Hi all.

Just had a 5 kva Luxpower and solar array (6 x 550watt panels) installed. So pretty much a newbie to the scene.

As South Africa (Margate Kzn, anyway) does not allow feed back into the National grid with the accompanying credit, Is it possible during the day to route surplus energy from your panels, once the battery is fully charged, to for e.g. the geyser?

1 minute ago, BarryMol said:

Hi all.

Just had a 5 kva Luxpower and solar array (6 x 550watt panels) installed. So pretty much a newbie to the scene.

As South Africa (Margate Kzn, anyway) does not allow feed back into the National grid with the accompanying credit, Is it possible during the day to route surplus energy from your panels, once the battery is fully charged, to for e.g. the geyser?

Yes you can, as long as you don't exceed the Inverter max output, in you case 5 Kva

10 minutes ago, BarryMol said:

Hi all.

Just had a 5 kva Luxpower and solar array (6 x 550watt panels) installed. So pretty much a newbie to the scene.

As South Africa (Margate Kzn, anyway) does not allow feed back into the National grid with the accompanying credit, Is it possible during the day to route surplus energy from your panels, once the battery is fully charged, to for e.g. the geyser?

Its possible yes, but it doesn't just take the surplus. Lots of people use automations to get solar forecasts (solcast) for the day or remaining based on hour, combined with battery SOC, Load etc and determine when to run their geysers. Check out Home Assistant

I currently run mine with a more manual approach as I cannot specifically define my approach yet. For now - I have a dashboard which gives me the solar forecast for the next 7 days. Usually check this in the morning to prioritize what's run at home. 95% of the time it's accurate within 1kWh. I then turn on/off throughout the day.  

Edited November 22, 20232 yr by spotity

7 minutes ago, BarryMol said:

Hi all.

Just had a 5 kva Luxpower and solar array (6 x 550watt panels) installed. So pretty much a newbie to the scene.

As South Africa (Margate Kzn, anyway) does not allow feed back into the National grid with the accompanying credit, Is it possible during the day to route surplus energy from your panels, once the battery is fully charged, to for e.g. the geyser?

Please note that the max PV on your inverter is 3200 W, if you are only using one tracker you are very close to max.

36 minutes ago, spotity said:

Its possible yes, but it doesn't just take the surplus. Lots of people use automations to get solar forecasts (solcast) for the day or remaining based on hour, combined with battery SOC, Load etc and determine when to run their geysers. Check out Home Assistant

I currently run mine with a more manual approach as I cannot specifically define my approach yet. For now - I have a dashboard which gives me the solar forecast for the next 7 days. Usually check this in the morning to prioritize what's run at home. 95% of the time it's accurate within 1kWh. I then turn on/off throughout the day.  

Good to see the forecast. What size PV do you have? 

In which area are you? 

Edited November 22, 20232 yr by Scorp007

34 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

Please note that the max PV on your inverter is 3200 W, if you are only using one tracker you are very close to max.

I stand to be corrected. The Luxpower takes 3200W per MPPT and there are 2.

9 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

I stand to be corrected. The Luxpower takes 3200W per MPPT and there are 2.

@Scorp007 that is why I said if he is using only one tracker is very close to the limit.

 

Just now, Antonio de Sa said:

@Scorp007 that is why I said if he is using only one tracker is very close to the limit.

 

Can't you use 1 tracker with the same number of panels to each MPPT. Asking as I know nothing about trackers. 

36 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

Asking as I know nothing about trackers

@Antonio de Sa is most likely in this context referring to the mppt or tracker, it is usually one and the same thing sometimes also referred to as the maximum power point tracker ( MPPT)
😉 🤪 🙃 I may be or may not be correct in my assumption of the meaning.

Edited November 22, 20232 yr by WannabeSolarSparky

1 hour ago, WannabeSolarSparky said:

@Antonio de Sa is most likely in this context referring to the mppt or tracker, it is usually one and the same thing sometimes also referred to as the maximum power point tracker ( MPPT)
😉 🤪 🙃 I may be or may not be correct in my assumption of the meaning.

Yep tracker and mppt is the same thing, @Antonio de Sais correct very close to maksimum for 1 mppt the fans are constantly going to run.

1 hour ago, TaliaB said:

Yep tracker and mppt is the same thing, @Antonio de Sais correct very close to maksimum for 1 mppt the fans are constantly going to run.

Seems I am getting too old for forums. 

10 hours ago, Scorp007 said:

Seems I am getting too old for forums. 

To come to your defense @Scorp007 if you want to be grammatically correct then a solar tracker is when the solar panels track the sun on either 1 or 2 axis sorry @Antonio de Sa😝🤣

Edited November 23, 20232 yr by TaliaB

7 minutes ago, TaliaB said:

To come to your defense @Scorp007 if you want to be grammatically correct then a solar tracker is when the solar panels track the sun on either 1 or 2 axis sorry @Antonio de Sa😝🤣

Sorry guys for the confusion I created. I mean MPPT. but here is the definition of what MPPT means. MPPT stands for Maximum Power Point Tracker

12 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

Sorry guys for the confusion I created. I mean MPPT. but here is the definition of what MPPT means. MPPT stands for Maximum Power Point Tracker

No sweat or Maximum Power Point Tracker Solar Charge Controller🤣

9 hours ago, Antonio de Sa said:

Sorry guys for the confusion I created. I mean MPPT. but here is the definition of what MPPT means. MPPT stands for Maximum Power Point Tracker

Good we then have to blame the language. I will reread things if I can remember. Age is a killer.