Hi

 

Starting to look at maybe installing a Sunsynk inverter and maybe a Hubble or 2. Problem I have is that I don't really have anywhere to install this that is close to the DB. I could install inside a built-in cupboard in a games/ computer room. I would have to install an extractor fan or 2 from the cupboard into the ceiling to circulate the air. Does this sound okay. The distance from this cupboard to the main DB is +_ 9 meters.

On a warm day, like today in JHB, my Sunsynk gets to about 56 degrees with the fans going crazy during peak generation, 4 kW and a draw of about 6 kW ... Extra 2 from the battery.

My unit is in the garage, lots of space around it and I leave the garage door slightly open. 

Garage is warm  ... I think a cupboard would not work personally unless cooling is great. 

8 hours ago, Greglsh said:

Problem I have is that I don't really have anywhere to install this that is close to the DB.

The inverter could also be further away there is no regulation stating it should be close to the DB. it’s only the cable that will be longer. My inverter is just over 20meter from my DB without problems.

The Sunsynk does create a bit of heat it would be best to install it where their is a bit of air circulation. Extractor fans could also work to extract the heat, only problem is you are adding a small parasitic load on the inverter that could be avoided if it’ was in a naturally cooler area.

Our 12kw Sunsynk is in a cupboard and does not get past 33 degrees. Made ventilation holes in top of cupboard for air to escape into celing and vents at bottom of cupboard doors to suck in cooler air. Cupboard is inside house so much cooler than say our garage. 

I guess our inverter runs cooler as it does not work close to it's max capacity. Also in the cupboard are 3 hubble batteries 

I attached 2 fotos

 

Edited November 8, 20214 yr by Chris_H
Added photos

46 minutes ago, Chris_H said:

Our 12kw Sunsynk is in a cupboard and does not get past 33 degrees. Made ventilation holes in top of cupboard for air to escape into celing and vents at bottom of cupboard doors to suck in cooler air. Cupboard is inside house so much cooler than say our garage. 

I guess our inverter runs cooler as it does not work close to it's max capacity. Also in the cupboard are 3 hubble batteries 

I attached 2 fotos

 

Hi Chris. I have the same unit. Is the 33 degrees air temp or the temp on the inverter?

I have the same unit ...

I have two Growatt inverters inside a cupboard and I have no problems with high temperatures. The temperatures are measured directly from the inverters as well as the ambient temp, never went past 35 degrees C . See screen shot of the last 2 days values. 

1 hour ago, JayN said:

Hi Chris. I have the same unit. Is the 33 degrees air temp or the temp on the inverter?

I have the same unit ...

hi Jay

 

It's the air temp in the cupboard

As far as cooling goes, I have a fanless Goodwe (not a good design, in my opinion) inverter. In summer I regularly saw temps in the upper 40's.

Bought a simple 3 fan system that runs off mains. The fan speed can be set. What I did was put the fan on top of the inverter and set the fan speed so one cannot hear it. I put it on a timer switch, turns on at 10am and off at 6 pm, inverter stays at 35C, irrespective of the outside temp.

 

Thanks guys, my cupboard is very similar to Chris_H so that might work perfectly. Thanks guys for all the info.

5 hours ago, Chris_H said:

hi Jay

 

It's the air temp in the cupboard

Ok.   Thanks ... Air temps are barely over 30 degrees but the inverter gets warm. Temp on the screen said 56 degs at the peak production and hottest part of the day over the weekend. 

 

1 hour ago, JayN said:

Ok.   Thanks ... Air temps are barely over 30 degrees but the inverter gets warm. Temp on the screen said 56 degs at the peak production and hottest part of the day over the weekend. 

 

Where do you check inverter temp?

 

13 minutes ago, Chris_H said:

Where do you check inverter temp?

 

Press the screen on the dials .. press grid

On 2021/11/07 at 9:14 AM, Greglsh said:

Hi

 

Starting to look at maybe installing a Sunsynk inverter and maybe a Hubble or 2. Problem I have is that I don't really have anywhere to install this that is close to the DB. I could install inside a built-in cupboard in a games/ computer room. I would have to install an extractor fan or 2 from the cupboard into the ceiling to circulate the air. Does this sound okay. The distance from this cupboard to the main DB is +_ 9 meters.

You can run great distances with cabling, no need to have the inverter connected close to the DB, mine is running > 50 meters.

RabidBunny 

Do the panels not need to be closer to the inverter, I think you can run from the "output" of the inverter to the DB board quite far, but I think the DC cables need to be as short as you can get them as they are thicker and more expensive. 

Am I correct or can you run them quite far as well.

Thick House wire is also expensive. Remember its your distance x 3 for earth neutral and live. Don't buy this online rather find a electrical distributer supplier they are cheapest

 

I have my Sunsynk outside under an awning, with the Hubble battery in the laundry on the inside of the wall.

The battery cables need to be as short as possible. They are expensive to begin with and the longer you make them the ticker they should be. The DC cables to the solar panels can be longer and you'll probably buy a 50m roll to work with. The AC cables can easily be even longer and will likely be the cheapest of the three.

On 2021/11/08 at 8:32 AM, FixAMess said:

Bought a simple 3 fan system that runs off mains. The fan speed can be set. What I did was put the fan on top of the inverter and set the fan speed so one cannot hear it. I put it on a timer switch, turns on at 10am and off at 6 pm, inverter stays at 35C, irrespective of the outside temp.

Can I ask, when you say "put the fan on top of the inverter" do you mean just that? Just set them down on the top of the inverter? I ask because your post piqued my interest. I have an ES in a cupboard, and it's showing an internal temperature of 46 degrees right now. Exactly the situation you describe. So I'm keen.

Also, if I may, where did you source it. I did some googling for cooling fans and I see wildly varying prices. OK... a fan is not just a fan, some of those will be bigger and more powerful than others.

1 hour ago, Bobster said:

Can I ask, when you say "put the fan on top of the inverter" do you mean just that? Just set them down on the top of the inverter? I ask because your post piqued my interest. I have an ES in a cupboard, and it's showing an internal temperature of 46 degrees right now. Exactly the situation you describe. So I'm keen.

Also, if I may, where did you source it. I did some googling for cooling fans and I see wildly varying prices. OK... a fan is not just a fan, some of those will be bigger and more powerful than others.

Yes, I literally put it on top of the cooling fins, helps to draw air over the fins. I bought it on Aliexpress, as in my post, the 3 fan one. It really works well and the fan speed is adjustable with a dc resistor switch (??). The fan can probably be hooked up to a rasberry PI with a temp meter/probe to regulate the speed if one has the time to play around a bit. I think any old PC fan might work, but the one I bought is really sturdy and so far has not given any problems.

On 2021/11/08 at 7:10 PM, Greglsh said:

RabidBunny 

Do the panels not need to be closer to the inverter, I think you can run from the "output" of the inverter to the DB board quite far, but I think the DC cables need to be as short as you can get them as they are thicker and more expensive. 

Am I correct or can you run them quite far as well.

They don't really have to be close, however the further you go the thinker your cable needs to be (both AC and DC share this same logic), in order to compensate for voltage drops.

I run all my panels on 6mm² (distances vary starting from 15 meters to > 60 meters), some would say 4mm² would suffice, but I use thicker cables as I also compensate for heat losses, etc ...

* PS: The AC cables are usually thicker than DC (as AC is the combined output of your DC inputs, which is usually a couple of strings) ...

Edited November 11, 20214 yr by RabidBunny

On 2021/11/09 at 7:09 AM, RyanE said:

Thick House wire is also expensive. Remember its your distance x 3 for earth neutral and live. Don't buy this online rather find a electrical distributer supplier they are cheapest

 

It also depends on your earthing system, as one earth wire from the DB to inverter(s) is usually sufficient, if you have a proper changeover that establishes the earth/neutral bond when the grid drops off, then that earth wire is usually shorter and closer to the inverter(s).

I have a 4 x Core 16mm² - SWA [Armored] Cable (+ external earth cable) running > 80 meters; L+N+E from mains to the garage => L+N from garage back to mains - with a separate earth wire connected locally to an earth spike [for the bonding] ~ all electrical points to and from various sections are established in the mains panel.

The costs of the cable(s) was a drop in the bucket, compared to building a "secured storage space" where I could place the equipment ... protecting it against weather conditions and the SA "tsotsi".

One consideration if you install a Sunsynk, it comes with a CT coil that clips over your main incoming grid supply cable this then connects to the inverter. It comes with wires about 5 meters long. The manual say you can extend them another 10 meters with same type of wiring. This could be a potential problem for installers who honor the manual if the distance is further than the 10 meter. I was worried about that distance as mine is about 25meters, I extended my own wires with 1.5mm flat twin and it works, but just be aware of this fact.

On 2021/11/11 at 12:39 PM, FixAMess said:

Yes, I literally put it on top of the cooling fins, helps to draw air over the fins. I bought it on Aliexpress, as in my post, the 3 fan one. It really works well and the fan speed is adjustable with a dc resistor switch (??). The fan can probably be hooked up to a rasberry PI with a temp meter/probe to regulate the speed if one has the time to play around a bit. I think any old PC fan might work, but the one I bought is really sturdy and so far has not given any problems.

OK... I have mounted some fans on the top of the inverter. I am interested though in what is supposed to be cooling down. The PVMaster app reports temperature as reported by the BMS, so my fans aren't going to make much difference there. SEMS reports "inner temperature" which right now, with battery in stand-by, is 11 degrees cooler than the figure the BMS gives. 

I assume I want to bring down the inverter's inner temperature in the interests of component life.

18 minutes ago, Bobster said:

SEMS reports "inner temperature" which right now, with battery in stand-by, is 11 degrees cooler than the figure the BMS gives. 

Yes, the inverter temp will be different to the battery temps.

My inverter, when working at full tilt (5kW+) gets to a max of 40C irrespective of the outside temp. That silly little fan makes a big difference, should have been part of the unit by design! I suppose it was designed for colder climates than SA!

21 minutes ago, Bobster said:

OK... I have mounted some fans on the top of the inverter. I am interested though in what is supposed to be cooling down.

How did you mount them, pictures would be nice. The fans increase the airflow over the fins, reducing the temp of the heatsink/fins/inverter. The batteries are another story, if they're working hard they will also require a separate fan, but in everyday use my pylontechs (C/2) rarely get to be > 30C (as reported by BMS), usually sit around 26C.

16 minutes ago, FixAMess said:

How did you mount them, pictures would be nice. The fans increase the airflow over the fins, reducing the temp of the heatsink/fins/inverter. The batteries are another story, if they're working hard they will also require a separate fan, but in everyday use my pylontechs (C/2) rarely get to be > 30C (as reported by BMS), usually sit around 26C.

Well right now my solution doesn't seem to be doing much. I have positioned the fans to extract, IE to suck air through the heatsinks. The system is charging right now (from grid, as it's a very overcast day in Jhb and we have load shedding at 16:00), battery temp is up 1 degee and inverter temp by 11. The inverter temp is in line with what I usually see (47ish) so my "solution" hasn't made anything worse, but also isn't helping.

Edited December 5, 20214 yr by Bobster