Mark

Does the voltage recover after the hair dryer, etc without running the gennie?... I would trust the BMV and see how things go... 48.8V and 81% maybe the best you will do with old batteries (per @plonkster previous post).

Nice. Keep us updated... yes the BMV will autocalibrate but only from a known point therefore the manual zero start point.

Hi Colin The key is calibration with the BMV. Have you checked the calibrated settings...bank ah, etc? Also make sure the unit is zero'ed under no load... ie with inverter and all other loads off (leave for some minutes so the bank can stabilise. I made that mistake myself at one stage. Then see how she goes... Regards Mark

@Chris Hobson Please tell... please... please

Hi @Chris Hobsonand @shahzad I am using Solarpower V1.10 and my setup works fine. My power management is displayed with all the options. Can you try the V1.1 version and see if this makes a difference. Regards Mark

@Sidewinder PVO gives you the option of creating a "Parent" System and then depending on how you choose to monitor the inverters you can publish each inverter to a separate child system. The parent then consolidates the data and the children can be view separately. A pain to set up but works well. Regards Mark

One of my friends brother was fiddling with a small PV system with old laptop batteries... don't have technical details so can't comment on what happened but in short... his house (the whole thing) burnt down in November! ... the wife just managed to get out in time. They lost everything! So rather more careful than not... if you watch the HBPW and the other Auzzy guys they all have a battery shed apart from the main house - for good reason.

String 1: NE facing roof top of "n" String 2: NW facing roof "n's" right leg You will then have the best of both worlds - morning, midday and evening power generation! My 2c Mark

Sonstrall wakes up when the sun hits the panels and switches his PC or starts his PVO feed... he then misses a good few hours power usage and therefore the efficiency is excellent. Easy to do

Nice!

Try this tool (bottom of page) http://www.pveducation.org/pvcdrom/properties-sunlight/solar-radiation-tilted-surface You adjust the location and it tells you your options.

Nice - I was going to get a 12v PSU but they are not cheap... ;( How is your prepaid setup going - I seem to remember you switched from postpaid and I'm almost at that point... what meter did Eskom install? I have an Infini and so am nervous of the feedback tripping the meter.

Hi Paul What is the box bottom left of you setup? Regards Mark

I have a small temperature experiment starting today... I managed to source some iButtons (temperature only) to measure the temperature at 2 different points on my PV array. Buttons are now installed and I'll give them a few weeks to collect data. Some initial specs: Zinc corrugated roof/Aluminium adjustable frame (tilt = 45deg) 15 min reading intervals Button 1: Bottom - Located inside of the panel frame but NOT on the glass backing (about 150mm from roof) Button 2: Centre - Located inside of the panel frame but NOT on the glass backing (about 400mm from roof) Button 3: Top - Located inside of the panel frame but NOT on the glass backing (about 700mm from roof) The array is 6 x 310w panels long so the buttons are placed in middle of the array. (Panel size = 1800mmx900mm) I should be able to plot the 3x sets of PV readings on a spreadsheet with hopefully weather data as well (maybe only temperature )

Are your batteries charged... if they are charged the MPPT will limit the power to avoid overcharging. What is the voltage of the battery when the flashing happens?

Can you outline your panel configuration and size, etc ie: How many strings, size (voltage, amps) of panels. Panels per string. Also the model and specs of the MPPT. This will help.

I want to divert from water a bit (sorry @TTT ) so here goes... @Mike - how is the WIND turbine doing - in use or just there for show(off) purposes...

@Mike is there no way you could rent a spot (barter a spot) with sea water access... ie: a harbour resturant/warehouse, etc. You could then trade some water for the use of the position... run the plant off solar etc as normal? You then just need to move the clean water home? My 2c anyway Mark

@Chris Hobson This is good news for Pylontech

This looks interesting... I haven't worked through it yet but it may be the start of something that affects all of us... https://t.co/RJVNyjQ0M3

@Mike is around but spends alot of time shovelling all the bitcoin into crates in his garage... He may need to build an extension

Hi @Elbow I went through this on the farm and ended up doing the following... do it big to start with and then have space for later changes...

I'm the same... but I'm not as remote as Uncle Chris

A BMV 702 or similar battery monitor is all I would add...