on the grid…. Also it would then be feasible to utilise the various roof orientations better. i am assuming it can’t be done simply, as there is no global grid to push back to, the private grid will just be too erratic unless some systems are undersized and batteries oversized for instance. Maybe… and all the inverters probably need the same reaction time…

We assume it didnt read the bms correctly.

No it was a working second hand one, that was put in a new system, with lbsa 5kw bat, and it got the error during install, on startup with batteries connected via can bus… good installer that followed instructions from batteries and growatt… so my guess is that it was not an install error… it wil not go away on restarting. Even if all power is removed for a long time, even if battery is not connected via can bus… also the custom battery setting wants a password nobody knows why it has that or what it could be… but it reads battery voltage and solar voltage etc… it has no grid connection though, although we did have a micro-inverter supply grid to it, to test.

No aircon… luckily fairly well insulated… well, by design… not luck

We installed the 8kW inverter… and we are quite happy we have gone that route… 16kW is huge amount of headroom… 12kW if i understand the with grid throughput correct is huge… i think our load has maxed at 5.5kW continuous.. heat treat oven, borehole and solar geyser backup element… and dishwasher at same time… just to see… i thought the 5 only has one mppt according to the specs i saw… we don’t use all that much, but wanted some clout for grinders and ovens and pumps… work from home so our load is during the day… even if we go grazy and get all the panels we can put on it, and add the house next to us, we will probably not get to use all 8kW… but we have a gas stove…

So error 104 is apparently a firmware mismatch… and growatt (china) says get a new inverter… they don’t support firmware for it anymore…. i suppose they think it might be a new growatt… which seems less likely as this progresses… does anyone have some firmware archived and some instruction how to get it into the inverter…? asking for a friend…

I have a friend who is trying to develop a suk R10k solution for about 2kVa… and it just doesnt work… fridge motor starts up, uses 800-1200w instant, draws a lot of current from lead acid battery, inverter screams… switches he has quite thick battery cables, but actually 12v 0.05 ohm cable resistance, 2kVa load and the voltage the inverter sees drops to 4v

Eskom direct we are at 1.84 /kWh, and at our usage adds another R2 for admin and line rental and whatnot… so R1.1 would be ok… my roi is about 40-50months just with reduced bill…

I think 1.10 is fine, no you cant roi on it, but it makes it legal to roll back your meter and use them as a battery… how much battery roi would you save if you could without charge, feedback first to zero month to month, and then after that at an energy charge, you can’t supply for peak loads, but only base, when the sun shines… which is kinda moot - because their diesel generators are running almost full time, so they should be damn grateful we lesten that load…

Same here… i shifted most of my usage to daytime, but i still have waste, just being able to roll back a meter so i can heat treat or grind after 15:00 would be grand, i would even get more panels… and “do my bit” to help “ease the load” some more

So i have the system flow looking like this… never mind images too large… options ticked… zero export load priority use timer… if i untick the use timer option, it does not use battery to drive any loads… this is not ideal, as i only want excess to help heat geyser on ct coil… any ideas…

Got the sunsynk… none of those were available, everybody waiting for stock to land… so sunsynk lithiumbatteries sa which is lifepo4… will just have to save up some money for more batteries. Kead acid would be if i needed some batteries for when the grid is down and the lifepo4 dies or needs a service, would just be some ballast when the grid is lost whilst the sun is shining… so R8000-ish the inverter stays running when the sun is up and the grid is down… and dont discharge the batteries… but have some electricity