Weasel

We have been wanting this for such a long time. I have given up trying to capture UDP packets. Thanks so much i popped it in via hacs and its working a treat. thanks to everyone contributing.

There's no real need for udp traffic sniffing anymore, I believe we have managed to understand most of the protocol.
The python library is still being tweaked here and there, but it is close to being stable.
Although java (which Openhab is written in) is my "native" language, to be honest, I don't have much intention (or time to be more precise) to port it there at the moment.
I was selecting between Home Assistant and OpenHab, decided for the HA and I'm happy so far.

 
 

Oh yeah fair enough.  Its common practice non servicable "fuse" hehe. Nothing really too wrong with that imho. But a fuse fails reliably by contrast. My assumption earlier was that the first pows were fused? That would have been on the load side not to the power supply section. Just interesting. Im keen on testing mine, wondering what higher voltages would do to that because ive seen some horrible grid voltages here lately. 
If i had to guess the failure reason its either power supply isolation fail making the supply circuit over draw or most commonly and already discussed a loose connection. I dont like the push pin terminals, thats why i use the ferrules here. Gimme screws pls

Just checked mine and it doesnt look like the pow R2 is fused. Judging by the position of burns its power supply input resistor. Perhaps it wasnt the loads fault..

Just checked mine and it doesnt look like the pow R2 is fused. Judging by the position of burns its power supply input resistor. Perhaps it wasnt the loads fault..

Just checked mine and it doesnt look like the pow R2 is fused. Judging by the position of burns its power supply input resistor. Perhaps it wasnt the loads fault..

yes youd think so 🙃 hehe
all of them i've seen yes
different countries handle it well differently. some would have to connect this through to an isolated earth spike and the backups earth should then be isolated from mains earth and only go to a spike. Not here though we bond all the earths. They try to accommodate all the options but the recommendation would have been based on region.
To connect you would typically use a 3 core in and a 3 core out. you should connect all 6, i.e. L N E backup left and L N E Grid right. you can then bond the two earths permanently in the DB or in the little connection housing underneath, Bridge PE to backup earth.  Importantly if you don't use the backup earth terminal on the inverter it wont bond the neutral when the grid fails.
I can confirm this is the way it works. if you don't connect it neutral  hovers at half of ac depending. if you do its millivolts.
 

yes youd think so 🙃 hehe
all of them i've seen yes
different countries handle it well differently. some would have to connect this through to an isolated earth spike and the backups earth should then be isolated from mains earth and only go to a spike. Not here though we bond all the earths. They try to accommodate all the options but the recommendation would have been based on region.
To connect you would typically use a 3 core in and a 3 core out. you should connect all 6, i.e. L N E backup left and L N E Grid right. you can then bond the two earths permanently in the DB or in the little connection housing underneath, Bridge PE to backup earth.  Importantly if you don't use the backup earth terminal on the inverter it wont bond the neutral when the grid fails.
I can confirm this is the way it works. if you don't connect it neutral  hovers at half of ac depending. if you do its millivolts.
 

@Paulbloggs are you in gauteng? i could maybe help you out with the repair. 

The goodwe es is a brilliant machine. They fall a little short on software and they have had a fair share of firmware bugs. Build quality and component selection im sorry to say surpasses victron by quite a bit. Before im shot at dawn im a massive victron fanboy and to someone like me blue offers the best all round. But credit where its due. The hardware issues guys have with them are almost assuredly because of improper installation, Oversizing backup or high inductive loads. Bonding does happen, guys just dont wire them right. The pe earth is connected to the chassis while the unlabeled earth connection is bonded see pics.
In short its the perfect inverter for a certain type of use case.
Cons
No generator
Off grid not recomended
No high inductive loads.
No parallel 
Not for the tinkerer
Long panel strings not ideal in partially shaded cases 
Annoying connectivity and firmware issues and propriety software nonsense.
Pros
Exceptional quality, nippon panasonic omron etc 
Lower noise and fanless
Ip65 if i recall
All in one solution with 100A dual tracking mppt 
Simple to install and setup so less install fees
Long strings higher voltage pv so less cabling and again less install fees. 
Upgrade paths starting with no battery grid tie, or no panel ups. 
Higher eficiency on grid hybrid because its transformerless vs say victron. 
Goodwe support isnt bad. Not great but not bad.

The goodwe es is a brilliant machine. They fall a little short on software and they have had a fair share of firmware bugs. Build quality and component selection im sorry to say surpasses victron by quite a bit. Before im shot at dawn im a massive victron fanboy and to someone like me blue offers the best all round. But credit where its due. The hardware issues guys have with them are almost assuredly because of improper installation, Oversizing backup or high inductive loads. Bonding does happen, guys just dont wire them right. The pe earth is connected to the chassis while the unlabeled earth connection is bonded see pics.
In short its the perfect inverter for a certain type of use case.
Cons
No generator
Off grid not recomended
No high inductive loads.
No parallel 
Not for the tinkerer
Long panel strings not ideal in partially shaded cases 
Annoying connectivity and firmware issues and propriety software nonsense.
Pros
Exceptional quality, nippon panasonic omron etc 
Lower noise and fanless
Ip65 if i recall
All in one solution with 100A dual tracking mppt 
Simple to install and setup so less install fees
Long strings higher voltage pv so less cabling and again less install fees. 
Upgrade paths starting with no battery grid tie, or no panel ups. 
Higher eficiency on grid hybrid because its transformerless vs say victron. 
Goodwe support isnt bad. Not great but not bad.

@Paulbloggs are you in gauteng? i could maybe help you out with the repair. 

I got my hands on an EPEVER tracer and i am a bit astonished a little dissapointed and also slightly relieved. I say relieved because it doesn't beat a bluesolar
In short for those who want to know quickly, It is a very high quality, like in reeeaaly very good MPPT. as far as i could tell It has good conversion efficiency and is excellent bang for buck.But It has tracking issues that can be mitigated as long as you configure your panels the way it likes, basically PWM rules apply.
The one i got here is the 3215BN and its a 30A MPPT with a 20A load output accepting 150V input and outputs to 12/24V. i was obligated to take it apart before i tested it  and i was pleasantly surprised. it is really well built well designed with very high quality components, dare i say surpassing the likes of victron, perhaps just on components but still.
The beefy inductors are potted nicely in the heatsink casing, several components are heat transferred to the main heatsink with thermal pads, not talking about the mosfets which of course would be, things like control chips, even a cap, its a nice touch. Speaking of caps, they are none other than Nippon Chemicon KZ#.  Comparing them to the same series ones i have here they don't appear to be fake either. Its got nice big terminals, just use ferrules with them because the are screw type. All in all i am thoroughly impressed with its quality and at the price you cant go wrong.
But, and its a big but, its tracking is rather poor. It adjusts quickly in response to amps availability changes but tracks very slowly with respect to the voltage, only after an hour did it reach the voltage "goal" i set for it, and the higher that voltage the longer its going to take. This becomes a real problem when you take into account that it starts up and locks in the voltage as soon as the PV voltage passes the battery voltage by a few volts. if this doesn't sound like a problem to you let me give you an example. 
if you use 3 60 cell panels at ~32V that does 7A each you could be tempted to string them up in series for 96V to overcome cable losses, after all the unit can handle 150V. That should be a 672W string (96 x 7). now if i'm charging a 24V battery bank i should be getting 28A into the bank when 7A is available. But what happens is as the sun rises the voltage on the panels rises slowly, as soon as it goes just above the battery voltage by about 4V it starts drawing current, it does a sweep trying to find the best operating voltage once, and after that never lets off and keeps the voltage low.  In this example case lets call it 30V; meaning its going to be stuck under 250W for a while, very slowly ramping up until it eventually reaches 96V operating where it can do +600w. Now, i said it changes voltage slowly, from what i saw it was about 3 minutes for a 1V change, so three hours before it would reach the optimal voltage? i didn't test this 3 hour ramp up exactly, i tested for a little over an hour, but the problem is there. I should also say if you where to isolate the panels and connect again at the full 96V it would start tracking quickly and at the correct voltage no problem, its that slow voltage ramp up that is the problem. 
I saw i video of someone complaining the tracer didn't track nicely in the morning and well, this explains it. As i mentioned at the beginning the solution would be to stick to PWM rules and keep the panel voltage above the battery voltage but not far above it. a 60 cell panel is perfect for a 24V bank, its why we have 60 cell panels actually, and the three as per our example would be in parallel. Any light would get them up to 37V ocv very quickly and the epever would work beautifully.
Finally, my ultimate opinion is this MPPT is a firmware rewrite away from being quite brilliant.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz4hQaGz4RJpNndkNExMdEZKZEk
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz4hQaGz4RJpVFdDZk9CRDJmQXM
 

Maybe a more lengthy description is required, I suppose not everyone happening on this thread might know what I am talking about.
Eddy currents: Basically when you have an alternating current running close to another conductor (such as that steel piece), then the alternating magnetic field around the first conductor induces a current in the other one. This is why there is a rule that AC wiring must have both the live and neutral in the same conduit, especially in steel conduit: The two fields of the wires normally cancel out, but if your return cable is not in the same conduit, then the conduit itself becomes the secondary winding to a long 1-winding transformer.
So how does this happen in a DC circuit? Well, the MPPT has a switch in it that turns on and off around 40Khz or more, causing a DC ripple and therefore an alternating current in the entire length of PV cable. And steel in close proximity becomes a secondary "winding" and might show eddy currents.

So I've had this camping / backup light for a year now, and i know quite a few people who have the same one, Id bet there are many many people who have it as you can get them from just about any outdoor shop. you may find this info useful. 
So the light died and after some investigation i found the battery inside to be dead and bone dry. i got a replacement battery and put it in and the light is fine, no big deal right. but after snooping a bit i found a shocking thing my new battery was being charged to 8.46V which is 2.82V per cell! Whaaaaaat?
I thought there must be something wrong with the charging circuitry, and checked some more.i mean this is obviously the reason for the failure of the previous battery, its being boiled to death gassing and venting with those high voltages.

The charging circuitry is only one diode providing a +-0.6V drop, directly from rectified output of the transformer 
From there the battery voltage is distributed to the switch which has 3 positions, center position is no connection so no luck of there being some current sink on the other side to regulate battery voltage, the other two positions lead to led's that are sink'ed through 2 bjt's individually, nothing else.



So what this means, the charge voltage of the battery is dependent on the input voltage from mains power, its unregulated and a completely rubbish way to charge a battery. It is a shameful cheap-out and/or a product designed to fail.
my recommendation is don't get one, and if you have one don't leave it plugged in even though its a emergency backup light. charge it up and when you guess its full enough unplug it.

I want to modify Hugh Piggott's design to make it a VAWT - simpler and probably better suited to our narrow valley with all its turbulence.

My gut is telling me I'll be better off building a treadmill, everyone should take a turn even the dogs. Living under my roof? You better make some power. 

My gut is telling me I'll be better off building a treadmill, everyone should take a turn even the dogs. Living under my roof? You better make some power. 

Buy Victron
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sorry I couldn't resist, I now almost have all my components for my extremely small all Victron system, so consider me a cheerleader

Haven't had any experience talking to a "Flat Earther" and i could be wrong but i thought it has to be some advanced almost "cultist" form of trolling. Imagine winning an argument when you know you are wrong, or challenging someones pre-conceptions or beliefs, they might point out you believe the earth is round because that's what you where told but you have no way of knowing yourself. Basically i think its not about the point, the argument is the point, and there are many reasons to argue that appeals to different individuals. narcissism jumps to mind  but i guess RATM, challange the scientific methods, belief that belief creates reality, layman's quantum theory 

Sorry if this offends anyone but i imagine a hipster slash millennial emerging from a vape cloud with a doctors letter for the fidget spinner collection in his or her moon-bag which is preferably worn over the shoulder. 

Sorry if this offends anyone but i imagine a hipster slash millennial emerging from a vape cloud with a doctors letter for the fidget spinner collection in his or her moon-bag which is preferably worn over the shoulder. 

Club Peukert is actually not such a rare place. What it says by analogy, is that if you evacuate the club/stadium really quickly... you're going to get less people out than you put in. Some dark humour for you there.

All this reminds me of some mathematics jokes. Yes, mathematicians have jokes that only they get.
A Mathematician, a Biologist and a Physicist are sitting in a street cafe watching people going in and coming out of the house on the other side of the street. First they see two people going into the house. Time passes. After a while they notice three persons coming out of the house. The Physicist: "The measurement wasn't accurate.". The Biologists conclusion: "They have reproduced". The Mathematician: "If now exactly 1 person enters the house then it will be empty again."
A bunch of functions are drinking in a bar when d/dx walks in the door. They practically trample each other as they try to flee, with the polynomials making the most haste. But one particular function remains in his seat. d/dx walks up to him, taps him on the shoulder and says: And who, pray tell, are you!? And he responds: I am e^x (e to the x).
An infinite number of mathematicians walks into a bar. The first one orders a beer. The second one orders half a beer. The third one orders a quarter of a beer. The Barman says: I see where this is going! And he pours two beers.