Lex de Lange Posted January 8, 2021 Posted January 8, 2021 Hi! I'm new to the forum and have a lot to learn! I took over 1 Mecer 5KVA 48V, 12 Canadian solar panels @ 330W and 8x230Ah flooded batteries, not deep cycle ones. These batteries turn out to be duds, I now need to decide on a long term solution. As I see it, I have 2 options: a) AGM gel, 1500-1800Ah total, or b) Li-ion, 800-1000Ah total. Li-ion looks around 25% more expensive than the AGM gel ones. My info says 1200-1400 cycles for the AGM gel, min 3000 for the Li-ion. So, on the face of it, Li-ion is a better deal over the long run. However, I have been told (as well as been told the opposite) that Li-ion will conflict in it's 80A charging demand with the 60A charging capability of my inverter and, in short, break it. I lean towards Li-ion but the 80-60A conflict would (obviously) be a deal breaker. In the Axpert battery type settings [05] I can find Flooded, AGM and User-Defined, ie not Li-ion specific, although I guess User-defined can be set up to accommodate this? I would have to find the relevant settings. I also seem to find a fair number of install descriptions on the forum that combine Axperts with Pylontech batteries (or are these ‘Kings’ only?). Can anybody shine some light on the compatibility of this inverter with Li-ion batteries? Any help much appreciated! Quote
Lex de Lange Posted January 8, 2021 Author Posted January 8, 2021 @ Brani: Txs for your quick reply. You're quite correct, with my current battery pack I (should) have about 10kWh effectively (at 50% discharge rate) and that is what I would like to replicate in LFP, ie probably around 10kWh, give or take 1-2, at 80-90% discharge rate. Does that mean around 225Ah @48V? I'm trying to get my calculations right here. Some vendors mention Ah and some kWh, just want to make sure I can compare! Quote
Coulomb Posted January 9, 2021 Posted January 9, 2021 On 2021/01/08 at 9:52 PM, Lex de Lange said: However, I have been told (as well as been told the opposite) that Li-ion will conflict in it's 80A charging demand with the 60A charging capability of my inverter and, in short, break it. No, the solar charge controller will only provide up to its rated limit, which sounds like 60 A in your case. Later models (made after late 2016) will provide up to 80 A. You might have a large load drawing 80 A or more from the battery and solar charger, but even so the solar charge controller will only provide up to 60 A; any shortfall will be provided by the battery. In this respect, lead acid and LFP batteries are no different. Quote
PhillipMarx Posted January 14, 2021 Posted January 14, 2021 For pylontech batteries if you choose that route you can go and look at third party software like ICC software to hookup for commication between batteries and your inverter. Quote
Lex de Lange Posted March 27, 2021 Author Posted March 27, 2021 I have now taken the leap and purchased a 10kWh Lithium Ion battery from Hangzhou Kingor New-energy Technology Co.,Ltd., KG48-200FT64, ie 48V, 200Ah. Ran the battery for a long session with both solar and grid disconnected, performed well. The inverter settings have been changed by the person installing it and the result was charging for an hour, discharging for an hour, this 5 times until the inverter decided to stop the switching and just power by grid an keep the battery charged. This does not achieve what I want: solar consumption and charging during the day, battery draw down during the night and thanks-but-no-thanks to Eskom. Th settings are: SOL for priority (should be correct, Solar first) but particularly in 'back to battery' and 'back to grid' I have a question mark: both set at 50V, that would cause hectic switching? The spec sheet for the battery says Maximum charge voltage 54.7V (Overcharge protection voltage not higher than 56V), and 'overdischarge final voltage' equal to or greater than 42V. Also the max charging is set at 20A, spec sheet says max 100A, recommended 40A. I have some other questions as well, full settings and questions are contained in the attached spreadsheet. Any help greatly appreciated! Axpert settings.xlsx Quote
Lex de Lange Posted March 27, 2021 Author Posted March 27, 2021 I also received a comms cable with the new battery, RJ45 to USB. I have connected this cable between the battery and my Raspi3 running ICC, but nothing happening. Presumably there is a software solution to manage the battery's BMS via this cable. Anybody any ideas? (it's a simple cable, whereas, when I look at images of the Pylontech cable, there is some sort of 'box' in the middle of it. Not the case here) Quote
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