June 9, 20197 yr Hi ,I need help please. I have an offgrid system with 24 x140 watt Enersol panels 6 panels in series ,4 strings in parrallel . This system is completely offgrid with no generator or utility supply. I installed 3 Pylontech batteries and would like the required settings to get the solar panels to charge the batteries. I have the normal Pylontech settings with Axpert inverter settings but this only indicate to change the charging voltages and so on. When i connect the stings to the inverter i only see 120 v but it wont charge the batteries. Is it even possible to run this system offgrid with no gen or no utility available? Im still waiting for the ICC centurion solar controller if this will help.
June 10, 20197 yr 7 hours ago, Vos said: When i connect the stings to the inverter i only see 120 v but it wont charge the batteries. You didn't say what model of inverter you have. 120 V is right at the upper end for models with a 145 V MPPT, and the very low end for models with a 450 V MPPT, possibly too low to start converting power. 7 hours ago, Vos said: Is it even possible to run this system offgrid with no gen or no utility available? Certainty, though most installations will have some form of backup power for long periods of poor solar production (e.g. a week of rain). No matter how big your battery and or solar array, eventually you'll run out of energy.
June 10, 20197 yr Author 2 hours ago, Coulomb said: You didn't say what model of inverter you have. 120 V is right at the upper end for models with a 145 V MPPT, and the very low end for models with a 450 V MPPT, possibly too low to start converting power. Its the 5kVA Axpert inverter see picture. Would it be better to reduce the strings to 5 panels each to get the voltage down to 100v .
June 10, 20197 yr 58 minutes ago, Vos said: Its the 5kVA Axpert inverter see picture Thanks; the sticker picture tells me a lot: It's a clone It has 105 V PV max (so 120 V is dangerously high) It's a PWM model, copied from (hopefully equivalent to) an Axpert VP5000-48. 58 minutes ago, Vos said: Would it be better to reduce the strings to 5 panels each Because it's PWM (no "DC transformer" effect), it would be better to reduce them to 4S, possibly even 3S. This is to get as many strings in parallel as possible (6P or even 8P versus your present 4P), to get the current as high as possible. The string voltage is going to be constrained to be the battery voltage; that's how PWM Solar Charge Controllers work. So the only way to get more power is to get more current. As long as the panel voltage is adequate, more strings will give you more current. Fortunately, 4S and even 3S can be accomplished without extra panels, whereas 5S requires one extra panel (or not using 4 panels). Sorry, it's going to be a lot of roof work. Being a clone, it is possible that it will suffer from many "design" (incomplete copy) problems, several of which concern PV power. If you only bought the inverter recently, and expected it to be a genuine Voltronic model, it may be less hassle to return it, or at least exchange it for another model (clone or genuine) that has a 145 V MPPT (which I suspect you were also expecting). With a 145 V MPPT inverter, you would not have to incur the cost and/or labour of rewiring the panels. Edited June 10, 20197 yr by Coulomb
June 27, 20197 yr Author Hi Coulomb Just wanted to thank you , that system is running perfect with the advice you gave me.
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