April 11, 20197 yr Over the past couple months I've been in the process of getting a small property I bought in the Midlands livable and off-grid. The choice to go solar became a lot easier after seeing what Eskom charges for line rental and the general uncertainty WRT power supply. My initial plan was to install a Goodwe inverter but after posting my plan here a couple months back, @Chris Hobson suggested the Goodwe wasn't ideal for an off-grid set-up. Chris also gave up some of his time by letting me contact him via telephone to give some further info, for which I'm very appreciative. The system consists of 12 x 355w Canadian Solar Panels, mounted as two 6 panel strings. The panels have been mounted using Renusol hardware, which is better suited to IBR sheets (my roof is corrugated).That said I worked hard to ensure each mounting screw went through the very apex of the corrugation and added Sika Flex FC to the attachment point and the front edge of the corrugation that has the screw running through it. We've had some decent rain and no leaks at all so I'm happy. I h. Each string runs through a fuse, surge protector and isolating switch before connecting to a 5kva Axpert/Mercer inverter. The 2 inverters are connected in parallel and supply power to 5 x 2.4kWh Pylontech batteries. The inverters were both manufactured in December 2018, and have version 71.50 firmware (which is what they came with). I have allowed for a generator input for periods of extended cloud/rain etc. I'm in the process of finding better monitoring software as the WatchPower software the inverters came with is very poor. The entire AC side of the house was wired by an electrician who also oversaw the solar installation and has signed off on installation. Below are some pics of the system at various points of the installation. 1. Solar mounting hardware 2. Panels going in. Fortunately the retaining wall helped to make things a bit easier (co-worker grabbing some shade 3. Panels in 4. PV fuse, surge protection and isolator 5. Inverter details and firmware 6. General Layout 7. Battery bank in box 8. Final setup
April 11, 20197 yr 2 hours ago, plonkster said: Now you all need is an inverter or two 🙂 Be nice they said ... 😜
April 14, 20197 yr Awesome install keen to know how many watts its producing during optimal periods ?
April 14, 20197 yr On 2019/04/11 at 12:20 PM, Super_mil said: Over the past couple months I've been in the process of getting a small property I bought in the Midlands livable and off-grid. The choice to go solar became a lot easier after seeing what Eskom charges for line rental and the general uncertainty WRT power supply. My initial plan was to install a Goodwe inverter but after posting my plan here a couple months back, @Chris Hobson suggested the Goodwe wasn't ideal for an off-grid set-up. Chris also gave up some of his time by letting me contact him via telephone to give some further info, for which I'm very appreciative. The system consists of 12 x 355w Canadian Solar Panels, mounted as two 6 panel strings. The panels have been mounted using Renusol hardware, which is better suited to IBR sheets (my roof is corrugated).That said I worked hard to ensure each mounting screw went through the very apex of the corrugation and added Sika Flex FC to the attachment point and the front edge of the corrugation that has the screw running through it. We've had some decent rain and no leaks at all so I'm happy. I h. Each string runs through a fuse, surge protector and isolating switch before connecting to a 5kva Axpert/Mercer inverter. The 2 inverters are connected in parallel and supply power to 5 x 2.4kWh Pylontech batteries. The inverters were both manufactured in December 2018, and have version 71.50 firmware (which is what they came with). I have allowed for a generator input for periods of extended cloud/rain etc. I'm in the process of finding better monitoring software as the WatchPower software the inverters came with is very poor. The entire AC side of the house was wired by an electrician who also oversaw the solar installation and has signed off on installation. Below are some pics of the system at various points of the installation. 1. Solar mounting hardware 2. Panels going in. Fortunately the retaining wall helped to make things a bit easier (co-worker grabbing some shade 3. Panels in 4. PV fuse, surge protection and isolator 5. Inverter details and firmware 6. General Layout 7. Battery bank in box 8. Final setup Great install and great choice on equipment
April 15, 20197 yr On 2019/04/11 at 6:38 PM, plonkster said: Now you all need is an inverter or two 🙂 I’m not 100% sure if this was meant tongue in the cheek or slightly serious ? For an off-grid install I think he made good decision with that gear. Price wise would Victron even come close price wise ?
April 15, 20197 yr Nice Super_Mil Im suprised Silver didnt mention that your electrician missed the regualtion than your are not allow to have AC and DC cables in the same wireway.
April 15, 20197 yr 2 minutes ago, Jaws said: Nice Super_Mil Im suprised Silver didnt mention that your electrician missed the regualtion than your are not allow to have AC and DC cables in the same wireway. Jong. Last time I pointed mistakes like that out on the forum I was, nicely, not to be rude.
April 15, 20197 yr 12 minutes ago, Jaws said: tongue in the cheek It was meant as a joke . I just hate a beautiful install spoiled by the signature side-by-side Axpert 🙂
April 15, 20197 yr Author 2 hours ago, Jaws said: Nice Super_Mil Im suprised Silver didnt mention that your electrician missed the regualtion than your are not allow to have AC and DC cables in the same wireway. It was not mentioned... Thanks for noting it. It is a relatively quick and easy fix, although it will make the installation look a bit messier in my opinion.
July 16, 20196 yr @Super_mil I'm planning an installation and will also be using the Renusol mounting equipment. I saw that they do have a corrugated mounting adapter with a curve that sits between the roof and the roof anchor and has a rubber seal to prevent leaks. Seems like your install is working well without it - good improvisation!
July 17, 20196 yr I'm interested in this because you've gone off grid with not much more firepower than I have. You have a bit more battery than I do, but apart from that... OK... small property, but you still need to keep it clean, prepare meals and so on. How's it working? And how did it work in the winter? Those panels look like they're at quite a shallow angle.
July 17, 20196 yr Author 6 hours ago, Bobster said: I'm interested in this because you've gone off grid with not much more firepower than I have. You have a bit more battery than I do, but apart from that... OK... small property, but you still need to keep it clean, prepare meals and so on. How's it working? And how did it work in the winter? Those panels look like they're at quite a shallow angle. Hey @Bobster the installation is working well and the battery power I have is sufficient for our needs. We are typically down to 75 - 80% SOC following a night at the house and back at full charge by 10h30 - 11h00. Have a chest freezer running up there full-time. We are not fully moved in as yet but we are up there most weekends finishing off odds and ends, so during the day that means using drills, a vacuum cleaner etc. which comes directly from PV power. Anything that makes heat is on gas - geyser, stove and heater. The angle of the panels is at about 17-20deg which is lower than I would have liked but still okay. My feeling is the setup will probably work better through winter as we have very few cloudy days and the cooler temps should make the system slightly more efficient. I'm keen to see how we go through summer, with the rain and mist we can get in the area...
July 17, 20196 yr Author On 2019/07/16 at 10:29 AM, Vosser said: @Super_mil I'm planning an installation and will also be using the Renusol mounting equipment. I saw that they do have a corrugated mounting adapter with a curve that sits between the roof and the roof anchor and has a rubber seal to prevent leaks. Seems like your install is working well without it - good improvisation! The Sika 11 FC on the upstream edge of the bracket pretty much eliminates the chance of water getting to bolt.
July 17, 20196 yr Author Sadly the change implemented to get the system compliant in terms of AC and DC conduit separation cost me 5 weeks of time as my 'then' electrician left one of his guys to wrap up the AC side of the install. The AC wires were installed and the screws which fix the wire to the inverter were then so severely over-tightened that 5 of the 12 connectors were sheared off and both inverters needed to go back to Inverter Warehouse (who sent them onto Mustek) to get repaired 😤. The took the turn the screw till it goes soft, then half a turn back to heart. Needless to say that this AC/DC conduit separation has been my best portion of the install.
July 17, 20196 yr 9 minutes ago, Super_mil said: Anything that makes heat is on gas - geyser, stove and heater. Ah... there you go. I have 10kw/h of battery. Usually goes down to 50/low 40s by the time the sun comes up, but that's with the heat pump kicking in at 4:30 and taking a big chunk of battery.
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