During July 2016 I had the following installed:-

20 x 260W JA pv panels in 5 strings of 4.

1 x MLT Powerstar 6kVA inverter in full hybrid mode + 100A Microcare MPPT.

24 x T105RE's 225Ah 6v batteries in 3 x 8 (48volt) banks

This has been the best thing I have ever done however my batteries are in their seventh year. 

My plan was always to go lithium when the batteries reach their end of life. They are not there yet but are down in their storage capacity.

I see multiple issues to simply upgrade batteries. 1: The MPPT is incorrect for lithium and 2: the Powerstar is also only good for lead acid re charge voltages.

If this was your system what would you do as I had hoped to upgrade slowly.

I f I am not mistaken both inverter and MPPT can be changed to accommodate Lithium.

I would consider an external MPPT, and just not use the MPPT built in to the inverter. That's assuming that the built-in MPPT really can't be set up for lithium. Obviously, if you go this way, you would need an external MPPT that matched your existing panel setup.

The Microcare MPPT is a standalone.

 

From what I can gander the MLT is lithium capable,at worst maybe via Voltage,still should be doable

Same with the MPPT

Do they not have Float and Bulk voltages in the 50's?

17 hours ago, Coulomb said:

I would consider an external MPPT, and just not use the MPPT built in to the inverter. That's assuming that the built-in MPPT really can't be set up for lithium. Obviously, if you go this way, you would need an external MPPT that matched your existing panel setup.

Yes, it uses an external MPPT, that MLT doesnt have its own.

16 hours ago, PsyWulf said:

From what I can gander the MLT is lithium capable,at worst maybe via Voltage,still should be doable

Same with the MPPT

Do they not have Float and Bulk voltages in the 50's?

I have had the motherboard of the MLT repaired and apparently upgraded a year or so ago after lightening damage. It works like a dream however I dont think it would be able to talk to the lithium's. No canbus?

I would contact both suppliers an inquire about an update.

I have seen old Microcare MPPT being updated to accommodate new tech.

If this was my system, my setup, I'd start investigating and planning around the needs of an electric vehicle in the medium to long term, ie. consider a future high-voltage battery and inverter system, or high-power capacity inverters, dual-voltage batteries, 1C or 1.5C batteries, that line of thinking, whatever works best with your 32kWh storage needs, or in the future maybe even more. Not saying you should replace everything now if you could still get extra life out of the MPPT and the MLT, but I'd choose the next steps with a view to being more independent of Eskom for charging your electric vehicle if needs be.

23 hours ago, Gerald_db said:

During July 2016 I had the following installed:-

20 x 260W JA pv panels in 5 strings of 4.

1 x MLT Powerstar 6kVA inverter in full hybrid mode + 100A Microcare MPPT.

24 x T105RE's 225Ah 6v batteries in 3 x 8 (48volt) banks

This has been the best thing I have ever done however my batteries are in their seventh year. 

My plan was always to go lithium when the batteries reach their end of life. They are not there yet but are down in their storage capacity.

I see multiple issues to simply upgrade batteries. 1: The MPPT is incorrect for lithium and 2: the Powerstar is also only good for lead acid re charge voltages.

If this was your system what would you do as I had hoped to upgrade slowly.

Nice to see you @Gerald_db!

1 hour ago, GreenFields said:

If this was my system, my setup, I'd start investigating and planning around the needs of an electric vehicle in the medium to long term, ie. consider a future high-voltage battery and inverter system, or high-power capacity inverters, dual-voltage batteries, 1C or 1.5C batteries, that line of thinking, whatever works best with your 32kWh storage needs, or in the future maybe even more. Not saying you should replace everything now if you could still get extra life out of the MPPT and the MLT, but I'd choose the next steps with a view to being more independent of Eskom for charging your electric vehicle if needs be.

We charge our ev (Volvo P8) on my business 16kW 3 phase system. Costs less than 50c per km then.

On 2022/10/13 at 3:31 PM, Gerald_db said:

I have had the motherboard of the MLT repaired and apparently upgraded a year or so ago after lightening damage. It works like a dream however I dont think it would be able to talk to the lithium's. No canbus?

Canbus is not the end-all,you can reliably run many lithiums on Voltage-only and defer your next upgrades to the inverter/mppt as needed

34 minutes ago, PsyWulf said:

Canbus is not the end-all,you can reliably run many lithiums on Voltage-only and defer your next upgrades to the inverter/mppt as needed

Thanks for that info. Would there be any particular lithium's that would be preferred in this type on installation or maybe which to avoid?

Received this email from MLT:

Hi Mr de Beer

The inverter cannot use CAN comms with the Lithium batteries.

Most of our clients use the inverter in voltage control mode on the lithium batteries and only connect their solar regulators with CAN. The inverter just gets set up correctly for the lithium batteries and the regulators has comms talking to the battery.

We have lots of units in the field that runs on this setup.

What solar regulators do you have and are they lithium compatible with CAN comms?

Kind regards

The best inverter is always a paid one. I will check the voltage settings even for lithium. That's how I use my Axpert. Upgrades can be around the MPPT if Microcare cannot help with a lithium profile. Even without lithium profile you might have enough settings to charge lithiums.

On 2022/10/14 at 6:18 PM, Gerald_db said:

Thanks for that info. Would there be any particular lithium's that would be preferred in this type on installation or maybe which to avoid?

Just clarify with the vendor for warranties in Voltage-regulated mode,but i'm not aware of any brand particularly that refuses to service that