So i have started changing again, I am removing my 11 x 275's pvs and replacing them with 20 x 300w Rena Sola panels - two strings in parallel - one facing slightly North North East and the other North North West. i am of the hope that it will cover the full sun sectrum from 8 am to 5pm and i can double my collection - especially in the winter months.

Eish Mike, going big now???

Can I have first dibs on the 3kw Infini Invertor?

haha, no just preparing myself for the shite thats still going to hit the fan here. there is talk of another shedule load shedding table.... No4 what it is still unsure. likely to be 4 outages per day in winter.

yep if i do change yo can grab the plus

 

strated return to grid now at 8:15 and am at 1.6kw on the panels at the moment

So a small update.... the NNE panels start up at around 07:30 in the morning and start producing usable energy at around 08:00 @ 1.2kw and the NNW panels stop working at around 17:30 ish in the evening at approx 3kw and dropping quickly. With  load shedding my system has not even gone to batteries as the pv's can now support the total load and continue trickle charging the batterries. Now to graph daily production.

Are you running this 2 x 3kw with the infini or what inverter are you now using?

Yes Willem, still playing with the Infini Plus. For what its worth it actually works well even under a serious overload...it has not fallen over once yet. They say i can take it to 4500w max at 18A, we will see. I did 24.7kw today

Sounds good Mike.

What you doing with the "old" solar panels?

Sounds good Mike.

What you doing with the "old" solar panels?

yesterday i did 26,8kw..not bad at all.

Wetkit, they might be gone tomorrow, we will see still. i might be able to get my hands on a 3kwplus model 2 months old, client want to go for a 5kw goodwe with wireless....

so a small update...have been running now for a few weeks with 22x 300w renasola's on the roof....on the poor weather days i have been getting around 15 to 21kwh and on good days i have peaked at over 27.1kwh.

Now i am looking at the Narada gels to change my battery bank...just to find stock of them, unless anyone has suggestions for other gels 200ah and higher?

Mike

 

That sounds quite good for the infini!!

Sorry for the obvious questions, external hd got stolen so lost all my info and spec sheets.

Can't remember, does the infini plus have two mpp trackers or only one? If only one how are you setting up your two strings with the different orientations?

 

Really starting to sound like a pretty good little inverter to get hold of!!

Have you checked the maximum kw input that your panels can deliver to the inverter at peak time of day? Being rated to be able to take 4.5kw?

Just wondering if it will use the mpp to "shut down" the panels to limit it at 4.5kw. In which case you can add plenty, to get a longer time at higher power generation from the panels.

 

Very tempted to start the install on a small system that can for starters just bridge out this loadshedding... 2kwh of usable battery capacity should do it and then solar panels to fill the available budget...

 

Just saw the Tesla battery pack the other day on the net... apparently a 10 year warrantee on it? Do you have any knowledge on it and how it compares on price to other batteries? See the output volts is a bit on the high side at something like 450 volt dc...

Mike

 

That sounds quite good for the infini!!

Sorry for the obvious questions, external hd got stolen so lost all my info and spec sheets.

Can't remember, does the infini plus have two mpp trackers or only one? If only one how are you setting up your two strings with the different orientations?

 

Really starting to sound like a pretty good little inverter to get hold of!!

 

Have you checked the maximum kw input that your panels can deliver to the inverter at peak time of day? Being rated to be able to take 4.5kw?

 

Just wondering if it will use the mpp to "shut down" the panels to limit it at 4.5kw. In which case you can add plenty, to get a longer time at higher power generation from the panels.

 

Very tempted to start the install on a small system that can for starters just bridge out this loadshedding... 2kwh of usable battery capacity should do it and then solar panels to fill the available budget...

 

Just saw the Tesla battery pack the other day on the net... apparently a 10 year warrantee on it? Do you have any knowledge on it and how it compares on price to other batteries? See the output volts is a bit on the high side at something like 450 volt dc...

 

 

from what the factory told me, it will limit at 4500w, but i am concerned about summer time, so i might just put in a dc breaker on both strings and disable if need be. The unit only has 1 mppt and i have spread my panels from NNE to NNW, so at approx 9am i start at 1.5kw till around 5pm at 1.2kw, but the in between is great 3,2- 34on average.

I dont think you can go wrong with starting small and building up as you go along.I will be doing it again shortly as i have a spare Imeon 3.6 and a Goodwe 5kw with wifi so we will see. right now i have a spare inifini and maybe next week another spare infini-----my one..Tesla Lipods are around 30% more expensive that gels here in SA.

Just a quick question Mike, why gel battries?

With gel you have to be extremely carefull not to exceed the amp ratings for charging and discharging, as it can cause bubbles in the gel.

Those 170Ah Narda units is very good. Vodacom also use them in their base stations.

 

P.S. The 5kw Goodwe, is that a grid tied unit?

Any idea on the pricing of the Goodwe ES units?

wetkit the Narada is a gel battery, they are the ones i am thinking of taking, just dammm pricey even at cost!

 

The goodwe is the 5kw Es with wireless and ezmonitor....installed one of them today in Lovenstein...2 x mppt

Awesome install Mike

So yesterday i went and purchased 8 x 155ah Narada's for my bank...will connect up tomorrow. connected now and now to save for another 8. then i will have a 28.8kw battery bank and will run offgrid and see how it goes.

Hi Mike, can you pm me your contact details. Would like to chat to you sometime about a quote for my place around end of August.

So today is the day that i do another upgrade to my home system..... Today a bid a fond farewell to my Infinisolar 3kw Plus and say hello to a Goodwe ES5048 Hybrid with Wireless and Eazymonitor. It has 2 x MPPT trackers built in- That is one of the main reasons for my upgrade plus the wireless cloud access globally. Yesterday i quickly built a bypass box so i can work at my leisure, the house will have Eskom whilst i remove and reinstall the inverter.  And another member here will experience the joy of the Infini hybrid...pics to follow later 

Pics of the new stuff

 

 

 

Hi Mike,

 

Estimate cost on the Goodwe Hybrid unit?

What is the majour diffrinces to the infini unit?

Do you not miss the display?

Does it consume less power than the Infini unit?

Did you also install the power monitor?

Hi Mike,

 

Estimate cost on the Goodwe Hybrid unit?      R46000 excl

What is the majour diffrinces to the infini unit? 5kw & 2 x MPPT trackers - pvs jumped to 4.7kwp when i switched on as opposed to 3kw on infini

Do you not miss the display?    Yep

Does it consume less power than the Infini unit? will monitor and advise

Did you also install the power monitor?   Yes

Hi guys,

 

I'm new to the forum but have been reading the comments on the Infini with great interest as I have also fitted one. A brilliant piece of equipment! 

 

I have 14 305W sunpower solar panels with 8 100Ah Lead crystal batteries, Here in JHB we are plagued with veld fire smoke and this affects power generation badly, with that said I can still generate betwee 21 - 24.4 kWh per day and 13.1 kWh on a cloudy day. Generally I do not grid-tie but I have done some testing and would love to see what it is going to generate when summer arrives.

 

I do have some small issues with my unit and I am hoping someone could help me with this. The AC voltage reading is within 1 volt but the DC voltages read incorrect. Battery reads 0.8 volt low and PV reads 5 percent high. My question is can these be corrected within the factory password and also what is the difference between the different standards?

Hi Buks,

I have the same issue with the DC battery voltage. For now I have just compensated for the error in the software settings.

So if your set point should be 48V and the unit is reading 0.8V low, you run your setting at 48.8V.

 

I am not worried about the PV voltage.

Thanks Wetkit,

 

That's what I've done as well.

 

Mike ,congrats on your Goodwe, I looked it up, a very impressive piece of equipment albeit on the expensive side. At least it can charge Li-ion battery packs maybe even Teslas new units. 

Please keep us posted as to it's  output performance.

Thanks Buks,

Seems a nice piece of hardware but it does seem to have an issue already.....it switches off when load shedding starts, then restarts. It seems like a software error, so just waiting for them to send me new firmware, but in a mean time i must be the only one in South Africa with a backup Imeon hybrid for my Goodwe Hybrid inverter...

will keep the forum up to date with what happens.

Did a firmware update and all is working fine now.

 

Yesterday i took the plunge and stopped returning over 500kwh to Eskom and switched off the Eskom main input to the property.....We are now running on battery and pv. I will pay the Eskom availability just in case for a few months.

So here is too hopefully off the grid living...

Oh i added another 4 x 180ah Narada's to my battery bank, just need another 4 to get to 16 of them..

 

...can't seem to upload all the new pics..