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TheoG's Installation - 2 x Sunsynk 5.5kW | 27 x JA 455W | 2 x Bull 6.4kWh


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Posted

So, after many many many discussions (both privately and on this forum) and mining so many people's minds, I decided to pull the trigger on the following system :

 

2 x Sunsynk 5.5kW

27 x JA 455W

2 x Bull 6.4kWh

1478168606_20210113_210728(1).thumb.jpg.2866534c7899560b9ac62815b6926644.jpg

20210113_210735.thumb.jpg.6fc6039245b5757eec42dfcd12d9062f.jpg

Initially I opted for the 8kW Sunsynk but my house has a weird Northern alignment (I'll explain later) and adding a decent extra MPPT justified the extra cost to swop the 8kW for 2 x 5.5kW and score the two additional MPPT's as well as the extra 3kW on the inverter side.

The whole house is connected to the pair of inverters. My peaks on Eskom was around 9kw so I shouldn't run into any issues or have to adapt too much (I hope lol).

Recently my 5.5kw Heatpump gave in and I decided to replace with a 200lt regular geyser (for now). Hopefully the Heatpump can be saved to help lighten the load that is currently caused by the monster geyser. I am already running a small gas geyser in the kitchen as well as a gas stove and mostly energy efficient appliances as well as LED lighting throughout the house.

Some issues I have :

  1. Apparently if you put two inverters in parallel the gen input becomes null and void? Can anyone confirm?
  2. If 1. is proved positive, then I need to connect my Gen to the input side of the inverters in order to supply and or charge in case of emergency (Eskom failure and no Solar available). Can I use a change over switch to select between Eskom/Generator on the input side (feed) of the inverter?
  3. My wonderful Ecolec 570 pre-paid keeps tripping. As far as I can gather there is no workaround for this as they weren't designed with feedback in mind. What is my options here? Is there an alternative meter available?

Next...... Panel layout challenges

Posted (edited)

So it seems not all houses are built facing North (or at least that was wat I hoped for).

1st pic taken @ 15:00 last pic taken @ 18:00.

Screenshot_20210116-222702_Gallery.thumb.jpg.ed42a4742fe5459d6e46a6da1a5aa1bd.jpg

Untitled-1.thumb.jpg.0bef206f1eb0e157686794d1ad0e364f.jpg

 

MPPT1 on INV 1 - 6 x 455W Panels Facing E-SE

Suprisingly getting a lot of sun and producing around 2.5kW from the estimated 2.7kW

Sun hours from 09:00 - 17:00

MPPT2 on INV 1 - 8 x 455W Panels Facing dead NE

Data to be captured

MPPT1 on INV 2 - 7 x 455W Panels Facing dead NE

Data to be captured

MPPT2 on Inv 2 - 6 x 455W Panels Facing N-NW (to be installed on Monday)

Data to be captured

 

The yellow line shows more or less the trajectory of the sun currently.

This picture was taken around 18:00. By 17:00 all panels will still be in full sunlight.

I know it seems like a mess but I think it might give me a fairly linear solar yield curve from early to late. I don't have many other choices with huge tress on the NE side prohibiting a lower row of panels and VERY tall trees on the West side blocking sun from around 17:30 on the SW part of the N-NW facing roof.

What about adding another set with an aditional MPPT to the orange block (basically facing south) but grabbing sun all day till almost 18:30 ish... ?

Next up.... Monitoring

Edited by TheoG
Posted

So I'm a data freak and just love all the info my buddy gets with his Victron system.

  1. It seem Solar-Man is the app to use, but which variant? I have used about three but they seem to offer different readings? Maybe it's due to the very long refresh time on these inverters? Can the refresh time be set?
  2. Is there a desktop version available to monitor the system?

 

And lastly, taking the system into account, is there any specific settings that need to be set for the system to work precisely as needed?

Posted

Nice install and welcome to the sunsynk club. 

There's another thread in the questions and answers section here where you can hook up a Pi directly to the inverter and get more up to date data. 

Posted
11 minutes ago, Achmat said:

Nice install and welcome to the sunsynk club. 

There's another thread in the questions and answers section here where you can hook up a Pi directly to the inverter and get more up to date data. 

Mind sharing the link? 

Posted

Hello @Theog , neat installation against the wall, and some interesting challenges with the panels! Are trimming the trees not a viable option?

The ECOLEC 570 is quite an ancient meter, if you cannot get it to work then you will have to request the utility to provide another one. You use the term "feedback", are you feeding into the grid?

 

Posted
6 minutes ago, Achmat said:

CoC requirements are that DC and AC cabling are not in the same trunking.

Don't know much about that but I have CoC. The requirements can be impractical at times, how do you separate DC and AC wires in that trunking which is below the inverters? 

Posted
26 minutes ago, hoohloc said:

Don't know much about that but I have CoC. The requirements can be impractical at times, how do you separate DC and AC wires in that trunking which is below the inverters? 

I have my AC cabling on the right and DC on the left of the inverter. 

Screenshot_20210117-115259_Photos.jpg

Posted
4 hours ago, Tariq said:

Hi Theo,

   Do you have your AC and DC wires in the same trunking

 

1 hour ago, hoohloc said:

From the photos, I would say Yes. I also have them in the same trunking 

 

50 minutes ago, Achmat said:

CoC requirements are that DC and AC cabling are not in the same trunking.

 

39 minutes ago, hoohloc said:

Don't know much about that but I have CoC. The requirements can be impractical at times, how do you separate DC and AC wires in that trunking which is below the inverters? 

 

I didn't install myself, but will check into this

Posted

Question regarding firmware :

  • Protocol Ver : V0.2.0.1
  • Control Soft. Ver : V2.1.3.8
  • Somms. CPU Ver : VE.4.1.3

Would this be the latest?

Posted (edited)
5 minutes ago, TheoG said:

Question regarding firmware :

  • Protocol Ver : V0.2.0.1
  • Control Soft. Ver : V2.1.3.8
  • Somms. CPU Ver : VE.4.1.3

Would this be the latest?

Have the 8kw. 

@Vassen what's the latest versions for the 5kw sunsynk. 

Edited by Achmat
Posted
4 hours ago, YellowTapemeasure said:

Hello @Theog , neat installation against the wall, and some interesting challenges with the panels! Are trimming the trees not a viable option?

The ECOLEC 570 is quite an ancient meter, if you cannot get it to work then you will have to request the utility to provide another one. You use the term "feedback", are you feeding into the grid?

 

Thanks!

The trees on the NE side is mine and yes, I suppose we can trim them but the trees on the W side is in the neighbor's yard and just behind that tree is another palm tree so I doubt whether we would be able to gain anything from trimming them.

As for the meter... well our municipality is in the dumps so getting anything out of them would be close to a miracle!

 

Posted

I have 2151 and 415, Vassen I believe has 2154 and 415, on the 5.5, there is no list/description of what the latest version, have asked Keith on the sunsynk.org forum, but no response from him, also if everything is working fine, don’t mess with it.

   As for the reason for separating AC and DC trunking, has be a safety aspect. I have been told it has to do with frequency/magnetic field interference, but what difference would two thin layers of trunking plastic have on magnetic fields, as we all run the trunking in parallel and touching each other, and Theo does not seem to be having any problems.

Posted (edited)
19 hours ago, Achmat said:

I have my AC cabling on the right and DC on the left of the inverter. 

Screenshot_20210117-115259_Photos.jpg

My DC is in the top trunking underneath the inverter, AC in the bottom trunking.

 

IMG-20200824-WA0021.jpg

IMG-20200822-WA0019.jpg

Edited by YellowTapemeasure
Posted (edited)
11 hours ago, Vassen said:

Yip. As Tariq mentioned. I have 2154 and 415. 
 

i updated it last week and then my battery discharging was messed up. It no longer used the time of use table. One of the days I noticed my battery still discharging and it was at 16%. Luckily I noticed it. Yeah t was suppose to switch over to grid at 40%. After the latest update, it seems to be okay again. 
 

So in future, I won’t be upgrading unless there is some issue. 

I upgraded from the shipped E405 in late August.

I am still on the September 2020 versions:

  • Protocol Ver : V0.2.0.1
  • Control Soft. Ver : V2.1.3.7
  • Somms. CPU Ver : VE.4.1.0

I am happy with it, no issues yet.

 

@Vassen good to know that your versions are stable, if I do get issues I will specify it.

Edited by YellowTapemeasure
  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
On 2021/01/17 at 11:54 AM, Achmat said:

I have my AC cabling on the right and DC on the left of the inverter. 

Screenshot_20210117-115259_Photos.jpg

Your installation is still wrong, apparently the DC wires need to be in a metal truncking and not plastic 🙂

  • 1 month later...
Posted
On 2021/02/02 at 7:51 PM, hoohloc said:

Your installation is still wrong, apparently the DC wires need to be in a metal truncking and not plastic 🙂

Since when?

  • 1 month later...

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