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PV Capped / Troubleshooting?


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2 hours ago, Achmat said:

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. 

Screenshot_20210627-183528_SOLARMAN Smart.jpg

I have confirmed all 4x strings and all 4x strings increased in amp as well as voltage (and this is for a lower rated 400W panel).

 

It's highly unlikely that all 4x strings were faulty (or wrongly connected as you mentioned), but all 4x strings after the panel replacements have shown a great increase in amperage.

Screenshot_20210627-204024_SOLARMAN Smart.jpg

Edited by RabidBunny
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3 hours ago, tetrasection said:

 

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!

The problem here is that the installer was outsourced and did not know which panels should have been supplied or installed.

 

The shop where I purchased the panels has sent me the invoice / order placed for the panels from their supplier and it matched my invoice exactly - in this case the supplier stuffed up and really did send the wrong panels (probably thinking no one would have noticed).

Edited by RabidBunny
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46 minutes ago, RabidBunny said:

The problem here is that the installer was outsourced and did not know which panels should have been supplied or installed.

 

The shop where I purchased the panels has sent me the invoice / order placed for the panels from their supplier and it matched my invoice exactly - in this case the supplier stuffed up and really did send the wrong panels (probably thinking no one would have noticed).

Further to this, the supplier refused to rectify the mistake as "the panels were already installed".

 

I was at work and didn't have oversight of the process, the wife didn't know and I didn't think to ask for pictures of the installation, only once I saw the boxes did I realize something is off, and have since been fighting with them to rectify the mistake - realizing the utter crap output I got ... (joined here to ask assistance on this post), and that's when I started sending emails that their next communications would be from a laywer ...

 

2 days later, they delivered the correct panels and removed the fong-kong crap ...

 

Correct panels installed and I saw a close to 90% increase in PV Production - even the software for PV Forecasting supplied earlier match the generation so close you can't even get a needle through it (at times exceeding it a little)...

Screenshot_20210627-082737_SOLARMAN Smart.jpg

Screenshot_20210627-082756_PV Solar Forecast.jpg

Edited by RabidBunny
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3 hours ago, Coulomb said:

Well, it's sad if this is a new thing that buyers have to be aware of.

Glad you eventually got it sorted.

The sad reality is that unfortunately there are some buyers who are none the wiser that gets nailed pretty solidly by both installers and/or suppliers (who probably would have accepted such a situation and just leave it there).

 

Spoke to a women recently who had a 5kW Hybrid Inverter, 8x 200AH Gel Batteries and 12x Panels installed and paid over 100K above what I did (and I believe I paid around the average prices) ... I almost threw up!

 

Luckily for me, I atleast know a thing or two about wiring a home - as we did the wiring for the entire house ourselves when we built it many years ago (and all passed CoC, etc...). I still remember Saturday and Sunday mornings were spent pulling wires and cussing many a time when the "fish-tape" got stuck ... 😆

 

I am however new in the PV sphere and have learned quite a bit so far - this is an excellent forum!

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