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Advice Needed on Axpert Hybrid Solar Inverter setup.


VIM

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Good morning all, 

I have a similar setup with an axpert 5kw inverter attached to 2x Leoch 48v 100ah batteries. These are supported by 8x 330w Canadian panels.

We get serious loadshedding where I am, (Zimbabwe) usually from 5am until after 10pm each day, so the system has to power the usual household goodies and a borehole and pressure pump for most of the day and then just the house in the evening. I switch off the borehole pump and pressure pump at 4pm after the yard has been watered because I have 5000 litre tank to supply the house. The load during the day is about 1.7kw with everything running and during the evening it's around 500-700w. 

So as you can see, panels power the system for the majority of the day and then the batteries take over at around 6pm onwards until power decides to come back on after 10pm.

I am using the settings you guys have suggested on here for now, but what I'd like to know is if there are any tweaks or adjustments you'd suggest for my sort of situation.

I'd like to take care of my batteries so they give me as much life as possible, but at the same time, I want to use as little Utility power as possible too because it's hugely expensive now and also very unreliable. 

I will be adding another 5kw inverter with 2x Leochs and 6 more panels in January, but for now I'm running the system I described in the first paragraph.

Thanks very much and look forward to hearing from you. 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...

Hi Everyone,

I have an off grid setup on our farm, and recently got given an Axpert MKS 5K inverter by a friend who upgraded (which I would love to use because it is much bigger than the 1.5kW inverter we are running off).

My concern is that we have Litium Ion batteries (BlueNova BN26V-77-2k) in series (24v) and as far as I understand this old inverter cannot charge Li-Ion batteries?  However, the thread above makes me think it may be possible.

Any advice will be much appreciated!!

Martin

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3 hours ago, MartinR said:

as far as I understand this old inverter cannot charge Li-Ion batteries? 

My 2015 Axperts charge my Pylon lithium's without problems. I do not know what the BlueNova voltage requirements are, but unless they are something really fancy (e.g. higher than 54V) I do not see why it cannot work

Maybe post a picture of the sticker on the side of the Axpert here, so that we know exactly which model you have

4 hours ago, MartinR said:

we have Litium Ion batteries (BlueNova BN26V-77-2k) in series (24v)

Just be mindful of one thing: The Axpert I would assume is 48V. I do not know if your current system is also 48V or possibly 24V. And I do not know if the BlueNova can be stringed together into 48V. But the BlueNova guys should be able to help you with that

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On 2021/01/22 at 6:30 PM, MartinR said:

we have Litium Ion batteries (BlueNova BN26V-77-2k) in series (24v)

It doesn't look to me that two of the BlueNova BN26V-77-2k (PDF spec sheet) can be wired in series to provide 48 V, sadly.

You might have to wait till someone gifts you a more powerful 24 V inverter, or update to a 48 V battery.

The battery you have (if it's just one BlueNova module) is simply not large enough for a more powerful ivnerter anyway; it's only 2 kWh (80 Ah @ 25 V), so it should be limited most of the time to about 80 A discharge, or 2 kW.

Edited by Coulomb
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  • 3 weeks later...

So I have finally been back to the farm house and took some pics.  I reduced their size considerably for the post, let me know if should post higher quality images.

I haven't tagged anyone before, hope this works @wolfandy. I have posted four pics, the 'new' inverter, the new inverter specs, the battery setup and a pic of the current setup.  For ease of reference, the question is can I charge those lithium batteries with this inverter?

@Coulomb , thanks you are correct, I did connect the batteries in parallel not series (see pic).  Does that hook up configuration look o.k.? 

I have more detailed pics if needed.

New inverter (1).jpg

New inverter specs (1).jpg

Battery arrangement (1).jpg

Existing setup (1).jpg

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@CoulombJust to add a bit of detail, I have 12 panels on the roof, combined output about 3kW.  My current inverter can only take 1.5kW from solar (I didn't read the manual).  This new inverter can thus make better use of the solar power, and this is the main reason I would like to use it.  We never run big appliances off the batteries, they only do the fridge and lights at night. 

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9 hours ago, MartinR said:

For ease of reference, the question is can I charge those lithium batteries with this inverter?

You need to answer the underlying question if the 2 Blue Nova can be stringed together to provide 48V or not. If yes, then your inverter should be able to charge them (with the correct voltage settings). And you'd obviously still need to take Coulomb's warning into mind regarding your max draw (which is no problem for as long as you stay disciplined. I also started off with 1x Pylon, which meant I could not draw more than 1800W continuously)

I have absolutely no experience with Blue Nova - so I'd suggest you give them a ring directly and see what they say about using your batteries for a 48V system

Oh - and if yes, then you should make sure that you upgrade your inverter to Coulomb's latest patched firmware 73.00e (LFP version)

Edited by wolfandy
Added firmware comment
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I agree with @wolfandy here. I realised I blundered on an earlier post; I've added this:

Quote

Edit: Sigh. That should read 2 kWh each. So 2 in series or 2 in parallel will provide 4 kWh, good for 4 kW most of the time, and short bursts over that. Perfect for your new inverter, if you are allowed to wire the two 26 V modules in series.

If you aren't allowed to wire the modules in series, it will be because of the built-in BMS. If you could somehow disable the BMS from disconnecting (and if you could provide some other way of saving the battery if the inverter tries to excessively discharge or charge it), then you could wire them in series.

Axperts (like your new ECO Hybrid, which isn't a Hybrid as we usually define the term these days) are perfectly capable of charging LFP batteries, especially when the LFP flavour of patched firmware is used. I use a pair of similar inverters myself, with a home-made LFP battery (which has a home-made BMS).

Your inverter hails from 2015, before the emergence of clones, and appears to be quite genuine.

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