Sc00bs

Glad it helped @Sidewinder , BTW I have found ChatGPT to be of huge assistance with my automations. You just need to double check everything afterwards as it is quite often not 100%

I feel your pain @Tonytex230 , sometimes they just don't seem to work for no plausible reason. I resoldered connections till I was blue in the face and then other times they just worked. I think that there are just too many moving parts to make fault finding an easy process with the board setup.

Nope, this one https://smarthomeintegrations.co.za/product/smartdeyedonglev4-intl-shipment/ Looks like @iiznh might be out of stock at the moment, maybe just check when he is getting stock again.

Running to 10% instead of 22% will give you an extra 1.8kwh of power

@JacquesStrydom Agree 100% with @GreenFields , I had 28 x 455W (12.7kw) panels on my 8kw Sunsynk, the inverter throttles production to the max so will not go over the 10400W max DC production and 8000W AC. Over watting the inverter is great for low solar radiation days. If you still need more power you could considering adding a grid-tie to the Aux port, is on top of the 8000W AC limit and is to a max of 4kw I think.

I see that Deye are making solar air conditioners now, don't know anything about them but remembered your post and thought you might be interested. https://www.deyeinverter.com/product/solar-air-conditioner/hybrid-ac-dc-solar-air-conditioner.html

@Tonytex230 The separate RS485 boards are notoriously problematic, when that was the only option we managed to get them to work but that is no longer the case. I doubt very much it is an issue with your inverters RS485 port, my advice is to just buy one of the ESP32/RS485 shields from smarthomeintegrations.co.za . There is no soldering and they just seem to work. Has a 3.3v rs485 adapter and you can run the power from the 12V available inside the inverter so very neat as well.

Getting side tracked but which part of what I said is incorrect @Kalahari Meerkat ? From what I have read, changing feed stock and managing manure better can, at best, reduce cows methane production by 30-40%. A single cow produces between 60 & 120kg of methane gas a year according to the US EPA. So 36kg - 72kg of Methane per cow a year at best, still significant. Is there something I am missing? My argument was that technologies like "precision fermentation" which will reduce the number of cows that we need to keep for dairy worldwide significantly will have a greater impact on global warming than just trying to convince people to reduce their standard of living.

Found this on Quora, Methane requires a lot lower temp/higher pressure to stay in liquid form Vs LPG gas. Still way warmer than liquid hydrogen but not quite as easy to handle as Butane/Propane. https://www.quora.com/Why-is-butane-used-in-LPG-rather-than-methane Also this on making other fuels from CO2 https://www.quora.com/Can-propane-or-butane-be-produced-using-CO2-and-H2-in-a-catalytic-process-similar-to-how-methane-can-be-produced-using-the-Sabatier-reaction

As far as I know, https://www.getoffgrid.co.za/ are the local distributors. I purchased two of the 6.4kw batteries from one of the forum members and had them dropped off at getoffgrid for a firmware update. It was found that some of the cells were unbalanced when they were doing the BMS update and get off grid swopped both the batteries out for new ones. Was totally unsolicited and unexpected

@display_Name Methane is not as easy to store in liquid form as LPG as the boiling temperature of the liquid is much lower requiring much higher pressure vessels to keep it in liquid form at room temperatures. It is however still a lot easier to handle than Hydrogen and a lot more attractive as an energy storage media if handled correctly. Can't comment on the greenhouse gas side of things as I don't know enough about it, I have heard similar comments though and believe it is 10X more of a problem than CO2. If you are interested in biotech stuff, google "precision fermentation" , it is now cheaper & more efficient now to make "milk" using bacteria rather than from cows. Dairy cows produce an enormous amount of Methane gas and switching to precision fermentation would be a huge step in reducing greenhouse gas emmissions.

@display_Name I agree 100% and would love to have some sort of gas energy storage system but I think that a small scale CH4 from power generator would be a better option than H2, much easier to handle the gas and less likely to spontaneously explode (although still a definite possibility). Also has the advantage that current domestic stoves, gas heater etc would all work with methane where they would not work very well with Hydrogen (tends to leak through very small gaps) Something like this https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2468606919301893

Much better idea to make Methane Gas (CH4) with the Hydrogen from electrolysis using a Sabatier reaction, (H2 + Co2 = CH4 + O2). It is much easier to store, could be used to power current ICE vehicles, generate heat etc. We already have lots of LPG Gas infrastructure which would be suitable for use withy the green Methane.

Despite lots of money being put into it Hydrogen is never going to work on any significant level. Sabine Hossenfelder did a good video on it any why there is so much hype about it.

The load on the transformer will be relatively small in any case as you will be powering mostly from solar.

Nope, no need to balance.

Hi @Stefan Cornelissen If you don't have any requirement for 3-phase then I would suggest just get a big single phase inverter. You will only be using one of the 3-phases that you are supplied but that is not an issue on the Eskom side. It is much easier to manage the loads as everything is on the same phase and is also very easy for the electrician to do so will not cost you a load of money to convert your DB Board. I initially had an 8kw Sunsynk which coped but I was pushing it pretty hard, now I have a 16Kw Deye and it just takes everything in it's stride. Using around 70-90 kwh a day in summer.

Best is to use one of the ESP32/Shield kits from smarthomeintegrations.co.za then there is no wiring required, you just plug it in an connect it to the 12v power in the inverter. I have a video of it on my channel

Turning it off and then on again sorted out my RS485 issues when I was having a problem. I would definitely try it if you haven't done it already.

Nice board @BobTheDinosaur, I haven't see that one before

My understanding (could be wrong, is only what I have picked up in the past on the forum) is that the manually set voltages are fall back settings to be used in the event of a comms failure between the Inverter and BMS and that the battery BMS usually controls all the voltages.

What did you replace the RS485 with @BobTheDinosaur? The MAX485 boards are often problematic and I think it may have something to do with their RS485 running at 5V and the inverters running at 3.3V

Thanks @zivva Going to be interesting to try it out and see.

Nope, different capacities are not an issue as amperage is drawn from the batteries in proportion to their capacities. Voltages need to be the same though a @zivva said