How To: Mixed Power

[MyInverter]

Hi all,

I currently have the following setup:

1. 36 panels producing up to around 12kw (335w a panel). 
2. Three 5kw Axpert King inverters running on 71.97 CPU and 02.66 Display firmware. This is controlled by ICC Solar.
3. Attached to this I have 12 695Cz 12V 230ah lead acid batteries

The current load that I need the back up for runs comfortably for around 8 / 9 hours (I have a 3500l marine fish tank which eats around 1.2kw/h and the house runs off a server room which has around 900w / 1kw /h usage).

This is all good. The plan is to replace all those lead acid batteries with the Pollys very soon.

The Question:

I am on average producing 8/9kw during winter of PV power however my max load for the solar circuit is around 4kw. So I have a lot of additional production, the full capacity (working on pure numbers assuming all panels are producing full is 12kw). The house avg usage is around 13 -15kw/h. 

I want to start using more of the solar power to start taking some of the additional load. What additional load are we talking about? All my stoves are gas so it will be things like:

1. Washing Machines / Tumble Dryer (of which is the new digital inverter type so like an air con)
2. I run A LOT of aircons for both heating and cooling  so it would be aircons
3. Underfloor heating, of which when I monitor is (using shelly power monitors) and while its heating doesn't spike as much as I thought it wood as I installed "energy efficient" underfloor heating in (for what its worth)
4. I have three large geysers also monitored with the Shelly Power monitors, they pull around 2.5kw when heating. During the day they pull nothing as they all solar but at night they drink electricity.

What I am trying to do:

1. How would i be able to move some of the circuits like washing machine, aircons etc onto the solar system to use ONLY solar when available. I don't want it to use the battery at all as this is setup for critical systems in case of no Eskom or solar.

I was thinking of using a relay for this and using the ICC Solar software (Home Automation option with the relays on the inverters) to do this but wont this take time to keep switching between solar and grid?

What I do want:

If there is enough solar power being produced then those circuits use only solar to save on pulling from Eskom as soon as there is not enough power being produced them seamlessly switch back to the grid.

What I don't want:

Is the switch over between using solar and grid to be turning the appliances on and off while switching as aircons etc don't like this tbh not many electrical appliances like this.

Was hoping to get some guidance here on ideas on how to do this.

 

[Coulomb]

On 2021/05/31 at 5:43 PM, MyInverter said:

What I don't want:

Is the switch over between using solar and grid to be turning the appliances on and off while switching as aircons etc don't like this tbh not many electrical appliances like this.

It should be possible to coax the Kings into Line mode, and never Bypass mode. For example, setting 23 (Bypass Function) to ByD (disable bypass). Kings have double conversion, so unless you overload them (15 kW for a triple King system), they never need to bypass, so the power to the load is never interrupted.

[Boerseun]

On 2021/05/31 at 9:43 AM, MyInverter said:

Hi all,

I currently have the following setup:

1. 36 panels producing up to around 12kw (335w a panel). 
2. Three 5kw Axpert King inverters running on 71.97 CPU and 02.66 Display firmware. This is controlled by ICC Solar.
3. Attached to this I have 12 695Cz 12V 230ah lead acid batteries

The current load that I need the back up for runs comfortably for around 8 / 9 hours (I have a 3500l marine fish tank which eats around 1.2kw/h and the house runs off a server room which has around 900w / 1kw /h usage).

This is all good. The plan is to replace all those lead acid batteries with the Pollys very soon.

The Question:

I am on average producing 8/9kw during winter of PV power however my max load for the solar circuit is around 4kw. So I have a lot of additional production, the full capacity (working on pure numbers assuming all panels are producing full is 12kw). The house avg usage is around 13 -15kw/h. 

I want to start using more of the solar power to start taking some of the additional load. What additional load are we talking about? All my stoves are gas so it will be things like:

1. Washing Machines / Tumble Dryer (of which is the new digital inverter type so like an air con)
2. I run A LOT of aircons for both heating and cooling  so it would be aircons
3. Underfloor heating, of which when I monitor is (using shelly power monitors) and while its heating doesn't spike as much as I thought it wood as I installed "energy efficient" underfloor heating in (for what its worth)
4. I have three large geysers also monitored with the Shelly Power monitors, they pull around 2.5kw when heating. During the day they pull nothing as they all solar but at night they drink electricity.

What I am trying to do:

1. How would i be able to move some of the circuits like washing machine, aircons etc onto the solar system to use ONLY solar when available. I don't want it to use the battery at all as this is setup for critical systems in case of no Eskom or solar.

I was thinking of using a relay for this and using the ICC Solar software (Home Automation option with the relays on the inverters) to do this but wont this take time to keep switching between solar and grid?

What I do want:

If there is enough solar power being produced then those circuits use only solar to save on pulling from Eskom as soon as there is not enough power being produced them seamlessly switch back to the grid.

What I don't want:

Is the switch over between using solar and grid to be turning the appliances on and off while switching as aircons etc don't like this tbh not many electrical appliances like this.

Was hoping to get some guidance here on ideas on how to do this.

 

Simple Answer get a Sunsynk or True hybrid inverter system.

[myinverters]

On 2021/06/13 at 11:18 AM, Boerseun said:

Simple Answer get a Sunsynk or True hybrid inverter system.

Ok .... I mean if it does what I want and my current inverters done then sure. However can the current inverters not do this?

[Pieke]

The task you want to do with your solar system is easy to with a raspberry pi with home assistant or with a homey. On both you can implement your axpert kings like i a did. With some zigbee interrupters you can easily control every household machine like airco, washing machine etc. With flows or actions you can decide when and on what conditions they should turn with a certain delay etc.  Zigbee switches can also switch between grid and solar power instead of the axpert kings doing that for you. In that way you can add rather easy your own conditions depending on solar power, battery percentage, solar power dayproduction etc.