May 21, 20233 yr 11 hours ago, Unity said: I don't beleive the SNA can feed to non-essential loads like the Sunsynk. It feeds back to grid if enabled, that's it ( This...Without a CT one cannot feed non essentials without exporting to the grid. SNA does not have a CT input. If the inverter does not have a CT, you will really lose one of the main benefits of an inverter, being able to feed your non essentials, viz. Geyser,washing machine etc when the sun is up and battery full.
May 21, 20233 yr 7 minutes ago, FixAMess said: This...Without a CT one cannot feed non essentials without exporting to the grid. SNA does not have a CT input. If the inverter does not have a CT, you will really lose one of the main benefits of an inverter, being able to feed your non essentials, viz. Geyser,washing machine etc when the sun is up and battery full. Thanks for clarifying it. Please assist with this one. My 2kw element geyser is on and on non essentials. The SNA is set to export up to 2.5kW and it is available from PV. How much is exported to the grid and and how much is used by the 2kW geyser.
May 21, 20233 yr Author 16 minutes ago, FixAMess said: This...Without a CT one cannot feed non essentials without exporting to the grid. SNA does not have a CT input. If the inverter does not have a CT, you will really lose one of the main benefits of an inverter, being able to feed your non essentials, viz. Geyser,washing machine etc when the sun is up and battery full. So what your saying is to feed non essentials on the SNA during LS, you will need to rather export to the grid?
May 21, 20233 yr 6 minutes ago, DeezGP said: So what your saying is to feed non essentials on the SNA during LS, you will need to rather export to the grid? AFAIK no power will go via the grid input that is also used as the export wiring when the grid is off like during LS. This is one of the most vital points to get a grid tied approved.
May 21, 20233 yr 2 minutes ago, DeezGP said: So what your saying is to feed non essentials on the SNA during LS, you will need to rather export to the grid? During load shedding you cannot feed the grid or non essentials on any inverter! Only the essential loads can be fed from battery + pv when there is loadshedding. On the SNA you can only feed grid+non essentials, there's no choice as to exclude thr grid. Think of the CT as a valve. It sits immediately after your elec meter, on your main incoming red wire. Your inverter will open the valve (to also feed grid) or close it which allows to just feed the entire house (essentials + non essentials) ..Without the CT/valve, you can only feed the grid + non essentials. You can't feed non essentials only. The valve is open and closed by regulating the inverter output voltage. To push to grid, the inverter increases its voltage so its greater than the grid voltage. Then power flows into grid, to allow power into non essential side it decreases or matches grid voltage.. Beautiful to watch as this happens.. In reality your inverter always talks to the grid, a few watts, to sync frequency and voltage.
May 21, 20233 yr 17 minutes ago, FixAMess said: During load shedding you cannot feed the grid or non essentials on any inverter! Only the essential loads can be fed from battery + pv when there is loadshedding. On the SNA you can only feed grid+non essentials, there's no choice as to exclude thr grid. Think of the CT as a valve. It sits immediately after your elec meter, on your main incoming red wire. Your inverter will open the valve (to also feed grid) or close it which allows to just feed the entire house (essentials + non essentials) ..Without the CT/valve, you can only feed the grid + non essentials. You can't feed non essentials only. The valve is open and closed by regulating the inverter output voltage. To push to grid, the inverter increases its voltage so its greater than the grid voltage. Then power flows into grid, to allow power into non essential side it decreases or matches grid voltage.. Beautiful to watch as this happens.. In reality your inverter always talks to the grid, a few watts, to sync frequency and voltage. Thanks again but somewhere some important point is missed. Perhaps that is how the SNA works. Some other inverters will not export anything to the grid while the non essential DB has a load higher than the PV generated. This is the beauty that only what the PV cannot produce is drawn from the grid. You will see that is how a Sunsynk will also work if export is enabled or if no battery is fitted when the grid is present. This is when no CT is activated or fitted to prevent export. Edited May 21, 20233 yr by Scorp007
May 21, 20233 yr 1 hour ago, Scorp007 said: Some other inverters will not export anything to the grid while the non essential DB has a load higher than the PV generated Yes, most inverters will supply the battery charging+ essential first, depending on settings, which may favor charging battery first, then supplying essentials.
May 21, 20233 yr Author So since it cannot split loads, would a solution be to have a lower voltage breaker that will trip if LS starts and I had all my non essentials running at the time? Then I could manually switch off the geyser and pool pump for example and then turn it on again. This way my inverter isn't overloaded? I read this somewhere.
May 21, 20233 yr 24 minutes ago, DeezGP said: So since it cannot split loads, would a solution be to have a lower voltage breaker that will trip if LS starts and I had all my non essentials running at the time? Then I could manually switch off the geyser and pool pump for example and then turn it on again. This way my inverter isn't overloaded? I read this somewhere. Get yourself the CBI astute and disconnect the pool pump and heat pump from the inverter. You can actually set the times this should happen based on the LS schedules. You can then override these settings from your phone at any time or local on the unit. This is if you have WiFi on at all times. Another option would be 2xSonoffs of 25A rating and split the pool pump and heat pump. There might be a time you want to run the heat pump for say 30min. I normally run my heat pump only for 2hrs a day. During cold spells I would increase the run time. We are only 2 people. After a bath I would also get the temp back to 55 deg C. Without knowing what panels you intent connecting or your power used per day and time of use it is not easy to guess if you need 2xinverters. 2x5kwh batteries should work fine as a very wild guess.
May 21, 20233 yr Author 30 minutes ago, Scorp007 said: Without knowing what panels you intent connecting or your power used per day and time of use it is not easy to guess if you need 2xinverters. 2x5kwh batteries should work fine as a very wild guess Looking at 8 to 10 545w JA/Canadian Thanks on the suggestion of the CBI astute. I will have a look at it
May 21, 20233 yr Author 38 minutes ago, Scorp007 said: Get yourself the CBI astute and disconnect the pool pump and heat pump from the inverter. You can actually set the times this should happen based on the LS schedules. You can then override these settings from your phone at any time or local on the unit. This is if you have WiFi on at all times. Another option would be 2xSonoffs of 25A rating and split the pool pump and heat pump. There might be a time you want to run the heat pump for say 30min. I normally run my heat pump only for 2hrs a day. During cold spells I would increase the run time. We are only 2 people. After a bath I would also get the temp back to 55 deg C. Without knowing what panels you intent connecting or your power used per day and time of use it is not easy to guess if you need 2xinverters. 2x5kwh batteries should work fine as a very wild guess. We don't use alot of electricity. With loadshedding the way it is we only use 350 to 400 units a month. I presume units would increase if we have uninterrupted power... but not alot
May 21, 20233 yr 18 minutes ago, DeezGP said: We don't use alot of electricity. With loadshedding the way it is we only use 350 to 400 units a month. I presume units would increase if we have uninterrupted power... but not alot Add a ~10% increase due to conversion loss on Grid Load if you run in a always-on config rather than changeover
May 21, 20233 yr Author 33 minutes ago, PsyWulf said: Add a ~10% increase due to conversion loss on Grid Load if you run in a always-on config rather than changeover Thanks @PsyWulf noted
May 21, 20233 yr 1 hour ago, DeezGP said: We don't use alot of electricity. With loadshedding the way it is we only use 350 to 400 units a month. I presume units would increase if we have uninterrupted power... but not alot If 10 panels you could be generating 25-27kwh per day year round if all the PV is used. This is never the case. You should get through very well. You could even start with 1 battery and after a month or 2 adjusting the use you will know if you need that 2nd battery. Add 50kWh to your 400kWh for the power the inverter would use per month.
May 21, 20233 yr Author That's a good suggestion.. will consider adding the 2nd battery later. Was just thinking that because I was getting an electrician to do this work, I may as well get everything done at once...
May 21, 20233 yr 10 minutes ago, DeezGP said: That's a good suggestion.. will consider adding the 2nd battery later. Was just thinking that because I was getting an electrician to do this work, I may as well get everything done at once... Electrician cost to add the 2nd battery would be a small fee compared to a 2nd battery. @zsde is running basically off grid with the same PV size and 1 battery. His power use matches yours. Look at his posts.
May 21, 20233 yr 2 hours ago, DeezGP said: We don't use alot of electricity. With loadshedding the way it is we only use 350 to 400 units a month. I presume units would increase if we have uninterrupted power... but not alot I was averaging 200 to 250kWh a month before I went solar. That was after I initially had a flat panel geyser conversion done. My system is off grid, meaning I have a change over switch at my DB where I select if and when I want to use some grid, which I unfortunately have to do as the prepaid system forces us to charge once in 3 months at minimum, else it's a permanent disconnect. I can manage mostly with just the setup in my signature, just have to be very stingy in winter months from sunset onwards to make it through the night. So I tend to ensure my battery is fully charged by sunset and then use my grid credits for an hour or two. That then gives me a battery at 40-50% SOC at first charge. So I am not taxing the battery. Yes, I have pushed it without grid and then it will drain to 20-30% SOC. Had three battery shutdowns at 20% in the two years I had the system. My panels give me more power than I can use which is great for the not so pleasant and overcast days, My Inverter clips at 22 Amps so 5,5kW is the max I get from the panels. Couldn't be happier with the limited hardware in terms of single battery and single inverter. They actually give more than what I anticipated at the time of purchase. My typical stats, and today was a bit of an exception in terms of usage.
May 21, 20233 yr Author 1 hour ago, Scorp007 said: Electrician cost to add the 2nd battery would be a small fee compared to a 2nd battery Agreed
May 21, 20233 yr Author 35 minutes ago, zsde said: I was averaging 200 to 250kWh a month before I went solar. That was after I initially had a flat panel geyser conversion done. My system is off grid, meaning I have a change over switch at my DB where I select if and when I want to use some grid, which I unfortunately have to do as the prepaid system forces us to charge once in 3 months at minimum, else it's a permanent disconnect. I can manage mostly with just the setup in my signature, just have to be very stingy in winter months from sunset onwards to make it through the night. So I tend to ensure my battery is fully charged by sunset and then use my grid credits for an hour or two. That then gives me a battery at 40-50% SOC at first charge. So I am not taxing the battery. Yes, I have pushed it without grid and then it will drain to 20-30% SOC. Had three battery shutdowns at 20% in the two years I had the system. My panels give me more power than I can use which is great for the not so pleasant and overcast days, My Inverter clips at 22 Amps so 5,5kW is the max I get from the panels. Couldn't be happier with the limited hardware in terms of single battery and single inverter. They actually give more than what I anticipated at the time of purchase. My typical stats, and today was a bit of an exception in terms of usage. Looks pretty good for 1 battery and 1 inverter. I cannot see your signature. What do you have?
May 21, 20233 yr 1 minute ago, DeezGP said: Looks pretty good for 1 battery and 1 inverter. I cannot see your signature. What do you have? Sigs don't show at all times on a mobile.
May 21, 20233 yr 18 minutes ago, DeezGP said: What do you have? Growatt SPF 5000ES-Pro; 12 X JA 535W 2P6S (6420W); Azimuth ~22deg NE , Tilt ~30deg; 1 X Hubble AM-2 5,5kW; SolarAssitant via Raspberry-Pi 3-B
May 21, 20233 yr Author 2 hours ago, zsde said: Growatt SPF 5000ES-Pro; 12 X JA 535W 2P6S (6420W); Azimuth ~22deg NE , Tilt ~30deg; 1 X Hubble AM-2 5,5kW; SolarAssitant via Raspberry-Pi 3-B Nice. Thank you
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