Hi everyone,

I finally have my inverter working thr way that it should, I've also put in a Geyserwise system so my electricity usage has dropped to virtually zero. So mission accomplished.

I noticed that my battery is very depleted in the mornings when we wake up. This is weird because there is nothing running during the night apart from wifi, cameras and lights... about 200w max. 

I noticed spikes in battery/power usage, normally around midnight, but last night it happened around 22h40 whilst we were sleeping. Its over 3000w so must be something big. 

Thing is there is nothing on that time that can take that much power. 

Geyser is on a timer and I switched the geyser off at the DB box to make sure.  It cant be the oven, because that doesnt go through the solar and it cant be the pool pump because thats also switched off at the DB box.

Anyone maybe have any idea whats going on? 

Many thanks. 

Oelof 

How old and how big is the fridge?

3 minutes ago, Buyeye said:

How old and how big is the fridge?

Its a single door fridge freezer combo, not very big but it is about 15 years old making funny noises and all...😜

7 minutes ago, Buyeye said:

fridge

This, I have the same spike, only smaller. In summer I get more frequent spikes, depending on ambient temp.

time for treasure hunt, start with the fridge. I do see spikes that correspond with my meter on the fridge occasionally higher than expected.

Too high for fridge in my opinion since that's in the geyser power range. Maybe the geyser switch is bypassed in the DB or the timer is bypassing it? Any hidden geysers in the house that you haven't discovered yet? 😁

2 minutes ago, p_i said:

Too high for fridge in my opinion since that's in the geyser power range. Maybe the geyser switch is bypassed in the DB or the timer is bypassing it? Any hidden geysers in the house that you haven't discovered yet? 😁

Not sure about the geyser being bypassed in the DB or the timer bypassing it, I would have to explore that if I cant find the surge. 

There is a extremely old geyser in the roof, but its as old as time itself and bone dry. I am not sure even if it is connected to the grid. 

Way too high to be a fridge, even ALL the fridges. What's the odds of them always turning on at the same time?

What does your graphing tool show? Mine shows TOTAL demand by the property, backed up and non-backed up. So if yours does that, then you need to look beyond the backed up circuit.

Is it possible that somebody is having midnight microwave meals or some other unauthorised use of power? A very bad thing! 

Seriously, this looks like another geyser, maybe in the outbuildings. I have two geysers, but for one the breaker is actually on the sub-db in the outbuildings.

Try turning things off on the DB (and any sub-dbs). Do this in a methodical way and see what removes the spikes. If nobody complains then leave it off.

Edited August 22, 20232 yr by Bobster.
punc:tu-ation

EZ Test, run a bath, check if the spike start when you run the bath. If yes, then it is a geyser.

Some actuals I have posted some time ago. 

A bad fridge can spike to 1.2kW and a 220L fridge to 1.8kW. 

Also look on the fridge as it might have a lock rotor current and one can calculate the power used during starting. 

Normally the peak is so short it's not easy to measure. I have been using a video clip to look at frame per frame to see the peak. This is still not the peak as the meter might have taken a reading before or after the peak. 

 

Edited August 22, 20232 yr by Scorp007

3 hours ago, p_i said:

Too high for fridge in my opinion since that's in the geyser power range. Maybe the geyser switch is bypassed in the DB or the timer is bypassing it? Any hidden geysers in the house that you haven't discovered yet? 😁

The older stuff used to use a lot of electricity. I have a speed queen dryer that is rated for 3,3kw and a new element costs the same as a new cheap dryer. As a side I have a speed queen washer and a dryer if anyone is interested I might put it in the classifieds. The dryer might need a new thermostat or element. The washer works.

23 minutes ago, Buyeye said:

The older stuff used to use a lot of electricity. I have a speed queen dryer that is rated for 3,3kw and a new element costs the same as a new cheap dryer. As a side I have a speed queen washer and a dryer if anyone is interested I might put it in the classifieds. The dryer might need a new thermostat or element. The washer works.

Those are good machines, ours are now 41 years old and still going strong. Just had to replace the belt once.

Edited August 22, 20232 yr by HendrikBigChief

5 hours ago, Bobster. said:

Way too high to be a fridge, even ALL the fridges. What's the odds of them always turning on at the same time?

What does your graphing tool show? Mine shows TOTAL demand by the property, backed up and non-backed up. So if yours does that, then you need to look beyond the backed up circuit.

Is it possible that somebody is having midnight microwave meals or some other unauthorised use of power? A very bad thing! 

Seriously, this looks like another geyser, maybe in the outbuildings. I have two geysers, but for one the breaker is actually on the sub-db in the outbuildings.

Try turning things off on the DB (and any sub-dbs). Do this in a methodical way and see what removes the spikes. If nobody complains then leave it off.

Hi Bobster, 

How do I check the graphing tool? 

I only have one geyser, there is an old one in the roof, but its ancient and bone dry. 

I am going to switch the fridge off tonight, from there I will start putting things off on the DB. Thanks for the advice. 

30 minutes ago, Oelof said:

Hi Bobster, 

How do I check the graphing tool? 

I only have one geyser, there is an old one in the roof, but its ancient and bone dry. 

I am going to switch the fridge off tonight, from there I will start putting things off on the DB. Thanks for the advice. 

I'm not familiar with the software for your inverter, but here's an example from my system (Goodwe)

The load is the yellow line. See how it kicks upwards at about 10:30. That's the pool pump turning on. The pool pump is not on the backed up side of the system, so the demand shown here includes the backed up and non-backed up circuits. Unless the power goes out. You'll see just after 12:00 things get quiet - load shedding! Then just after 2 we see the pool pump kicking in again because load shedding is finished.

So here I see a non-backed up load effecting the graph, and so the total "load" on the graph includes non-backed up loads.

Having seen a 40A breaker labeled plug on your DB & seen 6mm2 cable running on the circuit side tells me this is the first place to look. It's definitely not a plug. Pity you don't have a AC clamp meter. Your DB has good space you could find the culprit in less than a few mins. 

Edited August 22, 20232 yr by Steve87

1 hour ago, Steve87 said:

Having seen a 40A breaker labeled plug on your DB & seen 6mm2 cable running on the circuit side tells me this is the first place to look. It's definitely not a plug. Pity you don't have a AC clamp meter. Your DB has good space you could find the culprit in less than a few mins. 

I will just check the fridge tonight... but not sure if it can be the fridge. 

You will find the culprit it will just take some patience. 1 breaker a night is also a good strategy. 

Elimination of possibilities: it would be best to switch off one device at a time. Start with your geyser switched off at the db board. Then after that you can switch off the circuit breaker to the kitchen, then the out buildings etc.

You possibly know what your sverage battery soc is lets say at 23h00, if you switch a circuit off and see a drastic change you might have a better idea of you cause. Happy hunting. 

2 hours ago, Vaal said:

Elimination of possibilities: it would be best to switch off one device at a time. Start with your geyser switched off at the db board. Then after that you can switch off the circuit breaker to the kitchen, then the out buildings etc.

You possibly know what your sverage battery soc is lets say at 23h00, if you switch a circuit off and see a drastic change you might have a better idea of you cause. Happy hunting. 

So, I was just about ready to go to bed when I noticed the spike again, 3300w. Quickly made my way to the inverter and started switching off breakers one by one. The surge stopped once I switched of one of the "lights" breakers. It all makes more sense now because the surges were always at night. I am fairly certain it must be a failty floodlight. The search continues, but I am a lot closer...

Edited August 22, 20232 yr by Oelof
Spelling

23 minutes ago, Oelof said:

So, I was just about ready to go to bed when I noticed the spike again, 3300w. Quickly made my way to the inverter and started switching off breakers one by one. The surge stopped once I switched of one of the "lights" breakers. It all makes more sense now because the surges were always at night. I am fairly certain it must be a failty floodlight. The search continues, but I am a lot closer...

That is very good news to hear you are starting to win. But for a faulty light to pull 3300w, I have never heard of such a case. But I'm never too old to learn.

If you still struggle to find the problem and you are close to Vanderbijlpark, you can borrow my Nano View power monitor. You can monitor 9 circuits but it is very basic and cannot be downloaded to the best of my knowledge. Enjoy

37 minutes ago, Oelof said:

So, I was just about ready to go to bed when I noticed the spike again, 3300w. Quickly made my way to the inverter and started switching off breakers one by one. The surge stopped once I switched of one of the "lights" breakers. It all makes more sense now because the surges were always at night. I am fairly certain it must be a failty floodlight. The search continues, but I am a lot closer...

Hi @Oelof light curcuit breaker is normally rated for 10 amps if you saying that the spike is 3300watts that breaker should  have tripped as 3300w/230= 14.34 amp. Check the rating of that Mcb you switched off as something is fishy.

Just now, TaliaB said:

Hi @Oelof light curcuit breaker is normally rated for 10 amps if you saying that the spike is 3300watts that breaker should  have tripped as 3300w/230= 14.34 amp. Check the rating of that Mcb you switched off as something is fishy.

I'm betting it's the "lights" breaker that's rated at 15A and not the 3 other 10A ones.

4 minutes ago, p_i said:

I'm betting it's the "lights" breaker that's rated at 15A and not the 3 other 10A ones.

Yep or incorrect labeling and it might be a plug curcuit or geyser curcuit let's wait for feedback on the mcb value from @Oelof

8 hours ago, TaliaB said:

Hi @Oelof light curcuit breaker is normally rated for 10 amps if you saying that the spike is 3300watts that breaker should  have tripped as 3300w/230= 14.34 amp. Check the rating of that Mcb you switched off as something is fishy.

Hi Talia, 

So I switched that breaker of last night and no further spikes. Things are starting to make sense now, I had an idea which light caused the surge. The spesific light used to always trip the power prior to the solar installation so we just always left it off.  After the installation I wanted to see what load the battery could handle during the night so I switched on all the LED flood lights around the house.  For some reason the light is not tripping the system anymore, but causing a surge I think. 

After the surge early last night is switched the spesific light off and there were no more surges, so I think I found the culprit.  That or its one of the ancient "brick" light transformers in the roof acting up. 

But I will monitor it tonight and advise.

I am also surprised that a LED light might put out close to 3500w when its faulty.

The light is on a 20a breaker. 

8 hours ago, Vaal said:

That is very good news to hear you are starting to win. But for a faulty light to pull 3300w, I have never heard of such a case. But I'm never too old to learn.

If you still struggle to find the problem and you are close to Vanderbijlpark, you can borrow my Nano View power monitor. You can monitor 9 circuits but it is very basic and cannot be downloaded to the best of my knowledge. Enjoy

Thanks Vaal. I will let you know if I want to borrow it.