Wetkit

I see the new version now also have the NRS097-2-1 standard available. Does anybody know where this program stores the device data? I installed to a diffrent directory and now all of my old data is not available Only data for this month is available. The old data is still available on the old program.

Both PV and vacuum tubes works in slight overcast and cloudy weather. They do not need FULL sunshine to work. As the PV and Titanium element combination is very new, I have not seen comparisons between the cost and performance as yet. What I can give you from my personal experience... Gas geysers work great for occasional use, like washbasins and showers. Not that good for a bath. Installation can be complicated. Heatpumps is great in summer, but performance does go down in winter. They do not work without power. Watch out for the cost of service contracts. Solar water heaters works well if sized and installed correctly. They can work without power. They also have electrical backup.

Thanks for the link

It probably makes sense if you looking to retrofit an existing geyser. Thing is, you have to install at least 2kw of PV not? Now, once the water is hot, you have all that potential energy just sitting there wasting away Me personally I am extremely happy with my vacuum tube system. It works great and takes the same roof space of 3 x 250W PV panels. Remember that with solar water heating, you will have to double your existing geyser size. At least have 100L storage per person in the household.

I agree about the software having issues When installing the software, make sure to use the default settings. Make sure that you run it as Administrator, even if you logged in as admin. Windows can also be funny that way.

We do it a lot up to 4kw motors. It works out a lot cheaper than 3ph invertors. That is now using a 1ph inverter for a 3ph motor. Bottom line is you have to make sure the motor connections can support 3ph @ 230V. Regarding the original question about connecting a genset to the inverter input. I have seen an option on my Infini unit for generator input, but never used it. I also know the Victron units have special settings for generator power.

Yes, by changing the max amps on the charge controller, you will limit the max charging amps on the battries. I might have been wrong regarding the lower charging current, that might apply to GEL battries only and perhaps not so much for LC. The bottom line is, anywhere where a "maintenace free" battery is involved, you have to limit the charge current to prevent the "gel" medium from gassing or boiling.

Ok, so I am going to upset the apple cart now Why is it really nessesary to bond the neutral to earth? Normally this is only done at the supply source, like the transformer in the minisub. Then to save costs, the earth is not pulled from the sub all the way to your house, so a new earth point is made at your house and the neutral bonded there. Next, for an E/L unit to work correctly, it looks for a diffrence in current between the line and neutral wires. If both of these is floating, the E/L will still work. What is important is that the EARTH is solid, as this offer the stray current a return path. On a system like this where the neutral is then not grounded, you will have 115V between both phases measured to ground, but still 230V between the phases. Actually, all ships I have been on was done like this. Earth is earth, but neutral and live is both floating.

Any specific reason for going 3ph? If you have loads of 3ph motors, like borehole pump, could they be run from a 1ph to 3ph inverter perhaps? If really going 3ph, the question is which is better, a single 3ph unit, or 3 x 1ph units?

Guys, you getting off topic.... Anyway, set the voltage to 230V yesterday and blink, everything goes off. Eventually found that changing the voltage sets other stuff back to default, like the max freq at 50.1Hz. Now we run up to 50.5Hz I have seen, so thats why the invertor tripped. Fixed all the other settings and so far running ok.

According to the inverter graphs, my input voltage sometimes goes up as high as 235V. Also, when I had it on 230V before, I had issues with the pre-paid meter tripping.

Good luck with that, but it looks like a lotta work!!!

Ok, so back to this saga yet again. So I have read somewhere that the software might cause issues if it is not installed in the correct directory. Well, as I am sort of into IT, I like to install programs under the correct program folder, and not sommer any directory in C drive. Right, so step 1 was to delete the old installation, reboot PC, install software under default directory , and reboot pc again. Everything looked the same afterwards, but I did notice an extra line right a the top of the screen, under parameter settings. Something about max feedback power = 300W Now remember, at this stage I am running "Off Grid (III)" mode, meaning no power should ever be exported back to the grid. I changed the setting to Zero, and next time I look, the line is gone. Poof!. Anyway, so I sit down and change all the settings back to "Grid-tie with Backup". Once the unit have updated to the new settings, I rebooted the unit. Then configured all my other settings again, only one setting at a time, making sure to press the "Apply" button next to each setting I changed. So, once done with all of that, re-booted the invertor again and restarted the pc as well. So after all of this, we finally look to be on track again, PHEW!!! I did some load testing to see if the invertor tripped the pre-paid meter again, but all looked ok. So far so good.... So, looks to me like it could be a software related issue. P.S. Regarding the energy measurement, I am using an Efergy unit. For now I will just ignore it's reading and count the units on the pre-paid meter. For now, here is my current settings. Any comments???

I like the quality of your equipment, not many can afford to buy Victron off the bat. However, I am a bit concerned regarding your battery set-up. Currently you have 3 strings, but no fusing (protection) between any of the strings. You did install fuses for each MPPT, but not each battery bank I would suggest you install a seperate fused connection for each battery bank. Also make 100% sure you keep each cable length the same on each bank. You really should also do that for the MPPT controllers. It would be interesting to find out why you have gone with 3 banks, rather than a single large one? Multiple banks normally have multiple problems...

Eugene, you welcome to use hoop iron, but it's going to rust. Tri-Strap is used every day to fix roof trusses to the walls. Mine have been through all the Cape storms the past 2 years without a problem.

Have not had issues to date. The rails is galvinised, so should not rust. Standing water will quickly evaporate due to the heat from the solar panels.

Nice find, thanks!

Ok, finally managed to get it going. Version 1.07 did not make any difference. I changed the setting for "Max feed-in grid power" from the standard 3000W to Zero. But guess what, inverter now draws 250W from mains without any load connected. With 1000W load, mains is showing 800W draw and PV is showing 1200W draw. My original unit got to about 150W max on mains, which is still high, but I could live with it. Something is really wonky with this unit

Yip, NOTHING works For now I am trying to get the old software version again V1.07 and try that. Do I understand the reverse powerflow units correctly? Do the stop/block the flow or do they just disconnect the power when detecting reverse flow?

Well, guess what? I am back to pre-paid issues My unit packed up in June for some unknown reason. The supplier supplied me a new unit which I only got end of July. Anyway, currently no matter what I try, the unit trips the pre-paid meter as soon as solar power is more than the load. Only way to get it working is to run in Off-Grid(III) mode, so basically bi-directional. So now the new issue is that in this mode, the unit does not change over from mains to solar in the morning. I am slowly starting to get extremely gatvol of this unit. And no, I cannot go to the local council, as they will demand I disconnect the solar due to not doing the SSEG procedure. Been there and got the scars...

Hi jdp, Nice install. In your DB it looks like there is an earth bar top right. That is the one to use. Have you got any PV connected yet? How is the units working?

Hi Mike, Not sure I understand you correctly regarding the batteries. If it is a true hybrid, should you not set it to use solar power first rather than battery power?

Quick idea about isolators..... You can also use fuse holders with solid copper links for isolators.

My question would be if you running those Infini units in parralelle, or is each unit totally seperate? Nice photo with the drone. Does the trees not give some shadow over the one block of panels?

Well, if it was me, I would rather install the E/L in the same DB next to the breakers it is feeding. If the DB and inverter is some distance from each other, it could make things very difficult if things start tripping.