RichieRich

Update: I have recently upgraded the firmware in my US3000Bs to 2.8, and this issue has been resolved.  They seem to have taken a different approach to deciding that the SOC is 100% - it now needs a higher voltage to get there (52.9V vs 52.5V previously). There is also no longer a "buffer" above 100 - as soon as you start discharging the SOC (which is rounded down to the next integer value) drops to 99%.
Sadly the ridiculous "feature" of the reported SOC being stuck at 89% during charging is still there.  It is a ratchet effect: it will not go up but it will come down.  Once this offset between real and reported SOC is present it can only be reset by charging to 100% SOC.

Check Amazon, loads available cheap 

Hello
Has anyone installed or looked into these solar tiles ? I’m going to be renovating my house soon which will include a new roof. So I’m wondering if this is a viable option ? 
SOLAR-QA-04_07_2019-QA-2.pdf

Hi @Coulomb @weber
I see that you've done a lot of work for the PV community, namely when comes to improving firmware of a numerous Voltronic Axpert inverters. I noticed, that you're giving your time for free and also do not posses a sample of Axpert King, which greatly limits your ability to continue with the firmware testing and development.
Although I'm not personally using any Axpert, I am a big fan of self-sustainability and renewable energy sources. Therefore, I'd like to help you a bit:
I am publicly offering you a one-time sponsorship of 1000 USD, so you will be able to obtain necessary Axpert King sample. There's just one condition: you will include me as a HW sponsor in the Readme.txt file of all the future releases of Axpert King patched firmware. If you do agree, just send me your PayPal address in a PM.
This is not a joke.
Youda

@Youda You sir are a gentleman! 

Maybe a gofundme page? I am sure others share your sentiments. 

Will it be possible to share the latest firmware?
Thanks,
Dewald

can you share this file for us on 71.86 to upgrade? 

If you use the ICC to  pylontech connection cable and set ICC to read your batteries. You will then be able to set ICC the change to grid supply at any given SOC and return to battery at another given SOC. 

If you use the ICC to  pylontech connection cable and set ICC to read your batteries. You will then be able to set ICC the change to grid supply at any given SOC and return to battery at another given SOC. 

If you use the ICC to  pylontech connection cable and set ICC to read your batteries. You will then be able to set ICC the change to grid supply at any given SOC and return to battery at another given SOC. 

I don't know. I have an 18-liter on the main house and I get maybe 6 weeks out of a 48kg, but the one 9kg I used one time lasted almost 2 weeks, which comes out to 10 weeks if I extrapolate it forward. The reverse result of what you got...
My only conclusion is that usage pattern might be more variable than you and I think. You think there's been no change, but maybe there was. Even slightly cooler weather could lead to showers that are 1 minute longer, and that will add up quickly.
I plan on installing some kind of load-cell and-or pressure sensor at some point so I can track it, but more importantly, get a warning when it is about to run out. I have the silly situation that the gas feeds both my geyser and the stove. The stove can run that bottle right down to nothing, but the gas geyser begins to give up (goes into a cyclic tick-tick-tick-ignite, die, repeat) long before that. Always does it in the middle of the wife's shower. Well once it did give up in one of my showers, but that doesn't count... cause I can't yell at myself 😛
So then for a few days we run on the old bottle during the day (or the stove) and switch to the new bottle tonight. So I'm also considering just splitting the system. Separate bottles for cooking and water.
I'm also considering going back to a solar/electric setup. Despite what people say about Eskom, it's just more reliable than my own ability to track how much gas I have out back 🙂
 

Check and see if it does it in SbU. Ive noticed in SUB that the solar supply seems to "hunt" a bit when the batteries are full and the load is low. This could be what you are seeing. I don't use SUB very often so can't really offer more at the moment. Do you have ICC monitoring the King ?

Yes from the download section here on the forum. 

Good Day,
Went out and picked up a Axpert KS 2KVA inverter, x2 105ah lead acid deep cycle batteries, summoned my electrician mate and voila. Load shedding a thing of the past.
The unit is not connected to any PV panels.
During load shedding the inverter is operating between 50 - 75% 
After the 2 hours of load shedding is up and mains kick in the inverter is now charging the batteries. 
Some questions:
1) Every now and then upon charging and after I hear 2 very quick beeps. As well as a single beep. These are few and far between. What are these beeps about?
2) Do I need to adjust any settings to optimise battery performance and longevity or will the factory ones suffice for this super simple setup?
 
Thanks in advance.
NN

Correct. All the 250V models uses the newer platform, it also has a different CPU and some other things you will not know by just looking at it 🙂
 

The battery icon flashes when there is successful communication  between the inverter and battery.  

Started 2013 with 200 watt panel , 2 * Deltec 105ah batteries , 20 A PWM charge controller and 600 watt inverter . Today we are offgrid and no loadsheading since 2015 . Then whenever the power does go off we get a SMS  . Is your power off ???

The battery icon flashes when there is successful communication  between the inverter and battery.  

I shutdown the load from the inverter then the turned off my solar supply and finally turned off my utility supply. So I was left with the inverter only running on batteries. Connected the inverter to my laptop via a serial to usb connector. I ran the screen firmware 2.00 update first.
Then ran the 71.86 update and it loaded fine.
I turned on everything in the reverse order. 
I did however have to purchase another serial to usb connector as the first one I bought didn’t want to work with the software. 
This is the one I bought second time round. And it worked perfectly. 
https://www.takealot.com/trendnet-usb-to-serial-converter/PLID29271821

I shutdown the load from the inverter then the turned off my solar supply and finally turned off my utility supply. So I was left with the inverter only running on batteries. Connected the inverter to my laptop via a serial to usb connector. I ran the screen firmware 2.00 update first.
Then ran the 71.86 update and it loaded fine.
I turned on everything in the reverse order. 
I did however have to purchase another serial to usb connector as the first one I bought didn’t want to work with the software. 
This is the one I bought second time round. And it worked perfectly. 
https://www.takealot.com/trendnet-usb-to-serial-converter/PLID29271821

Today I updated my September 2018 King firmware from 71.50 to 71.86. I also updated the screen firmware to 2.00. The updates went well and took about 15 minutes to complete.
After changing setting 5 to PYL and waiting about a minute. I now have communication between the batteries and the inverter. So it seems (for my inverter anyway) the 2018 Kings do have the correct hardware to communicate with Pylontech batteries.
  
 

Today I updated my September 2018 King firmware from 71.50 to 71.86. I also updated the screen firmware to 2.00. The updates went well and took about 15 minutes to complete.
After changing setting 5 to PYL and waiting about a minute. I now have communication between the batteries and the inverter. So it seems (for my inverter anyway) the 2018 Kings do have the correct hardware to communicate with Pylontech batteries.
  
 

They work with IR so one per room. 

Yes, this unit uses clip-on current transformer as a probe, therefore it works only with the grid-interactive inverters. In other words, inverter must be a hybrid with the grid feed-in enabled or on-grid. The geyser-side of the diverting unit contains a high-power Triac or an SSR relay, that is modulating the AC power going to the geyser according to excessive PV power. So the batteries are not drained, nor is the energy being pulled from the grid. It works just like a variable speed trigger on the cordless drill
 
To be honest, I'm quite amazed that a similar device is not being used widely 🤔
In my country, almost every PV system has a similar (cheaper) device included in the setup. It's called "Wattrouter":

 
For the off-grid systems a lot of people here are using a different diverting device, that's monitoring the battery voltage and current. When the battery is full, the device gradually increases AC power for the geyser, and looks whether this action caused the voltage drop on the battery or not. If no voltage drop is observed, the power to the geyser is increased and vice versa. The name is "GreenBono AKU":

 
Cool is, that both diverting methods (based on the AC export / battery state) are able to automatically react to the weather and clouds, while at the same time they utilize almost every watt of the sunshine. And the end of the day, your batteries are fully charged and the geyser is full of hot watter
 
Which leads me back to my original question: Do you know any similar device, available world-wide, that I can safely recommend to someone living in SA, USA, etc.?
Of course, I can always recommend the two devices above, but they are local-products so I bet that their import to the non-EU countries will be a bit complicated...
 
Thanks guys!
Youda
 
 
 
 

Nuno,
if you are familiar with programming PI, then you can code a short "load automation" that will pull as much power as possible, while not draining the batteries at the same time. Something like this, for example:
- Have the two relays that will turn-on a heater element. 2kW each.
- Add the SSR relay with 0-10V control, put third 2kW heating on it.
- Read-out the stats from Axpert via RS232
All of the above can be controlled by a single PI, where code logic is like this:

- read battery charging current from Axpert, if it's more than 0.5A, then:
close the SSR relay a little (via PWM to 0-10V conversion) if the SSR is fully closed (10V), then open the SSR (0V) and fully close the first relay if the SSR is fully closed AND first relay is closed then open the SSR (0V) and close second relay - read battery charging current from Axpert, if it's less than 0.5A, then:
do the same like the above, but reversed read AC Watts from axpert ->  now you know what's the maximum power available just now With the code above, you have an "intelligent load" that's varying from 0 to 6 kW in a very smooth steps. And it's a nice PI project too
PS: Yes, you need to add IF + ELSE + ELSEIF statements to the above, in order to work it properly. But the logic is obvious - with just couple of relays and a weak SSR you can scale this to tens of kilowatts of smooth load.