Russell

I really love the Victron suite of software. The VRM portal really sold me on going for Victron for my home.
Not one to pass up the opportunity to fiddle with it I thought it would be nice to make a kind of "realtime" dashboard for display inside the house using an old phone/tablet. For me the requirements are:
Show the information I am interested in seeing at a glance (kitchen tablet). Full screen optimised for landscape viewing. Less data use than the VNC animation but more realtime than VRM (when out and about on mobile data). Think of it as the Marine App https://github.com/victronenergy/venus-html5-app but for home use. I'm not a UI person so its not nearly as pretty as that but I'll improve it with time. I'll also add more information relevant for a home that makes sense for a dashboard type display.
I'd thought I'd share it for anyone who wants to give a go. DISCLAIMER - I've put it together for MY system so your milage will vary. For instance the battery display shows nothing for lead acids right now. Only tested on Chrome. I know the Full Screen option will not necessarily work on other browsers.
Getting Started: Go to http://housealarm.io/victron. Click "Configure" and enter you Venus IP address. With a bit of luck it will work.
EDIT: Copy Right Infringement - It may be a bad idea to include the Victron badge. I'm more than happy to remove that.
 

It's hidden under an item named "MFD integration". MFD == Multi Function Display. Raymarine and Garmin are the most well known.
It's mainstream. It was the largest bullet point for the v2.30 release 🙂
 

Canvu is more for the marine market. If you look at it carefully, it has more in common with Raymarine or Garmin MFDs. Also, that's not really a "remote" panel, it's a new device, as you noted.
The Octo-GX is a beaglebone, just like the Venus-GX. It just provides more connections. So this issue is analogous to having a remote console for the Venus-GX, and the way to do that is a web browser on some kind of tablet.
The downside at the moment: Only one concurrent connection is allowed. So you can't have multiple displays, and if you connect from one device the others will be disconnected and you'd have to "swipe down to reload" them.
You could also look at the MFD integration web app, by appending /app/ to the end of the url. Or you can look at deepsquater's dashboard which does something similar, making a web application that feeds from mqtt.

So there is a LOT of terminology at play here, but let me start with the latest one, which is called DVCC. That's distributed voltage and current control, and there's two ways this can be used. The first one is in an ESS system, where the Multi controls the solar chargers. But ESS systems are normally not used off-grid, so ignore that one. The second is when you're using an intelligent battery -- in other words a lithium battery with a BMS -- in an off-grid system. Then the battery controls the solar chargers and dictate the charge voltage. Both are examples of DVCC usage (something else dictates the charge parameters).
Your picture shows BlueNova batteries. If you use those, you will turn on the DVCC configuration option. When the battery is in control, there isn't really a "charge cycle" in the normal sense where you have bulk, absorption and float, the solar charger simply does what the battery asks (which is  normally to charge to a specific charged voltage). The solar charger also has its "BMS" setting turned on, so that should it lose communications with the battery it will stop charging.
Without an intelligent battery, you will program the solar chargers with the correct voltages. With the Smart chargers you can configure them into a network so they work following the same cycle. In such a setup the Venus-GX becomes a passive monitoring device and no control is done.

First let me thank admin for a great website as well as all the guys giving so much input and advice for new comers like myself. I have read many posts with regards to CoCT legislations and decided it would be best to go Off-Grid. This way I am not limited to 3Kw array and would not need the services of an Engineer. My garage and granny flat roof space is limited to accept about 16 solar panels. I therefore decided to go with the 405W panels which is 2.1 X 1 meter in size. They are also 48V so my conductor size would be smaller. The remaining 8 solar panels would be mounted on the house roof which is east facing. I would then have a total of 24 X 405-Watt panels giving me a total of 9.72kWatt.

This made me go for the Victron Quattro 48/10 000 inverter. In the near future I might install a generator for when I need to charge the batteries. Reading the various websites, I opted for the Victron 250/100 MPPT controller which boast an efficiency of 99%. The online excel file opted I use 4 PV panels in series and 3 parallel string.
 
I'm still not sure if I should use the CCGX or the Venus Victron controller. Any thoughts here please? I was planning on having the Color controller where it is always visible in the kitchen. While the inverter, batteries and solar controllers are all connected inside the garage. Lastly there is a 24kW lithium battery bank with 460A capacity.
My first task would be to split my existing DB and also have a Non-Essential group of consumers. I decided to still have the municipal power connected if in the future I would sell the property. I’m hoping CoCT would relax their laws then it might be possible to use the other AC input in the Quattro unit and go Hybrid. Any help and advice to this plan would be appreciated.

First let me thank admin for a great website as well as all the guys giving so much input and advice for new comers like myself. I have read many posts with regards to CoCT legislations and decided it would be best to go Off-Grid. This way I am not limited to 3Kw array and would not need the services of an Engineer. My garage and granny flat roof space is limited to accept about 16 solar panels. I therefore decided to go with the 405W panels which is 2.1 X 1 meter in size. They are also 48V so my conductor size would be smaller. The remaining 8 solar panels would be mounted on the house roof which is east facing. I would then have a total of 24 X 405-Watt panels giving me a total of 9.72kWatt.

This made me go for the Victron Quattro 48/10 000 inverter. In the near future I might install a generator for when I need to charge the batteries. Reading the various websites, I opted for the Victron 250/100 MPPT controller which boast an efficiency of 99%. The online excel file opted I use 4 PV panels in series and 3 parallel string.
 
I'm still not sure if I should use the CCGX or the Venus Victron controller. Any thoughts here please? I was planning on having the Color controller where it is always visible in the kitchen. While the inverter, batteries and solar controllers are all connected inside the garage. Lastly there is a 24kW lithium battery bank with 460A capacity.
My first task would be to split my existing DB and also have a Non-Essential group of consumers. I decided to still have the municipal power connected if in the future I would sell the property. I’m hoping CoCT would relax their laws then it might be possible to use the other AC input in the Quattro unit and go Hybrid. Any help and advice to this plan would be appreciated.

Oooh yay!
$ apt-cache search electrotech qelectrotech - Electric schematic editor qelectrotech-data - symbols needed for qelectrotech qelectrotech-examples - examples files for qelectrotech It's packaged already!

Well when I first asked the SA distributor it was confirmed that Multi and Ziehl are fine for COCT. Further to that a document was issued by Victron further confirming the combination to be compliant with NRS-097. Then the note on the list stating the list is a guide only. Then I am an electronics engineer and have the NRS docs and can understand them. I also help Victron with beta testing of firmware so I know the system pretty well. Just for interest sake as far as experience goes I probably hold the SA record for most microprocessor based from scratch designs (several hundred) in all sorts of environments, most in aviation so I think I understand safety pretty well. Point is I understand the regulations and have the docs.
Now my mind certainly boggles at this. You are aware that the infamous list contains an inverter that has NO grid disconnect whatsoever ? Just a note that you have to combine it with an external approved grid monitoring system (such as the Ziehl). By comparison the Multi with its built in anti-islanding is leagues ahead. But it is not on the list.
From a safety point of view the Multiplus plus the Ziehl not only ticks all boxes but exceeds the requirements by a good margin. But you cannot argue with COCT.
Now, I have bad news for all Multigrid or any other Victron inverter. It may be on the list but there are problems. It cannot be connected in normal fashion. COCT's guidelines for a Hybrid system shows very clearly an external changeover device (the famous interlocked switch). There is NO provision for grid parallel operation so the excellent ESS cannot be legally used and neither can the internal transfer switch. This extends to SANS which further underlines these restrictions. We are in a regulatory black hole I am afraid.
Now, do not get me wrong - I sincerely hope your application passes all the hurdles (considering I do not know what kind of diagram you made up for COCT). I have a good friend in a similar boat - he had a 3KVA Multiplus and has swapped it out for a Multigrid to appease COCT (no approval yet, still waiting).
Considering the limitations both in the COCT Hybrid inverter guidelines and SANS the only way to use these things is de-facto off-grid with external change over switch. The internal transfer switch does not tick the boxes. Not that there is anything wrong with the way Victron does things. It's just that there are so many ways to do Solar now the correct way would be to allow anything that is properly qualified and do a blacklist for anything that has been found to pose a problem in whatever way (safety or grid stability). Not going to happen, I know...
A possible way out is to use a Microgrid using a Fonius grid tie. In this case the Victron is no longer an SSEG but effectively becomes a UPS with grid parallel operation. The transfer switch is no longer used and the Victrons output connects to the grid (as does the Fronius). The Victrons A/C input remains empty. The Fronius is now the solar SSEG and approved. The victron with its battery now falls under different rules. The only downside is that you now use the Victrons battery charger to charge the batteries so you loose efficiency. Nothing that a few additional PV panels could not help solve... 

Hi there @The Terrible Triplett - when you completed this form in Oct / Nov, did you fill in your own details under D. INSTALLER DETAILS AND DECLARATION, or were you working together with someone at that point?
I'm considering doing this myself as well, as I can't seem to find an installer who has time to help me at the moment.
(I am exploring the idea of finding a talented electrician and roof climber (for example) so we can install the whole thing together.)

what I do not get is why South Africa with limited resources wants to have more restrictive costly regulations than most of the developed world.
Why is it perfectly ok and safe to connect Axperts in Australia? Why can inverters like the old Victron's be grid tied without an expensive second anti islanding device? Why can an electrician in Switzerland connect a GTI without an engineer and a 20 page document?
The more I learn about our situation the more I come to the conclusion that it has nothing to do with safety.

I don't think so. Did you also point out the uncovered battery terminals and using the same conduit for AC and DC? Although I think SA is to paranoid about the separate conduit requirements for AC and DC if the fusing and insulation resistance aspects of the wires are correctly addressed.

That's how I understood it. Take a look at the typical diagram of a Multi:

The backfeed relay is marked with a red number 1. When the inverter is running grid-parallel, that relay is closed. The inverter component (black box with the = and the ~ signs) is on and moving energy either into or out of the battery. So if you put a changeover on the output side, while it is extremely handy, the battery is technically connected even though we haven't islanded yet.
If the grid fails, the backfeed relay is opened. The battery remains connected, the inverter remains on, the loads on the output remains up.
There is one difference not illustrated here. The NRS-approved inverters have two relays in series and two redundant control circuits and they disconnect the grid as required to form an island. Now the entire time we were discussing this, I thought this method of islanding was against SANS, and that SANS would have to be amended to accommodate it.
But if it will sign off as is... I'm not rocking no boats 🙂

I've just recently got my panels delivering power.  My setup is hybrid - ie grid-tied but with batteries and an inverter which has a second output which stays on even of the grid goes off.
I have a "permission to install" letter but I must still send in the final stuff and hopefully get my OK to formally commission the system.
At the moment then I'm not feeding any power back to my house and purely powering the 'essentials" stuff.
From my side I wouldn't be in too much of a rush to just hire someone to install a system for you - I've realised that this game is quite a complicated trade-off of managing your load deciding what you want out of the system and making judgement calls.  Its a journey better taking at a thoughtful pace in my opinion.
If you are in Cape Town some decisions are made for you - the very simplest way to go is:
Pure grid-tied (inverter goes off if grid goes off) Using a grid-tied inverter on the CoCT list, preferably complying to the latest standard Staying within the city capacity limits ie 3.5kw if you have a 60A supply. If you are willing to pay for the two-way meter then such a setup will earn you money on every watt your panels can make provided you remain a nett consumer.
It is hard to make the numbers work on sell back the way the city has structured the tarriff.  But if you leave out batteries such a system can probably be easily done for something in the R50k ballpark.
Now if you want to keep stuff on when Eskom lets us down things get more complicated.  There are open questions about how to get hybrid inverters approved and so you'll join me and others as a guinea pig of that process.
But for this you need to add batteries - and they are expensive.  I have 2 2.4kW Pylontech batteries and that is at least R30k.  For me those will run my essentials for about 6 hours.  
So now you are probably in the R100k ballpark.
Once you have batteries because you are worried about Eskom - well you can use them also to store up power from your panels and using it in the evenings.  That can mean you can get more out of your panels without having a push-back agreement with CoCT.
You can further optimise your consumption to move more to the daytime - if you can get your house-mates to get out of the habit of running appliances like dishwashers at night.
So there are all sorts of intricacies the think about.
Step one is to understand well where your power goes.
Look out for things that seem like small loads but run all the time. They are great targets since a relatively small system can power them - at least in the day - 8 hours of 500w is 4 kwH -which could easily be 20% of your daily usage and can be supplied with a very modest system with just a few panels.  Computers, even a pool pump - stuff that runs or can run in the daytime.

This is what i am putting forward, is a simple grid-owned MCB solution that is sized for the absolute current value of 25% as being an option.
Sure it would limit what you can draw from the grid, but at the same time it should also be allow you a greater capacity to generate for your own consumption.
Because, if you ever tried to transfer more than a 25% delta the MCB would trip. 
The question is would you prefer to have say 75% of solar, but only be allowed to draw 25% from the grid, or as now, 25% solar but be allowed to supplement that with 75% from the grid.
( Could in fact have more solar than 75% solar with a 25% MCB limit).
Either your MCB prevents that Delta, or your inverter size does.
I am saying if you paid for an existing 80A supply, the you applied to the authorities with your intent to exceed 4.6kVA ( 20A) of embedded generation, then they would come along and replace your 80A MCB with a 20A one with your blessing.
Naturally, the Grid will still have to charge you a standing grid charge for 80A, although you'll be limited to 20A. (They still had to up-size originally for you to downsize later).
Then there would be no need for you to be limited to a 4.6kVA  generation capacity, because the 20A MCB would automatically do that regardless.
It's a simple and cheap solution, not an administrative nightmare of officials and engineers. There would also be less guessing as to solar penetration rates, and and a real growth path for on-grid solar generation to alleviate grid generation pressures without the down-sides.
Already the size of the MCB installed in the meter box is the accepted standard that governs the capacity of a supply. - No change of policy required.
This might be preferable to some, I know it would be for me.

It is not a new inverter. The Quattro has been around for a long time. It is almost identical to the Multiplus but has an additional A/C input.
If it is not on the list you cannot use it. No exceptions and no discussion on how to use it legally will be entered into by COCT at this point in time.
This is not a technical matter - rather it is not certified as component to NRS-097 and probably will never be (hope I am wrong here). It does comply technically but as long as you do not have the South African certification for it you are out of luck. COCT does not accept VDE or any of the many other certifications this inverter has under its belt. It's Boeries en Fleis or nothing...

The Cape Town List is really just a compilation of inverters with NRS097-2-1 papers. Larger Victron inverters (5kva, 10kva) with certification will follow in good time. I've seen some early examples already but unfortunately can't say what the time to market is like.

If what exactly is out of the range? Maximum rated total inverter output, or output to the grid?
Also, do you have experience with the "asking special permission" bit?
If you can share anything with regard to your CoCT sign-off experiences, I would be most grateful to hear!

Based on my initial reading of Cape Town's "Requirements for small-scale embedded generation" [1] (see page 18 for the limits) I interpreted the maximum inverter output limit (3.5kVA for a 60A breaker) as holding even when ZERO feed-in / export was configured in a grid tied system.
However, when I read through NRS 097-2-3 [2] (see around 4.2.2 for example), I'm starting to doubt my earlier assumption. Could it be that the "generation limit" does refer to what is fed back into the grid, and NOT to total inverter output?
Does anyone have actual experience with successfully signing off an inverter with a rated output larger than 3.5kVA on a property with a 60A breaker, where the feed-in to the grid has been limited using an approved mechanism?
[1] http://resource.capetown.gov.za/documentcentre/Documents/Procedures%2c guidelines and regulations/Requiremenst for Samll-Scale Embedded Generation.pdf
[2] http://pqrs.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/NRS-097-2-3-final-2014.pdf

I didn't see anything in their documentation that defines this very clearly. The way I understand it is that the soft limits won't feed back more to the grid than what is set. I get what you're saying though, but it's rather tricky, or vague, speaking to suppliers and trying to fit it all into the regulations. I have been assured though that the soft limits are acceptable. 

Technically that does not comply unless you can prove a hard limit. A hard limit is on that acts instantaneously or is dictated by the maximum power the inverter can produce. Note that this is peak power. The typical grid limiters (internal or external) use regulation to limit the power. This is not instantaneous and can take anywhere from just a few cycles to a few seconds. The assumption is that during the start of this period you are feeding in your peak maximum power briefly if the following condition is met: Your inverter is working at 100% of peak capacity supplying your loads and then you trip all of your loads. At that point in time your inverter feeds all of its power into the grid. Your limiter reacts and regulates the inverter to zero feed in within a few seconds. 
Yes, who cares ? The assumption is that every second house in your street has PV and you all do a maximum load dump at the same time. What does the grid look like at that point in time ? Not very pretty. Those still connected may experience a brief surge causing potential damage. Yes - this is highly unlikely, I know.
COCT is allowed to make exceptions to the inverter size on your connection. That does not mean they have to. 
Nevertheless - it appears they will accept soft limits (i.e. limits set in the inverter setup) - depending on how the South Easter blows on the day of application.

I did the math on the new 335W Canadian Solar modules that came this week.... and you know what,  I made a darn mistake. I thought it was 0.31V for each degree, bit it os 0.31 PERCENT. I will redo it here for the benefit of all, as the numbers do a look a bit better.


Start with 45.8V at 25°C. Subtract 0.31% for each degree under that, let's say at °5C, that is (1+(20*0.31)/100)*45.8V = 48.7V.
At 0°C it is 49.4V.
At -4°C it is 49.9V.
Since -4°C is the lowest on record for Cape Town, you're probably okay, even if just barely so. In the two decades or so that I've lived here, 0°C was the lowest I've seen.
But you really should design this to work elsewhere in the country too. Like Harrismith for example. Or the Sutherland of Namibia (Seëis, pushing -12°C some winters) where those same panels are going to push 51V.
I enjoy what you guys are trying to do here, but I still feel like some fine-tuning will be required 🙂

Fair enough,  you're the boss.
So what are the actual panel specs we have to work with:  Isc , Voc, wattage and cost/watt?
The MPPT choice is not yet on the table until we decide array size.
The array size should be typified on what a typical SAn would want from his system.
I think this means forgetting your own personal circumstance, and considering the best bang for buck.
Realistic criteria to me is achieving maximum bill reduction, and being able to have 2.4kWh x 2hrs load-shedding standby capability.
When load-shedding starts it will be every day for a few days, so my system should replenish fully on a daily basis.
To my mind this means 2.4kWh x 4.5 ( our solar window) + (2 x 2.4kWh x 1.3) ( load-shedding standby x LA battery losses) = 17.04kWh.
And this 17kWh has to be reaped in 4.5 hours, which means I need a 3.8 KWp array.( minimum).
Is my assumption of a 4.5hour  average solar window realistic? Lets hear...