Wannebe

Last night I observed the following on my system. At first I did not understood but then figured it out ...... (I think ... 🙂 ) 1. Yesterday the batteries were not fully charge before sundown (rainy day and high usage) 2. At around 11pm the batteries were down to 30% and ESCOM kicked in as per settings. I keep around 30% in case we will get load shedding. 3. BUT, the batteries were not charging ! After scratching my head, I realized: 1. Because setting 16 (charge priority) is on CSO (solar first and ESCOM only if solar is not available) 2. The system was showing PV1 = 81V & PV2 = 83V for 747W output 3. The Kodak must have sense Solar is available and therefore it did not kicked in the ESCOM charging. Firstly, I'm I correct in my understanding of the functional operation of my settings ? Secondly, how do one "fix" (get rid) of the ""ghost" voltage on the PV at night ? OR How could I changed my settings to also charge the batteries at night if ESCOM kicks in ? I think the solution is to use the timer settings for charging source priority and then make day time hours CSO and night time hours SNU, but like to confirm before I start fiddling ? PS: Cannot wait to get the Solar Assistant software to properly "see" what is going on 24/7 !

Back, and ordered the Solar Assistant package with some cables tonight. Will see when it arrive and then the setup etc can begin.

Quick question …. I have read many threads here and elsewhere about updating firmware. How often should one do this, given that my system run 100% correct without any trouble ? Would there be any benefit to keep updating regardless if a new version become available ?

Tnx. Just arrived in India. Will contact once Im back. Would like to hear / see what setup you have and what data you can track etc. Many thanks

Good news then 😁 I was trying to size the PV (8.1 kW) for the 7.2 kW of the inverter, to get max use from the sun to supply the house etc. + leave a bit of safety margin. My plan is to run the current setup until Sept. and then see if I could also add the geyser in summer months. But before then I want to get better data etc first.

I believe 500 V, but it goes on to say one should not go more than 450 V 4 000 W per channel x 2 Kodak OG 7.2 kW

I have started making screenshots at night. Every day +- 12:00 the battery was back to being fully charged. Pool pump is running from 12:00 to 16:00 Here are the last couple of days

The installer was happy to do it this way. I have to trust in him The way I understood it ….. noob 9 x 48 V = 432 V one should never go over 450 V ….. that is the one that will cause damage …… experts ?

Quick update: We are effectively off grid for the past 2 weeks, with the exception of hot water. The house run absolutely as per normal and we have used zero Escom (other than when I was running some tests) Also experience zero load shedding. Will run like this now until we receive the first bill to see the impact. Also will sort out monitoring etc and only then think of next steps 😀

Dear All Does anyone have a contact number for me to contact Solar Assistant Sales ? Many thanks Albert

From what I’ve read / understand so far, it seems that all monitoring systems report the actual consumption from the PV panels and not what they “could have” produced, if the load was required. Is my understanding correct ? Would it be possible to measure / calculate / display the theoretical power available from PV also ?

Great questions. Guys, sorry for the highjack, but does the Kodak OG 7.2 function in the same way when load exceed 7.2 kW ? (1st question) Thanks

Just a correction on the last question ….. I monitored it again tonight …. the output is 10 to 30 W only like you said, good for nothing. I will call soon to discuss monitoring. Still just busy doing some homework (Google) first

Ok, thanks.

I have noticed that during the night my PV’s report what seems like a “ghost” voltage of around 78 to 80 V. how I noticed was that I would see small spikes of about 200 to 300 W power generation. Is this “normal” ?

Update Rained on and off during the day .... with just cloud overhead in-between .... no sun to speak of ..... Amazing, my system still end up charging the batteries even in this weather, though slowly ... right now back to 81% (15:15) battery charge and still charging ...... To say that I'm happy would be a huge understatement !! PS: .... and the pool pump came on as per normal @ 12:00 also ..... to run until 16:00 Doing all this and ZERO use from ESCOM. Update: Late afternoon we got about 45min of sunlight. In no time battery was fully charged ready for the next “cycle”

mmmmm ....... So we just cannot get away from load shedding ....... Raining nicely in Langebaan today ....... 😉 BUT Battery is still going strong on 47% from being fully charged yesterday afternoon.

Thanks

Ok, thanks

I just did a "load test" ....... Location: Langebaan, 28-07-2022, 13:10 1. House base load running 2. Swimming pool pump running (1.1 kW) 3. Start Washing machine (?? kW) 4. Switch on oven to pre heat to 200 C (?? kW) All together my app said the load supplied from inverter was 7.0 kW (so it managed to supply all loads, just) Inverter 7.0 kW = PV supply 5.4 kW, Battery 1.6 kW, ESCOM 0 kW When I stopped the test, the system started to recharge the batteries to top up to 100% and at that time the PV was showing 5.5 kW ....... From the above I assume that the max PV power generation would have been at 5.4 kW during the test, but shortly after 5.5 kW was max I could get out of the PV's & sun. Does the above sound about correct for my setup this time of year ? We have a beautiful sunshine day here in Langebaan ...... perfect Winter's day. I really need to get my monitoring software sorted out .........

Solar panel alignment not ideal for the sun, but my house was build with wind protection in mind, not sun gathering ……🙈 With this setup 6 x PV’s go “alive” @ 8am and 9 x PV’s go sleep at 6.15pm at the moment. In between all 15 up and running.

Hello All Just created my user here. From my initial reading, I'm sure I will be spending lots of time here, hanging out and reading up. From Langebaan. Installation was done last week Thursday, 1 x Kodak OG 7.2, 3 x Kodak FL5.2 batteries, 15 x Canadian 540W panels on 2 x strings feeding the full house. Decided NOT to connect the 2 x geysers at this stage .... maybe in future ..... All up and running well, still based on installer / default settings. I'm happy, but will be looking to optimise my usage / settings etc from here on in. So now I'm ready to start my solar experience ...... and for that I'm going to need proper monitoring / data capturing software etc. How do I get to speak to someone from Solar Assistant ? (E-mails via their website are not being answered ....) I have already searched and read what was said around here. Also looked at Hubble, but from what I could understand it is not going to do what I want to do .... Data log "everything" Download to laptop all Do settings etc over wifi / internet / USB Do monitoring / setting from my desk via WiFi ..... laptop All data etc need to be real time ..... I'm not interested in logging data only at certain intervals. etc Yes, I want my bread buttered both sides ........ as much as this is a necessity and a tool .... it is also my latest hobby ..... All advice help appreciated and hopefully I will be able to also one day share back what I have learned. Albert