Solar PV Hints, Tips & Troubleshooting

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118047012#Comment_118047012

You will easily get into the B.

I'm delighted we did because we have now gone and getting a green mortgage. I was with ulster Bank at 3.6% now I'm going to AIB at 2.15%.

I see Bank of Ireland has a 2% green mortgage but it has a few more t&c than AIB.

Welcome too your new addiction. No harm putting that app on everyone's phone in the house so they can see what's going on. If thay could be arsed that is.

AndyBoBandy

It's only herself, and she already has the MyEnergi app, but in fairness we were equally enthusiastic about going PV (she was actually pushing me again a few weeks ago...), so we'll be keeping a close eye on things...

Watching the Solis app the last while, I'm generating between 0.7 - 1.2 kW, and as per the MyEnergi app, the house is only consuming ~.3kW, so the rest is going into the battery!!

The Solis App is a bit fugly though, when in the inverter, the next tab bar below for the different points (Generation, Battery etc..). the fonts are too big and you can't fully see what each one is! Am I better looking at it online?

Also, is there any way to see the battery SOC%? Or which parameter below would tell me the Soc?

Jonathan

Get the Solis Cloud app. Much more intuitive.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ginlongsolis

EDIT: It shows SOC and SOH too.

Bobeagleburger

Solis Cloud is a very good app. I use that far more than the other monitoring app I have (Smappee).

Bobeagleburger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118047012#Comment_118047012

Depending on the sq footage of your house you'll jump a lot of pv alone. We jumped 3 notches from our PV with a similar system to yours (5.7kWp). From the photos of your solar, your house is a similar looking size to ours.

AndyBoBandy

Soliscloud app does indeed look a lot nicer…

so battery is nearly full…. Will be going into Eddi next, and then to the grid soon after as the water tank should already be quite hot from central heating!!!!

Might need to plug in the car soon!!!

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048052#Comment_118048052

You can work out your BER improvement here:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058190413/ber-calculation-for-pv-install

DrPhilG

You should plug the car in while it's brighter.

The car will only charge on excess if there is more than 1.4kW available.

The immersion can charge on any amount of excess.

So if you fill the immersion while you have a lot of excess, by the time the car gets its turn you might be generating less.

Edit, just noticed you're only generating 1.5kw so won't affect you, but bear in mind for warmer days.

Scoopsire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118047356#Comment_118047356

Nice work!

AndyBoBandy

Can I turn off the Eddi? as in set it to divert no power to the water heater?

Once the central heating comes on, We have more than enough hot water until the heating goes off next Spring, so I don't really need the Eddi right now!!

My EV charger is a dumb Tesla charger, but I can dial the car down to 5amps which is about 1kW, and charge like that for 1-2 hours (any troughs in Solar being backfilled by the battery?) Currently though I would need to dial the car down in the car itself, but there'll be a software update soon enough that allows me to dial it down from within the app!!

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048487#Comment_118048487

If the water is hot (from the central heating), then the eddi will have nothing to do. No?

You may however want to think about that a bit. There's no perfect answer here. Most heating installations would have a value from the central heating system going into the tank and via a heat exchanger (basically a loop coil inside the immersion tank) heating the water. If you have spare electricity from your panels, you may prefer to use the Eddi to heat the water over the central heating.

The logic is that even though you get hot water via the central heating - that still takes some energy (oil/gas/etc) in bringing it up to temp. Usually there's a valve next to the inlet on the immersion. Closing it will mean that the central heating won't spend energy heating the tank.

Course in the middle of winter, you probably will want to reopen that as the Eddi won't have enough juice to heat things.

No right/wrong answer, depends on where you want or need the energy your producing.

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048487#Comment_118048487

I take it your heating isn't zoned then? The aim is obviously to avoid export, so if you have a use for your generation somewhere else, grand, otherwise let it do its thing and cut down the oil/gas you use.

To turn Eddi off, either change it to Stop mode on device itself, or press the power button in myEnergi app.

DrPhilG

Note, to follow the advice above, turn off the Eddi, I believe you need the latest firmware. Not sure if yours came with that. You can update using the hub anyway.

championc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118047092#Comment_118047092

If the battery came with charge, it could indeed be discharging the pre-charged power

AndyBoBandy

Only 2 zones in the heating system

1. Heating (every rad and the hot water tank) 2. Water tank only.

When the heating is not coming on (via Nest), during the summer, I have the water on a schedule of 30 minutes every day, which is always enough to cover the 3 of us... but once the heating starts coming on, the house is warm, and there's always a tank of scalding hot water... I installed a factory insulated 165L stainless tank a few years ago, and its great. I'm happy to let the heating take care of heating the water also during winter, but I'll be hoping I can save 3.5 hours per week of the boiler heating the water with the Eddi. In winter, I'd like to put the excess into the car!!!

I guess I'll be getting a Zappi next summer!

championc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118047730#Comment_118047730

Have you any interest in a Raspberry Pi ? You could setup a Node-Red Dashboard and have everything graphically on it.

Here's mine - http://champion94.no-ip.org:1880/ui/

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048606#Comment_118048606

Be surprised if there wasn't a way to physically close the valve to the immersion tank's heat exchange - and still keep your rads warm. Fairly normal plumbing.

In any case though, as you say the hot water tank is always scalding hot water when you have the heating on, then the Eddi will have nothing to do. No need to change anything in the settings i would think. The water in the tank will be hot enough so that it's above the immersion element thermostat cut off so it won't try to use energy it doesn't need .....

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048638#Comment_118048638

I'd check the wiring at the nest or the heating junction box first tbh. Sounds like a wiring issue rather than a plumbing issue.

bullit_dodger

So many different ways to plumb it's hard to say, but the solution is more likely to be plumbing one.

Most houses (usually) have 1 pump and then you'll have a solenoid operated value to open up the radiators circuit, so when it's closed the hot water will be routed solely into the immersion circuit, but you can think of the immersion tank as "just another radiator". There will be a value (close'ish to the immersion tank) and closing that will stop hot water going into it, irrespective of what you have set the system to do. Doesn't have to be plumbed that way of course, but it's the usual way.

You just have to remember to open the valve later on in the year when you want your water heated from the CH (central heating) as the Eddi won't be getting enough juice.

Worth spending a little time doing a "trial and error" on the valves in your hotpress to figure it out which is which, and ideally label them. At the very least, it's time well spent if you have a disaster/leak (non-eddi or solar panel related) and you want to quickly close off the offending pipe.

AndyBoBandy

I think its just how the house was plumbed when built 20 years ago...

There is indeed a valve to isolate the hot water entering the cylinder, but I'd rather leave that fully open as the heating is on anyway, so why not just let it heat the water with the house... its like just having a big extra radiator in the house (and as the hot press is in my office, I've actually closed off my office radiator because the room gets too warm from the hot press).

When I did install the new water cylinder, I bought a new twin heating element in Woodies (3kW & 2kW), but I never saw a thermostat in it... And I believe its just wired for the power supply, so in that case how would the Eddi know teh temp has been reached?

edit: maybe it is wired for the thermostat;

I’ve never adjusted that yellow dial, it’s on the + side. Does it need to be adjusted?

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048621#Comment_118048621

I got one of the original Pi's years ago, but never really did anything with it.. I think unfortunately the programming/coding ship has sailed for me!!!

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048668#Comment_118048668

Wiring is all good, as I can see and hear the valve opening/closing in the hot press when changing from water only to heating..

championc

I know you have a Nest, but it might be worth looking at Tado. That essentially turns every rad into it's own zone, giving you massive control of your heating.

So many of us have two storey houses with upstairs separate from downstairs. In reality, if north / south facing, you will likely need different amounts of heat for front / back rather than up / down

Geeyfds53573

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048124#Comment_118048124

Congrats Andy - You can always have the car plugged in ready for action. Check stats in comparison to others over the next few days - 3.5 kWh at 2:30 looks low but the weather in your area may be a factor.

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048791#Comment_118048791

Yeah what I have is exactly as you describe. There’s a solenoid valve that opens up the boiler feed to the radiators. Here it is along with a valve to close off the feed into the cylinder….

It’s only day 1 so I’ve a lot of playing around to do I’m sure before I’ll settle on what way to do it…..

Geeyfds53573

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048621#Comment_118048621

A man of many talents pretty sweet championc.

dudley72

Bit of an pdd one. I have a GivEnergy system. I have an old android tablet and have the app running on it. I have it plugged in so I can just look at it to keep a track. The app doesn't really seem to manually update, so every so often I have to cancel out of it and restart to get it working right

Just wondering has anyone a similar setup and does it worl for you? maybe my tablet is too old is my concern

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118048868#Comment_118048868

It's fairly common to do it that way. Again, going back to my original comment, there's no right/wrong way there Andy as to how you want to use the energy from your panels. There's an argument that if you have excess PV generation, and the heating is on, that you would be better off self consuming those Kw's rather than exporting to the grid - in which case you'd close the valve from your CH, and get the EDDI to heat the water. Assuming you have enough spare excess, this will save you a few quid over the years - but to be fair not a HUGE amount.

This will invariably change in a few weeks when the sun no longer gives us enough juice for the EDDI to be able to do it's thing, and you'll need to use the CH to heat the water and open the valve to the CH.

That "yellow" dial is the desired temp that you set the immersion to. Right now you have it set to maximum (which is fine), but if you are finding that the temp is too hot, rotating that clockwise maybe 90 degrees will see you right. Careful now that the immersion is turned off, wouldn't want those connectors to be "live" or you will have-a-bad-day(tm) !

garo

Sniff! Always brings a tear to the eye watching the enthusiasm of the young ones getting their PV system installed. Well done Andy! Enjoy the hours spent figuring how best to use all the electricity you generate. You'll soon learn to stagger your heavy equipment - i.e. dishwasher/laundry/dryer. And to check the weather forecast before deciding whether to wash the clothes overnight.

Regarding your Eddi question: The eddi itself has a black button which has a bypass mode. That's permanent on. I can't recall if the third setting on that button is both tanks or off. You can always turn the immersion off at the switch - assuming the installers didn't connect the Eddi directly to the immersion and bypassed the switch. With your non-zoned system it will be hard to have the tank cold enough for the Eddi to put any useful work into it.

AndyBoBandy

I was able to turn the Eddi off from the MyEnergi app. (Stop mode) I have it turned back on now…

I can completely power the Eddi off with the immersion switch, but then I’d lose the app functionality as well as CT clamps I believe?

im just playing around with it really, and very interested in all the configurations I can use.

generation has dropped right off now to 0.37kW, but it’s still running the house, and the battery is full (Puredrive 5kWh) so I’m delighted with the days work…. Started counting around midday and generated 6kWh in 5 hours, putting 3kWh into the battery, as well as .5kWh into the car…

roll on tomorrow and the first full day of operations…