January 30, 20233 yr Hi guys, please bear with me, you said no questions too stupid. I came across a 5.5kw hybrid inverter, has MPPT, and a same make 5.8 kw lithium battery. Please advice what hardware I need to complete the install. Tell me if I have this right, be brutal if you need to. Change over switch goes into the DB board connected to mains This then runs to a db board before the inverter. AC in and AC out I know I need a surge/voltage protector, does this go on the AC in line ? to the inverter. Instructions call for 6mm wire, this I will not skimp on. Battery: supplied with the battery is a red and black cable, this connects the inverter and battery ? I was supplied a large fuse box and 2 fuses to put in between Panels: I also managed to get same make 10 x 450 W panels. Can I use 4mm solar wire ? I get really confused here. If I make two strings of 5 in series do I then run to a combiner and then to a db board and then to inverter ? Thanks, Appreciate any input. Edited January 30, 20233 yr by Stranger
January 30, 20233 yr 33 minutes ago, Stranger said: Thanks, Appreciate any input. dude, the inverter may be low voltage on the solar side, in other words, less than 150V, which means no more than 3 panels in series, maybe, but without knowing the specs of the inverter and the panels etc. there is little one can comment on, the wire diameter is directly related to the current flow, how many Ampere it is supposed to cater for, again, need more info... a change over switch may not be necessary with a hybrid inverter, but then again, you get "Hybrid" inverters and "Hybrid" inverters, not necessarily the same is meant by Hybrid in all cases... with a Deye or Synsynk Hybrid inverter, you would have your main DB which feeds your inverter and then a second DB fed from the inverter, the 2nd DB gets all your important loads that should remain running when the commercial power disappears, on this second DB you should also have a GFI/Eath leakage trip switch and in the case of a Deye/Sunsynk a contactor or relay needs to be installed, driven by the inverter, that will connect Neutral and Earth on the output of the inverter, once commercial power disappears... surge protector... on the AC side should be before you main earth leakage trip switch on the commercial power side... for DC/the solar side, should be, obviously before the inverter coming from the solar panels... Edited January 30, 20233 yr by Kalahari Meerkat speeling
January 30, 20233 yr 1 hour ago, Stranger said: Panels: I also managed to get same make 10 x 450 W panels. Can I use 4mm solar wire ? the panels produce near enough 11A Imp, the 4mm cable should be fine for that, but you can't combine and run a single 4mm cable pair back to the inverter, the length of the cable is also somewhat important, but less so with the lower current and higher voltage panels strings... so 4mm cable should be fine, but combine near the inverter and then if its only a meter or 2 between the combiner and the inverter 4mm^2 cable after the combiner, is probably ok as well. 1 hour ago, Stranger said: If I make two strings of 5 in series do I then run to a combiner and then to a db board and then to inverter ? So, again, I'd say combine in the Solar panel DB, run the 5S strings separately to the DB... then combine in the DB with surge protector and either fuses or circuit breakers, rated at 25A if after the combiner or 15A before the combiner (is what I'd do)... and then off to the inverter 1 hour ago, Stranger said: Battery: supplied with the battery is a red and black cable, this connects the inverter and battery ? I was supplied a large fuse box and 2 fuses to put in between yes, the cable should be near enough 35mm^2, but that's assuming 120A running all the time, which is not the case one would hope, else the battery will be drained within an hour, then the cable, if its thinner can cool off again... Edited January 30, 20233 yr by Kalahari Meerkat grammatik and speeling
January 30, 20233 yr Author What a star, thanks very much, I am understanding more as we go. I can get 6mm cable solar cable so happy to go with that to reduce the resistance. My main concerns is to ensure all protections are in place
February 6, 20233 yr Author A big shout out to Kalahari Meerkat. Your help and input has been invaluable in my understanding of the system. I went with a Solarwyze 5.5 kw inverter and matched that with the Solarwyze 120 amp lithium battery and the Solarwyze 450 w panels. The combiner box came from full circle solar and the rest I shopped around for. Breaker fuse box, DB board and changeover switch. Wiring is 16mm for main DB box to changeover and between battery and inverter and then 6 mm double insulated for all the rest, including 6mm for the solar PV. So far the cost has been R 78 000 and this includes what I paid installers for the 10 x 450 w panels on a double story roof, rails and fixing kits. They system is now running and I have some questions to put on a separate post. I know it is not the latest and greatest but with an account of R3500 a month I should see an ROI within 5 years. The aim is to save R2000/R24 000 a year giving me less than four years for the ROI. Once again Kalahari Meerkat, thank you.
February 6, 20233 yr Author The Solarwyze display panel has some symbols and a scrolling button that displays various information. The display shows a kind of diagram which shows: AC line symbol PV symbol (solar panel) A symbol for AC in on a line and a symbol for AC out on a line A battery symbol and a load symbol. These lines and symbols converge to show a path. If I switch off the breakers to the PV, the lines and symbols disappear from the screen. If I switch off the breakers to the AC in line the symbols and lines disapear form the screen. When the sun goes down the PV symbols disappear from the screen. For the first time this morning WITHOUT switching anything, I saw the AC in line disappear. Does this mean that I was running purely on PV, please tell me am right and make my day. The program is set for Priority source: PV then utility then battery.
February 6, 20233 yr Author Bear with me guys, this is a tired old brain with lot's of mileage trying to understand all of this. I measured the input form the strings at the mc4 connectors that go INTO the combiner. They were giving me plus minus 175 V The display on the inverter shows the same. The wattage display shows between 950 w and 1.5 kw. The panels can produce 450w x 10 less losses (lets say 20%) = 3 600 w. So when I see the above watt figures does this mean the panels and system combined are just allowing through what is needed as per the load at this time and the balance going to the battery. The battery is 100% SOC, does the excess get dumped ?
February 6, 20233 yr Correct. The excess goes nowhere. If you can stagger your loads during the day, you can run most of those on PV and save on utility.
February 6, 20233 yr 1 hour ago, Stranger said: For the first time this morning WITHOUT switching anything, I saw the AC in line disappear. Does this mean that I was running purely on PV, please tell me am right and make my day. The program is set for Priority source: PV then utility then battery. sounds right... maybe a mix of PV and battery, but yes, but with it disappearing off the display may also mean you had loadshedding, which still mean you were running off solar + possible battery... 55 minutes ago, Stranger said: The battery is 100% SOC, does the excess get dumped ? not really, it doesn't get extracted from the panels/allowed to flow, if it has nowhere to go... the MPPT in the inverter will allow the amount of current that it needs and can utilise to flow from the solar panels and this will get converted to either 230V AC and fed to whatever is consuming the power, when the battery still needs energy to get back to 100%, then some of the solar side, would get converted to 48V-ish (whatever the charge Voltage of the battery is set to) DC and fed to the battery... like @p_i wrote ideally you will want to schedule your power consumption... like run the dishwasher at 11:00AM and the run the washing machine at 12:30, once the dishwasher is done... etc. also... your batteries, you may want to limit the charge current so the battery will take longer to get full, mine usually is only fully charged by 15:00 or 16:00 and during the day with load of PV power available, the oven may get used etc. we do have a gas cooker, but more often than not are using a induction plate these days, since gas is more expensive than PV power... as for the battery, even if the battery is specced to take a charge at, let's say 100A, if there is no rush, then charge it at 25A or even lower, as long as you have enough time and sunshine, you will be effectively prolonging the life of your battery, by not hammering it all the way...
February 6, 20233 yr Author Thanks guys. Today is really the first day with nice sunshine, clear sky's so am looking at all these factors. No load shedding scheduled for this morning. My wife and family have embraced the need to change things and just accept it as another chapter we need to go through. We have had the washing machine on (2200w on the sticker inside the door) and we decided to make coffee and see what happened. 2000w kettle switched on and produced a beep from the inverter and the AC line indicator came on. When it was done, another beep and it went off again. This seems to indicate that everything is working as it should and that at least I am on track for some savings on the bill. AC charging is limited to 30 amps. I am a little confused as on another thread I built a 12 v 4bs LifePo pack with BMS. Coupled this with a WRND for alternator and solar feeds. As it turned out it was required for double duty for load shedding in order for us to have a few lights and TV. This thing loves amps, I charge via a bench PSU @ 10 amps and the WRND pushes 20 amps in when in the vehicle. This has worked solid now for a year. I hear you about hammering the battery though and will look for the setting. I like the idea of an induction plate..... makes sense.
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