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Question on panel watts resulting in a blown Victron 350va inverter


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Same here. Resolution isn't that great. Right at the top of the photo, that white bit is a car port with a chromadeck roof. Panels are on there, pointing sort of North (slightly east).

house.png

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I am however pretty sure that "they" have much better resolution.

If we had same resolution, trolls will use Google Maps to check out the ladies tanning topless. :D

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This is my footprint on Google. The fact that the panels are not on the roof may make it more difficult to see. My bank of panels is the rectangle north of the house.

This is the best resolution I can get off Google Maps. I know images from urban areas the detail is better

Screenshot (123).png

The white rectangular bit with green water. Pool or resevoir [emoji2]

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

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Did you try Communica or Mantek? That CAP is fairly common. I'm sure even GT Electronics in Boksburg would have it in stock. 

I did. None have 105 degree ratings. Onlybthe common 85 degree ones...

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Ok guys, i checked, for fun, on a iPad tablet's map software that comes with it. 

I can see the panels on my roof, still small, but clearly, even the chairs on the stoep and the neighbors dog. Google maps is, uhm, WTF, compared to the iPad's map resolution.

No idea how to put the pic here, not my iPad.

So I believe, they, the government / municipality, has even better resolution. You cannot hide them panels from them. :D

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1 hour ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Upgrading. Also 24v caps instead of the ones before

Surely you mean 25v caps? Tell me, it had 16V caps before? I've always wondered why people do that (other than to save money), especially when car radios only have a 16V cap. Do they not know that on cold mornings alternators get dangerously close? :-)

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Just now, plonkster said:

Surely you mean 25v caps? Tell me, it had 16V caps before? I've always wondered why people do that (other than to save money), especially when car radios only have a 16V cap. Do they not know that on cold mornings alternators get dangerously close? :-)

it probably depends on where / how the CAPS are connected? Series or Parallel. In a 12V rail, or 5V rail? 

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Just now, SilverNodashi said:

it probably depends on where / how the CAPS are connected? Series or Parallel. In a 12V rail, or 5V rail? 

During a criminal incident (car was broken into but the thieves ran away before they could pry the radio out... sadly they took the detachable face with them) I canibalised the radio to get the "pi filter" on the input, basically two caps with an inductor between them. The caps were 16V caps, straight across the 12V input, on a Kenwood radio :-)

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Just now, plonkster said:

During a criminal incident (car was broken into but the thieves ran away before they could pry the radio out... sadly they took the detachable face with them) I canibalised the radio to get the "pi filter" on the input, basically two caps with an inductor between them. The caps were 16V caps, straight across the 12V input, on a Kenwood radio :-)

I was referring to the how the CAPS were used in the inverter ;)

16V is safely within a car's 11-15V ratings. 

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Don't spoil a good story with facts. Gmpf, 24/25v ... it is better than before is all I know. :-)

Maybe it is to protect the circuitry, that they boil off first. Maybe engineer said 16v is borderline, it will work ... and accountant jumped in and said: Good! On 10mil of them we save 10g's, so use the smaller ones.

Parallel / series, no idea, ask @edmundp?

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12 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Parallel / series

If you series, you have to match them. The fact that they blew up tells me they probably weren't in series.

(Hint: When you series capacitors, the voltage goes up and the capacitance goes down).

14 minutes ago, The Terrible Triplett said:

Maybe it is to protect the circuitry, that they boil off first

I was thinking the same thing :-)

Still, I personally don't use 16V caps on 12V circuits meant for automotive applications. I use a 25V cap. Of course, in low volumes, it doesn't matter too much, it is a few cents :-)

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Was 16V paralleled. 4 of them. Bit borderline in my opinion. My repair experience also tought me to always upgrade a part slightly if you can. Just means less comebacks.

Same principal as not using a 300w inverter to run a 280w load. Rather then go for 500 or 600w.

The caps just act as a smoothing line on the h bridge so it is rather important not to fail "unnoticed" or open circuit as it will cause quite the harmonic distortion on the pure sine output.

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11 hours ago, Mark said:

The white rectangular bit with green water. Pool or resevoir emoji2.png

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

It is a swimming pool. Built by the family who owned the farm before us. Their son had polio and the doctor made him exercise his leg. He is in his eighties now and you can barely see that he had polio - very innovative doctor. 

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Aaah yes, now you can see my teeny little panels. Much less obvious though than the guest house up the road from me. That guy has what looks, by the count of things, like over 30kw of PV. Through the grape vine, his is all GTI, SMA sunnyboy... Mine is completely off-grid, but with grid fallback.

guesthouse.png

house.png

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55 minutes ago, plonkster said:

Aaah yes, now you can see my teeny little panels. Much less obvious though than the guest house up the road from me. That guy has what looks, by the count of things, like over 30kw of PV. Through the grape vine, his is all GTI, SMA sunnyboy... Mine is completely off-grid, but with grid fallback.

guesthouse.png

house.png

So which one is your place?  First or second picture? :D

OK lets rephrase, which set of panels (and associated equipment) would you prefer? :D

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12 minutes ago, superdiy said:

OK lets rephrase, which set of panels (and associated equipment) would you prefer? :D

I'd like the money from the first picture, and do the second kind of system :-)

If you're running a guest house, having 20kwp or more makes sense I suppose. In my case, I can hardly justify more than about 1.5kwp. Also, my roof is a low pitch thing that has hardly any space for long rows of solar modules, which is why the ones I have is on the flat roof of the car port. Makes them easier to get to as well. Also makes them easier to steal :-(

Edit: Note the solar geyser on the roof there. That's a 150 liter unit, the 200 liter was too big to fit.

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And there, it is fixed!!! Victron just WORKS!

This unit has now had the fuse blown, due to pos / neg swapped around AND then a 2nd time, connected to a 24v bank, being a 12v inverter.

Both cases, small minor repairs where needed.

Just look at the thick sides of the casing, the new caps and it powering the fan in the background.

Baie dankie @edmundp!!!

 

 

There it is on and powerring the fan in the backgroud.jpg

The new Caps.jpg

The casings side.jpg

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And not only is the Victron fixed, but I can get on cool days, above 400w from the 2 x 200w panels. All now is good again, from where this thread started.

 

400w panels.jpg

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