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Ironman

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Everything posted by Ironman

  1. Are these DC pumps? Where is the MPPT? Do you have a link? I currently have a 1500W borehole, with a 100L pressure vessel. Open tap -> pressure drops -> borehole switches on. If I want to change to a low power continuous pump system I will need a large tank, either mounted pretty high or using another pressure booster pump. It all adds up and will be quite costly. I think that for me, the solution lies in reducing the borehole water consumption by improving the efficiency of the irrigation process.
  2. Currently - break in the clouds, getting about 4750W from the sun. Total consumption is about 4540W. So the inverter can only supply 4000W continiously. Drawing just over 500W from the grid, so the inverter is limiting itself to its 4000W rating: But I keep getting these overload warnings: Is it okay to run like that, or should I be worried?
  3. My largest consumption at the moment is the borehole - it is very dry and hot in Gauteng and our garden is a crucial part of the school. A spot of rain will help a lot! We have an automated irrigation system with intelligent timers - but it has stopped working due to our dogs chewing the control cables, and other issues that built up over time . So the garden is being watered manually by staff - starting early morning and continuing most of the day. Unfortunately they are much less efficient because the watering points run much too long. We are planning to fix all the issues with the irrigation system early December - then I will also be able to schedule the irrigation to run after the solar geysers' top up timers. This week's consumption graph: Monday - Wednesday had good sunshine, but I was limited by only having two US3000 batteries connected, and only using 16 of the 20 panels. Solar current was limited to 50%. Battery consumption was also limited. On Wednesday evening I connected up all 4 x US3000 batteries, and you can see the massive increase in battery consumption on Thursday. Grid consumption went down from 10.33 KWH to 1.9 KWH! I also connected the last 4 panels, so all 20 started working and the peak power generated by the panels increased from 4100W to 5200W, but the clouds came Thursday afternoon. Overall solar energy will be way down Thursday and today due to very cloudy skies.
  4. Update: 10 October The replacement parts for the wrong side-plates in the enclosure arrived yesterday - so I assembled the battery enclosure, installed the batteries and connected all up. Added some more trunking for the earth and signal cables, and this is what it looked like with the battery door not fitted: From now on - the system will not be limited by small batteries - I will post an update of a typical day's data soon.
  5. I really want to thank @Jaco de Jongh for coming to help me with this system. He programmed the ESS settings into the Venus GX, and lent me his crimp tools for the MC4, earth lugs and the 35mm cable lugs. He also helped with support and experienced guiding suggestions to help me implement all this. Thanks!
  6. Update: 7 October The last panel arrived, and was installed. All solar cables neatly routed through 25mm conduit to the combiner box under the roof. The earth cable is not finished yet, still lying in the gutter. Waiting for sparky to connect earth to the surge arresters in the combiner box. The enclosure that arrived for holding the 4 * Pylontech US3000 batteries contained one side for 4 X US3000 and one side for 5 X US2000 - so I could not use it. Waiting for replacement. In the mean time, I temporarily connected two US3000 batteries just to be able to use more of the current from the sun. And this is the result after today: Notes: - Still only had 16 of the 20 panels connected - We had an actual power failure from 1am to 5am. Were not aware of it - the Victron system carried all the frigdes and important stuff while we were sleeping - Early power use (5:30 to 7:30) will always be a problem here - the school is starting up - and the batteries will battle. - We had medium cloud coverage from 13:00 to 16:00, connected with very high consumption (solar geysers did not heat up due to clouds, watering garden with borehole) so the battery did not charge fully - Also still limiting the max current from MPPT to 70 amp due to just 2 batteries. When all 4 are connected I can open that up to 100 amp.
  7. Update: Saturday 5 October - the panel install day: First we measured where all the mounting bolts must go - this is very much determined by where the roof beams are! They look quite unevenly spaced - but they are drilled into solid beams. After fitting all four rails to the bolts, they have to be leveled - horizontally, and adjusted to a straight line parallel with the roof. This takes quite a while to get right, but makes of a very neat installation. The Variosole system is quite adjustable and allows for fixing many offsets in different dimensions. The first three panels were fitted - where we figured out the system of connecting the panels in series as they are laid down, before clamping them down: First roof done! (8 of 20 panels - but they will be getting the most sun). You can see the copper strip for the earthing of the rails., and the DC cables for the solar power have not been neatened. After a long stretch through the afternoon, the second roof was also done except for the last panel, which is on its way from Artsolar:
  8. Update: 4 October, Planning the panel installation. I laid 4 panels on the floor, and used the center and end clamps to measure the full width. And these are the M10 wood substructure mounting bolts from Rernusol, the variosole system. I drilled 9mm holes into the pine beams which gave these bolts a good firm grip.
  9. I must be honest - the Artsolar guys came through and handled the issue very well. New panel has been shipped and should arrive by Monday.
  10. Update: I just got a call from Artsolar - they will be sending me one more panel. The panels look really great - planning to install tomorrow.
  11. So I received the solar panels today, from SA manufacturer ArtSolar. Received 19 panels. I bought and paid for 20. The box containing the panels were sealed when it arrived. Several witnesses were involved in opening the box, in the truck. My wife signed the delivery note without checking the quantity. Afterwards the box was destroyed to make space in the truck. Artsolar has sent two replies to my query, in both cases wanting to build a case against the courier. However, the box was sealed. 19 panels arrived. That is not the courier's fault. I will update this thread on the outcome of this query.
  12. Day 6 - some photo updates: I started working with the 35mm DC cable between the inverter, MPPT and fuse holder. This cable is hard to bend into the small thin plastic conduit: The connections on the fuse holder: All the cables in their trunking - I must still complete the earth cable. All closed up:
  13. Update: Day 3. Sparky started on the Clean power DB, and the main AC feed and return lines. Here you can see the roof overhang: We also installed the two parallel 6mm DC cable from the PV combiner box (about 20 meter run) to the MPPT: And I connected the DC cables to the MPPT and the AC feed and return:
  14. Update: evening 2... Problems mounting the MP II 5000. The four main mounting holes just don't want to work properly. I tried using 12mm wall plug with large self-tapping bolts. Works for everything else. The mounting washers in the MP II are just too small. Then I tried 12mm rawl bolts. Same problem. The bolts just does not go through the washer in the MPII. I will have to go and buy 8mm self tapping screws tomorrow to use with the 12mm wallplugs. I do not have the 35mm cables or ring-lugs or crimp tool ready - patience. That's what the teams that do this on a daily basis know - every little item needed...
  15. This morning I finished marking all the trunking and drilled all the holes. Then took everything down again - the wall needs a fresh coat of white paint after all the drilling.
  16. yes. You can stop the trunking but I find that it looks a lot neater if all the trunking runs all the way. There will be several sections of empty trunking when I am done.
  17. Today's power use per minute, as logged by ET112 -> Venus GX -> Victron VRM:
  18. The AC and DC trunking are separate, but you cannot really get to the DC trunking without passing through the AC trunking. So this is my plan: The thin black and purple cables are control cables, and thin power supply for the Venus GX.
  19. First components received. Progress report: Evening 1. - Marked out the Multiplus II on the wall. Level! - Marked out where the trunking will be on the wall - Marked out where the MPPT will be - Drilled holes - had to stop at 20:30 when long-haired bipeds started complaining. - Hanged the MPPT - Prepared trunking by drilling holes for the flex pipe end pieces. Will get the %#^&* sticky labels removed tomorrow with spirits. The installation looks like it is outside but it is completely under roof. I am planning to build a wooden enclosure around it when done. Tomorrow: fix all the trunking, and the 160A battery fuse holder. Plan the cable lengths. Also figure out all the cables and location for the VenusGX. It is lying loose in my ceiling currently, just measuring the ET112 energy meter.
  20. I need to apply earthing to the solar panel frames. What hardware is available for that? What size cable should I use?
  21. So today I inspected my geysers properly and found that the third geyser had a closed valve on the solar panel feed line. This means that I got zero energy from the sun over the last 5 years for that geyser...
  22. Artsolar 300W 60 cell panels; Voc is 39.7V. Don't buy them online - email them for a quote - usually much cheaper. Wiring: You should use a combiner box that includes fuses, an isolator and a surge arrester. So photos of an example below. Where you mount the box depends on the distance to the MPPT. Short distance - mount the box close to the MPPT. Longer distance, mount it close to the panels and combine the strings. Run a thicker cable to the MPPT - it is carrying all the combined currents on the strings.
  23. This one is harder to explain - let me give it a stab: Your load is 1000W. It indicates that the load is 25% of max - so you probably have a 4000w inverter. Your batteries are full. Let's say you can get 700W from solar. If your inverter has a proper reading of the State of Charge (SOC) of the battery, it would supply the load from the battery AND solar input, and not switch back to the grid. However, it is clear that the inverter has switched to the grid - it is only using 168W from solar to top up the battery at 2 Amps. What probably happened is the following: The load you are drawing is 1000W. The inverter tried to supply the load, drawing from the battery and solar. There are two things that will get the inverter to switch back to grid: 1) Under load, the battery voltage drops (to say 49V) due to internal resistance, or the battery pack being a bit small (and solar too) - AND the inverter does not read the SOC from a proper battery Management System (BMS). When this happens, the inverter determines the battery SOC from the battery voltage, which has dropped to a level that would indicate the battery is flat. This can happen very quickly. The voltage level is not a reliable method of determining SOC. Shazam - the inverter switches back to the grid. Solution: get a BMS or a BMV700 that will give the inverter a proper SOC. This will allow the inverter to continue working even at lower battery voltages - it will essentially ignore the battery voltage and rely on the proper SOC. The specific bms to get would depend on your inverter model and battery. Some combinations are incompatible and will not be able to read the SOC. 2) Depending on the inverter, there could be a software maximum current setting for the battery - to protect the battery - which will cause the same result. If this is the case, investigate what the max charging or discharging limit for you battery should be. Exceeding this will shorten your battery life. However, knowing you should be able to get 700W from solar, this means that somehow your inverter could not even draw 300W from the batteries - this is worrying. I would get a clever person to investigate the system - it should perform better. Another solution would be to add more solar panels - but first get the battery working properly. I you want better answers, you will have to list your full system component list here - specific inverter, batteries, BMS, everything.
  24. I have been using the Victron orion 24/12 40amp non isolated converter for the same reason, for about 4 years, ever since I changed the system from 12v to 24v. The off grid system was 12v originally and still has some 12v lights, and a 12v alarm system. I draw about 20 amp max when we are on site and about 1amp continuous when we are away for 6 months at a time. Very reliable, no problems. I do not like the spade terminals- would have liked proper screw cable clamps.
  25. I think I did it the smart way - moved the council account to be one of her expenses about a year ago (also more tax efficient). Just one winter later and she is the one pushing hardest for savings . It does mean I will be funding the capital of the solar system, but at least it is an investment with a long term upside. And it will keep me entertained. In the end it is OUR money - seeing where it really goes is the ‘getting really informed’ part.
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