I have a relatively small system limited to plug an lighting circuits. It comprises of 6 x 327 watt monocrystalline panels an Axpert 5 KVA inverter and 3 x Pylontech 3.5 KWh batteries. A local electrician built me an automatic change over switch, which operates seamlessly when Eskom fails. Sometimes when an electric kettle or a microwave oven is switched on power stops temporarily for a second or two, then returns. Can anyone let me know if this is likely to be caused by the automatic switch, or if it is something to do with the inverter, or most importantly, is anything being damaged? Thank you for any assistance that you can offer.

 

Layman's 2c. Maybe check your inverter's source priority settings to understand the hierarchy of the power sources in your system.

Sounds like in this case the switchover is from solar to mains or battery because your electrical load suddenly exceeds the available energy from the panels.

It might take longer for the inverter to try to ramp up solar production to meet demand, fail, then ramp down, then switch to mains/battery, than what it takes to switch from mains to battery the moment Eskom fails.

 

Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my question. I thing your suggestion concerning source priority is correct.

I am coming to the conclusion that the automatic switch box is a further complication, and that it might be better to replace it with a manual switch. I welcome comment from any user who has a view on the use of an automatic or manual switch.

On 2020/07/28 at 4:25 PM, Tropman said:

Sometimes when an electric kettle or a microwave oven is switched on power stops temporarily for a second or two, then returns.

Is setting 23 (Overload bypass) set to the default of ByE? It should be ByE (enable bypass on overload). This will cause the Axpert to internally switch over to utility on overload, which is quite quick (way less than a second). It sounds like your automatic bypass (of the whole inverter) is not working or is rather slow.

Consider updating to patched firmware, if that's possible; KettleKomp will help to some degree with premature switch over to utility power.

Yes, setting 23 is set to bye. I think you are correct in that the automatic switch box may have a component that is causing the problem.Now that I have a third Pylontech, the reason for having the automatic switch has largely fallen away. I have now decided to have a manual switch installed, and to pay attention to the state of charge of the batteries to use settings which take it into account, together with the eccentricities of Eskom power supply.

Thank you for your help.

49 minutes ago, Shaftry said:

Yes, setting 23 is set to bye. I think you are correct in that the automatic switch box may have a component that is causing the problem.Now that I have a third Pylontech, the reason for having the automatic switch has largely fallen away. I have now decided to have a manual switch installed, and to pay attention to the state of charge of the batteries to use settings which take it into account, together with the eccentricities of Eskom power supply.

Thank you for your help.

Hi @Shaftry, how do you monitor the state of charge on the batteries? Do you use any form of monitoring software?

The Pylontechs have six lights on them, which roughly indicate the state of charge of the batteries: four lights on and the fifth one blinking  (during charge) indicates batteries two thirds full. I am happy with something that gives a general picture of the state of the batteries

On 2020/07/31 at 9:34 AM, Shaftry said:

I am happy with something that gives a general picture of the state of the batteries

Consider purchasing a Victron BMV that will give you a very good state of charge. Together with ICC software the inverter will know that SoC as well.

2 hours ago, RikH said:

Consider purchasing a Victron BMV that will give you a very good state of charge. Together with ICC software the inverter will know that SoC as well.

I would rather purchase the ICC Pylon Communications cable and get the SOC reading straight from the Pylon BMS into ICC

Yeah I forget that possibility but that's better of course!