Vaal

To the best of my knowledge, it wouldn't help a lot to add more panels to a string which have got shading problems because the shaded panels will pull the whole string down. Problem with trackers are that they are very wind sensitive and expensive. If you have space rather spend money on extra panels rather than a tracking system. If possible you can manually adjust the tilt angle of the panels for better winter production. Have you played around a bit on this site? https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/pvwatts.php The question is still, how many panel/s have shading problems? How early in the morning are your batteries fully charged?

If it is only 1 or 2 panels with shading problems, wouldn't a "solar optimizer" work in your circumstance? How good are these optimizers, does anybody have any firsthand experience with it?

My Sunsynk 5kw with Hubble battery is currently run as a AGM V with float,absorption and equalization V set at 53.3V. This is to make sure the batt V doesn't pass 54v. Shutdown set 42.2V, Low batt to 45v and restart to 47V. Btw my comes cable is still in place. NB use at own risk but mine is work well, till I can deliver it to Hubble for repairs.

Have you found a solution yet? What about a manual change over switch between grid and inverter where you can substitute the grid supply with generator supply? You might have to do some load shifting while charging batteries combined with base load.

I used 6mm² earth cable, linked all panels to each other with bolts, with star washers between lug and panel frame. I connected all the panels together and then to the roof. From there down to the ground to a 1,8m earth pin with a 16mm² cable. Try to put your earth pin in a spot where the ground is always damp like close to a gutter down pipe in the shade.

What size is your gen? What is the charging kw setting on your inverter/battery setup? How stable is the output on your gen? What is the chance that you are pulling more than what the gen can supply?

Do yourself a favor and have look at a LCR (load control relay). It is a very interesting piece of equipment. You get them in different A ratings. EG: It works on a principle of if a circuit is drawing more than lets say 15 A, then it will disconnect another circuit. If your combined plug circuits pulls more than 15A, then the Lcr opens to cut the supply to the geyser, stove or what ever circuit you want to switch off for that time. After the plug circuit goes below 15A , there is a time delay and then the Lcr contact closes again. And it is a lot cheaper than a attorney. LOL

I have a couple of the ACDC, square faced panel meters (pl-ad101-22vahzs) which indicates V, A and Hz. It works very well but the Hz meter only shows full numbers and I've never seen any of them showing anything other than 50Hz even running off my inverter generator.

I have got 2 display lights in a box which shows Volt/Amp/Freq, one for every power supply. I want to install a small 230v relay with NC (normally closed) and NO (normally open) contacts fed by the mains inside that box. There will be a toggle switch (spdt) to switch the buzzer supply between the NO or NC contact. That relay then switches a 230v buzzer fed from the inverter supply. As soon as the mains fall away, the relay NC contact closes and buzzer sounds. You then switch the toggle switch over, the buzzer silences, as soon as the mains restores the relay closes the NO contact and the buzzer sounds again. You then switch the toggle back to the other side, the buzzer silences till the grid fails again.

What does battery cycles mean? If you run a battery down to 30% during the night, then the pv charges it back to 100% I assume it wil count as 1 cycle? But lets say it is overcast in the early afternoon and I decide to mow the lawn and my battery soc goes down to 90% but then before sunset the pv charges the battery back to 100%. Does that mean my battery had 2 cycles for the day? TIA

"The other is a dual power meter(Up to 100A) current meter/4Relay outputs and a Voltmeter with 4 Relay Outputs." This sounds like a very interesting "toy" to play around with. I might be able to do interesting things with it, if I understand your description correctly. More info might be helpful.

Is a 200A fuse holder/fused isolator designed to continously carry 200A? If seen a couple of fuse holders melted due to hot connections so why not buy the bigger one? Everything is designed on the limit with zero room for safety.

For the price you pay for a couple of meter 50mm² welding cable, why do you want to skimp on decent cable? Any losses will be there for ever. I bought 50mm² red cable and just put black shrink sleeving over the - cable.

It might help to mention the specifics of your panel and your inverter. It appears that the Sunsynk throttle the A to how much the inverter can handle. For the older firmware versions it was 11A, with the new firmware update the limit is 13A.

My way might be a bit cheaper: I have a plug outlet in the cupboard and I have old multi event digital plugin timer which can run the fan or fans.

Werner, do you run the fans from a timer or a thermo switch? Btw my 5.5kw Sunsynk does have a fan somewhere in it. If the connection cover is off you can clearly hear it running.

It would have been nice and cheaper to just be able to use a output/switch on a card.

This looks interesting. Btw mine is a 5kw model with a internal fan only. The coolest place in my house is my passage and I installed my inverter inside a cupboard in the passage. I made 2 of 75mm holes in the top of the cupboard, going to the outside porch. My plan is to have air sucked from the passage to "pressurise" the cupboard so that the hot air gets blown out the 2 holes, onto the porch. My inverter is currently running at 39deg max (measured on the top of the heatsink) but I would like to keep it cooler than that.

Hi Gerrie Thank you for your reply, I'll play around a bit and see if I can make it work for me. I think it would still be a very nice function if they could add it.

That is good to hear. Haha, so the EL did its work.

Is it possible to switch a external extractor fan when the internal fan starts with a 5kw Sunsynk? Even if I use a interposing relay. If not yet, I think it will be a wonderful function.

If you bring down your shaving kw, what happens to you frequency? Maybe this can solve your flickering problem? I have a couple of digital Swan panel meters which shows V, A and frequency it works very well except I think the Frequency meter is pinned at 50Hz as I've never seen it going anywhere except 50. LoL

What if you use a changeover switch in the flat which gets fed from the main house db on its own circuit breaker? How far is the db's apart and how good is the earth between the them? For safety and peace of mind, if you run a cable it would be better to run a extra earth wire of preferably double the gauge of the current carrying wires. You should also look at the voltage drop over the distance. Is there a earth leakage in the cottage because that will influence where you tap the supply from?

And has anybody tried this EL model yet?

But what size relay did you use for the bond? The 10mm² cable will be able to continuously carry 55A.