need advise on the most optimal setting for my system. Have a 5 KVA growatt with 4x 200Ah batteries and a 2400 watt solar array. been connected for about 6 months and seems to work fine, when there is load shedding have had no issues. recently been observing some observations on the graphs.

1st issue where early when the PV is starting up it lingers with output 100 to 200w till 8 am then boom jumps to over 1000w,

2nd issue it sometimes shuts off the PV for about 10 to 15 min for no reason this is when there is peak sun and a load being pulled thus drawing from utility.

3rd issue battery discharges on its own currently using SUB setting,

4th is there a way to get the non essential loads to pull from the PV or  do i have to connect more loads to get more out of the system.

Lastly I'm not seeing a significant reduction in my Eskom bill also notice that the although there is solar production this is somehow not reflecting, eg generation overview today currently says (at 10-30 am) solar production 3.1, storage production 0, import from grid 7.5, load consumption 7.6 total charge 3.1. Software needs to be updated and am awaiting my installer, will now only happen in the new year, they also do not seem to be able to explain to me why 1,2 and 3 would occur. any advise would be really appreciated as i do not want them to BUll $!-- me any more

thanks

MSR

@MSR 200amph x 48volts = 9,6kwh is a decent battery bank and you can cycle it to 50% every night. This will help you see a difference in the electricity bill.

You have to change to battery first in setting 1. Check with the battery manufacturer manual which voltage corresponds with 50%.

Yes you have to connect more plugs to the load as this inverter cannot feed non essentials. 

The inverter seems to be working as designed, it's supposed to switch off the pv when the battery is full.

Lastly and most expensive but actually much cheaper than a year ago. Upgrade to lithium batteries when funds allow. Batteries with 95%-100 depth of discharge are the best since you need less of them.

@Byeye

thanks, will be adding more circuits to the loads for day time usage, batteries unfortunately will have to wait for now.

As to the settings, to confirm that i should run on the SOL or SBU  settings, worried that i will not have enough charge in them should i experience load shedding in the evenings as currently charge priority is only solar and the battery will start getting used from around 4pm already and by the time the solar shuts off 25% would have been drained . current setting for battery charge is at 47v and Max at 54v

Sbu is battery first on this model, it's the only setting that uses battery when the sun sets. 50% depth of discharge is 4,8kwh which should get you to atleast midnight. So loadshedding in that time doesn't matter since you will be on battery anyway or asleep.

thanks, will try it out

 

forgive me if this may sound stupid, it seems to me  that to have any savings with this unit i need to run the battery all the time as it will not capture the savings in the day even though it may not draw from utility when it is on SUB setting or SOL setting or am i mistaken. thanks

 

26 minutes ago, MSR said:

forgive me if this may sound stupid, it seems to me  that to have any savings with this unit i need to run the battery all the time as it will not capture the savings in the day even though it may not draw from utility when it is on SUB setting or SOL setting or am i mistaken. thanks

 

 

I have Two 5000 KVA Growatt inverters 12 X 400 W panels and 1 X  5.1 KW/h 100 AH battery.

So far 90% of the time I run my all house on solar + battery, That includes 3 KW geyser and electrical stove for cooking in the evening. From an daily average consumption of 22 KW/h,  I've reduced to about 4 KW/h 

What is the use of having battery if you do not use it?

just my humble opinion, I personally use my battery to 80 DOD every day. I run my system on OSO = only solar charges the battery. If I see the need to charge the battery  because of load shedding I will change the setting to SNU. So far only had to that once,

On setting 1 I use SBU = Solar, battery, utility. Again if load shedding may happen I will change that parameter accordingly.

Just for your perusal herewith my daily consumption since I've installed my system.

There has been some really overcast days where I did not get much solar energy out of my system

 

 

3 hours ago, Antonio de Sa said:

I have Two 5000 KVA Growatt inverters 12 X 400 W panels and 1 X  5.1 KW/h 100 AH battery.

I have just about the same setup and concept with 2 Axpert/Sjnerji MKS 5K (5kW, 48V) in parallel operation. I have 4 100Ah LiFePh battery packs connected in parallel that theoretically provide some 19kWh energy storage. I set to switching to utility bypass at 47V, that leaves about 20% SOC, enough to go trough a load shedding. It recharges with total 40A from grid in bypass mode only if PV is not available (at nights). Set back to Battery/PV mode at 50V, approx 30% SOC. 3s3p PV arrays on one inverter and 1 3s array on the other, total approx 4kWp power.

I wired the batteries with 25mm² (welding-)cables. That is ample for more than 100A continuous load. Yes, they may warm somewhat under such load but nothing to worry about. Each battery pack has its own 125A breaker and I installed in addition a 125A high performance fuse for each inverter.

I monitor the inverters alternatively with a remote panel or with Watchpower. The batteries are monitored with a separate RS485 line and Pmodbus Too software provided by the battery manufacturer. No interconnection between BMS and inverters.

 

 

Edited December 20, 20213 yr by Beat

Our settings are basically the same. I just don't have the storage capacity ( batteries) that you have, another 5.1 KW/h on the budget for early next year.

But so far I'm saving +_ R700.00 monthly, big save indeed, I know the ROI based on todays price per KW/h and with possible increases will be +_ 7 to 8 years.

Over and above not worrying about load shedding, the investment I made, the same amount in an investment @ 6% per year would not give me the same returns. 

 

@Antonia thanks,

will have to slowly add more panels to my system and then upgrade battery as finances allow.

@ Antonia what program are you using to monitor and get your overview as above?

 

On 2021/12/20 at 2:02 PM, Antonio de Sa said:

 

I have Two 5000 KVA Growatt inverters 12 X 400 W panels and 1 X  5.1 KW/h 100 AH battery.

So far 90% of the time I run my all house on solar + battery, That includes 3 KW geyser and electrical stove for cooking in the evening. From an daily average consumption of 22 KW/h,  I've reduced to about 4 KW/h 

What is the use of having battery if you do not use it?

just my humble opinion, I personally use my battery to 80 DOD every day. I run my system on OSO = only solar charges the battery. If I see the need to charge the battery  because of load shedding I will change the setting to SNU. So far only had to that once,

On setting 1 I use SBU = Solar, battery, utility. Again if load shedding may happen I will change that parameter accordingly.

Just for your perusal herewith my daily consumption since I've installed my system.

There has been some really overcast days where I did not get much solar energy out of my system

 

 

Hello, How is your wiring such that you can also run your geyser through the inverter rather than grid?  My understanding, this inverter cannot push extra PV to essential loads as it is not a true Hybrid invertor? Also do you run the geyser on battery as well in the evening?

 

13 hours ago, Solarcrazy said:

Hello, How is your wiring such that you can also run your geyser through the inverter rather than grid?  My understanding, this inverter cannot push extra PV to essential loads as it is not a true Hybrid invertor? Also do you run the geyser on battery as well in the evening?

 

My all house is running on my system I did not split my DB, all circuits are connected to 2 X 5000 KVA inverters, so theoretically I have 10 KVA of power, either from solar or from grid if there is not enough PV or battery power. Also geyser it's only switch on at about 10:30 in the morning, by them my panels are pushing close to 4 KW.