Not using as much solar as it can?

[Not From Eskom]

Hi All,

I had a 5kw Axpert VMIII, worked great, but I kept overloading it. I replaced it with a 7.2kw Axpert King.

The VMIII would use as much solar as it could, it would not use utility or battery at all during the day.

The King however wont use the full solar capability, it's balancing solar + utility for output in SUB mode. For example, output is 1000W it will take 500W solar and 500W utility. If I switch it to SBU mode it will then pull much more solar and only touches battery power in weak solar cases. 

1. I have two strings going into the PV1 port, PV2 port is blank. Must I split the strings and use both ports on the King?

2. How can I get SUB mode to use the most solar it can before drawing from utility? (Firmware is 45.07)

 

[Buyeye]

Hi I have an axpert type hybrid and it is terribly inaccurate in SUB mode that it just doesn't bother to separate the 2 readings. The only way for me to see what's really happened is to look at the inverter screen for the amps coming from the utility which are usually low. I connected the geyser to use solar in the day when Noone is using it.

To me it seems that when the load is high >70% mine is more efficient in SUB mode but when I check on monitoring software it says both solar and utility provided 9kw to heat the one geyser which would make it 18kw to heat a 200l geyser over 3 hours which is not possible.

What I'm saying is first check on the inverter screen what is happening and to allow the mppt to ramp up over a couple of minutes.

[Not From Eskom]

Thank you all, will put a string on each of the inputs, lets see if that changes it! 

[Coulomb]

8 hours ago, Not From Eskom said:

I replaced it with a 7.2kw Axpert King.

I assume you mean an Axpert Max. Or is there a new model I don't know about?

[Not From Eskom]

Max, yes sorry.

Ordered another disconnect so that I can split my strings, then have each input on the MAX populated. I hope this solves the issue of the grid usage.

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Not From Eskom

[Not From Eskom]

I split my strings, used each string on the inputs of the Axpert Max so that PV1 and PV2 ports are both populated, previously only PV1 input was populated. It now blends as it should, using the most it can out of the solar. In the end, it does require both PV ports to be populated to function optimally. Thank you all for the assistance!

[Wurm]

On 2021/08/13 at 8:32 PM, Not From Eskom said:

I split my strings, used each string on the inputs of the Axpert Max so that PV1 and PV2 ports are both populated, previously only PV1 input was populated. It now blends as it should, using the most it can out of the solar. In the end, it does require both PV ports to be populated to function optimally. Thank you all for the assistance!

Hi I like to ask I'm in the same process with the same inverter 7.2kw I have 16 450w panels on Pv1 and want to ad 4 more 450w panels to pv2 will it be fine or do I have to split my input with 10 panels on pv1 and 10 panels on pv2 thanx

[Coulomb]

No, they don't have to be balanced. There may be a slight advantage to balancing, in that the inverter may be able to cool itself better. But that's very likely not worth rewiring the existing panels. 

[Wurm]

Hi Coulumb I'm on my way to buy 4 pannels I read somewhere that you can go 130% in kwh higher with the Kwh the solar panels provides will it be okay if I buy  4 x 650w pannels it will be slightly more than 130%