GregM1

Thanks for feedback Bobster - Do have such graphic and note the fluctuation. Will try to work out an average over 6 hours.

Not a reply but to add - my wife just asked me if the systems need upgrades, how are we informed of the same? We do not see it on the laptop dispaly.

Good day For one week now, since last Sunday, our Vestwood Lithium Battery 51.2 V 100Ah 5.12kW – VW-BAT-LITH-VT48100E battery gets to 100% in the day but from 6 pm when there is no solar discharges at a rate of 31 to 33% and hour. I noted after two days that there was suddenly an added demand on Eskom to support the house at night. 18.3kWh used over the last 6 day mostly when we are asleep averaging 3.66kWh per night. I did call the installer on Tuesday past and he responded on Thursday to advise they had looked at the data and the problem does not appear to be the battery. It appears to be the invertor and the BMS - I assume Battery Management System. He would need to upgrade the invertor, Luxpower SNA5000 WPV 5KW 48V, firmware. He will doe this tomorrow and then we would know. As you are aware we are now in Stage 6 and last night I woke just before 2am and initiated a quick charge. The battery go to 79% before Eskom bailed, This morning at 5am this had run down to 17%. I also note that the consumption load at that time was 204W, which I assume as we were sleeping was a constant for those past 3 hours, Now I am not a mathematician but was wondering if anyone could assist with telling me if using 204W over 3 hours what %age of a 5kVa battery should be discharged (used). Trying to figure what points I can set the auto recharge request from Eskom without dropping too low, say below 25% again. We are trusting that the firmware upgrade works. The first this said to me was you should by a second battery to increase storage. I said NO, the battery is clearly not storring. Installation - battery and invertor was done in June 2023. In December 2023 battery was doing the same - discharging and then they monitored, tokk battery away and did test and got supplier to monitor and agreed the battery was faulty. No cause given for why suddenly faulty. No changes were done to Invertor. We are worried that we now hear it is an invertor firmware issue. Thanks

Thanks for advise a neighbour asked me yesterday the question as to where are my panels as he wanted to install but was unsy=ure of his roofing material.

Thanks observed from the freeway as we were riding past.

We have a metal tile over a thatch roof. The solar installer initially advised, on quoting, we could put solar panels on that roof and hence could get sun for the whole day as the sun moved over the house. When they came to insta;; they advised they had checked with their association and they cannot place solar panels on that roofing type and hence they opted to place them on the flat zinc roofed garage. which is largely shaded for the afternoons. Why I ask the question here is my wife noted a property in Centurion which had similar roofing to ours tyta was full of solar panels and wants to know is it true that panels should not be placed over such metal tiles over thatch roofing. Thanks

Thanks for the feedback The battery is a Vestwoods Lithium-ion Battery LifePO4 Battery VT48100 - 100AMP / 5.1KWh. I do agree that 205 might be low if we hit a 3hour plus load shedding period from midnight onwards and we run the risk of the invertor shutting down. From the answers above I am gathering the idea that maybe I should leave it at 40% and let Eskom kick in early hours of the morning. My reluctance on this is that on any good day, even in winter the sun has it at 100% by between 11 and midday and the afternoon sun is just wasted on solar. So my mind says why did I let Eskom do a early morning top-up. Thanks Greg

sorry typo last sentence should be 100% to 20% m=not 110.

We had 8 panels and 5kva battery installed 6 months back in winter and I read that it should not be allowed to run below 40 SoC. We have dual Eskom and Solar and therefore I noted the battery was charging 3 to 4 times a night from Eskom and its staying power was diminishing. I contacted installer who monitored and said there appeared to be a battery fault and he changed it out at for free. I have noted with the new battery in plav=ce that the battery is capable of running my house from at 18h00 to past 2 am when the 40% SoC triggers a charge from Eskom. My question is can I let it run down to 20% SoC which means that it can support the house at that rete till past 5 am when being summer, solar feed is already coming in again. What does this do to Battery Health if we allow such discharge 110% to 20% every evening? This will however also reduce the quick charges initiated by ESkom trigger, Thanks Greg

Thanks for this response. I have now started asking those tweaking questions and appreciate all the feedback being given. I have communicate with installer today to ask if he will set the discharge to stop at 60% not the current 90% and I will be changing the geyserwise settings to heat between 10am and 4pm when sun is peaking. Still testing looking forward to more value adding tips thanks

Great information thanks. Just looked at invertor on app at 10h49 today and see the below: 1. Solar Yield - 1kWh today 2. Battery Charge - 3.1kWh today 3. Import (from grid) - 3.1kWh today 4. Consumption - 3.5kWh today and believe we are able to optimize further. Greg

Good day thanks for the reply. We installed 8 panels, Lux Power 5100 Inventor and Vestwood 5kVA Battery. It was suggested that we should get a 2nd battery at start but I opted to first see how long this one would hold in load shedding. Our intention was never to exist the grid but to survive load shedding.

Hi All Sure you have heard these questions before however here goes. We installed Solar system live 15 June 2023. First weekend, the long weekend the battery reads 99% at 6pm but 14% by 6am and I did not know what was draining it. in the mornings. The installer came out and said two things needed. 1. We must install geyserwise and change form 4kW to 2kW element and 2. He needs to adjust setting so that battery does not discharge so low, but accesses ESKOM to keep charged when it needs to. All done at additional cost and the battery now never drops below 90%. Draws on Eskom fortunately Eskom has also played along with no or less load shedding. My question here is what should that setting be to prevent total drain. I believe 90% is an overkill and maybe should be 40 or 50% . Only wife and myself at home. We are in our 60's and daily units used before installation was between 6.5 and 11.5 average 9.1. We have a 5kVA battery. A further question is the geyser temperature according to the geyserwise display gets to 55, and I am finding 40s is comfortable enough to shower. My wife however is complaining that it is not hot enough when she wants to do dishes and has taken to boiling a kettle of water to top up temperature for dishwashing . Some advise please from the longer term system users. Thanks GregM