WJP

We've got a little 1kw grid-tied system in the southern suburbs. I've connected 3 330w HV panels to our old 3rd hand Sunny Boy inverter. It's there just to help run the pool pump. Anyway I also noticed a significant loss in production during the bout of bad weather we had (20% of the norm).

Noted thank you. mjlorton (an old SA You Tube channel) used to mention them too. They seem respectable, been around for years.

Apparently Mustek still have stock of components for these inverters & may be able to repair it. Worst case if the main board needs replacement the cost would be around R7,500.

Thanks bud, I was trying to troubleshoot the faulty inverter. Part of that process was removing as many variables as possible. At one point I only had the basics connected to power up the unit which is basically DC power & AC in. You are correct that is the PV input wire. I reconnected it after the photo was taken.

Thanks.

Is this not more of a concern for grid tied systems? All those Axpert inverters have got to be going somewhere & I highly doubt they are all off grid installations.

@87 DreamThanks for your input. Noted on the inverters & mixing different models. If they are tight on budget couldn't they do the following? Recycle the old batteries & get like R2000 back. Purchase a Hubble AM-2 or equivalent for the remaining inverter. Connect the PV panels to the remaining inverter Possibly remove some of the circuits on the inverter load

A resident in my neighbourhood (Tokai, Southern Suburbs) posted a plea for assistance with his PV system. The various companies they contacted don't want to help as it's not their install. They just bought a family home & moved in a few months ago. The pre-existing solar system is failing & they are wanting to resolve the issues. While I'm not qualified I decided to pay them a visit & lend them some insight. I've installed a few inverters for my family so I'm not totally useless Your input is welcomed & I'd like to take our collective feedback to them and offer them a way forward. Please see the attached pictures & video link below. Basic stats & facts: Inverters: Mecer SOL-I-AX-5M x2 Batteries: Lead Acid, 250Ah, x4 Solar Panels: 100-120w x 12 The inverters are wired in parallel. The inverters appear to be from 2015 based on the warranty sticker markings. The batteries are wired in series with no balancers. I'm not sure of the arrangement of the panels but their VoC was around 100v at the time of measurement. Problems: The "primary" inverter appears to be damaged. It does not boot but rather loops. Here is a short video of what's happening. Either it's damaged or some sort of self protection is causing the inverter to turn off and on endlessly. You can hear a relay clicking continuously. The secondary inverter runs and powers the connected circuits. All 12 PV panels are connected to the faulty inverter. During load shedding the the system used to last about 3 hours on average. Now the system only stays on for 5 minutes. I suspect the PV panels were keeping it going until the primary inverter failed. The voltages across the 4 batteries vary greatly. Some are high for example 14.2v & others are low like 11.5v with the total voltage being 54v "as per normal". Thoughts: Solar Panels: OK Storage: Fucked (technically speaking) Inverters: 1 of 2 functioning OK Switchgear: OK It would be easy to rip and replace with a 8kW Sunsynk inverter & LiFePO4 batteries but the owner would rather salvage & upgrade if possible. Inverters: Is there a reputable business in Cape Town that offers repairs to Mecer/Voltronic inverters? I ask assuming it can be repaired. If not can a new Mecer/RCT/Voltronic inverter be used in parallel with the existing older model? Storage: Clearly battery balancers would have been a good idea but the damage is done now. No doubt the batteries will need to be replaced. The prices of LiFePO4 have dropped a lot since 2015 & in 2021 I can't recommend lead acid. Given the age of the inverter are there LiFePO4 batteries that can work well without CAN bus? Perhaps something from Hubble? Thanks for your time if you read this far!

Expanding on the answer above. With PWM the larger the mismatch in voltage between the panel & battery the less power the panel can deliver. So when the battery is most drained is when the charge rate is at it’s lowest (the opposite of what you want). In this situation of a low state of charge it’s like the PWM charger is trying to pull off in 3rd gear whereas the MPPT is an 8 speed automatic gearbox. Speed & Power

I've watched a race and a few highlights on You Tube. I enjoyed it & there are some well known names participating in various ways. However there’s too much of an embedded ideology in the sport & I’ve had my full of politics in sport. I watch F1 & a little bit of WRC for escapism not for a cause or activism. I’ve totally divested from a number of other sports because of political interference and BS activism. I’m very much in favor of renewable and being green where it’s practical. I can’t support Extreme E because it essentially has equality of outcome (forcing 1 male & 1 female driver). I support equality of opportunity but that’s vastly different from the former. Plus Lewis is a massive chop & I can only bare one racing format with his pro BLM rubbish.

Can't comment on the voltages but 20 amps per bank, 60amp charge rate in total.

@BGb I had multiple trips on my earth leakage about 6 months back. I couldn't figure it out, no rhyme or reason. I bought a new earth leakage switch and replaced the old one with it. It's not tripped once with the new switch. They are not cheap though, about R700 for one. Just a thought...

Hello, less than a week. However the performance of these Mecer LiFePo4s is night and day when compared to the Pb batteries (even when they were new). Not the average but the "base load" is around 200-400w continuously. Keep in mind my use case here is different. This inverter is purely for "emergencies", a power backup. It's not designed for off-grid, it's a load shedding solution. So the batteries will only be cycled when it rains, a conveyor belt snaps or some unhappy union strikes To be honest it's very unlikely I'll open them.

Here's a graph of the inverter load over the last day. Those spikes are a 1/2hp pump that fills the toilets with rain water.

I've been running an old Cyberpower CPS3500PRO since 2014 (2450w, 24vdc). As you can imagine the original Pb batteries are now very tired. They can barely power the TV and a CFL bulb for 90min. I was shopping around for replacement 200ah batteries when I found these Mecer Lithium "drop in" 12v replacements. I bought 2 at a good price & took the old ones to a scrap yard. I got back about R960 for two batteries (122kg total). Anyway my Cyberpower UPS/Inverter only allows one to adjust the min voltage & charge rate (5-35amps). I've set it to 20amps. I did have an issue when first charging the Mecer batteries. One of the two batteries finished charging before the other. This resulted in it going above 14.2v (if I recall correctly) and the internal battery BMS does a high voltage disconnect to save itself. This of course freaks out the inverter. After a couple of charges they were within 0.5v of one another. I've since installed a Victron balancer which as reduced the difference to 0.1-0.2v. The inverter seems happy now under load and when charging. I've recently had my electrician around to split our DB into two. Basically we are running the TV, Internet connection, alarm system, electric fence, kitchen fridge, house lights and the plugs in the 3 bedrooms off it. The inverter has got a SNMP card in it and the load graphs look good. It tends to be around 5-20% load and spikes at like 45-50% briefly. Lastly its a pleasure moving around 22kg batteries vs the old 61kgs which took all the strength I had. Since I've taken the photos I've reinstalled the doors and added vents for the inverter. Unfortunately this is the best and closest location for it.

Hello, I've got the green RCT 5kva MKSII PF1 (I think). However I use it with 4 200ah Deltech lead acid batteries (in series of course). I believe 200ah was the recommended minimum for your/my inverter. Additionally I bought 3 Victron battery balancers. They seem to work well. I have a 0.1v difference between each neighboring battery. This can prevent premature failure of a 48v system like yours/mine. Of course going forward try change to Lithium. I've attached a picture of such a balancer.

In terms of your asking price that's basically what it cost from Rectron. It was roughly R10k new + R2k for the Pi. Not much of deal there in my opinion. With that said the retail pricing could have been more. If you want to move it fast try R8k. Thats my 2 cents.

Please don't all jump in at once.

Greetings all I'm a long time lurker making my 1st post. I'm putting together a solution for my pons of a brother & I'd really appreciate your input. His short term goal is to reduce the monthly bill from Eskom. In the long term they'll progress to hybrid inverters with some lithium base storage. His initial budget to get going is R60,000 all in. I think a grid-tie based system is the way to go given the limited funds. Note there is partial shading on the North facing section of the roof at certain times of day. This is due to a large tree located above the property & is somewhat unavoidable. As he's an architect & has rendered the shading throughout the day to see the effects. I'll post a video of it over the weekend for your interest. I guess we can use both strings on the inverter & split the panels to reduce the negative effects. Basic facts: Average daily usage: 38kWh Single-phase (though he's married) 3 Bedroom home 1 External office 3 Air conditioners 1 Pool Electric Geyser Gas stove Electric oven A wife that works from home Two power hungry teenagers Old-school disc meter (not pre-paid) I made contact with Current Automation DBN & I was quoted the following: 1x Ingecon Sun 1 play 6 TL M (Inverter) 10x 330W Deserv (PV Panels) Roof mounting hardware DC cabling to PV panels Cisgender Male/Female MC4 connectors As far as I can tell we'd still need: DC Isolation Switch (though the inverter may have an integrated one) AC Isolation Switch (in addition to the CB on the main DB) 35/40Amp Circuit Breaker (in the main DB for the inverter "input") Earthing/surge protection (must be needed for DBNs climate) Optional WiFi dongle (a nice to have for monitoring) Obviously we'd get a qualified electrician to complete the important work. Where possible we plan to source the hardware at reasonable prices & install ourselves. Any thoughts on the Ingeteam brand (inverter)? As far as I can recall Italians aren't the best with wiring & electronics. Would a Solis 5kW inverter be a better choice? Who are good hardware distributors of solar equipment in Durban?