Travis

Done. Interesting questions.

I had a similar problem, although only 1 failed. I had them setup with 4 x 180ah (Actually 150ah at 10h discharge, 180ah at 100h dischage) units, BMV 702. Insulated from heat and cool. Never discharged beyond 50% DOD (so I used 3.6kwh at the most), mostly 30% DOD. BMV702 says I drew 422kwh from the batteries over 5 years, so 117 discharges. They should have lasted 2250 charge cycles. Mine are the yellow type batteries and I have 1 that falls to 9V after 1.5kwh has been drawn from the system, so it seems it has a dead cell.

I had a similar problem, although only 1 failed. I had them setup with 4 x 180ah (Actually 150ah at 10h discharge, 180ah at 100h discharge) units, BMV 702. Insulated from heat and cool. Never discharged beyond 50% DOD (so I used 3.6kwh at the most), mostly 30% DOD. BMV702 says I drew 422kwh from the batteries over 5 years, so 117 discharges. They should have lasted 2250 charge cycles at 50% DOD. Mine are the yellow type batteries and I have 1 that falls to 9V after 1.5kwh has been drawn from the system, so it seems it has a dead cell.

Good Day forum members, The bug has bitten again and I have decided to upgrade my 3kw infinisolar to a 5kw infinisolar. 3Kw system has performed well, I am upgrading it after 5 years of service, mostly for the higher KW output, higher charging current (25A vs 100A) and dual MPPT. I noticed in the 5kw manual it says that because the inverter is Non Isolated that the "CIGS panels must NOT be grounded" and will cause leakage current to the inverter. With my current setup, there are ground cables going from the panel frames and the solar surge protection unit into an earth/neutral bridge, the inverter ground is connected there aswell. How should I go about connecting this inverter? Specifically, where should I connect the ground coming from the panel frames and the DC surge protection? Copper rod in the ground? When the install was originally done the installer had quoted on the copper rod, but instead opted for connecting everything to the earth/neutral bridge as the area close to the panels and DB is all paved.

Use this guide to match PV panels to heating element https://www.davidpoz.com Save the R5000+ for the MPPT and control system from geyserwise and use it on panels.

I was using a geyserwise mppt made my microcare and it died after 3 years. The MPPT sits in the roof with the geyser and in insufficiently passively cooled. Various components have died over the years from the geyserwise "control box/Relay box" to the MPPT. They only come with a 1 year warranty. The geyserwise components have been the least reliable of my setup and I have now bypassed it by connecting the PV panels to the DC side of my PTC element directly. https://www.livestainable.co.za/product/geyserwise-eco-mppt/?utm_source=Google Shopping&utm_campaign=Primary Google Feed &utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=62450&gclid=Cj0KCQiAqo3-BRDoARIsAE5vnaJenAmZzdvBWCOCFTV0gODupyH1irmnufxzvo3rb34Ge2ougolgGkcaAryiEALw_wcB

My Infini is "Green Leighton" on the PV Output list. Been running over 4 years now and going strong. Installed in June 2016 and still one of the top systems daily in terms of efficiency. I paid R16 377 in May 2016 from Current Automation. Generated 24MWh so far and has exceeded my expectations. Only "mod" I did was to remove the fan filters and I clean with compresses air once a year roughly. Running a 3.4KW solar array and has regularly been pushed to 8kw for long periods without issues when grid is available. I will replace with a 5kw unit when it dies with dual MPPT as I currently have 20 panels connected to inverter + 6 connected to DC geyser element. I'll move the 6 panels from the element to the second MPPT rather as the geyserwise MPPT dies after roughly 3 years..

I'm surprised to hear that others do't get peak power from their panels. I am using Solar Frontier 170W CIS panels and consistently reached and exceeded their rating. I used to have 12 x 170w (2.04kw) and would produce 2.4kw around 11AM often. Now I have 20 x 170w (3.4KW) and consistently run into the 3KW capacity of my Inverter. Even going into winter. Looking at my logs I was peaking at 3.2KW as little as a week ago. When solar charger is running I can hit 3.7KW at 11A.M. Most power I have seen from the panels is 4.6KW at midday on a cloudy day in February where I was charging batteries and 25Amps and using 3.1KW from the inverter. Exactly as described above the sun came out from behind the clouds and panels lapped up the sun at 230W+ each of their 170W Rating. 40% power gain for a few minutes. https://pvoutput.org/intraday.jsp?id=50630&sid=46057&dt=20190212 Luckily thugh that exceeds the Watt rating of my inverter, it did not exceed the DC AMP rating and nothing released smoke.. These Japanese Thin Film panels never ceases to impress me.

Please can someone also send me Gary's number. Cannot get hold of inverter warehouse from the number on their site.

Interesting topic. I have been ponding the same thing for some time and am interested to see how my Solar Frontier CIS 170W panels compare. Looking at PVoutput; Mid June 6:45 AM is when the MPPT turns on and I produce power till 5:35 PM. Peak power of 2400W, my array is 3400W. 4.409kWh/kW Efficiency. 15KW for the day Looking back to January 5:25 AM is when the MPPT turns on and I produce power till 7:10PM. Peak power of 3180W, my inverter is 3000W. 7.1kWh/kW Efficiency. 24KW for the day. My best day in history was 17 November 2017. Peak power of 4,331W, 7.373kWh/kW Efficiency. 25.068KW for the day. These CIS panels seem to work great in low light and I could not be happier with them. Looks like it's still the most efficient "single axis" array in SA on PVOutput. System has been running for over 2 years now.

So almost 2 years after starting this thread my BMW i3 has done 45,000KMs. This technology is a game changer. Just the concept of not needing a "service" every year requires a mind shift. The service items for the i3 are brake fluid and vehicle check every 2 years! Having had the first i3 in South Africa for some years, it is now time to sell as the 120Ah (+-44Kwh) model is coming soon. It's amazing to me that BMW has managed to double the battery capacity of the i3 in 4 years. Mine was a 60Ah (22KW) This has been my favourite car to drive. You have to experience it to understand. It's is relaxing and thrilling at the same time and I have not gotten bored of it for even a moment! In 45000KMs the battery has lost 3% of capacity and my "fuel consumption" has been 15.7kWh/100km. My average recuperation has been 5.3kWh/100km. We pay R1 per kWh, so the car cost me R7000 to run in electricity, excluding any solar offset. In reality it was almost free. I used 50L of fuel, meaning I filled the 9L tank about 5 times. This means in the time I had the car, I drove roughly 800km's on the Range Extender petrol generator (Rex). I found that I could get roughly 120km's electric only before needing the REX. The battery lasted me 2-3 days on average, though I mostly charged it daily. The times I used the REX was mostly on long trips. The one surprise with the i3 is that it seems to pickup punctures on it's narrow eco tires. I had 3 punctures over 2 years driving in JHB. Luckily replacement tires don't cost the world (R2200 Bridgestone) and the compressor kit works fine. I had the punctures plugged, but replaced the front tires at 35000km's. The future of electric looks very bright and I cannot wait to have an i3 with double the range or to get behind the wheel of a Tesla in South Africa!

You are right. Especially on a spall UPS. Probably charges at <1 AMP for their 7Ah LA batteries. According to the Relion website, the RB50 battery has a built in BMS. This kind of UPS should be fine https://www.rebeltech.co.za/8373-rct-850va-line-interactive-ups.html

Another option would be buying a cheap 650VA UPS, under R1000, pulling out the Lead Acid battery and connecting the Lithium instead. For this setup, you don't want the UPS to charge the Lithium battery, so a diode would need to be connected between the UPS and the battery to prevent charging.

Hi Richwost. Sounds like a simple 12V inverter would work, but it isn't always so simple. I don't know the specifics of your TV etc, but modern LED TVs use under 200W. I would think a DSTV decoder uses less than 50W and the LED light another 10W. So lets say you need a 300W 12V inverter. Your 50Ah Lithium battery has 480W of energy in it at 80% DoD. Should last 2h, more if the TV is off. I would think a Victron Phoenix 800VA would be a good fit, but does not have a transfer switch https://powerforum-store.co.za/collections/inverters/products/victron-phoenix-12-800-schuko-outlet The Ctek lithium charger is a 5A unit. You will be drawing 20A from the battery, so recharging the lithium will take much longer. The better option would be a Victron MultiPlus Compact 12V 800VA. This has a transfer switch and lithium charger built in! https://powerforum-store.co.za/collections/inverters/products/victron-multiplus-c-12-800-35-16

Looks like I managed 3rd or 4th Yesterday. Had a bit of clouds at mid day. Otherwise a good one. No tracking or anything on my system. Edit: My system is Green Leighton

That 2.4V would make a huge difference on the speed of torque of power tools. Look at Lithium cells rather. +-16V from 4 cells in series.

Wow Don, 8 will be brilliant. My record on my 2.04KW array was 15.129kWh @7.416kWh/kW on 18 January. 5:20AM to 7:15pm I now have a 3.4KW array on a 3kw inverter so best I have managed is 22.502kWh @6.618kWh/kW with 20 minutes of clouds. 6AM to 6:30 pm. That was yesterday! Days are getting shorter, so I suspect I will not hit 7 again till next summer.

Hi Bushman, My understanding of the initial current spec it that it assumes the battery are low or close to emply. Under 12V each. Since you are only drawing 1500wh, less than 10%, I think you can ignore the 36A requirement and just configure your Axpert according to the Float and Bulk Voltage specs. More experienced forum users may have a different view

So my i3 is sitting on 26,000KM. I am getting an average of 145km on a charge. I run on Eco Pro most of the time with a mix of Aircon. I don't drive lightly, have places to be and people to see. Rex has seen 9570km of mixed use. On average I see 150km on the 9l tank, most of that REX milage came from running without charging at home for 2 months, while I established a baseline power usage for November-December and also a trip to Cape Town and back. I find myself not using the 7.4KW R30,000 charger, but rather the 3 pin plug charger as I charge the car over night so 8 hours isn't an issue for charge time, besides battery isn't empty when I get home and I topup during the day if I am home. The DC rapid chargers in Midrand and Sandton are handy, I have used the 20+ times on trips out to PTA or running around to multiple clients in Sandton. I have also used the AC fast chargers at Melrose Arch a handful of times while I grab lunch there. My electricity cost for the 3000km average month is less that R336, and thats before my solar production that is now running 60% of house consumption.

Indeed, I am making power from 5:15am to 6:30pm at the moment. Making 500w by 6:45am, 1kw by 7:35 and 1,5kw by 8:30. Power production dips down to 500w again around 4:30

By someone do you mean Sinetech?

Hi, I got mine from Current Automation for R16300 after negotiating, price on Bonanza at the time was R16000. I paid the extra R300 because CA offers the full 2 year warranty, but after speaking to Bonanza, they only offer 1 year.

Ok, thats not making much sense to me. The USb device shows up in lsusb on the Pi. What commands should I execute? I may have messed this BMV up already, I started with all 4 connected before I found this thread again.. 5V and all.. No smoke though..

I am trying to get it to work with AICC. Not coming up with the ground and Rx pin. Any ideas?

I have been following this thread and bought a cable like this http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/252791248/PL2303TA_USB_To_TTL_RS232_Upgrade_Module_USB_To_Serial_Port_Download_Cable.html Its a 5v, not 3.3V. Will it work if I leave the 5V lead disconnected?