Solar PV Hints, Tips & Troubleshooting

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121763924#Comment_121763924

Good for ya.

delmonte4

Will that exceed your usage?

p15574

Has anyone had issue with the power being tripped in the mornings? I had solar installed last June and there was a couple of incidents of the power tripped very early in the morning but it's got much more frequent over the winter. Never had issues before unless it was a dodgy iron being plugged in or something. My estimate is that there's some sort of issue when the panels come on stream at first light, generally if there is an electric load already (eg electric shower/washing machine/dishwasher) - hence why it's become much more frequent in winter, as the first daylight is occurring when people are up and about and using appliances.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? I plan on going back to the installers about it but would like to have more definitive info if possible first.

The devils

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121770379#Comment_121770379

I have many appliances coming on throughout the night 2 am to 6 am never (and EV) ,never had an issue with tripping. Try power unit down in day light and back on again and see if it trips. Go through each appliance maybe also, Or just 'Get installers back ASAP'

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121770379#Comment_121770379

Was it raining at the time?

championc

Is it a Garo RCBO ? Those appear to be too sensitive.

p15574

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121770726#Comment_121770726

This morning it's possible, but from the list I've kept of incidences, I think the reverse is true, ie it's when it's sunny. I checked a few of them against my graph of solar output and the times seem to match when it first kicks in, ie when the sun comes out or it's bright. As far as I can see, it's less of a problem when it's dull\rainy, as the solar isn't doing anything

p15574

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121770379#Comment_121770379

I'm wondering if it might have anything to do with the way they wired from the inverter back to my fuseboard. They used wiring that was already in the attic, after (allegedly) testing it to see if it would be suitable, instead of adding new wiring. I was actually pleased with that, as there was no ugly external wiring.

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121771012#Comment_121771012

Hmmm... I wonder if the panels could be covered in dew and whether that could cause an issue? There is an issue with leakage when rain falls on panels - it causes some leakage of current.

What orientation are the panels?

p15574

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121771047#Comment_121771047

This is them. The roof faces approximately south-east.

championc

At sunrise on a clear day, the volts shoot up, but with zero current

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121771317#Comment_121771317

Yeah, I wonder if it's the leakage issue where wet panels generate capacitance between the frame and rails causing leakage.

https://www.inverter.com/leakage-current-control-in-solar-inverter

Except I'm thinking that the issue should also be present when the panels are generating when it's raining.

@p15574 - If the leakage can be measured then the solution is to bias the RCD with a suitable biasing capacitor. Ref:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058326679/parasitic-capacitance

p15574

OK, thanks, I'll go back to the installer.

tommythecat

I have a Weco battery that I am charging at night. As soon as the charging stops it dumps to the grid from 100% to 95% really quickly even though there is no house draw. Is this normal BMS behaviour or is there something else going on? I have changed the end charge time but it still happens. Tks.

championc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121771617#Comment_121771617

Any sign of an earth cable coming into the attic with the DC cables from the panels 🤔

tjalana

Any advice please.If i charge my 5k Puredrive during the night (0200-0400) and say its 100% at 0330.Does it then feed the Eddie till 0400.Since i started to charge my battery a few days ago i'm noticing 1.5kw has gone into the Eddie overnight and water is hot.Is this normal ? .If it is do you think i should leave it as only cost 15c and we can get 2-3 showers out of it.

tommythecat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121772844#Comment_121772844

If you've set the battery to charge until 4am then it will not discharge until then even if it's at 100%. I don't have Eddi so can't help with that.

championc

If the battery was still told to charge, it will block any discharge.

If the Eddi has it's Grid Supply set for maybe only 13A, and the Battery was charging with that amount, then the Eddi is designed to not overload the grid supply, but if the battery stopped using the power, then the Eddi was suddenly seeing it as available to use.

BUT

The Eddi would need a simultaneous boost schedule

Tree

1.5 kWh seems like a lot for incidental Eddi draw. Do you have an Eddi boost set up? How is the Eddi CT clamp configured? Ours was misinstalled before the car charger but after the consumer unit so it sees some car draw as export and tries to soak it up (solved by home assistant controlling everything, but a hack nonetheless)

tjalana

Thanks for the replies, not to sure I understand, these things are over my head. I'm going to stop the charge for the battery tonight to see if it is definitely the charge overnight then from what I've read is to reduce the amps when charging so it gets to 100% before the 2 hours are up and see if that changes the 1.5kw into the Eddie, I've only had the Zappi installed 2 weeks and having the red light on front of the Zappi which from what I've read is there's a fault somewhere, so not sure if this is interfering with this, I have the installers coming back on Monday.

championc

Get to know YOUR own system. So many installers are clueless, and yours could be one.

Before the Zappi was added, the Eddi would have been Master. The new Zappi will have a vHub, and should be be disabled, or else the Zappi now be made Master and the vHub of the Eddi disabled.

Ascertain which device is Master.

The Eddi would have had a Grid CT clamp. Did the clowns add a second from the Zappi ?

Did you even check if your Eddi has a schedule ?

10-10-20

Any one on here who might have a future interest in dynamic electricity unit pricing would be well advised to have a read of the thread below and provide any input to the group or to the CRU as a whole. The document was published on the 14th Feb and the CRU are taking responses until the 5 of April. It's still early days but we're seeing some instances where improvements could be made to the overall process.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058336271/dynamic-electricity-price-tariffs-consultation-paper

There is an explainer document as well as the overall proposal consultation document.

Explainer:

https://www.cru.ie/publications/27946/

Consultation:

https://www.cru.ie/publications/27945/

👍️

p15574

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121772381#Comment_121772381

I don't see any - just the two black cables here going into this box, and then out of it again to the inverter. Presumably there should be an earth, seeing as you've mentioned it?

championc

Don't know if it's regs, but I would have expected panels to be earthed

10-10-20

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777048#Comment_121777048

The whole lot is recommended to be but I don't think it's mandatory.

SD_DRACULA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777048#Comment_121777048

Not sure if it's mandatory, I don't think mine are and got inspected too and he didn't say anything.

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121777048#Comment_121777048

It depends really, some installations need to have panels bonded and some don't. There's no hard and fast rule, it just depends on what the panel is mounted to, the rails, what's in close proximity etc, etc. A spark can also do tests to determine if it's required. The ones on my roof don't require bonding, the ones on my steel shed and pergola do.

Counter intuitively, bonded panels increase the risk of parasitic capacitance tripping issues, and some brands of panels seem to be more susceptible than others.

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121779454#Comment_121779454

How do u know which do need it? I've a DIY shed rail now up. Bought the earth cable but haven't run it yet.

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121780284#Comment_121780284

It's not possible to answer that question without seeing the installation. Sometimes tests are required too. There're too many variables.

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121780284#Comment_121780284

Have you pictures?