OK so panels are Canadian solar hiku mono perc solar panel 450w

 

 

 

There's a % loss between Load vs Inverter AC (for most people that's about 10% of their normal grid usage),but the screenshot shows your big issue. Charging to 100% after loadsheds,that battery charge has its own loss,and usage from battery to AC is also lossy. So you're compounding 10%-20% losses everywhere

Most people avoid that by using Solar-charge only for instance so as to avoid AC charging and all it's losses (if your panels can cover your base load and charging of course)

@airtiteSome random thoughts.

1. Don't use the Generator to charge your batteries during the day when the sun is available.

2. Don't use your Generator to charge your batteries as long as the grid is available. Petrol is expensive.

3.Keep the generator for nighttime emergencies when the grid has failed, and the battery is used up.

4. Your 4.4kWp of panels should be able to generate around 22kWh of energy per day on average year-round. You either use it or lose it at that time. Transfer as much as possible of your load to the daytime on timers, etc. especially something like the geyser. Or else get more batteries. A single 5kWh battery won't allow you to shift much energy to the evening when you seem to be using most of your power. You could consider at least 2 more, and then run the batteries down during the night, and recharge the next day from predominantly the sun.

5. I don't quite understand why, if you've got load priority ticked, the inverter isn't diverting more of the solar generation to the household load, and holding back on charging the battery. Double-check if the CT coil could be the culprit. This feature selection should be making better use of your solar generated power by charging later.

6. The fact that your app indicates 4.4kWp of panels installed, suggests you've got 550W panels. Check if your app data is set u correctly. If you've got 3.6kW installed, okay fine, but if you've got 4.4kWp installed, I'm wondering/worried about why you're only generating 1.9kW at 3pm.

 

hey Carl, you are right we do about 2880w during midday I have seen it higher. The need for the system is both. I mean load shedding has dropped a bit and I need the system to lower my cost to eskom/ethekewini so a balance I guess. I can download the data export and send that through if it would help?

 

So I think you going to have to play around a bit with your settings...data export may help us provide some suggestions.

The fact that you only have 1 x battery will really just allow you to get through LS for 2 maybe 4hrs depending on load, if you can add a 2nd battery that could get through longer during after-sun hours. Then you use sun-hours to charge your battery and service your load.

My settings for argument sake and seems to work well for us...my battery is fully charged by early afternoon and I start using battery from about 16:00...depending on usage it gets me to somewhere between 23:00-02:00...bad days I hit 50% by like 21:00...load is minimal from about after 22:00 so even if I am using grid from that point on its minimal. If there is a LS slot during that time battery drops by 5-10% but you see I have Grid charge ticked so it will get the battery back to 50% at least. It covers a 2nd LS slot early morning with enough to spare especially if there's an overcast day ahead. Then by 07:00 these days PV is generating minimally by 08:00 PV is carrying the load.

It took a few weeks and some trial and error to get it to its current sweet spot...grid usage daily now is around 12-15kWh - majority of which is the early morning geyser runs for 2 x geysers.

If one looks at the above charge from grid settings, 17:00 -> 21:00 is set to charge from grid.  Is this correct?

I suggest all inverter owners try to supply their own power (battery) , where possible,  at SA peak usage times  I.e. 17:00 -> 21:00.

Will this not aid the overall power issue we are experiencing now?

 

 

If one looks at the above charge from grid settings, 17:00 -> 21:00 is set to charge from grid.  Is this correct?

I suggest all inverter owners try to supply their own power (battery) , where possible,  at SA peak usage times  I.e. 17:00 -> 21:00.

Will this not aid the overall power issue we are experiencing now?

 

Yes, absolutely, it can only improve the situation. I said as much some time ago, but some folks had some choice opinions in response about how nobody can tell them what to do, they would charge their batteries during peak time and to hell with the rest. What the municipalities must do (like Nelson Mandela Bay Metro) is to force people on grid-tied systems onto a time-of-use tariff. That will quickly incentivise responsible use of power, but since nobody sees a reason to, it won't just happen.

 

So I think you going to have to play around a bit with your settings...data export may help us provide some suggestions.

The fact that you only have 1 x battery will really just allow you to get through LS for 2 maybe 4hrs depending on load, if you can add a 2nd battery that could get through longer during after-sun hours. Then you use sun-hours to charge your battery and service your load.

My settings for argument sake and seems to work well for us...my battery is fully charged by early afternoon and I start using battery from about 16:00...depending on usage it gets me to somewhere between 23:00-02:00...bad days I hit 50% by like 21:00...load is minimal from about after 22:00 so even if I am using grid from that point on its minimal. If there is a LS slot during that time battery drops by 5-10% but you see I have Grid charge ticked so it will get the battery back to 50% at least. It covers a 2nd LS slot early morning with enough to spare especially if there's an overcast day ahead. Then by 07:00 these days PV is generating minimally by 08:00 PV is carrying the load.

It took a few weeks and some trial and error to get it to its current sweet spot...grid usage daily now is around 12-15kWh - majority of which is the early morning geyser runs for 2 x geysers.

Hi @Carl Anthony with your settings above, does the State of charge being 50% for the 24 hour time period not limit it to 50%, would solar still charge the battery past the 50% mark if available. Just trying to understand how this work mode timer works?

 

Hi @Carl Anthony with your settings above, does the State of charge being 50% for the 24 hour time period not limit it to 50%, would solar still charge the battery past the 50% mark if available. Just trying to understand how this work mode timer works?

Hey Greglsh, so its limiting the battery being discharged beyond 50%.
During the day PV will charge the battery and it will reach or attempt to reach 100%.
Most days now especially with the change in weather my battery is charged by 14:00.

 

 

If one looks at the above charge from grid settings, 17:00 -> 21:00 is set to charge from grid.  Is this correct?

I suggest all inverter owners try to supply their own power (battery) , where possible,  at SA peak usage times  I.e. 17:00 -> 21:00.

Will this not aid the overall power issue we are experiencing now?

 

@FixAMess @GreenFields during this period I very rarely if at all consume from the grid as my battery is on 100% by then time PV is no longer substantial to carry my load which is generally around 16:00. I will then be on battery until it hits 50% which can happen as early as 21:00 or as late as 02:00. Even during cloudy days I don’t recharge the battery from grid. If its a very bad day…battery doesn’t charge much and is 50% and then we have LS from 18:00 for example…at most we will use is about 10%. So at 20:00 when grid is available the battery will charge back up to 50%. This though has not happened in 4months since I have this system.

 

My aim is to use as little from the grid as possible, in fairness its a selfish reason to reduce spend on prepaid units…but indirectly I’m doing a little bit to reduce load on the fragile grid.

 

My aim is to use as little from the grid as possible, in fairness its a selfish reason to reduce spend on prepaid units…but indirectly I’m doing a little bit to reduce load on the fragile grid.

Exactly. We are taking load off the grid and it's getting significant now. Eskom can see the difference on overcast days. Each of us do that little bit, and those little bits add up. 

As for running off battery during the PM peak, I always aim to not need grid after 4pm, and usually I will get through until 8am. I agree that this is what we should be aiming to do. 

 

Yes, absolutely, it can only improve the situation. I said as much some time ago, but some folks had some choice opinions in response about how nobody can tell them what to do, they would charge their batteries during peak time and to hell with the rest. What the municipalities must do (like Nelson Mandela Bay Metro) is to force people on grid-tied systems onto a time-of-use tariff. That will quickly incentivise responsible use of power, but since nobody sees a reason to, it won't just happen.

I found out that TOU billing is available in Johannesburg. The saving is 90c a unit in off-peak time (unhelpfully they don't tell you when this is). The real reason people run things out of peak time is not to do their bit for the greater cause, but because it saves them money. But win-win is an OK scenario. 

The problem, of course, is that we have load shedding. I have friends and family in the UK who run their dishwasher and washing machine on timers. They will load them, prime them, set the timer and then go to bed, confident that the power will stay on and the early morning cleaning will happen. When you can't be confident that the power will stay on, then off-peak savings start becoming a nice idea but that's all.

I can only think the resistance comes from people who don't have enough battery to get through the night. That's not a criticism or a pointing finger, not everybody can afford it. In my case I have 10kWh, and I know that if it's charged at 16:00 and we observe our usual routines I'll get through to 8:00 the next day with a bit in hand still. I would hope that everybody sees the bigger picture, though I think that having PV can make one complacent about what is happening at a national level. I sometimes have to remember to be cross and upset about what load shedding is doing to everybody in this country directly (no power) and indirectly (businesses disturbed, prices going up, rand going down).

There's a lot of anger too. They load shed EVERY DAY, and now they want to tell us when we charge our batteries. I get the anger, but I would hope that we can target our anger and also try to do our little bit to reduce demand during peak times. If we all do that little bit, it adds up to something significant.

Edited October 5, 20232 yr by Bobster.

 

There's a lot of anger too. They load shed EVERY DAY, and now they want to tell us when we charge our batteries. I get the anger, but I would hope that we can target our anger and also try to do our little bit to reduce demand during peak times. If we all do that little bit, it adds up to something significant.

I agree with being told when not to charge batteries. We adding 2 stages of LS. 

What will happen to LS if all PV is switched off at a specific time on a specific date. BLACKOUT for 2 weeks. Call it a legal strike. 

The latest stat indicates household and business commissioned more renewable energy in 18 months than what Eskom put in service in something like 8 years. 

We still have a long and winding road ahead. 

 

What will happen to LS if all PV is switched off at a specific time on a specific date. BLACKOUT for 2 weeks. Call it a legal strike. 

The latest stat indicates household and business commissioned more renewable energy in 18 months than what Eskom put in service in something like 8 years. 

We still have a long and winding road ahead. 

Indeed. There's no doubt that PV installations have increased a lot the last year or so. When I got mine 4 and a bit years ago there were very few houses in my suburb with PV, now there are lots - though still not a majority.

With the surge in domestic installs and with hospitals and shopping malls putting panels on their roofs, Eskom see the difference and can put an approximate number to it. There's no doubt that it is taking some of the sting out of load shedding. If the action you describe was taken then Eskom, and the whole country, would notice. And so would I. I'd suddenly be exposed to load shedding again, and load shedding numbers would go up. I might want to do that to Eskom to prove some sort of point, but I don't want to do it to me or to the rest of the country.

I understand the anger and the disappointment and the frustration, but I don't understand some responses. As I've said before, I know people whose response to load shedding was to turn on everything in the house once power was restored. They thought they were sending some kind of message, showing who is in charge or something. But unless you actually verbalise the message, Eskom or City Power or whoever will just see a change in demand, and they see that anyway because everybody's geysers and deep freezes turn back on.

Edited October 5, 20232 yr by Bobster.
I misconstrued some of the post I was responding to

 

@airtite

6. The fact that your app indicates 4.4kWp of panels installed, suggests you've got 550W panels. Check if your app data is set u correctly. If you've got 3.6kW installed, okay fine, but if you've got 4.4kWp installed, I'm wondering/worried about why you're only generating 1.9kW at 3pm.

I also spotted this and thought we don't have all the metrics of the panels. Compared to mine in Gauteng at the same time it appeared to be 8% lower. 

 

Slight deviation from the topic, by default the refresh rate on the App is 5min, you can change this to 60sec. if you haven't already done so...

 

Complete the form on this site -https://www.sunsynk.org/remote-monitoring- request Advanced User access, it will then give you the option to update the refresh rate to 60sec which will be able to do via the website under Equipment > Gateway > ellipses on the logger > Settings and then it will give this - see pic . Takes a few hours for them to action - you also won't know as I didnt get a notification but I just signed into the site the next day and had the option.

If you have manager access is this the same as advanced user? 

 

If you have manager access is this the same as advanced user? 

Nope, Manager doesn't give you the lower time-refresh rate,

You have to fill in the form and you'll see the 60s option then appears (without any change to the 'role permission' for your user); took a day for me. Love the change, should be rolled out to everyone!

so weird one, we had load shedding between 4 - 6 this morning, when we got up at about 5:45 the grid/system was off, grid came back on at 6 and the system came back online shortly after that... as far as I am aware we had power for the rest of the night last night so I am not sure why we would have run out of battery? The wifi dongle alos doesnt seem to have reconnected since an hour ago?

 

 

2305178855-2023-10-06,2023-10-06_share.xlsx

ok looks like we had a grid outage from 1 - 3

 

2 minutes ago, airtite said:

ok looks like we had a grid outage from 1 - 3

 

Blimey! You're drawing about a kW at night, and you have a 5kWh battery. If you can get that after hours use down your battery will go further.

ja I mean the only thing we really run at night are our outside lights and looking back at the days before the load goes down at about 6 when the wife gets up and switches the outside lights off

no not the lights, going to go through all my appliances and see where that constant draw is coming from

2 hours ago, airtite said:

ja I mean the only thing we really run at night are our outside lights and looking back at the days before the load goes down at about 6 when the wife gets up and switches the outside lights off

What type of lights are they? I have LED nearly everywhere on my property, and certainly including exterior lights, and they really do not draw very much. With electric fence, alarm, 2 fridges, deep freeze all running at night my usage is nowhere near a kW. Indeed it can get so low that the inverter turns off (for reasons I don't understand, but it will always turn back on so no biggy). 

2 hours ago, airtite said:

no not the lights, going to go through all my appliances and see where that constant draw is coming from

Get a kill-a-watt. Very good for monitoring anything you can plug in. 

EG I (because I'm boring and have nothing better to do) recently used it to monitor the deep freeze. It tracks total usage (I ran it for 8 hours), and highest and lowest momentary demands, so it traps the momentary peaks of (say) a fridge motor starting up.

https://www.geewiz.co.za/gadgets/43656-digital-watt-meter-kill-a-watt-measure-your-electricity-usage.html

 

all leds, quite a lot of the battery backup led globes for pre solar

got my access changed to advanced, cant find the refresh rate though?

55 minutes ago, airtite said:

got my access changed to advanced, cant find the refresh rate though?

Need to do this via the website not the app - https://sunsynk.net/ - login here same credentials as the app.

Then 👇

On 2023/10/04 at 5:53 PM, Carl Anthony said:

Slight deviation from the topic, by default the refresh rate on the App is 5min, you can change this to 60sec. if you haven't already done so...

 

Complete the form on this site -https://www.sunsynk.org/remote-monitoring- request Advanced User access, it will then give you the option to update the refresh rate to 60sec which will be able to do via the website under Equipment > Gateway > ellipses on the logger > Settings and then it will give this - see pic . Takes a few hours for them to action - you also won't know as I didnt get a notification but I just signed into the site the next day and had the option.

 

Edited October 6, 20232 yr by Carl Anthony

sorry saw that in the earlier post... thanks