Onze Finca

Hi. Friends of mine have a Solarsystem with is 6 panels, 450 Wp each, a Voltronic Expert Max 8K, and 3 Pylontechs US3000C. There is a problem in the Inverter, and it won't charge the batteries via an Generator. We could pack it up, and sent it to the supplier, but it will be gone for a few weeks, or that is my experience here in Spain. Is the another way to charge those Pylontechs? Maybe with a Batteriecharger, but I cant find any with good specifics for that. We are based in Spain. Thanks!

She has a bank of 6 Pylontechs US2000C. So the loads are spread. The Temperature outside is 27C now, and its cloudy. The cell temperature the highest is 27.5 now, the bank is idle now, she's not at home.

How important is temperature control for LiFePo4 batteries? I know a to big DOD (like 90% to 80% has a big impact), But what regarding temps? I try to keep my cells below or around 20 to 25 degrees Celsius, but a friend of mine has Pylontechs in a container, and on days like yesterday (27C) the temps of the cells go up to around 31C. In summer it will be 40, 42C, so the temps will go up significantly. Will the lifespan go down much? I told her to invest in a small airco, and run that during the day, that would be greatly appreciated by her batteries. I'm I right? THANKS!

It is ordered. It will arrive here somewhere at the end of January and thenI will try it.

So, got the Cable, and plugged it in. Changed the settings in Solarassistant, and behold:

A got it. 1C is the discharge number. 1C at a Battery of 100AH, is 100A. So charging with 0,2 C is about 20 Amps in my Case. We charge maximum with the settings from the Pylontech BMS, and thats around 27 Amps, I think.

@HendrikBigChief: Well, it was -4 last night, so Spain (especially the North) is rather cold in winter. Not as cold as the Netherlands, but, hey. Inside, it was still 12+ so, thats not a problem The lowest we have gotten so far is a DOD of 34%. I have to dive into the meaning of C. I see it everywhere, but I'm not shure how it works. The biggest consumer is our coffeemaker, wich operates with 1300 Watts. We make shure everything else is off (not the lights, but higher then 100 Watts), And we operate that only during the day, and having sun. In the evenings, we make coffee by hand. So, Discharge wise, we try to make an effort. I do not want to go below 60% DOD, but havent even been there.

I think it is worth finding out, just because there are so me many different opinions.

Another question, as I am new to Solar, and espesially to Lithium. (LiFePo4). I learned online, that, if you're bank is big enough to not deplete all of its energy, the DOD, Depth of Discharge is important for your Battery life span. With our current bank, (and it is here just for a few weeks), they minimum SOC we have had was 66%. With my limited knowledge I convert that to a DOD of 34%. So, when I add another US3000C, the DOD well be even lower, and that is great for my lifespan. Or do I make wrong assumptions here? Somewhere else I read that someone had a bank, and doesnt charge it until it reaches 25% SOC, about every 3 days. His assumption was, that with a lifespan of 6000 cycles, he would have 18000 days, wich is 48 years? I thought that was rather optimistic. Maybe I'm Wrong here, I dont know. Is there someone here that can enlighten me?

Small deers, wild boars, foxes, rabbits, hare, it all comes by. We sat drinking coffee in the evening one day, and the misses said: Thats a big dog, I respondedIts a wild boar dear, not a dog. We see the marks of the boars on the land, and droppings of foxes. sometimes we see deer. Humans, we see not to much. It is a quiet place here. Just 4 km from a city, but lovely and silent. My wife was a city girl when we came here a few years ago, but said on our walks with the dogs: I feel best when I'm in the hills where it is quiet and peaceful. So, here we are, off-grid, and living a peaceful life. We just finished with the harvesting of the Olives. We had 1300 kilos this year.

@Mauritius B Big city. Couldn't live in one anymore. I like my piece and quiet.

@HedgeSlammerFirmware on the inverter is 91.19

Yup, And I dont have a approved installer, as I did all the work myself. The Electricity in the House is done by a Installer, and he used good quality for it, so that is Nice. I only did the part what is used for solar. But You know much, You also live in Aragon?

I get that. Replacing the battery in the MacBook Retina was not an easy task, I might say. Here in Spain there are government fundings, but it’s only for On-Grid systems, and takes forever.

My wife has one from 2015. Only replaced the Battery, but functions like a charm....

That is the setting I'm using. Use inverter values. I posted the pictures to show that it doesnt want to connect. My standard setting is in menu number 5 on PYL, and then in SA its inverter values. Both nothing like the graphs I see in your younger posts.

It is. Model is Axpert VMIII-5000 I have the Solarassistant settings set to Inverter, as the info comes from the Battery. 5 is set to PYL The LEDS on the Batteries correspond with the percentage on the Inverter. The Battery icon is blinking. The inverter is charging and Stopping at SOC 100% The cable between the inverter and the battery is with two threads, connected to 3-5 and 7-8

@MoffatThats why I have the Raspberry's. I used to have windows, even build my own computers, but Suddenly was done with that. My first Apple was a 2si, with a paper white screen and a tiny color screen. I had a 14.4 modem, and my neighbor a state of the art (At the time) fancy PC with a 28.8 Modem (Basically twice as fast) but my computer was faster on the just released internet. Those where the days. After that, never went back. This is being typed on my old (2015) Macbook Air. It still suits me just fine, and where do you get so much bang for your buck? But, sometimes, its difficult. only sometimes.....

@HedgeSlammer: I have a connection with an cable (crimped myself, 2 threads,) from the rs485 Bus on the masterto the LiOn port on the inverter. It communicates, the battery symbol is blinking, but I see only the totals in Solarassistant. Not Bank1 and Bank2 (As I have 2 3000C's), nor temps. I see a USB-port in Solarassistant, but it cant be selected, as there is an error: cant connect, or no such device. Maybe a fault in the cable, but its connected, as the battery icon blinks. Its 3-5 to 8-7 on the RJ-45's, as shown in a video, from the Spanish dealer.

@Mauritius B: Thanks for the heads up. I have ordered the cable. Unlikely I'm not a WIndowsminded guy, we only have Apple gear here. (Graphical work was my profession), thats why we have raspberrys. And they are neat and consume just a bit of Electricity. But, if I understand correctly: You have a cable from the MasterBattery to the computer, and a cable from the micro-USB at the Inverter, also to the computer. How are the settings on the inverter then, or are they controlled by the inverter like this?

Having a app just for power outages, that says it all basically. We moved to Spain to quit working. I'm turning 60 next year, and have had hard labor jobs since I was 15, o the body is telling me more and more that it is enough. The Time it takes to heal from something is a good indicator as well. So I had two choices: Keep on working the Heavy Jobs that I had, (The is no chance in hell I'll be promoted off the floor, at my age) or, quit both our jobs, sell the house and go to Spain. We could advance our pension 10 years, it is not much, but, it is enough. The house in Spain is bought and payed for, we are not in debt to anyone, and, most important, I have financed my own not working. (Well, not working, keeping a piece of land with 60 Olivetrees is, in December harvest, not a light job. pfft. But hey We love it here. I'm from a little farm in The Netherlands, my wife was a city girl, but she loves it here. Piece and quiet, and no Ratrace. In the Netherlands everybody was chasing their own tail, and working working working. It was not fun anymore. So thats how we came here.

Thanks @Bobster.. Yeah I saw that most of you are located in Africa and even Australia. The thing is, In the Netherlands, all is grid connected, and thats a different kind of sport. Also I see that North from here, Pylontechs aren't used much, and the Dutch go for comfortable these days. There are not that many that fiddle away with electricity. But hey, it is our only way of having light and internet, and what not. I like being off grid. We also have had poweoutages here, but those I could solve myself. The Pylontech is connected to the Inverter as you said. But I see all kinds of graphs passing by, measurements from the different cells, so I thought, maybe there's a way to do both at the same time. Thanks!