Fuenkli

would it not be easier and quicker to load test the batteries with the inverter? 1. fully charge the batteries 2. Load the inverter until it draws the maximum load from the batteries it is capable off. 3. After lets say 30 minutes (still under maximum load) measure the voltage of every battery

i think very soon the cost per kWh coming out of the batteries will fall substantially below the cost from the grid. The moment this happens all solar systems will have batteries and all the tricks we use at the moment to maximize daytime solar use will be a thing of the past. The only issue will be to optimally size the individual components for the specific application. No more tinkering! It will be boring and a lot of us will have to find a new hobby .

maybe we can compile and publish in a thread a list of tripping and non tripping Prepaid meters. I was lucky, my Landis + Gyr CB Wired CIU 20-00582 is not tripping.

thanks for the reply Plonkster. Very much appreciated. I always wanted to learn more about Linux and Raspberry Pi (only worked with Arduinos so far). Now i have a good reason to start .

I would like to automate the upload from my Goodwe 5048 ES GTI to the PVOutput.org website (I am doing it manually at the moment). I found this on GitHub https://github.com/markruys/gw2pvo I have only a very basic understanding of programming and do not fully understand how to implement this. Can someone please explain in simple language what I have to do, like required software/hardware etc. The inverter is linked to the Goodwe portal.

Wow, great feature. Wish my Goodwe inverter had such an algorithm as well.

Thanks Chris and Plonkster for your replies. Very good advice. I will move the cut off SoC upward until I find the sweet spot for the batteries to float at least twice a week.

Going through the first Cape Town winter with my battery bank (8x200Ah 12V VR Lead Carbon). On cloudy days the batteries do not fully charge anymore. Today for example they started in the morning with 60% SoC and now they are only at 65% SoC . I red, that a prolonged partial state of charge will lead to sulfation and permanent capacity loss. What is prolonged PSoC? After how many days PSoC should I fully charge the batteries?

Received this today from the CoCT: "You have been identified as an eligible customer that will move to the proposed Home User tariff on 1 July 2018." The proposed home user tariff is R150/Month and 185.32 c/kWh. Do you think it will be implemented? Would be bad news for customers with PV systems and low electricity consumption

I have joined "Team South Africa". The station Name is "House Wittwer". I could not yet figure out how to automatically upload from My Goodwe inverter. In the meantime I will do it manually.

Hi Chris, are you still using this method of diverting excess PV power? I would be interested to know what your experience is. What did turn out to be the best voltages (for LA batteries) to switch the geyser on and off?

thanks for the help maxomill. as a first step i will as you suggest put timers on the geysers and see how it works. The only concern I have is that on a cloudy day it will discharge my batteries to much.

thread is quite old. Is there any new developments how to divert (automatically) excess PV capacity? On a sunny day I have about 10 kWh/day spare capacity. My system is (still illegally) grid tied and programmed to not export power to the grid. There is a lot of diverters on the market, but as far as I could figure out they all use the power flowing into the grid as a signal when to start diverting. My system never exports anything to the grid, so I think this method will not work for me. Goodwe (I have a GW5048D-ES) does not yet have any home energy management products like for example SolarEdge. In summer I would like to use the excess capacity for the aircons and in winter to boost the hot water solar generation output (House has in addition to the 4.4 kW PV system 14 x 2.5m2 flat plate solar water collectors and a 4000 liter hot water storage tank. Hot water is used for geysers and the hydronic underfloor heating system). I also have a 20 kWh battery bank. At the moment I do all the diverting manually.

I agree with Plonkster that you can safely oversize the panel capacity. In addition of the inverter being able to lower the output from the panels another reason is that because of temperature/dirt of the panels and losses in the electrical circuit you will usually not achieve the published capacity of the panels.

thanks for the quick great help. Much appreciated.

thanks guys. You are right. Would cause a nice fire! I will look at the HA02 balancers. From your experience is it necessary to balance the 2 strings in addition to the batteries in the strings?

this issue has probably been discussed before but I could not find an answer. to achieve equal voltage on all batteries in a series string is it possible to interconnecting them in parallel? What are the pros and cons?

I am about to go through the process. Plan is to register with reverse power blocking. Will let you know how it goes

thanks Plonkster got it. Yes please put me in contact with a Pr. Eng or installer here in CT who can help me with the NRS097-2-1 compliance.

thanks for the compliment. I was lucky with the roof orientation. All panels face exactly north at an angle of 25 Deg. The 11 panels next to the water panels are in string 1. The other 11 panels are in string 2. I also like the Goodwe inverter. I did however have a problem. The inverter made some funny noises under heavy PV load (not when only using batteries as power source). It also showed string 1 always at a lower output even after switching the cables coming from the roof around. Jack Song from Goodwe and his R&D engineers identified the noise based on my audio recording as a result of an old control board. He send me a new board with the latest firmware (1212) and now the inverter is dead quiet and both strings show identical power output. I use EzManage to monitor and program the inverter. There is another issue I have noticed. However Jack told me that it is normal and nothing to be concerned with. When the panel output exceeds the demand from the inverter (happens often because I had to set export to 0 Watt) sometimes the inverter moves the string voltage below and not above the maximum power point to reduce string output. The string voltage can go as low as 120 Volts in bright sunshine to control power output. Maybe it is my imagination but the inverter seemed to get much hotter running the strings at low voltage and high current vs high voltage and low current to control string output. What do you think?

thank you for the reply. I am a retired electrical engineer. The PV system is my hobby. I would like to try to get the approval done with the help of a registered Pr. Eng. myself. In the meantime I will disconnect the system from the grid. attached are some pictures of my system:

Hi, I have a 4.4kW PV system which is connected it to the grid without official approval from the city. I did the installation myself. The system works very well and now I want to make the grid connection legal. I am not interested to feed power back into the grid. The inverter is programmed for 0 watt export. The house has a Landis and Gyr prepaid meter. Can somebody who knows the Cape Town situation please advice what the best way to do this is? Details of system: - 22 x 200W mono panels (connected in two series strings of 11 panels each) - Goodwe GW5048ES 5kW hybrid inverter - 8 x 12V 200Ah lead carbon batteries (connected in 2 series strings of 4 batteries each)