Islander

This sounds perfect, do you have links to the particular product or is it something you fashioned yourself out of parts available online?

My only ideas are this, which would involve buying and running 200m of ABC cable from the inverter to the pumps breakers on the farm, or running a cable from the generator start terminals in the inverter to something that, when it receives the generator start signal when the grid stops, disconnects the pumps from the farm.

We would like to preserve some loads during a grid outage such an water oxygenation system and security lights, among other things, so no I do not believe so.

Hi all, I recently installed a 50kW 3 phase Deye for my father in law here in an incredibly rural part of Mozambique. We have 68x 615w Canadian solar panels providing the PV for this inverter. We do not have any batteries yet, and as such when the grid switches off, so does the inverter. I was hoping to get the forums opinions and thoughts with the following. My father in law has gotten an interest into getting a wind turbine to complement this setup, particularly the tesup 10kw. After some searching on this forum and others it seems like this is a terrible investment to make. We have average wind speeds of 3-6 m/s and we are using about 15-22kW. So my current understanding is that our first priority should be batteries for now. We are monitoring our system with solarman, but once we have batteries, what is the most painless solution for my father in law to get notified when the grid is off? We have WiFi at the house (starlink) but no cell signal. The big draws on the property are two 7.5kw 3 phase pumps that run mostly around the clock. In the event of a grid failure, we would like to switch these off. The issue is that they are on the farm, about 200-250m or so from the installation site of the inverter. So I am struggling to come up with an effective solution for this. Thanks in advance for any and all contributions.

What software is this? Looks excellent for managing your solar. I have been wanting to start dabbling in the software management side of this. Is there a consensus on a particular piece of software or configuration that is ideal? Given in my current setup I am running Growatt inverters where the mppt's cap your PV production at 6000W, confirm there isn't really a point for me to upgrade? I mean because even if I have a single string of 9 panels, each panel is 17.2 A, so the minute I try parallel a string while on a single inverter, I will surely blow something, no? As I would be all of a sudden have 34.4 A instead of 17.2 A going to the MPPT, right? I have seen conflicting information online, some saying you absolutely cannot go over your MPPT amperage rating, and others mentioning that you only need to worry about VOC, and that as long as VOC is under control, you can add parallel strings/panels which as per my understanding would increase the amperage. My understanding of this is terrible, still trying to figure it out.

I did in the end, thanks to the help I got from the forum! Can't imagine this place in the 70's, must have been something else entirely. And yes, tiger fishing is going to be one of our big selling points. Really glad I found this out now rather than later. Thanks. Will communicate with suppliers to ensure I get the correct version of the inverter based off of the firmware. If your inverter has been running fine is there a point to upgrading firmware? Not sure how much software updates can affect hardware performances on these inverters and don't want to run into bugs down the line. Having said that, if an update can improve efficiencies or add features, that is always welcome.

I have been really impressed with solarways prices for everything I have bought from them, must say. I haven't looked into if the AC port could be used for a wind turbine, I know the voltages it accepts are in a range and not just straight 220-230 but I am not looking into a wind turbine right now. Did a bit of research into it and it looked like it would be quite expensive, and I haven't finished with my solar setup. So I figured I would just get my solar system to where I want it then further investigate adding a wind turbine. So right now its only the 2 sources, solar, and my backup generator. Correct. This is my current plan, feel it would make the most sense for me right now. This is also my thinking. If one were to pack up for some or other reason, I still have a 5kw inverter to fall back on. That, and they are very competitively priced. This is concerning. I thought it was as simple as making sure firmware models matched. Any idea how I could find out which model I already have vs which model I would purchase? Actually in Tete province, inland, we are on lake Cahora Bassa. Opening a tourism business soon.

Thanks a lot! That's very kind. Trying my best, previously I had 0 knowledge of anything electrical. Have had to learn from the ground up since moving last year. We are on an island, so completely off grid. Rural area in Mozambique as well which means installation/wiring is up to me. This forum has been an incredible resource of knowledge and learning for someone like me. I have attached average temperature data from windy.app for 2012-2022. Lowest temp I have ever experienced in 13 years there is about 14 degrees if I remember correctly. Also, side note, I cannot recommend windy.app highly enough for those interested. This is seriously making me consider investing in making each string 9 panels. I am nervous about going to 10, don't know if I am just being pedantic though. I have seen people on the forum mention over-panelling on the Growatts, but keeping the voltage in line with spec requirements purposefully, so you get your max production from sunrise to sunset. Of course this would be an investment I would only be able to achieve after a while, but I am considering aiming for it, but only if it makes more sense than adding east and west facing strings respectively. This is what I am uncertain of now. I can afford with my current budget to add one panel to my string of 8, so then my first string will be 9 x 600w panels in series. I can also currently afford to add a second string of 9 panels in series meaning I would have 2 strings of 9 panels, each string in series. Financially I could push each string to 10, but I would only do that if it makes sense to and it's safe to do so, which I would love guidance on.

Hi all, Busy day but I'll try respond to everyone: Should have mentioned I intend to get another Growatt so I can parallel them to have 10KW for the house. This would also allow me to add more panels, of course. Mppt range on the Growatt as per manual is 120V- 430V, and the VOC is 450. I'm using the Canadian Solar 600W panels from solarway suppliers. As per the manual on their website: operating voltage is 34.9V VOC is 41.3V Operating current is 17.2A Short circuit current is 18.47A The majority of my consumption is daytime, however we struggle at night time on occasion and because of this I intend on installing another 12.5kwh battery from felicity solar. We are running that battery to 50-30% overnight and I'm terrified I'm destroying its lifespan. We're in Mozambique so it's hot as hell but sunny at least almost everyday, except for these overcast days we've experienced this winter. This also has meant extra reliance on the battery which further exasperates my above point. Attached panel datasheet. Growatt pdf is too large. CSI-Datasheet-HiKu7_CS7L-MS_v1-3_EN_580-600-4.pdf

West roof faces west fairly straight on. East roof is Northeast facing. North roof is probably 15 degrees west of magnetic north. Plenty of space on all the roofs, and from this information it's looking like north is the best bet right now. Thanks for the information here, really interesting to know about the efficiency losses depending on the direction of the panels.

Hi all, I'm currently budgeting to upgrade my solar system for my off grid setup at home. My winter PV production has not been as great as my summer production, which I'm not surprised by. I do, however, want to increase the size of my solar array. What I want to know is, is there a general consensus on whether or not East facing "morning" panels or west facing "evening" panels are worth it? Or would it just make more sense to add another string of north facing panels? I'm currently running a Growatt SPF5000ES, with a Felicity solar 12.5kwh lithium battery, and 1 string of 8 Canadian Solar 600W panels in series. Noticing my morning and evening production has taken a knock this winter and not sure if I should prioritise another string of 8 north facing panels, or if I should look at 4 panels facing east and 4 panels facing west. Very keen to hear what the community feels is best and most efficient/practical. Thanks in advance!

Yes this is exactly the situation @Antonio de Sa. Will try to answer everyone with this post. As for where the power comes into the house, firstly, we're on an island. So that used to be where the generator was, which I have since disconnected since moving in. I have now installed a solar setup, with a backup generator as well. Rewired the entire property before installing the solar to make sure that I don't stuff up my equipment as the previous tenant didn't look after anything. Bare live wires everywhere, joined wires near a thatch roof, wires running through thatch, and no sign of conduit anywhere. As money comes in I am trying to improve on this but for now I've done the best I can with what I have. I also am not an electricians backside so again, there's a learning curve here that I'm trying to adjust to to make sure things are done properly and safely. I'm not sure what an N/E bond relay is or how it would function so I will research this. I have a couple of metal rods and pipes, any guidance on which would be the best to use as the earth rod? My understanding right now is as follows: I would dig a hole, bury the respective pipe or rod, connect a wire to it, and then run that wire to my DB board, connect that to the earth bus, and then make sure all earth busses in the house on each of the DB boards are connected back to the main DB board earth bus?

I'm located in rural Mozambique, needless to say it's a bit of a wild west situation. This house was built by people who long since left, and has since been occupied by tenants who have each changed the wiring as they moved in. No one ever comes out this far to check things or enforce any kind of code, electrical or otherwise. Have not located an earth leakage breaker anywhere.

Hi all, I recently completed installing and wiring my home onto my solar installation. A bit rushed because the family was coming over to stay until over new years. Was able to finish on Christmas morning. In any case, one of the things I need to do is install an earth still. Myself and my partner moved into this house just recently and there is no earth installed on the property so nothing is earthed. I've read on the forum and seen on YouTube it's highly recommended to install an earth and ground your solar equipment in particular. So how best do I go about this? Considering nothing on the property is earthed of course. The panels are mounted on our roof which is corrugated iron. I'm quite ignorant still when it comes to electrics, learning as I go. Do I need to ground the roof as well as the panels and mounts for the panels? Thanks in advance for the help.

Was not aware of the Grade B cells - seems my research was not thorough enough. In any case, followed the instructions from @zsde and I seem to have the inverter and battery communicating now. Will continue to post updates regarding the installation for anyone in my situation in the future. My first time attempting anything like this. I decided to DIY when the quote to install only my solar panels (8 X Canadian solar 600W) was around R27,000. So this has been quite the learning experience.