Vaal

What about a CBi Nano View? It doesn't have wifi but you have I think 16 channels to monitor. What I like about it is the water meter monitor who can give you a warning if you might have a leak. 4 channels https://www.nanoview.co.za/

Hi all I have a 5kW Sunsynk inverter, 10 × 535W JA panels and 2 Hubble AM2 batteries. On the SS I can select under the Battery Setup setting, the maximum charging current. What would the max charging A I can safely go to? The batteries are 1C's so I understand I can go max 105A per battery so on the inverter it means 210A? But my inverter will limit it to about 100A Currently mine is set on 50A charging. Can I safely take it to 75A or more? Thanks in advance. Please advise

Thanks for the reply. My panels are at 10 deg so it might be worth it to try. When I installed my panels, I had the option to spend money on brackets to get the angle right or add more panels for the same amount. I went the more panels route.

Hi Piper Could you please give more info on these drainage clips and your setup? What angle is your panels? How many clips per panel? Thanks in adavance.

Yes you can use a Sonoff to control when you want to switch the geyser on or off manually. Just make sure the switch can handle the current drawn by the element. I only use a timer. If you are scared to overload your inverter you can use a Load Control Relay to switch the geyser off when more than a specified amount of power is drawn by the rest of the house.

My search skills can't find anything. Where is the best place to put my Sunsynk inverter's thermocouple on my 2 Hubble AM2 batteries? Should it be on the master battery but how and where? T.i.a.

By what time are your batteries full? Why not heat the geyser with free solar electricity? When I'm at home, as soon as my panels generate more than 2.5kW/hr, I switch my geyser on. To install a 2kW element was one of the best moves I've done. If I'm not at home the geyser gets switched on at 10h30 (season depending) with a timer. My average grid consumption is less than 1kw/hr per day.

Wouldn't a ECR by CBi work in this case? These are mostly used to switch the geyser off when too much power is drawn by the rest of the house. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://cbi-lowvoltage.co.za/system/files_force/downloads/ENERGY%2520CONTROL%2520UNIT.pdf%3Fdownload%3D1&ved=2ahUKEwjB2qihyrGTAxX7a0EAHcxZIcEQFnoECBUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1YCcsmORNmDHQllkKaQu3a

I found that with the low flow rose the long haired people showers a bit longer ut they still use less water in the end. But the trick is not to tell them about the reduced flow rose. LoL But a second geyser is still a lot cheaper than a extra battery.

If the whole "problem" is not enough warm water, why not just install another 200 or 150L geyser in series with the original one? The smaler geyser closest to the house for if you ever have to use electricity to heat a geyser in the morning in an emergency, it is cheaper to heat 150L. During daylight you start heating the primary geyser to max deg available on the thermostat, then you start with the second geyser and heat that to the max sun time available. I changed my geyser element to a 2kw element so that I can start heating the geyser earlier by just using solar. Always remember that Nersa controls the gas price also. Win Win - Change to low flow shower roses, then you'll save electricity and water.

I'm allready running 50mm² battery cables on a AM2 battery and Sunsynk 5kw inverter. LoL

Would it be advised to mount two AM2 batteries one above the other but the cable connections face each other? As in, the bottom battery mounted with the cable to the top and the top battery mounted with cables at the bottom. I have a narrow space to fit batteries and can fit one above the other but to keep the cables as short as possible. T.i.a.

Scorp, you mention waiting 30s before your swith on your compressor driven appliances. Fyi the cheaper refrigiration surge protector's restart delay are about 2 to 3 minutes but the Clearline unit's delay is nearly 5 minutes. What is nice about these Refrigiration Surge protectors are that if you use models by different manufacturers, you can stagger the startup times of different devices, as not to get a start-up overload when the power comes back on. Haha, it is very frustrating to wait so long for a freezer/fridge to start up after you worked on it. LoL

Why do you want to charge the battery with grid power? Can't you set it up that you run the battery down to say 30% soc and then the grid comes on and supply the baseload while the battery stay at 30%. The sun comes up and then take over the baseload from the grid. Any solar more than baseload, gets used to charge the battery. This is how my Sunsynk inverter works.

To "flip over" the changeover switch, doesn't the power fall away and 0.5 sec later, gets replaced by the grid power? If that happens wouldn't it be detrimental for any fridge/freezer compressors who might be running at that moment, because they will stop and the start against back pressure? Or do you use a refrigiration surge protector plug with a built in restart time delay?

But I think the current capabilities will be connected to the maximum current the cabling, switchgear, transistors can handle continuously. Same as certain equipment that starts to throttle the output due to the internal temperature rising, ie a high power flashlight which throttles the output when the temp goes rises to protect itself.

Ok let me say it straight: Bliksem, I didn't think the enclosures are so expensive. Here is a smaller panel. https://acdc.co.za/ilinox-mb-quadritalia-other-enclosures-engraving-label/13165-orange-msteel-enclosure-1000x600x320-ip65.html It looks like bricks and sheeting is going to be way cheaper. But what is the building and regulations going to cost? Can't you put it somewhere else? A couple of m, 4 core 10m² surfix at +- R160/m and 16mm² earth might be cheaper.

I would suggest you rather get 2 weather proof steel cabinets (those onrange comes to mind). The heat of the inverter wouldn't influence the batteries. A roof over them and positive ventilation should keep it cool enough and everything will be more secure if locked.

It might help if you give more info on what you want to put in the enclosure/s? Will it be standing in the north side in the sun?

Where will the least V drop be? If you mount the inverter close to house or close to the panels? The higher the V the lower the V drop but what about DC vs AC?

And what is your point?

To reduce your water pump running time, after hrs, on your toilet system. What about this system I'm using:

If you can get a second geyser and put it in series with the morning used one. Then you only heat that geyser with solar power on a timer or home assistant. Your main geyser gets supplied with hot water from the second geyser. A second geyser is a lot cheaper than a heat pump. Is it really necessary to bath? A shower uses a lot less water and elec, especially if you use a low flow shower rose. My next house will not have a bath in. Personally I feel that a shower cleans me better than a bath, because my dirty water is running down the drain and I'm not laying in it. And I don't have to clean the bath after use. LoL

Question time: Is your EL between your inverter and the load? It must be after your inverter, it is not there to protect your inverter. What type of EL do you use and how old is it? I found a CBi type B EL/RCD gives zero nuisance trips, they are expensive but worth it. You say the EL keeps on tripping even with all the breakers are tripped? Then the fault carries through on the neutral circuit. Do you have access to a meggar? Are there any elec motors on the circuit? Motors and old fluorecent ballasts have a tendancy to can become a bit of a problem. Faultfinding: If the EL is currently tripping: REMOVE /UNPLUG all the plugs and try to switch on. Still tripping: Switch off the main supply and all the breakers, disconnect all the black wires on the neutral bar, switch power back on, don't switch on the individual breakers, reset EL, now push the black wires one by one against the neutral bar. If the EL trip you have found the possible culprit circuit then you have to see what is all on that circuit. If the EL still doesn't trip you might have a couple of small earth leakings which all then ads up to become more than the allowded total trip rating of 30mA. NB the power is on in the db as you are pushing the black wires against the bar, do not electrocute yourself. If you don't feel up to it, please get outside professional help. It is a pain in the ..... to find a dissappearing earth fault. Happy hunting.

Please Be warned it happened on my hobby system. If you use a cheap 12/24v charge controller, the V out gets determined by the battery connected to the controller and the default output V is 24V. That means if you run a 12v battery with a 12v load and the battery gets disconnected, the controller output V will default to 24v. And then the magic smoke comes out of the 12v device which now gets 24v and goes poof. Eish I don't know if this happens to all 12/24v controllers.