shanghailoz

@Leshen Wanted to check with you - the panels you have exceed the MPPT 18A limit - does the inverter clip ok? Are these the panels you have? JAM72S09 -390/PR Thinking to do the same - 8 x 3 strings for 24 panels total (on the Sunsynk 8KW)

Limited has one m. 😀

Suggest speak to Revov directly, and have one of their guys take a look. https://www.revov.co.za / https://revov.co.za/contact-us/ If you are in the Cape - its either Dawie (sales) or Geert (technical). Both of whom are quite responsive. Their contact details are on the revov site.

Datasheet is in the beginning of the thread 2120mm x 1052mm

Looks like the best bang / buck is the 325 @ 1540 at 4.73/KW The 455 are (well, were) tempting, but I'm not space limited. 325 @ 1540. = R4.73/KW 455 @ 2320 = R5.09/KW I'm looking for 9kw odd on the new build so its a case of 30 x 325 = 9750KW at R46200 vs 20 x 455 = 9100KW at R46400 Decisions...

...and a Sunsynk 8.8KW. have emailed.

I'd be interested in 20 of the 455w.

I did get a contact from someone on the forum, and the guy came out to quote. The quote was a little out of my ballpark, so looks like I won't be going that route! I think I'll be diy'ing it. Will update once I have some progress.

I see that the vrm shot above glitched for battery level - i'm definitely seeing the stats though typically I usually keep a window open to http://venus.local on my laptop so I can keep an eye out on values. Now that the system seems to be more stable in terms of generation/discharge, I can be less cautious. In an ideal world, I'd probably double up on storage, and solar generation. For now, I'm happy though.

A shot from this morning at 8:30am or so. You can see that battery logging (the blue line) started from 11am yesterday when I plugged in the new cable, and see the discharge overnight for the battery to get down to about 60% capacity. You can also clearly see that generation is throttled when the battery is full (the orange lines in the graph). While 40% discharge would be worrying on Lead Acid, for Lithium, thats pretty ok. I may add more generation though, as having 20KWhr of battery feels like it would be better in the long run, so I don't need to worry too much about a week or two of marginal winter generation. Worst case scenario for me in winter is turn stuff off, or grab a generator if I really must, but I'd like to avoid that if I rent out the place, and not have to worry about tenants killing expensive batteries.

I wouldn't necessarily trust the installer to be honest. Get the relevant cables and check settings yourself (or get someone competent to do so) is the longer term answer. Is the system connected to the internet for logging? If so, then we can potentially check remotely. Can you list or take photos of your setup? From what I saw - Multiplus 48v/5k + Smartsolar 150/100 + Revov Batteries. What other equipment is there? Do you have other batteries? We need to check the configuration for the inverter to see what its setup as. Check the voltage settings on the mptt for the battery (and make sure its set correctly, and not using defaults for say Lead Acid (which is quite possible)). Right now I don't have enough of a picture of your setup to give you proper advice, so I won't recommend anything till we know more. Confident that we can sort you out though!

Received my 2nd ve.direct -> usb cable today (thanks Jaco / Glodina for the fast shipping), and can finally have both sets of stats (mppt, battery on ve.direct, and inverter on ve.bus) Now, I finally have logging for production, consumption, and battery. As you can see in the graph, solar production tapers off once battery is full, as the MPPT throttles output to match usage. I don't have a grid connection (we're completely offgrid), so no to/from grid.

I have the same setup, although I have the canbus device for the battery to talk to the inverter also. Its pretty obvious what the issue is - your battery voltage is too low! 50V is really the minimum, yours is saying 46v. You should set cut off at 50v. The batteries should be sitting in the 52-54.5v range. 46v is way out of spec. I'll bet that the mppt isn't setup correctly, and you have been abusing your batteries. Thinking about it, the BMS should actually cut off completely at 49.8v odd, and cut the power. You shouldn't be able to get that low, so something is wrong there also. Can you take more photos of the cabling setup to the rest of the equipment so we can advise you.

Seemed to work out ok. Production throttled as expected when battery filled up at 11am or so. I need to start using more power in the daytime!

Can do firmware updates over the internet now, which is nice, as the firmware was oldish on the unit. Now I have PV finally. (Although it won't kick in until tomorrow). Had to unplug my battery ve.direct and connect to the MPPT, which means I need to order another ve.direct -> usb cable for my PI.

Victron 150/70 MPPT installed - mostly, so I can haz logging... Although there is the one point - that the FM80 is a bit noisy when the fan kicks in 2-3 times a day; the Victron MPPT is fanless, so should be quieter overall. Also redoing a bunch of networking, so many network cables hanging about. Fun. fun.

FM80 about to get replaced. FM80 does get a bit noisy when the fans kick in every now and then - the Victron is fanless, so should be silent. Lots of network cables around the place, ignore the mess 😀

https://www.nationalpolyindustries.com.au/2018/06/15/partially-or-fully-burying-poly-water-tanks/ Burying Poly Rainwater Tanks (guide only) YOU MUST SEEK AN ENGINEERS ADVICE REGARDING YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION. As a guide only we recommend that you do not bury your tank anymore than 1 metre into the ground. You must dig your hole 300mm (12″) wider than the base diameter of your tank. If two tanks are to be buried side by side then separate holes must be dug. Prepare tank base as per our Base Preparation requirements above. Completely fill tank with water first, then backfill the hole with compacted crusher dust and cement powder. Compact 75-100mm (3-4″) at a time. We also suggest that you erect a fence for safety reasons around the tank. Backfill Ratio = 3 parts crusher dust to 1 part cement powder. (So I still suggest ask an engineer!)

Likely you'll need to speak to an engineer to get their approval for excavation there, so they can ensure that the existing wall will hold the load correctly. Or advise as to what physical supports are needed to facilitate your request. Council will need their sign-off for any work.

As an update, I contacted a few people on Gumtree that advertise as doing greywater installs. Zero got back to me. Thats the problem in SA - everyone moans about business being hard, but no-one replies to emails..

Looking for suggestions on someone to install a rainwater system in Deep South, Cape Town. I'm on a hill, top of the property is about 30m higher than the bottom. House 1 (lower house) I have a 2500L tank already fed from the roof. (Probably could do with another tank or a much larger one as it fills to overflowing when it rains!) Would like to feed the water into the toilet and use the rainwater for flushing, and for it to be fairly hands off. Any people you can recommend? House 2 (upper house, same plot; still being built) I have a small stream of water coming down the mountain and ending up in the basement/garage. Would like to save some of it, instead of using gravity to get rid of it (a hosepipe currently, dripping away day in day out). It's not much water, but it's continuous, and seems to last a few months into summer, then gone till next winter. I have plenty of space on the plot, and am not adverse to adding more tanks as needed. Give me ideas!

Finally got around to installing more panels in my offgrid setup in Noordhoek. Originally I had 6 panels -> FM80 -> Dead Acid ->Victron 24v 3000va At some point earlier in the year, I finally got around to installing the 10KW LFP I had lying around since 2019. ...and Now, I finally got around to installing another 6 panels to make it 12 panels on the roof as of yesterday. Setup is fully offgrid. I've been offgrid here since I built the place on the plot, never ever had Eskom or CoCT 6 panels worked fine for me on my own, even in winter, but now the GF is living in the house, electricity use has gone up, and we needed more generation, mostly for the crappy winter days, as 6 panels was pretty marginal. I was fine with turning off stuff and waiting for a day or two to do clothes washing. The woman wasn't. Doubling generation capacity enables me to not worry about that. We're already quite low on power usage - we hover around 4KW / day usage, with NAS+POE Camera's + Electric Fence + Fridge + Lighting ++ Current setup here is a 48v 3000va Victron Multiplus + 12 x 300w panels + FM80 + 10KW LFP The FM80 doesn't talk to the Victron so no stats on solar (will be replacing it next week). Was enough originally to last about 4 days of crap weather, now we shouldn't be too perturbed about things. You can see where we installed the panels in the middle of the day yesterday, then the sharp increase in generation. Overall quite happy with the slapdash way I've handled the install. Panels have been reused as I need them from my other installs. The backend side will be installed properly in a week or two once I have the Victron MPPT that my accountant is selling me. No photos till then of that, as its a... mess. Its been a mess for 5+ years though, so... Panels are installed in 3S 2P x 2 36v x 3 = 108v @ 8a per string of 3 panels in series. Which is then paralled for 108v @ 16a for the 3strings in parallel x 2. And I have 2 sets of that running back the MPPT in the house. Used a Y adaptor to conjoin the strings on the roof, as I didn't feel like running more cabling. Once I get the Victron MPPT will be wiring in a DC disconnect on the backend. It's been wired directly for a few years, as I like to live dangerously (aka it worked, and I left it to do other stuff).

That system is offline now, as I've moved most of my panels to another location. The house my 3 phase setup was installed in is rented out, and I didn't trust the tenants with not farking up the batteries. I'll move most of the equipment at some point to my new house once finished next year. My current setup is now mostly Victron based. 10KW LFP Renov Battery + 48v 3KW + 12 Panels + FM80 (soon to be replaced with a Victron 150/80 MPPT solely for the logging, as my accountant is updating his system) Growatt was excellent in terms of support, although I dealt directly with them in China. Like I mentioned, they actually contacted me to let me know that they are NERSA certified, and "legal" to install. Their equipment is pretty solid. It just works. I bought the low end industrial stuff though, so YMMV. I'm still running on the pallet of panels I brought in 10 years ago... Some wear on those - although I've moved the ones i'm currently using, around between 3 locations now. Still pulling in the KW so all good.

Way to resurrect a necro thread @WeNotGood I bought a 10.2KW set of the Revov refurb batteries for 35k delivered vat incl. last year Installed and running with them. Fairly happy. I do about 30-40% discharge overnight currently. Rough back of envelope calc - 365 days x 10 years x 10 kw = 36500 KW @ R35000 = R0.96 /KWhr for product lifetime. Haven't found anything near that cost since. I just added more panels to my setup today. (finally got to 12 x 300W instead of 6 x 300W). Next up I'll be replacing my FM80 with a Victron and going almost entirely Blue.

Try not to hijack threads. Use a new thread for new unrelated questions. 365w panels probably circa 45v each? @ 8a? In series will likely be close to 45v x 4 = 180v @ 8a. / and 52v @ open load. or 208v max. (Values are my educated guesstimate, read your panel specs for actual values) Whats the voltage rating for the MCB? Personally I would go for something with a higher amp rating, as you'll probably want to add more panels in future. eg a cursory google shows 600v / 63A is around R450 or so. - https://www.enway.co.za/beny-pv-mcb Voltex or similar will probably be cheaper. Before you do anything, confirm the model of the inverter, so we can check max input voltage. You may want to put the panels in a 2S 2P setup instead. (2 in series x 2 in parallel). Which would be 90v @ 16A (again depending on your actual panel specs). You want to make sure that the open load for the panels doesn't exceed your MPPT inverters input. My suggestion - before you do anything, give us more details on the equipment.