June 22, 20215 yr Author 4 minutes ago, Achmat said: 60A at 48v is different to 60A at 220v. Battery charge and discharge amps are at 48v. 60% reduction in pv output is normal. There are a number of website that you can use to determine the pv output based on your location, array size, orientation and angle. You can use this app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.exigo.solcaster Just enter your setup and it should give what the expected pv output is for the next few days. Thanks, I will install the app and verify. Thanks for clearing that up as I understood the discharge to be at 230V, since the result of the discharge is pushed back into the "load".
June 22, 20215 yr Author 1 hour ago, Achmat said: Pv generation in winter suffers a lot from low angled panels and I don't think the impact is explained enough. I knew beforehand going into my setup. On my setup I have 22 panels on MPPT 2 and 12 panels on MPPT 1. MPPT 2 installed capacity = 6 710w. Peak winter pv output = 2 670w. That's 60% loss in installed capacity. MPPT 1 installed capacity = 3 660w. Peak winter pv output = 1 470w. Also 60% loss. My panels are installed almost exactly the same on an IBR carport so expecting a 60% to 65% loss in pv production in winter is normal . Looking at some of the graphs it does not appear to be capping as it would have a flat top on the curves but they seem to be perfect bell curves similar to mine. Two pics. First one from a few days ago and second one from summer. My panels were less in summer but you can still see the difference between winter and summer. "I knew beforehand going into my setup" ~ I was not explained this and I did not even think to ask as I assumed the installer would know these things beforehand - if pushing up the angle would resolve this issue, then surely the installer should know this and have correctly installed them?
June 22, 20215 yr 23 minutes ago, RabidBunny said: Thanks, I will install the app and verify. Thanks for clearing that up as I understood the discharge to be at 230V, since the result of the discharge is pushed back into the "load". Post results Discharge is always at the voltage from the battery and not the voltage to the loads. Same with charging.
June 22, 20215 yr Author 8 minutes ago, Achmat said: Post results Discharge is always at the voltage from the battery and not the voltage to the loads. Same with charging. Results, according to having configured my setup / roof angle, etc... Edited June 22, 20215 yr by RabidBunny
June 22, 20215 yr Just now, RabidBunny said: "I knew beforehand going into my setup" ~ I was not explained this and I did not even think to ask as I assumed the installer would know these things beforehand - if pushing up the angle would resolve this issue, then surely the installer should know this and have correctly installed them? It comes at a cost though. My carport is between 7 and 10 degrees. I could either pay for angled mounting racks and space them apart to avoid any shading from other panels or choose to install more panels than I need. I opted for the second as I have the space on my carport. It's a 4 car carport so there is a lot of space and I could probably install 20kw of solar panels there. This is a screenshot from Google earth with my initial panels. I added six more since this satellite pic was taken.
June 22, 20215 yr Author 4 minutes ago, Achmat said: It comes at a cost though. My carport is between 7 and 10 degrees. I could either pay for angled mounting racks and space them apart to avoid any shading from other panels or choose to install more panels than I need. I opted for the second as I have the space on my carport. It's a 4 car carport so there is a lot of space and I could probably install 20kw of solar panels there. This is a screenshot from Google earth with my initial panels. I added six more since this satellite pic was taken. I paid a premium for this installation, which infuriates me as none of these options were explained to me. I assumed they would mount them correctly! I have more than enough space for additional panels, the issue is I am almost [capped] on the inputs for DC Inputs (based on panel ratings).
June 22, 20215 yr 9 minutes ago, RabidBunny said: Results, according to having configured my setup / roof angle, etc... This is mine which is fairly close.
June 22, 20215 yr 3 minutes ago, RabidBunny said: I paid a premium for this installation, which infuriates me as none of these options were explained to me. I assumed they would mount them correctly! I have more than enough space for additional panels, the issue is I am almost [capped] on the inputs for DC Inputs (based on panel ratings). Looking at that you can have have up to 9 panels per string, 8 would be ideal. You have 2 x 5kw deye inverters so you have 4 MPPT inputs giving you a potential of 13kw in solar panels.
June 22, 20215 yr 11 minutes ago, RabidBunny said: I paid a premium for this installation, which infuriates me as none of these options were explained to me. I assumed they would mount them correctly! I have more than enough space for additional panels, the issue is I am almost [capped] on the inputs for DC Inputs (based on panel ratings). I feel your frustration. What I have found is that everyone will show you the best possible scenario when in fact you should be looking at your winter pv production and size your system from there. You'll be wasting in summer but at least you'll be covered in winter. On a clear summer day I can generate over 70kwh per day but a similar winter day at best I'll get is 25kWh.
June 22, 20215 yr Another good free resource to use to determine your expected monthly pv generation is https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/ I use this website and know what I can expect to generate in each month.
June 22, 20215 yr 9 hours ago, RabidBunny said: You've got "Batt First' enabled under 'Energy Pattern'. If I am not mistaken, that will limit only supply power to charge your batteries until they are fully charged. And in combination with your charge settings, this is probably why you don't see more PV production. Try setting it to 'Load First'. Then it will use available PV to power your loads and use any excess to charge your batteries. That should unlock higher PV production
June 22, 20215 yr 6 minutes ago, wolfandy said: You've got "Batt First' enabled under 'Energy Pattern'. If I am not mistaken, that will limit only supply power to charge your batteries until they are fully charged. And in combination with your charge settings, this is probably why you don't see more PV production. Try setting it to 'Load First'. Then it will use available PV to power your loads and use any excess to charge your batteries. That should unlock higher PV production It shouldn't as any excess pv not used for the battery charging would still go to the loads. It just prioritises pv to battery first and then loads. Other way is for it to send it to the loads first and then any excess goes to the battery.
June 22, 20215 yr 8 minutes ago, Achmat said: It shouldn't as any excess pv not used for the battery charging would still go to the loads. It just prioritises pv to battery first and then loads. I have to admit that I have never played around with that function on the Sunsynk (only on my old Axperts). But I will still give it a try to change that setting and see if it makes a difference
June 22, 20215 yr Author 15 minutes ago, Achmat said: It shouldn't as any excess pv not used for the battery charging would still go to the loads. It just prioritises pv to battery first and then loads. Other way is for it to send it to the loads first and then any excess goes to the battery. That's also how I also understood it ... Battery first will push [as much as it can] to charge the batteries first - any excess is diverted to the load Load first will push [as much as it can] to load first - any excess is diverted to the batteries * because my 'Time of Use' is set to 100% battery target between 9am and 5pm, it will after the batteries are full divert any and all it can to the loads However in either configuration, the 11.76kW [theoretical PV limits], should push towards both battery and load [as I have that mother ugly Eksdom breaker turned off] ... 🙂 Edited June 22, 20215 yr by RabidBunny
June 22, 20215 yr Author 6 minutes ago, wolfandy said: I have to admit that I have never played around with that function on the Sunsynk (only on my old Axperts). But I will still give it a try to change that setting and see if it makes a difference have tried, makes no difference - PV still not pushing beyond 3.8kW ... Edited June 22, 20215 yr by RabidBunny
June 22, 20215 yr 12 minutes ago, Achmat said: It shouldn't as any excess pv not used for the battery charging would still go to the loads. It just prioritises pv to battery first and then loads. Other way is for it to send it to the loads first and then any excess goes to the battery. 1 minute ago, RabidBunny said: That's also how I also understood it ... Battery first will push [as much as it can] to charge the batteries first - any excess is diverted to the load Load first will push [as much as it can] to load first - any excess is diverted to the load * because my 'Time of Use' is set to 100% battery target between 9am and 5pm, it will after the batteries are full divert any and all it can to the loads However in either configuration, the 11.76kW [theoretical PV limits], should push towards both battery and load [as I have that mother ugly Eksdom breaker turned off] ... 🙂 I don't see any separate setting for max PV current so maybe it's linked to the battery setting.
June 22, 20215 yr 1 minute ago, RabidBunny said: have tried, makes no difference - PV still not pushing beyond 3.8kW ... Is your battery charge/discharge set to 100A and load priority now?
June 22, 20215 yr Author 4 minutes ago, tetrasection said: I don't see any separate setting for max PV current so maybe it's linked to the battery setting.
June 22, 20215 yr Author 6 minutes ago, tetrasection said: Is your battery charge/discharge set to 100A and load priority now? I changed both charge/discharge to 100A If I change from Battery First to Load First then the same [3.8kW limit is reached], but with a twist at the end of the "solar-day" that my batteries are less than 70% charged Edited June 22, 20215 yr by RabidBunny
June 22, 20215 yr 7 minutes ago, RabidBunny said: I changed both charge/discharge to 100A If I change from Battery First to Load First then the same [3.8kW limit is reached], but with a twist at the end of the "solar-day" that my batteries are less than 70% charged According to your graphs, your maximum PV production is reached at around 12:00, and only half at this time (10:00). Maybe wait a couple hours and then see if there is a difference after the settings change. Edited June 22, 20215 yr by tetrasection
June 22, 20215 yr 5 hours ago, RabidBunny said: I changed both charge/discharge to 100A If I change from Battery First to Load First then the same [3.8kW limit is reached], but with a twist at the end of the "solar-day" that my batteries are less than 70% charged How did it go? Did it perform any better after the changes?
June 22, 20215 yr Author 2 hours ago, tetrasection said: How did it go? Did it perform any better after the It has increased a little but not by much, went from 3.8kW to 4kW ... but today the load was very low and not normal - I can only compare again tomorrow when the load is pushed Edited June 22, 20215 yr by RabidBunny
June 27, 20215 yr Author On 2021/06/22 at 4:09 PM, tetrasection said: How did it go? Did it perform any better after the changes? mmm ... Low and behold, can you believe ... ? So I've monitored my logs and it seems that I'm easily pushing between 7kW and 8kW now (in winter on a flat IRB roof)! Enough to carry the home load and charge the batteries, so Eskom has been permanently shutdown 2 days ago! Let me explain in brief: Originally the installers order decent panels (Grade A panels), however the installation was done with fong-kong ^&*%# panels (Grade C panels) as the suppliers sent the wrong panels - according to some knowledge people in the industry. I was invoiced for the Grade A panels, so I wrote a few threatening e-mails and all 28x panels were removed and replace with 28x 400W mono panels (Grade A) - less than the 420W fong-kong %$#%^ panels ... and what do you know my PV production increased by almost 90% Edited June 27, 20215 yr by RabidBunny
June 27, 20215 yr 1 hour ago, RabidBunny said: mmm ... Low and behold, can you believe ... ? So I've monitored my logs and it seems that I'm easily pushing between 7kW and 8kW now (in winter on a flat IRB roof)! Enough to carry the home load and charge the batteries, so Eskom has been permanently shutdown 2 days ago! Let me explain in brief: Originally the installers order decent panels (Grade A panels), however the installation was done with fong-kong ^&*%# panels (Grade C panels) as the suppliers sent the wrong panels - according to some knowledge people in the industry. I was invoiced for the Grade A panels, so I wrote a few threatening e-mails and all 28x panels were removed and replace with 28x 400W mono panels (Grade A) - less than the 420W fong-kong %$#%^ panels ... and what do you know my PV production increased by almost 90% Wow. Reading this it seems pretty clear to me that it is the installers who where trying to gip you. Suppliers don't just send out pallets of unknown Chinese crap panels by mistake. Most wouldn't even stock them. Even if it was a mistake by the supplier, as an installer first thing you would do is send the pallet back. You wouldn't go install this at someone's house and never even mention it to anyone. Anyways, great to see you got your system up and running as it should! Edited June 27, 20215 yr by tetrasection
June 27, 20215 yr 2 hours ago, RabidBunny said: mmm ... Low and behold, can you believe ... ? So I've monitored my logs and it seems that I'm easily pushing between 7kW and 8kW now (in winter on a flat IRB roof)! Enough to carry the home load and charge the batteries, so Eskom has been permanently shutdown 2 days ago! Let me explain in brief: Originally the installers order decent panels (Grade A panels), however the installation was done with fong-kong ^&*%# panels (Grade C panels) as the suppliers sent the wrong panels - according to some knowledge people in the industry. I was invoiced for the Grade A panels, so I wrote a few threatening e-mails and all 28x panels were removed and replace with 28x 400W mono panels (Grade A) - less than the 420W fong-kong %$#%^ panels ... and what do you know my PV production increased by almost 90% Glad you got sorted but I'm sceptical that it was just the panels causing this. Can you post a screenshot from Solarman of the PV current for each of the strings individually before and after the change. When I initially installed my panels I had one string that was not connected correctly and therefore lost the pv production on that one string only. It could've been that one of your strings was not actually properly connected and replacing them fixed the connection. Screenshot below is from today of my one MPPT that has two strings of 11 panels giving me 11A and 359.6v for the 22 panels on total. My panels are rated at 9.7 so two strings should give a max of over 19A but this only happens in summer.
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