PaBz0r

I have been live now for a year and according to the data generated 4541kW (4.5 MW sounds better) . My consumption has gone down since the geyser was placed on a timer with the installation, but as you can see the grid usage percentage is low, which was part of the goal, but of course  beating loadshedding was the priority

 

Done and up and running again
 

Done and up and running again
 

I have been live now for a year and according to the data generated 4541kW (4.5 MW sounds better) . My consumption has gone down since the geyser was placed on a timer with the installation, but as you can see the grid usage percentage is low, which was part of the goal, but of course  beating loadshedding was the priority

 

Thanks, hopefully I can buy the cable somewhere or have it made up.

We currently have a  power failure since around 20:00 last night, the batteries went sub 30% this morning for the first time ever. Nothing popped up yet.. sun came out at the perfect time and they are over 40% again

I see a new test report is out:
https://batterytestcentre.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Battery-Testing-Report-8-April-2020.pdf
At about 1600 cycles (4.5 years) having around 85% usable capacity left and seems to still be going strong while some of the other friends have died along the way. 

I see a new test report is out:
https://batterytestcentre.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Battery-Testing-Report-8-April-2020.pdf
At about 1600 cycles (4.5 years) having around 85% usable capacity left and seems to still be going strong while some of the other friends have died along the way. 

I see a new test report is out:
https://batterytestcentre.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Battery-Testing-Report-8-April-2020.pdf
At about 1600 cycles (4.5 years) having around 85% usable capacity left and seems to still be going strong while some of the other friends have died along the way. 

This is the parameters on my system.

Its a pleasure, no need for it anymore, awesome little guys that served me well. 
You will need this:
BB1.pdf
 
I am currently doing an installation in Bloemfontein and will return home before the weekend. Will ship this latest Monday. 
 
 

Give this man a Bells! 

Of course I am a tad bemused by the budget inverter paired with a sizeable investment in batteries, but to each their own 🙂
 

Done and up and running again
 

I have been live now for a year and according to the data generated 4541kW (4.5 MW sounds better) . My consumption has gone down since the geyser was placed on a timer with the installation, but as you can see the grid usage percentage is low, which was part of the goal, but of course  beating loadshedding was the priority

 

I do not have any experience with the brand but love the sound of my keyboard so will dispense my 2 cents (VAT incl) worth
With regard to the specfic model ("magma") it seems to be an all steel component stove  - including the firebox.  I wonder about the longevity of this (especially the firebox) as opposed to cast iron which I think is more traditional.
The flue/chimney outlet is 130mm - when I had my stove put in it seemed that 150mm flue pipes/fittings etc. were easier to source (is a couple of years back though).
The stove appears to rely mainly (only?) on radiation to distribute heat so I suspect the sides and back could possibly get very hot (relevant for how close other items/furniture etc  can/should be around it). Maybe the natural stone lining will mitigate this (and possibly also prolong the life of the firebox).
replacement availability for the stone liner though? (think stone will over time crack or to some extent erode)
the dimensions (visually) make the ash drawer seem possibly a bit small (not fun if you have to empty it every day or even more than once if burning it for a whole day).
Stove is (at least looks) very low to the floor - if you are married and need practice asking for forgiveness the extra kneeling when adding fuel (for the stove...) is handy, otherwise a stove that is higher might be nicer to run.
No detail on the door handle. Some stoves have a relataively "cool touch" handle - while others require a glove to touch when the stove is going. (same as a cast iron skillet on a stove you WILL forget that glove at least once...)... little kids around.....shoo-shoo
No axe to grind with the manufacturer (even less so seeing that they are local) but with (all) fireplaces/stoves the numbers should be approached with a fairly large pinch of salt (low sodium where possible). I see they quote a max output number but no nominal? How was the number determined? Here I suspect we (in South Africa) are waaayyyy behind the European countries where there are standards for stoves (NRS 097-2 or SANS 10142 for stoves basically...)
In general I will advise
1) like for solar - first determine as accurately as possible what heat capacity you need (it is not that difficult to calculate total area, calculate some R-values/U-values for room material, use google/accuweather to get some historic weather info and calculate expected heat loss to get a sense what you are planning for). Too large a stove (output wise) could actually be worse that too small  - as  far as I know these stoves should not really be operated "choked down" (contributes to soot and creosote buildup in the chimney which has a fire risk).
2) budget for a proper install. Ideally stainless steel flue pipes - double walled AND insulated when entering the ceiling/roof space (relevant to reduce fire risk and helps flue operate optimally). Correct height of the flue (need certain clearances depending of pitch of roof, distance from top of roof, neighbouring big trees etc). The flue is a very big part of what makes these stoves operate well and efficient. Decent flashing (and someone skilled at actually fitting it)  - watching water run down the flue is not as much fun as watching the flames dance..
3) get a good supplier of wood (and then tell no one). Wood must be DRY (like in ideally at least 3 years since first cut). Lots of alien wattle around which burns quite well but to me it seems like bluegum has a greater energy density. Make sure the wood supply will fit in the firebox without touching the sides (logs should actually lie flat on a bed of coals - not the little pyramids that we seem so fond of). (if the stove is running optimally with good dry wood there should be virtually NO smoke visible exiting the flue).
4) look at things like minimum distances advised by the manufacturer from walls etc (peeling paint and cracked plaster - especially behind the stove is not unheard of)
tldnr: no experience of the brand but plenty to say.

Hey Everyone,
I have been silently following this forum for some time, even though I had a genie. We wanted to get solar around 2 years ago, but the upfront cost was just too much. so we got a 18Kv diesel genie which worked 100%. The problem was that people complained about the noise and soon after they changed the time frame to use a genie. We decided to do what we wanted 2 years ago. Go solar!
I have done a lot of research and learned a helluva lot during this period. Everything was designed and installed by myself with knowledge also gained from this forum.
The components I used for this below;
Goodwe ES5048 3x Pylontech 3.5 batteries 12x JA Solar PERC 410w panels Various AC and DC breakers Various trunking, crimpers, lugs, plugs, ferrules etc. AC wring all 10mm used DC wiring 35mm on Batt, 6mm on solar (had 25mm on, and started to get hot when added the 3rd batttery) These were bought from various suppliers. 
First was to create a base layout of the system.
Amberfield Solar Rev06.pdf
Then the DB layout of how the non essential and essential loads would be wired into the main DB.
DB Layout.pdf
The hardest part was to get the battery cabinets that high without any help mounted correctly. 








The system works absolutely amazing. Nice to do anything during the day knowing eskom's straw is blocked now. 
 

So since I've setup my blue install I have come across node red ... awesome is all I can say.
Last night I hacked together a little UI with some information that I wanted to see.
It also shows the grid status and announces if the status of the grid changes.
On the configuration tab I've added manual switching of relays on the venus for a start.
I'll of course add to this as I go along and update here. Things on the road map:
    - See if I can use sun forecasting to determine how much I discharge the batteries at night
    - There are certain things I want to control given the various states my system is in
    - Add a button to control modes of ESS if needed (rather than having to go through the menus on the Venus)
NOTE - Victron actually has a node-red ready version of Venus OS. Super nice, but I found as soon as I start using the UI it kills the performance of the venus.
NOTE - It was night time when I took the pic, hence no PV
The flows are available from here: https://github.com/sparkmark/victron_node_red

 

 

 

Hey all ...
I reached out to Dyness (China) for the settings required and battery cable configuration. I got a response the next day which was great.
----------
You need to make sure that the dip switch on the master battery is 0010. This is the default on battery from the factory.
Make sure to update you Venus firmware to at least 2.42
For the can bus use : CAN-bus BMS (500 kbit/s)
Make up a cable as per below:

If all works well, then you should see "Dyness-L Battery" appear as a device on the Venus
On the Venus set the following:
Goto Settings -> System Setup -> Battery Monitor and choose "Dyness-L Battery on CAN-bus"
Goto Settings -> DVCC -> Turn on DVCC
Goto Settings -> DVCC -> Enable "Limit Charge Current"
Goto Settings -> DVCC -> Set maximum charge current = 100A
Goto Settings -> DVCC -> Turn OFF SVS
Goto Settings -> DVCC -> Turn ON STS
Goto Settings -> DVCC -> SCS should show as Disabled (External Control)
On the Inverter set the following:
Battery type = Lithium Charge Curve = Fixed Bulk Voltage: 53.5 Float Voltage: 51v Sustain Voltage: 49v Absorption Voltage: 52v Absorption Time: 1hr Cut off Voltage: 46v DC Input low shutdown: 44v DC Input low restart: 48v DC Input low pre-alarm: 48v Dynamic Cut Off Values: 46v (all options) Restart off-set: 1.2v Checking The Configuration
Goto Dyness-L Battery -> Parameters. If the battery is fully charged then CCL should show as 0.0A and DCL as 120A (30A per battery). This means that the battery is talking to the Inverter
Here is a list for other SOC's

Hope this helps someone. Mine seems to be working well now.

Make sure this is on (under VRM Portal settings):

Then on VRM you can find it here:

For goodness sake just send me your VRM url so I can look...

Any Warnings? My friend had temperature warning, which was one of the screws where the PV cable connects to the MPPT,  just needed to be tightened up a bit more. His would act out in the middle of the day or when things got hot.. and switch off.
 

At the risk of appearing condescending (definitely not intended).
The basics:
During a power outage you (may) need a battery that provides power to an inverter, the inverter converts the Direct Current (DC) electricity (like what is in a car battery, or AA battery) to Alternating Current (AC) electricity (like what normally comes out of the house wall plug - roughly 230Volt in South Africa) which will power the laptop/router.
The battery capacity (often in Amp Hours or Ah) will be one factor that determines how long your backup power supply will last - it is sort of like a car's petrol tank (it will very much influence how far/how long you can drive).
The inverter "size" (often indicated as KVA or W) will sort of determine how many things (or how big a total thing) you can connect at one time and give it power - it is sort of like the car's engine size (a 1 liter engine is not as "strong" as a 5 liter engine).
How many things you connect at the same time will also influence how long the battery can provide power. Putting 14 people in a datsun Go will likely mean you use more petrol while you drive and empty the tank quicker. (the router is one person, the laptop another).
Putting one sumo wrestler in the dasun Go will also use more petrol than when it is just the average (??) 70Kg person. If you connected an electric kettle (many electric kettles use about 2000W...)  to the inverter it could be a sumo wrestler that drains the petrol tank too quickly or the datsun might not even be strong enough to move the sumo wrestler, so you could need a bigger engined car (in stead of 1000W inverter you get a 3000W inverter).
So you need to determine how big a load you need to power (how heavy is the router and laptop) for "size" of inverter and for how long you need to power it (size of tank) for battery capacity.
The router power supply and laptop power supply will likely indicate somewhere on it what their Watt ratings are (I have an ancient Dell which indicates it is a 90W power supply). If you add up the total wattages of the router and laptop power supplies you will know how "big" inverter you need. For JUST a router and laptop a 3000VA (which is sort of the same as 3000W) inverter is like likely waaayyyy more than you will need - but there is in essence nothing wrong with connecting a small load to a big inverter.
If you know the size of the total load that you need to power you can multiply it by time (in hours) to get an idea of how big the battery will need to be. Assume the router and laptop combined are 100W  and you use it 4 hours you will use 400 Wh. Then divide the W number by the battery voltage of the inverter system (it looks like the Voltons use 24V battery systems) to get the Ah needed  (400W/24V=16.67Ah) So to power the 100W load for 4 hours, using a 24 Volt battery system you will need at least a 16.67Ah battery . To be safe, now divide the Ah by 0.85 (this gives a bit extra breathing room because when converting DC to AC electricity some of it is wasted). 16.67Ah /0.85 = 19.6Ah. Last part that can now get the rabbit hole to completely diverge in a deserted forest where no one hears a tree fall  - it could help to know what type of battery is used in the inverter system because some batteries will last for a total shorter life time (the battery will "break" sooner) if you use more than 50% of their capacity at a time. In that case I would round up my 19.6 Ah to 20Ah and multiply by 2, which means I would get at least a 40Ah battery to power my 100W load for 4 hours with a 24V battery and not use more than 50% of it during that 4 hours..
If you knew all of this, my apologies, then I jump ahead  - I unfortunately have no knowledge or experience of the Volton systems so have no idea about good/bad/quality/price etc.
By the way, something that could be useful especially if you do not want to go overboard initially before you move, and if needing to externally power only the router - many routers   operate on DC (5V, 12V etc.) - you may be able to get away with only using some version of a power bank (without any inverter) to power the router and do your best to have the laptop battery charged when load shedding starts, and turn down screen brightness/use the power saving features when running the laptop on the built-in battery to make it last as long as possible.
 

Hah! I'm a long time Toyota fan and I've had two Corollas in the last 20 years. I think it is unfair to compare a Corolla to any Voltronic... 😛
 

There isn't a set timetable. It is released when it is ready. Roughly once every 6 months. You can however select to follow the candidate releases. Then you will get 2.60 pre-releases and you can test it.
2.51 is a maintenance release. It contains a handful of fixes. 2.52 will probably follow soon now, which again is only a few small fixes, the bigger one being support for a new BYD battery.