Wannebe

If you have Lithium batteries, then daily charge / discharge is fine.
LiFePO 4 batteries are typically rated for 6,000 cycles with a 95% DoD.
6,000 cycles = 16.4 years
I charge mine to 100% SoC daily and discharge to 50-20% SoC.
Below is the 7 day Solar-Assistant Graphs:

True ..... but how else shall we make "progress" ........😉
 

Happy to say that Kodak is back, installed and all seems to be running well again.
 

Happy to say that Kodak is back, installed and all seems to be running well again.
 

We all have to pay school fees …… right? So don’t ask ……
 
I think (know) I have blown the DC / PV side of my Kodak.
 
Is it repairable ?
 
 

Happy to say that Kodak is back, installed and all seems to be running well again.
 

My Solar Assistant arrived Friday. Set it up on Sunday. Been running the whole week. I don’t know any of the “other” systems out there besides the standard WatchPower app the Kodak came with. SA was exactly what I was looking for and very happy so far.
 
I’m sure there are still many functions I do not even know of yet …..
 

My Solar Assistant arrived Friday. Set it up on Sunday. Been running the whole week. I don’t know any of the “other” systems out there besides the standard WatchPower app the Kodak came with. SA was exactly what I was looking for and very happy so far.
 
I’m sure there are still many functions I do not even know of yet …..
 

Guys, my PI and solar assistant is up and running .... I think .....  🙂
Now to collect data and figure it out all .......
 

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
 
 

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  
 
😀
 
 

On paper, it seems so. You are allowed short term overloads (e.g. for starting motors), but nothing more than a minute or so (depending on how much overload).
Edit:
Pardon my manners! Welcome to the forum.

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”
 
 

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.
 
 

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.
 

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