February 7, 20179 yr 1 minute ago, Chris Hobson said: I assume this is the bank that with the BMV 600. Do me a favour on a Sunday or on a day you not flat out busy, measure your battery voltages at about 94-95% SOC and again at about 96% SOC. I would be very interested in the voltages. Yes it is. But are you SERIOUS! Do you not recall my irresistible, irascible, spectacular destructive actions??? Really! And you are asking me to touch the system again? What! Did you now read when I said I sit on my hands? For you Chris, I will do it. I presume I take the volts with all still on and connected ... ja ja ja ... I know it is dangerous but for you Sir, who wants an answer, for you I will hazard limbs and fingers to get you the answers. ;-) Switching stuff off, hope not, for apparently THAT now too has lately become the "next" issue "elsewhere" in the house. Not allowed to touch anything at all anymore unless it is broken. And ... i have to ... sorry ... just have to ... it seldom is broken. Victron you see. (lag nou so hard my vrou se ek moet asem skep).
February 7, 20179 yr At 95.80% the voltages vary between the individual batteries all the time. All of them, each one individually, varies between 14.7 - 13.9v
February 7, 20179 yr 4 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said: For you Chris, I will do it. Nah leave it I don't want to be responsible for the first finger grafts at Groote Schuur. They probably graft bobbejaan vingers on and then you'll first have problems. I'll come and visit you.
February 7, 20179 yr 1 minute ago, Chris Hobson said: Nah leave it I don't want to be responsible for the first finger grafts at Groote Schuur. They probably graft bobbejaan vingers on and then you'll first have problems. I'll come and visit you. Too late! 4 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said: At 95.80% the voltages vary between the individual batteries all the time. All of them, each one individually, varies between 14.7 - 13.9v
February 7, 20179 yr OK you survived! That 0.5V difference is what us VRLA okes have to try and avoid. Got Trojans: They are good batteries so probably not as big a difference between batteries Equalise
February 7, 20179 yr 12 minutes ago, Chris Hobson said: That 0.5V difference is what us VRLA okes have to try and avoid. The same batt jumps all the time ... not a constant value. Not AGM's no, lead acid sealed valve regulated. UPS batts. I swap the batts around every few months when I thoroughly check them once they are fully charged. Swap them inside out and turn them around also so that i.e. inverter neg cable has 4 chances before it gets back to the pole it started on. Why? When they where new, I saw the cells where the inverter is connected to, getting murky water first. Idea was born there. And it forces me to check connections also. EDIT: I do this when no-one is home. Few years ago I did same, all alone, I forgot the volts cable on the Morningstar Controller. Used that twin flex wire for the volt measuring. As I pulled the wires, they connected. It was smoke all over as the insulation melted because the wires became like heating elements. Tried to ruk them loose, lekker gebrand. Went to fetch the scissors, that worked 2nd time round. Then I sat down, had a beer cooling the burns. Never did THAT again. Dommer as grond.
February 7, 20179 yr 1 minute ago, SolarNoob said: Ahh, therein lies the rub, the load... makes sense. I live in Pretoria and my panels will be split over two roof surfaces, one facing North West and the other North East. My base load is around 500W when no one is home and I would like to channel my excess power to the 1KW element in my geyser. Also, the panels will be fixed unfortunately at the pitch of the roof (will see what that angel is tonight) I realize there are a million variables, just curious what to expect. Panels are going up next week. Remember show and tell with photos.
February 7, 20179 yr 21 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said: The same batt jumps all the time ... not a constant value. Not AGM's no, lead acid sealed valve regulated. UPS batts. I swap the batts around every few months when I thoroughly check them once they are fully charged. Swap them inside out and turn them around also so that i.e. inverter neg cable has 4 chances before it gets back to the pole it started on. Why? When they where new, I saw the cells where the inverter is connected to, getting murky water first. Idea was born there. And it forces me to check connections also. EDIT: I do this when no-one is home. Few years ago I did same, all alone, I forgot the volts cable on the Morningstar Controller. Used that twin flex wire for the volt measuring. As I pulled the wires, they connected. It was smoke all over as the insulation melted because the wires became like heating elements. Tried to ruk them loose, lekker gebrand. Went to fetch the scissors, that worked 2nd time round. Then I sat down, had a beer cooling the burns. Never did THAT again. Dommer as grond. hahaha. and you only work on 24V systems! Try that (accidentally, off course) on a 48V battery bank....!!#@!$%@ The joys of working in stell battery cabinets with little room to operate a shifting, no fun and no joy. My sweaty arms still hurt when I accidentally touch some terminals. And the sweat is generally not due to the heat, but the intensiveness of knowing what I work with. P.S. You say you have OCD? Imagine OCPD combined with ADHD!
February 7, 20179 yr 5 minutes ago, SilverNodashi said: little room to operate a shifting, What's that?
February 7, 20179 yr Just now, plonkster said: What's that? uhm. Klim van jou rekenaar af, gaan motorhuis toe, maak jou gereedskaps kas oop en soek `n "spanner" met `n "wielietjie" op wat jy kan draai Working with a ratchet and sockets isn't always possible, so I sometimes use a shifting spanner on the batteries if the bolts are too tight for a normal spanner.
February 7, 20179 yr 38 minutes ago, SilverNodashi said: soek `n "spanner" met `n "wielietjie" op wat jy kan draai Lol, nee ek soek sommer moeilikheid. Ek het een van daai in die gereedskapkas, maar ek kan nie eers onthou wanneer laas ek hom gebruik het nie. My father taught me not to use a shifting spanner, except when you have no other choice left. Usually by the time I get to the "no options left" stage, my tool of choice is a vice-grip :-) Of course we really shouldn't be using these tools on high energy battery banks, or we should at least wrap the tail end in some insulation tape :-)
February 7, 20179 yr 4 minutes ago, plonkster said: Lol, nee ek soek sommer moeilikheid. Ek het een van daai in die gereedskapkas, maar ek kan nie eers onthou wanneer laas ek hom gebruik het nie. My father taught me not to use a shifting spanner, except when you have no other choice left. Usually by the time I get to the "no options left" stage, my tool of choice is a vice-grip :-) Of course we really shouldn't be using these tools on high energy battery banks, or we should at least wrap the tail end in some insulation tape :-) and if you don't have a vice grip, use a "waterpomp spanner"?
February 7, 20179 yr 29 minutes ago, SilverNodashi said: "waterpomp spanner" Jip, dan kan jy se: I have a "spanner in the works".
February 7, 20179 yr Author 22 hours ago, Chris Hobson said: Having looked at Omnipower datasheets it would appear your bulk charge should be between 57.6V and 58.8V at 25oC and float at 54.0V. Changing your bulk setting may solve your problem. I would charge at the lower end (i.e. 57.6V) as this is over gassing voltage and although VRLA batteries generally can tolerate 1psi ~ 6.8 kPa before they vent one does not want to lose electrolyte unnecessarily. Before we add a string - charge your batteries with a gennie and check them with a voltmeter to see that they are still performing well. Your local battery supplier should have a battery tester you could borrow. 1. The Omnipower specs I have are as follows: Cycle Service: 2.35+/-1%V per cell at 20/25C If I multiply 2.35 by 24 cells, I get 56.4 rather than 57.6? 2. check them with a voltmeter to see that they are still performing well I have a digital voltmeter. How to I check the batteries' performance?
February 7, 20179 yr On the current topic, had my best solar day since installation today: 6kwh/kwp. A bit of an anomaly, a strange whitish cloud arrived on the Northern horizon late afternoon and created a kind of mirror that gave me a lot more power in late afternoon. Pretty sure this is as good as it gets, you're not going to do much better in the Western Cape :-)
February 7, 20179 yr 1 hour ago, Bush Man said: 1. The Omnipower specs I have are as follows: Cycle Service: 2.35+/-1%V per cell at 20/25C If I multiply 2.35 by 24 cells, I get 56.4 rather than 57.6? 2. check them with a voltmeter to see that they are still performing well I have a digital voltmeter. How to I check the batteries' performance? Go with the data sheets you have. Using a digital voltmeter see whether during late absorb there is less than 0.3V difference between your batteries. If you can get hold of a load tester do a load test.
February 8, 20179 yr Author On 2/6/2017 at 7:57 PM, PaulF007 said: I use a pressure pump permanently here as I don't have a tank high enough , yet , and the one I use is a 360 w pump works perfectly the only thing is you must make sure you don't have any leaks on it. Have a look at this thread: Regards Paul Thanks, Paul! I keep on being amazed at the range of solutions cropping up from the discussion. I've had a look at your pump - looks nice. My current 800W pump automatically kicks in when the pressure from the normal supply drops below 1 Bar (adjustable). Does your pump have the same functionality?
February 8, 20179 yr 16 hours ago, plonkster said: My father taught me not to use a shifting spanner, except when you have no other choice left. Usually by the time I get to the "no options left" stage, my tool of choice is a vice-grip :-) Ek voel die selfde oor 'n shifting spanner - in die meeste gevalle $0# hy net die bout se kop op. Aan die ander kant het 'n vice-grip al menige male baie gehelp - daai is nou 'n handige ding.
February 8, 20179 yr 15 hours ago, SolarNoob said: @Chris Hobson My roof pitch is 24 degrees which as I understand it is good? For Joburg/Pretoria the recommend tilt according to http://www.solarpaneltilt.com is 22o. The sweet spot is quite large so a couple of degrees either side is not going to matter.
February 8, 20179 yr 1 hour ago, superdiy said: Ek voel die selfde oor 'n shifting spanner - in die meeste gevalle $0# hy net die bout se kop op. Aan die ander kant het 'n vice-grip al menige male baie gehelp - daai is nou 'n handige ding. My Pa het 'n ou Bedford lorrie gehad waar hy altyd 'n sekere bout van onder af moes vashou met 'n Vice Grip om die tralies (vir die vervoer van bees) vas te maak. So raak die Vice Grip toe soek, kan net nêrens gevind word nie, tot hy dink hy moet tog maar gaan kyk daar onder die lorrie... waar hy toe die Vice Grip vind waar dit nog op die bout geklem sit, ten spyte daarvan dat die voertuig intussen 300km afgelê het stad toe en terug met bees agterop. As ek langpad ry sit ek altyd 'n paar stukkies gereedskap in net ingeval, my "socket set" wat lekker plat is en min spasie vat, 'n Vice grip, en 'n shifting. Sover het ek dit nog nooit nodig gehad nie, maar daai "Vice grip en shifting" ding kom ook van pa se kant af. As dit al is wat jy het is dit beslis beter as niks.
February 8, 20179 yr Moet natuurlik byvoeg, deesdae moet jy liefs ook 'n multimeter en een van daai cheapie ELM327 can-bus leser jobbies ingooi.
February 8, 20179 yr 1 hour ago, plonkster said: Moet natuurlik byvoeg, deesdae moet jy liefs ook 'n multimeter en een van daai cheapie ELM327 can-bus leser jobbies ingooi. En dalk 'n laptop met daai "special" kabel om aan die kar se computer te koppel. Die dag toe my een neef, passasier met kabel en laptop, my ander neef, die bestuurder, se Audi sit en goed verander so in die ry. Mense dit was dit nou 'n ander ding. Soek nog die konneksie op my Isuzu ... seker in die uitlaatpyp weggesteek want ek kry hom niks. So ek vat maar die spanners saam tot ek hom kry.
February 8, 20179 yr 13 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said: En dalk 'n laptop met daai "special" kabel om aan die kar se computer te koppel. 'n Genuine ELM327 kan al daardie goed doen op meeste voertuie, met Bluetooth en 'n app op jou selfoon. Daar is ongelukkig baie goedkoop knock-offs van die ELM327, en daai werk nie altyd so lekker nie. Ek het bv gevind dat dit werk met my Toyota, maar g'n niks wil weet van die Suzuki nie. Jy onthou dat ons daardie dag die Suzuki se battery getoets het met jou Hawkins? Wel, daai battery het nog 'n jaar lank gehou na dit... en toe een dag skielik sy asem uitgeblaas. Daar het ek toe geleer: As dit gebeur log elke damn subsystem in die motor 'n low-voltage error en die airbag liggie gaan eers af na jy die log ge-clear het. Moral of the story, replace the battery early, or get your own diagnostic tool :-)
February 8, 20179 yr 20 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said: Soek nog die konneksie op my Isuzu I don't think your car has an ECU of any kind :-)
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