Posted March 16, 20232 yr Hi all. I recently added solar panels to my luxpower 5kw inverter. But it seems like I have more power coming from the grid than from solar panels, unless there's loadshedding then the solar panels start producing more power. How do I change this ? Ideally I want more solar power throughout the day and only grid at night?
March 16, 20232 yr 4 hours ago, Adnaan07 said: Hi all. I recently added solar panels to my luxpower 5kw inverter. But it seems like I have more power coming from the grid than from solar panels, unless there's loadshedding then the solar panels start producing more power. How do I change this ? Ideally I want more solar power throughout the day and only grid at night? How many panels and how are they connected to the inverter? When you say you get more power from the grid than the panels, in which situations does this happen? What is the battery % when this happens? Can you share your settings from the app? These screens specifically
March 17, 20231 yr Author Hi @mzezman. theres 4 panels connected and it went live late on Wednesday. Yesterday I noticed when there's eskom power the solar output drops to like 60W while grid power is then 400W. However when there's loadshedding then the solar kicks up and gives power of around 400W. This is during the day when not a lot of power is being used except for 2 freezers. The battery level was around 100% mostly as I only had 1 loadshedding outage for 2 hours. See screenshot below I haven't really fiddled with anything on the app
March 17, 20231 yr 2 hours ago, Adnaan07 said: Hi @mzezman. theres 4 panels connected and it went live late on Wednesday. Yesterday I noticed when there's eskom power the solar output drops to like 60W while grid power is then 400W. However when there's loadshedding then the solar kicks up and gives power of around 400W. This is during the day when not a lot of power is being used except for 2 freezers. The battery level was around 100% mostly as I only had 1 loadshedding outage for 2 hours. See screenshot below I haven't really fiddled with anything on the app Thanks for the screens - the system is working as intended. The installer set it up such that AC (grid) [AC First setting] will be used first between 00:00 and 23:59 (screenshot 1). So between those times the inverter and house will ALWAYS use grid first - regardless of what is happening with solar. If there is no grid - which you observed - then the solar kicks in. Additionally the settings [AC Charge] show that the battery is to be charged from the grid at all times between 00:00 and 23:59 (screenshot 2) If you want the solar to be primary use during the day then Set your AC first time to be outside of daytime hours, e.g. 17:00-05:00 - this means between 5pm and 5am it will use grid first - you can change those settings on the app in the AC first row. You have 3 AC first rows (1-3) so you can chop and change as you see fit. Set your AC charge times accordingly - remember - during the AC charge time it will recharge your batteries from the grid. So only do this if you absolutely want to charge batteries from the grid If you look at my screenshots you'll see that i have not set a timeframe for AC first - so the inverter will never use grid to power loads I do have an AC charge setting for 23:15 - 23:45 - as this system only has 1 battery I top it up just in case Find AC first and AC charge settings that work for you as those determine when the grid is used. Outside of those times the system will use DC (solar and Battery). Additionally (to further complicate things) if you click [Take Load together] the system will blend AC, PV and Battery to meet the load requirements. start with the 2 above then once you have that set you can try this 3rd complication goodluck 🙂
March 18, 20231 yr Author Dude @mzezmanthank you so much for the above youre a real champ. I was stressing thinking the inverter was the wrong one or something. Will play around with the settings over the next few days and see what works best. Thanks again mate 👍
March 20, 20231 yr @mzezman If I may hop in here as my issue seems related.... My system is taking ac from the grid at seemingly random times even though the AC charge times are all set to 00:00. the AC first settings are also all at 00:00. The sun is out and the panels are doing what they're supposed to.... I also set the AC charge to 'DISABLE', and even then it charged the battery from around 70% (I think) to 100% today - at around midday while the panels were generating beautifully. As a matter of interest I also set the AC charge end battery SOC to 90% (as suggested by my installer) - It chrged all the way to 100% if you have any insight I'd be very grateful Regards
March 22, 20231 yr On 2023/03/20 at 1:52 PM, BrendanR said: @mzezman If I may hop in here as my issue seems related.... My system is taking ac from the grid at seemingly random times even though the AC charge times are all set to 00:00. the AC first settings are also all at 00:00. The sun is out and the panels are doing what they're supposed to.... I also set the AC charge to 'DISABLE', and even then it charged the battery from around 70% (I think) to 100% today - at around midday while the panels were generating beautifully. As a matter of interest I also set the AC charge end battery SOC to 90% (as suggested by my installer) - It chrged all the way to 100% if you have any insight I'd be very grateful Regards Sorry it took so long to respond, long weekend and all. From your graph it looks like you solar was maxing out at 1000w, how many panels and what size are they? A load then came on, am guessing it's a geyser that needed approx 1500w so the solar was then supplemented by a grid charge of approx 1500-1800w I misread the graph - ignore the crossed out bit. It definitely charged the battery from the grid. Please select "Disable" next to the AC Charge setting then click set and wait for the confirmation dialog box. My only thinking is that you set it but it didn't commit the change. Please also ensure you select Read All when you access the settings for the sametime Edited March 22, 20231 yr by mzezman
March 22, 20231 yr 21 minutes ago, mzezman said: From your graph it looks like you solar was maxing out at 1000w, how many panels and what size are they? A load then came on, am guessing it's a geyser that needed approx 1500w so the solar was then supplemented by a grid charge of approx 1500-1800w No, this is not a load of 1500-1800W, the load actually remains fairly low at around 100W. It does look like a grid-charge of around 1.8kW, something like the 30A grid-charge current at around 57.4V bulk charge, being added to the balance of the 1kW solar. And after charging is done, grid goes back to zero, and solar alone is enough to meet the house loads. Can't say what initiates it though. Could it be just the built-in lead-acid charging cycle?
March 22, 20231 yr 2 minutes ago, GreenFields said: No, this is not a load of 1500-1800W, the load actually remains fairly low at around 100W. It does look like a grid-charge of around 1.8kW, something like the 30A grid-charge current at around 57.4V bulk charge, being added to the balance of the 1kW solar. And after charging is done, grid goes back to zero, and solar alone is enough to meet the house loads. Can't say what initiates it though. Could it be just the built-in lead-acid charging cycle? You are right - i misread the information
June 19, 20231 yr Hi I have a luxpower inverter 5kw with 6 460w panels , off gritt no eskom,the panels don't give me more than 1.5kw charge and drop till 200w , if I isolate panels and switch on again it jumps back to 1.5 kw , it never gives me more that that , what could be the problem
June 19, 20231 yr 1 hour ago, Trompie said: Hi I have a luxpower inverter 5kw with 6 460w panels , off gritt no eskom,the panels don't give me more than 1.5kw charge and drop till 200w , if I isolate panels and switch on again it jumps back to 1.5 kw , it never gives me more that that , what could be the problem probably how they were installed - do you know whether the installer installed all 6 on one mppt
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