Ridiq

Hey man,
so story short from my side. I decided to let go of the Hubble and replaced it with a dyness. Was literally plug and play without any issues.
 
if you having issues, speak to the installer they should have access to the LuxPower group to provide feedback. 
 
I would also recommend updating the firmware on the inverter. But preferably let the installer complete it :)

If you have the funds, go for Sunsynk. It is much better than the Growatt hence the price difference. BTW, if you go for two 5kw growatt ES, you do not need  to worry about AC pass through. You can even get the third one and you will have 15kw, your installation will still cost you less than getting the Sunsynk. The ES model can run without battery, that means it can blend solar and Grid. It can blend solar and Battery too and it has BMS comms, so your battery discharge limit will be taken care by bms of the battery. But if you are not using BMS, yes, you can manually set the discharge limit 
The only things that Lacks from the ES model, is the ability to export to the grid and the AC pass through. Do you really want to export to the grid? a walk around for the lack of AC pass through or feeding back to supply nonessentials, is to just get two or three 5kw inverters and then you will not have to split your db into essential and non-essential.

The 5.5k Sunsynk is a great little hybrid inverter, punches well above its weight.
This was mine on Monday, sustained 6.2K for around 30m:

Solarman data:
Updated Time
Inverter Type Rated Power(W) DC Voltage PV1(V) DC Voltage PV2(V) DC Current PV1(A) DC Current PV2(A) DC Power PV1(W) DC Power PV2(W) Total DC Input Power(W) 2022/01/31 12:05:23 Single phase LV Hybrid 5000.00 291.70 295.40 10.60 10.60 3046 3076 6122 2022/01/31 12:11:17 Single phase LV Hybrid 5000.00 310.00 313.60 10.00 10.00 3047 3075 6122 2022/01/31 12:17:11 Single phase LV Hybrid 5000.00 296.60 300.70 10.40 10.40 3044 3078 6122 2022/01/31 12:23:05 Single phase LV Hybrid 5000.00 288.90 293.50 10.70 10.70 3041 3081 6122

@Buyeye LOL, bit heavy for a paperweight, but yeah, it's all its doing at the moment, sitting on the side and watch the 8kW working. Still have it.
 

Hi Gremlin and all
Think this following link explain it clearly as well.
https://solarpanelsvenue.com/mixing-solar-panels/

Hi Gremlin and all
Think this following link explain it clearly as well.
https://solarpanelsvenue.com/mixing-solar-panels/

With twelve 355 watt panels six facing NE and six facing NW and two Pylontech 0000’s 

So, after many many many discussions (both privately and on this forum) and mining so many people's minds, I decided to pull the trigger on the following system :
 
2 x Sunsynk 5.5kW
27 x JA 455W
2 x Bull 6.4kWh


Initially I opted for the 8kW Sunsynk but my house has a weird Northern alignment (I'll explain later) and adding a decent extra MPPT justified the extra cost to swop the 8kW for 2 x 5.5kW and score the two additional MPPT's as well as the extra 3kW on the inverter side.
The whole house is connected to the pair of inverters. My peaks on Eskom was around 9kw so I shouldn't run into any issues or have to adapt too much (I hope lol).
Recently my 5.5kw Heatpump gave in and I decided to replace with a 200lt regular geyser (for now). Hopefully the Heatpump can be saved to help lighten the load that is currently caused by the monster geyser. I am already running a small gas geyser in the kitchen as well as a gas stove and mostly energy efficient appliances as well as LED lighting throughout the house.
Some issues I have :
Apparently if you put two inverters in parallel the gen input becomes null and void? Can anyone confirm? If 1. is proved positive, then I need to connect my Gen to the input side of the inverters in order to supply and or charge in case of emergency (Eskom failure and no Solar available). Can I use a change over switch to select between Eskom/Generator on the input side (feed) of the inverter? My wonderful Ecolec 570 pre-paid keeps tripping. As far as I can gather there is no workaround for this as they weren't designed with feedback in mind. What is my options here? Is there an alternative meter available? Next...... Panel layout challenges

Comms are reestablished and Riaan is as efficient and pleasant as I'm used to. 
Great guys to deal with.
 

So, yesterday I ended the day off with 89% left in my Pylontech battery. Loadshedding then started at 20:00 last night. I was super happy to be able to run the house off the battery for the 2:30hrs - grid came back and didn't notice for a few mins. 😂
 
This morning, started off perfectly! 

 
Had peak generation of 3.3Kw before 9:30am so that's pretty decent! 
Running my pool pump now as well. I will be putting more load on at noon to see what peak generation is.  
Very happy with the setup and load shedding atsarts at 12 today - won't even notice. 😂
 
Thanks again too everyone for helping!
Now need to get Home Assistant running and some automations for power usages. 

That appears to be the case, yes. It does not enjoy anything under 200volts on the MPPT. It ran my loads for around an hour before the sunset - it has not been capable of doing that since I had it installed over the weekend. I will see what it does tomorrow. But it looks very promising! Thanks again for your assistance earlier on in the day, much appreciated! 
Yeah, I can see that happening already. I want to get to 4 x Pylons. Then I don't need to worry about someone putting the kettle on. 🤣

Dankie vir die reply Jaco -daar leer ek nog. 

Hi Jannie
I have a similar setup, with the same 2 Axperts in parallel but only 20 panels (12 x 330W on the one and 8 x 360W on the other).
You can install your first set (array) as 7s+7s to the one inverter and the second set as 8s+8s to the second inverter. Then all 30 panels are utilised.
{This is, you parallel two series strings of 7 panels in set 1} 
The 2 sets do not have to be identical as they each go to their own MPPT charger, as long as the parallel strings are equal and you stay below the 450V.
The operating Voltage is lower than the stated Voc (Open Circuit V), so you may see a Voltage of less than 300V dc on the inverter for set 2.
The current source in both sets will then be 18Amp (max operating I).
Let us know please how it goes!
(you will notice how clever the Parallel configuration will utilise the power drawn from the 2 uneven PV sets)
Kind Regards
Jaco
PS: I did enquire my supplier in the past and Voltronic replied to say it is safe to over-design the PV by 20% that is 5400W (max!) on one inverter, however the Inverter will not draw more than 4500. You should be OK with 16 panels (4800W) in the second set..

Wow, can he please supply us with the brand he uses. I want some...
I would like to ask him a few questions..
How long has he been an installer? Has he ever personally witnessed a lead acid bank last 15 years? And now to answer your question:
Out of all the Lead acid batteries i have worked with, the longest chemical design life was 8 years.  The longest I have ever seen a Lead acid bank last was under 5 years. Heat is a lead Acid batteries worst enemy and will reduce your battery banks lifetime with up to 50% If a lithium fails in your area because of heat, a lead acid will fail as well and in my opinion much faster than a lithium. 

Hi everyone,
 
My solution to Eskom and the global warming issue goes like this; for hot water; a Geyserwise 900W/2200W AC/DC element powered through a Microcare 40A MPPT from 4, 305W black series Sunpower solar panels and then for electrics a 3kW plus Infini powered from 14, 305W black series solar panels with 8 100Ah Lead Crystal batteries as backup.
 
The system works great, the geyser has been up & running for just over a month and in this time I've only had to add AC power for half an hour on two occasions, otherwise we see 75 degrees almost every day.
 
The inverter is a peach. The Infini has been operational for 3 weeks now and has surprised me with it's output, and although the plan was not to run it grid-tied I tested it for a few days. The veld fire smoke here on the highveld really dampens the power generation, however I've still seen 21 to 24.4 kWh on normal sunny days and 13.1 kWh on a cloudy day.
 
Here are some pics
 











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A small partial solar system is great for a Solar DIY enthusiast. He will know what its for and what the system was designed for, but offering it to a client is a completely different ballgame and it hardly ever end good. It normally goes as follows.
Customer want a system to keep the (Inside) lights on , have one fan thats running through the night and want to watch TV till 10, so after a lot of discussion everybody will agree and install - Load-shedding sorted. At the time of the installation all the lights on the dedicated circuit were LED's, but a month later you get a call, "The Batteries must be faulty, they go flat much quicker than before " - investigate and 2 globes pack up and were replaced with 2 old 100 watt incandescent that was still in the cupboard.... Then another few months past and now outside lights must be added for security purposes, just come have a look, we only have LED spotlights outside, it cant be difficult. (The one client had a total of 680Watt of LED spotlights.  Then a feeder in the substation blows up as Eskom restores the power and the 4 hour load-shed turns into a 16 Hour power outage - Next Call. If we add a extra plug or run and extension, we can mos sommer plug the Fridge in as well, we have after all spend all this money so far and for that amount the system can run a fridge as well........... NOT SO?? And the next call and the next and then the Aircon........................ And before you know it, because you wanted to help the client save some money, he is running around telling everybody, Solar is @%#$, you cant even run your fridge or outside lights, and you spend months doing damage control. 
Believe me, For a DIY project, please go ahead, but offering something like that to a client again, without a serious contract, never ever again..........

I found my Raspberry Pi to be a bit unreliable when it gets hot.   I bought an aluminium case with better ventilation holes from the Pi Shop, removed the silly (and airflow impeding) reset hat from the top of the motherboard and added a very small fan to keep it cool.
It seldom goes over 36 C nowadays, and it's very stable whilst runing ICC v2.9.7...

I run ICC-Pi 2.9.7 and it runs flawlessly. The problem of a program locking up is not necessarily a program error. A power spike could cause such a mishap. So it may be prudent to take all steps possible to ensure clean power to the Pi.  I use a Raspberry Pi power supply and all works fine. Perhaps a spike suppressor between the mains power and the Pi power supply is worth trying. Another option would be a cell phone DC charger which contains a battery between the Pi and it's AC power supply. I would expect the battery to act like a dead short to any high frequency spikes and filter them out. 

Hi Ridiq
Plugging in an estimated Lat/Longitude for Centurion into my solar calculator program gives the following. This assumes that the panels are oriented directly North.
The Blue curve is the kWh available for a "perfect" tracking 1kW panel (i.e. always pointing directly at the sun). The orange curve is for the fixed 1kW panel.

Good day
I know that the hours daylight has an effect on the total power generated. The angle of the sun of course also has an effect on the peak power that can be generated. My solar panels are at a fixed angle of about 25°. According to my results and calculations the peak power in winter is about 33% less than in summer. 
Please comment on the above, if most of you also have the same result or not.

It does sound like your batteries are shot. I would suggesting taking it to a battery test center (pretty much any shop that sells car batteries) for a good testing.On an AGM battery, 12.8V is pretty much 100% SOC. You can probably try and do some sulfation and see if it helps but with a sealed battery you'll get limited results. 

I have several sealed lead acid batteries from my alarm system that sits there with a healthy 12.5V on them but can't deliver current for sh*t... just saying :-)
Edit: Perhaps need to expand a bit. The whole voltage/SoC thing only really works with a battery that is 1) at rest for several minutes, preferably hours, and 2) the battery itself must at least be in a semi-healthy working state. Once the battery starts to go bad, the voltage means nothing. Even the specific gravity of the electrolyte (on a flooded cell) means nothing when it really starts to go downhill. I had a Trojan battery with a healthy SG above 1.2 and a healthy voltage that still couldn't hold much current... ask TTT he tested it with his Hawkins.

12.8V is not bad at all. According to my battery's specs they are dead when voltage drops to 10volts something.
Masters will tell you more about recharging them in order to cure your batts.

Ibiza is right 12.8V is not bad at all. I suspect with chronic under charge you batteries have sulphated. Lead sulphate collects on the cathode and crystalises. These crystals grow. if the crystals are still small then a long charge and helps dissipate them. If the crystals are large then they are permanent and reduce the capacity of the battery in two ways
Reducing the available electrolyte Covering the active material and prevent electrolysis. Sulphation starts below 12.4 V so shallow discharges prevent it. If you do have a deep discharge a follow-up restorative charge is recommended.
There are many "solutions" to sulphation on the internet.
First take your batteries to your supplier and have him give them the once over (load test as suggested by TTT). If they say they are finished then try an restore them with what ever method makes sense to you. I afraid most methods look like snake-oil to me. 

Morning all
Well, I did the following:
Adjusted Bulk charge voltage to: 57.6V
Float Voltage to 54V, when I got home batteries were almost fully charged, even on utility power no Amps were drawn by the batteries. I left them in that state for a couple of hours. Still during the night with 180W load, the inverter came on every hour as the batteries reached 47V. Before December the system was able to just about run through the night on a single charge. These are 4 x 200AHr batteries that are not even a year old. Is it still possible that they were not fully charged?
With the 3 x 305W panels I only reached a maximum of 688W yesterday. I also think that the tilt angle on the panels is the biggest problem and not that the panels are dirty. The panels are installed on the second story roof and there is not a lot of space around them to maneuver and work. I'll be having a look at some bracket that can adjust the angle.