53 minutes ago, Steve87 said:

This client won't be disturbed by Stage 4 this weekend. Final CoC & commissioning planned next weekend. 

That restart SOC is quite high. I know it is the default value but on a 24kWh battery it can be much lower.

Leke, following this 

Spent most of the day running PV cables. We started with no PV cables off the roof. We now have 3 strings dangling off the side of the roof. All the cabling has been trunked in Galvanised 25mm tubular pipe. The cable runs are from 3 strings & in excess of 250m. Due to the roof design it was impossible to get the cable runs into the roof ceiling & out due to a very beautiful step down design on the roof. So the Roof ceiling runs were off limits. 

Tomorrow is the last day on site. DC combiner box assembly & PV connecting. The Inverter ran without incident for the entire weekend of Loadshedding with the Felicity batteries doing good duty. Peak loads of 6kW were reached during loadshedding periods without the inverter or batteries breaking a sweat. 

Final pics & CoC to come. 

The journey continues: wiring is finally off the roof & into the building. 

PV DC combiner Box assembled & marked with Hazard labels. Last but not least will be the Array Earthing via an Earth spike. 

No DC isolator was fitted because the Deye already has one on the side of the inverter. The 13.2kW Array pushed to 9.2kW peak just with bursts of sun ☀️ Hopefully better weather for her to stretch her legs in the coming days. 

22 minutes ago, Steve87 said:

PV DC combiner Box assembled & marked with Hazard labels. Last but not least will be the Array Earthing via an Earth spike. 

Great work Steve

On 2022/11/18 at 7:36 PM, Steve87 said:

This client won't be disturbed by Stage 4 this weekend. Final CoC & commissioning planned next weekend. 

Hey Steve. Thanks for the showcase, definitely following this thread.

I have the same battery, I would like to know why you chose these battery settings? Are these recommended by Felicity Solar?

Hi @kamosto answer your question: Yes this was as directed by Niko, the Felicity Solar engineer. My absolute take on these batteries as I was not part of this battery purchase. I was merely as to install these as the client purchased all this equipment himself & I was contracted to carry out the installation only. 

I have shipped & built a few battery LFP packs myself. I have built 100ah (5kWh), 120ah(6kWh) & actually the 230ah(12kWh) 

my take on these batteries is that at R46k for this built pack is an absolute bargain. You cannot order these 230ah cells for that money. They are 0.5C & this is where my mind & imagination runs away with me.

the reason is that why rate them at 0.5C? I have built packs using CATL as well as EVE cells. These cells are 1C rated. So why would they derate them ? There can be another reason & that could be the BMS limitation. Meaning they have 230ah cells but paired with a 120A BMS & this could be the reason, so I hope is the case. 

The Seplos local manufacturer here in SA have the same issue with their new 12kWh battery that is sold at R56k. They are using the old Seplos BMS & that derates to an output of at 0.5C. 

I Wish I could lay my hands on an example of these batteries & carry out some tests on the Felicity batteries. I have the necessary diagnostic & amp measuring equipment to tell the reel truth of capacity etc. I noticed that the enclosure is also screwed on & very easy to remove. But having deboxed these 2 units from supplier shipping as well as pair them with the Deye. The quality & easy of use was outstanding. The rest of the details lies hidden behind the skin. 

But the price of these tells me we are missing something. Either these are not 230ah cells & are actually 280ah cells that are derated due to being 2nd life. Or this is one of the best bang for ones buck. 

A Very intriguing journey awaits for owners of these. I hope its a winner !!!

 

Edited November 24, 20223 yr by Steve87

 

Are those AC MCBs? Does the inverter come with them mounted? Are they replaceable with standard din mount breakers?

 

It looks like you took the 4 wires that normally went into the main breaker straight to the inverter, and the inverter output into the main breaker?

How did you extend those 10/16mm2 wires, from googling it seems like one can use ferrules and heatshrink but i am sure there must be a better way like a big wago or chocalate block etc?

Are you able to share a rough time breakdown on how long it takes an experienced installer like yourself to do the various parts needed for the install?

21 minutes ago, Lee2 said:

Are those AC MCBs?

Yes this is a 63A MCB that is factory fitted on the Grid bi-directional port. Yes they are replaceable but I don't see why you would want to because they are appropriately rated. I also suspect it would be difficult to to remove especially the wiring at the top might be very hard to free up & would be hard to work in a very tight space. 

31 minutes ago, Lee2 said:

 there must be a better way like a big wago or chocalate block etc?

Those are not better methods by any metric.

@Lee2I cant quite understand your question in your 2nd last post. This installation because the entire load circuits were added to the Loads (Essential Circuits). So there was no reason to spilt circuits between essential & non essentials it made our installation time for the AC integration quite quick. We were complete with the AC integration in 2 days. The hardest thing is working with 16mm AC cable. It's very rigid & I extend them using 16mm Ferrules & insulation tape. Yes you can use Heat shrink it's all Important that the insulation is good & the crimp is good. 

All we did was remove the main Eskom supply from the DB & routed it into the AC Combiner box. The main reason is not to mix up Neutrals. Then it's much easier to work with the different Neutrals within the AC Combiner box as well as have the Changeover switch connected. Then it's also easy to connect up indicator lights etc.

If this was 6mm GP cable it would have been much faster to install. 16mm requires patience & skill. The most important aspect is to choose an appropriately sized DB board. You do not want to be in a confined space with 16mm GP wire. It's has memory so each bend requires a pliers to get it into shape. A small DB that is very difficult to do. 

6 minutes ago, Steve87 said:

@Lee2I cant quite understand your question in your 2nd last post. This installation because the entire load circuits were added to the Loads (Essential Circuits). So there was no reason to spilt circuits between essential & non essentials it made our installation time for the AC integration quite quick. We were complete with the AC integration in 2 days. The hardest thing is working with 16mm AC cable. It's very rigid & I extend them using 16mm Ferrules & insulation tape. Yes you can use Heat shrink it's all Important that the insulation is good & the crimp is good. 

All we did was remove the main Eskom supply from the DB & routed it into the AC Combiner box. The main reason is not to mix up Neutrals. Then it's much easier to work with the different Neutrals within the AC Combiner box as well as have the Changeover switch connected. Then it's also easy to connect up indicator lights etc.

If this was 6mm GP cable it would have been much faster to install. 16mm requires patience & skill. The most important aspect is to choose an appropriately sized DB board. You do not want to be in a confined space with 16mm GP wire. It's has memory so each bend requires a pliers to get it into shape. A small DB that is very difficult to do. 

My question was basically the original cables from Eskom were of a fixed length, given you rererouted them to the combiner box how did you make them long enough? But you already answered that, through the use of ferrules, so thanks!

Edited November 25, 20223 yr by Lee2

On 2022/11/18 at 7:26 PM, Steve87 said:

One very successful day was had. The Felicity batteries paired beautifully on the first attempt. Master & slave settings & dip switching was seemless. The Comms cable will need to be self made & crimped. The quality of these units is very apparent. Powder coated mild steel covered & all the connectors are in the rear, with good sized M8 thread busbars. I have had pretty good support from Niko in China via Wattsapp. He sent me supporting documents & he confirmed that the protocol is Pylontech RS485. 

He provided all pin outs & docs. Time will tell if these units are any good but I must admit the installation support was impressive & the quality of the product was great. The trolley on wheels make a heck of a lot of sense. 

Hi Steve 

Can you assist.

I have similar setup (8kw Deye and 12.5kwh felicity). 

How did you get them to integrate? 

1. Cable?

2. Settings

Cheers

Pm me your details I will share you via Wattsapp much quicker. 

On 2022/12/23 at 8:48 PM, Steve87 said:

Pm me your details I will share you via Wattsapp much quicker. 

Hey Steve

I'm considering pulling the trigger on the 10kw dye inverter/ 17.4kw felicities kit from solarway. I'd prefer dyness or one of the other more well known brands but it's all that I can find. Has everything been running fine with this installation's batteries?

As far as I can say yes. The client has not complained one bit. The data shows them still working. 

Hello, I have inverter SUN-10KSG04LP3-
EU. Deye.
can someone tell if this panels are suitable for this inverter
i am afraid about Apms. Panels generate 13.36 A and inverter 13. is this fine ?
Thank you

Edited March 27, 20233 yr by Den_Braw

Obey the Voc Voltage of the MPPT. The amps are marginally higher. There is a small loss but it's very very small. In other words don't exceed the MPPT voltage. The amps the MPPT will reach its maximum it wants but it won't destroy itself doing so. 

Thank you 

11 hours ago, Steve87 said:

Obey the Voc Voltage of the MPPT. The amps are marginally higher. There is a small loss but it's very very small. In other words don't exceed the MPPT voltage. The amps the MPPT will reach its maximum it wants but it won't destroy itself doing so. 

In the above screenshot the inverter's rated PV input voltage is is 550 and max is 650. Does that mean:

 

1. You should aim to get your array as close to 550V as possible (for efficiency maybe)?

2. If so do you calculate using the panel's STC or NOCT value?

3. If so do you calculate using the panel's Vmp or Voc value?

 

Thanks for indulging us Steve