Solar PV Hints, Tips & Troubleshooting

championc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119647191#Comment_119647191

You need to watch the VOLTAGE maximums per string. Look at the VOC for each panel and that tells you the max number of panels per string

randombar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119647782#Comment_119647782

Looks like: 39.85v

https://capture.dropbox.com/NrICe7XrFneqPSym

Not sure how that corresponds to:

https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/pdfs/sofarsolar-datasheet-3-7.5ktlm-g2-en-20200812.pdf

Decoda

Hi all, I've a new pv system installed on Monday 8kw with a 6kwh sofar hybrid inverter. Yesterday all was well up until about 1800 when the myenergi app seems to have frozen. The app seems stuck on what as happenig at 1800 and hasn't updated since. Installers can't get back to me until after the weekend. Looking at the Zappi screen the system is still generating and exporting etc. I've restarted the hub but nothing changed. I've logged out of the app and logged back in again but no change. I've installed the App on a different phone and logged in but everything is stuck. Any ideas?

slave1

The App does drop a lot but generally not for that amount of time, I’d give MyEnergi a call tomorrow, their phone support crew and very knowledgable

Bobeagleburger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119648315#Comment_119648315

Have you an inverter WiFi dongle? Your installer should be able to source one. Essential imo. Get yourself one asap.

Decoda

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119648873#Comment_119648873

The installer has a wifi dongle fitted and everything worked fine for the first 24 hours but then just froze. I'll give MyEnergi a call and see if the issue is their end or mine.

jkforde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119648315#Comment_119648315

have you tried asking on the MyEnergi forum, just give them your hub serial number and they'll check if anything is stuck on the server

https://myenergi.info/discussion/all

Decoda

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119648929#Comment_119648929

Cheers JK, didn't even know that forum existed. I've created a post so hopefully someone will be able to sort it.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119632228#Comment_119632228

Just seen this now, you can measure DC power via a CT, but myenergi cant as it doesn't know the voltage (of the battery)

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119651798#Comment_119651798

Are you talking about measuring DC with the standard MyEnergi CT? Because that won't work.

There are lots of active electronics required for the zero-flux CTs too. If they wanted to measure DC battery power, they would be better off producing a DC shunt with Surlock connectors and transmit the readings over 869MHz.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119652000#Comment_119652000

No not saying the myenergi ones would work, they won't

But it's not impossible,like you said DC can be measured with CTS..

https://www.zeva.com.au/index.php?product=134%20bit%20like%20that.

But that's not a clip on, and still doesn't have a voltage reference. It's not worth their time to try and develop one.

The shunt with surlock connectors is a good idea, power, current and voltage... If only there was some way of feeding information into their system.

yannakis

Weird issue with my 6kW 5G inverter.. It's rather fresh - only installed 10 days ago. For the first few days I could see plenty of electricity being produced, then the Eddi/Zappi would have at it and the rest would be exported to the grid.

Since a couple of days, the inverter only produces enough to match house demand. For example, south-facing 6.5 kWp array, clear skies, battery full, inverter produces 0.4 kW which is the load to the house and there's zero export to the grid. If I turn on any kind of load (Eddi/Zappi/Kettle/etc), the inverter ramps up and gives as much as is needed. When I turn the loads off, the inverter ramps down to the baseload again.

I imagine this is somewhere in the settings and I might have messed it up myself, but for the love of god, I can't find it. Any ideas?

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058265602/solis-inverter-only-produces-enough-to-match-demand

Looks like the export limit is turned on, I'll go have a look at the one I have here in a bit, but its in the advanced settings. EPM i think its called.

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119688799#Comment_119688799

Sounds like same issue as @spacetweek . Solution in the post quoted below.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119534190#Comment_119534190

vistaphotos

Not sure whether I’m seeing the same. Are you monitoring with Solis app or Myenergi?

yannakis

I'm keeping an eye on it with both Solis and Myenergi apps. And retrospectively with smart meter data from Bord Gais.

Grid settings were looking alright but I just re-selected and saved them this afternoon, and it started working. Why do we have to deal with stupid Chinese software goddammit 😅

aleesi

Hi,

Quick question, I have a Solis hybrid 6KWh with 2 strings. From the datasheet the MPPT should kick off at 120V (or 90V I can't rember) but looking at the graphs there is no current been generated till well pass that mark. In the picture PV1 is a 9 panel string and always seems to start generating after hitting 261V or 29V per panel. PV2 behaves exactly the same.

Am I missing something ?

Thanks

stevekn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118598810#Comment_118598810

i’ve a couple if week old 3KWh 8 panel ( most terrace roof will take, all with optimisers, as all shaded by dormer or chimney sometime in day) solis hybrid 5KW system with 2x 3 KWh pylontech batteries.

Ive just experimented with night charging ( at normal rate, as my smart meter is currently dumb and not communicating with supplier) putting 3 KWh ( at 15A ) into batteries to get 50% ish in the morning. ( first go , rookie mistake, setting charge KW rate for 250 V not the 50V of the batteries ;)

I notice this overnight grid power ti batteries counts as “generated” on the cloud software graphs !

Question is it better ( for the batteries) to do this, and use batteries instead of grid for morning, or let the batteries stop discharging at default 20% SOC, sitting “resting” and use the grid until the solar panels put some charge into the batteries ?

overnight charge, does any one know what the regular nightly oscillations are ?

I assume the odd power to grid ( which is prohibited) are just software glitches.

stevekn

bit of a software glitch from Solis cloud today, don’t think im a power station !

no export selected !

Total consumption 959 KWh and exported 956 KWh , nealy a MegaWatt

is there anyway of deleting erroneous data ? this mucks up the graphs a bit !

stevekn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119213157#Comment_119213157

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119213157#Comment_119213157

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119170968#Comment_119170968

Does the solis backup output need a meter like the main output : PVout - breaker- meter -breaker—— distribution box mcb (with meter and monitor loop) or Backup just go via breaker into a separate backup distribution box / socket via a MCB ? ( or changeover switch ? )

silver_sky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119747572#Comment_119747572

Nightly oscillations probably your fridge.

stevekn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119748229#Comment_119748229

very regular though, frudge seems to be off for most of the night at this time of year. other culprits sky box, broadband hub and router? …

championc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119747572#Comment_119747572

If you charge overnight you need to ensure that you do not discharge a single minute during the night rate period.

There's no point buying at cheap and using it straight away, as conversion losses are about 20%, so it basically costs you 20% extra.

You should set the charging schedule to cover the WHOLE night period, irrespective of how much you choose to charge up to.

Charging with nothing stops discharging

silver_sky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119748361#Comment_119748361

skybox, hub etc would have a fairly straight usage pattern. What I'd suggest is to get a smart plug with energy monitoring and put it on the fridge. You'll see the individual usage then.

snor

battery in my 5kW system doesn’t fully discharge - only drops to 19%. Is this high a depth of discharge limit normal ? Thanks..

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119759791#Comment_119759791

Yes that's the standard limit.

You can usually change this to 10% limit while still remaining in warranty.

THE ALM

Anybody looking a 136kW inverter....

SD_DRACULA

Question for anyone that oversized the panels on their Solis 6kw hybrid. I think I have seen people go up to 9kwp on them.

Wanted to know if you had any issues with that (in the good months), looking at possibly doing 4500w from 11 panels of 405w, not worried about voltage as that's around 400 ish so it should be ok no matter the weather but it does say to only go up to 4000w per string.

I have a string of 4000w x 12 panels, and one of 3000w of 9 panels currently and looking to swap out the 3000w string.

Jonathan

A bit of an unorthodox solution to my inverter data logging stick Wi-Fi signal issues.

My inverter is in the attic and I've two wireless APs, one downstairs, one upstairs. The signal quality was always poor (signal quality of approx 11-16%), but enough to get by, so it never really bothered me until this week.. when the logger was becoming disconnected from the network for up to a couple of hours at a time. I am attributing the poor signal to the 300mm rockwool in the attic, but not sure what made it become worse this week.

Given the already precarious nature of the Solarman logging sticks and the Modbus passthrough support, I didn't want to a chance with a ethernet logging stick, and it felt like a total waste to get a new wireless AP for a single device.

My solution was to disconnect the SMA antenna and replace with a 5 meter RG58 SMA cable and a high gain SMA antenna, and pop it down from the attic into the hot press. Signal quality now up at 80%. More importantly, no more drop outs in my HA metrics/automations. 🙂

SD_DRACULA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119776157#Comment_119776157

This actually annoyed me a few times too, the problem is the aluminium foil on the back of the plasterboard in the ceiling/

My fix for 100% signal is to have this guy about 2 feet away from the stick (being powered by the AC backup on the inverter)

Never times out when sending modbus stuff over now.

cloughy

Hi all,

Have a question about 5kW Solis inverter, 4.6kW E/W split array, 5kW battery

At the moment I am generating .446w, consumption is 0.437w, battery is 47% charged, yet I am sending 2349w to the grid. Why would it not send to the battery rater than taking from battery and sending to the grid. It didn't last long at this level, but so far have

Yield 5kWh,

Battery charge3kWh, discharged 2kWh

Imported 4kWh

Exported 1kWh

Why would I have export when battery has not been filled through yield, so not sure if something with the default settings on the inverter, as max generated at any one time is circ 1.500kW so not over limit.

Thanks in advance, as learning as I go along.

yankinlk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119787945#Comment_119787945

Check your time of use settings. Could you have set a discharge time? You don't want to set that at all... only maybe a charge time for night rate.

cloughy

I'll have a look at the settings, and I'm on a 24hr tariff so no point charging at night is there?

I went up to attic to look at inverter, and when I go into advanced settings it looking for a default password, I didn't get any training in the inverter so will have to look at web for some pointers.

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119788077#Comment_119788077

Password is 0010 (down down up down), enter.

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119787945#Comment_119787945

You mention.....

It didn't last long at this level,

It's worth remembering that batteries have a small "response time". It takes inverters 5-10 seconds of detected export before they can start to divert that excess energy into a battery. That is if it's going from zero export to say 2kw if the sun comes out from behind a cloud or something. The Givenergy one I have is not great in that respect. It's a good 15-20 seconds I've seen it before the excess is diverted into the battery. Once it's sending charge that way, then any increase/decrease is handled instantaneously, but the initial "turning on" (for lack of a better word) takes a 10-20 seconds.

cloughy

Thanks I saw that online, under what item and what should the settings be?

cloughy

20221024_174502.jpg

This is the current setting, not sure if it is somewhere in here,

con747

These are my setting's if any use to you.

yankinlk

There is a long thread on settings with screenshots. Take a look here https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015172/#Comment_118015172

septicsac

Changed broadband router today and now cannot connect to the Solis Inverter datalogger. At first the AP address was showing in my wireless options but now it is not even appearing?

Configuration failed on a number of times when trying to connect when the dataloggers AP address was visible and every time I tried to log into 10.10.100.254 the site/address failed to load?

Has anyone had any issues like this or solutions to same, I checked the dataloggers details in the offline version of the app and it has power on time as 0 minutes, does this mean it has come loose or failed or just that the device is offline?

Any help much appreciated.

Ps I have the datalogger version with no lights or buttons on outside. 6kw hybrid inverter

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119793182#Comment_119793182

Not sure if any use but I thought I seen something somewhere with a similar issue and by renaming your router the same as the old one and using all the same info that was on the old router sorted it. I could be wrong thought.

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119793182#Comment_119793182

Look it up on YouTube, I can't share the link

championc

Change your SSID and WPA2 password to the old ones. Then the whole family can carry on seamlessly as though nothing has changed

septicsac

Broken wire inside datalogger, it got a bang last week when work being done.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119794924#Comment_119794924

That would do it!

cobham

Despite some good sunny days, there is not a much left over going to hot water after battery fills. A month ago water so hot, we had to mix in cold. Now of course shorter days and cold water is much colder! Is it possible to switch so that Eddi is fed first? or should I put on timer to boost hotwater during the day when enough feed off roof. Until we get a night rate, the battery does not make much sense. For the moment we have old meter so clock goes back over the day. We have not got the app for Eddi installed yet, await return of installer to finish up couple of jobs.

waterwelly

Anybody know the situation with deciduous trees in winter. I've a couple of trees some distance away that the sun is recently dipping behind the tops of them.

It will only be the tips of the branches and with the leaves gone it should still be hitting all the panels partially?

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119795721#Comment_119795721

A few years ago I went full optimizers (20). During the summer not a issue but now they are coming into play. More so in the after noon, we have a very large Oak tree covering the west side.

randombar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119797058#Comment_119797058

Any recommendations in relation to the optimisers? I’m guessing it’s a good option for around now all right

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119797070#Comment_119797070

Tigo optimisers are good but even installers are on a waiting list to get any make.