Solar PV battery options

graememk

Deagol wrote: »

You guys see the new Kia EV6 battery can be used in a system? Didn't look at the variables yet but that jumped out at me during the review.

https://www.kia.com/uk/new-cars/ev6/

The vehicle to load? Yeah, but you won't be able to connect that to the grid tie system. It would be the same as connecting a generator.

SD_DRACULA

Pretty sure I saw somewhere Tesla is already testing their cars to be used as a grid tie battery.

DrPhilG

Don't suppose anyone here has a local number for one of the UPS depots?

7 of my packages are due tomorrow, and 1 due Friday.

I called customer service to ask them to hold off on the 7 and then deliver all 8 together. Partly because it makes no sense for them to do 2 runs, and partly because I won't be home Thursday to take the delivery.

Girl on the phone might as well have been a parrot for all the good she was. Couldn't understand what I was saying at all and just kept repeating that I'd get an update in the morning with my delivery schedule.

championc

DrPhilG wrote: »

Don't suppose anyone here has a local number for one of the UPS depots?

7 of my packages are due tomorrow, and 1 due Friday.

I called customer service to ask them to hold off on the 7 and then deliver all 8 together. Partly because it makes no sense for them to do 2 runs, and partly because I won't be home Thursday to take the delivery.

Girl on the phone might as well have been a parrot for all the good she was. Couldn't understand what I was saying at all and just kept repeating that I'd get an update in the morning with my delivery schedule.

Their problem, not yours.

You might get a text which you can reply to to reschedule delivery, but you are better to deal with automated systems than to deal with a human in this instance

However, you are better simply calling about the 7 only and say that you are not home tomorrow and to schedule for Friday - and make NO reference to the 8th box in any way

DrPhilG

I told them repeatedly that I wouldn't be home tomorrow, the daft lady just kept on chirping.

'"Yes I know delivery is scheduled for July 1st, but I won't be home so you'll be wasting your time"

"Yes that's great! I can confirm that delivery will be July 1st!"

championc

Maybe call later. The call centres will follow the sun, so it will now be a US call center rather than a European one

DrPhilG

Well I'm guessing they'll call at some point to say they're at the gate, my neighbour has kindly offered to take the delivery.

DrPhilG

Woo hoo, 7 boxes now in the (slightly untidy) garage.

1 more due tomorrow. Driver confirmed that the call centre is in the far East and wasn't remotely surprised at the poor communication about rescheduling the deliveries.

unkel

Hope you're converting that ride on lawnmower to electric?

graememk

unkel wrote: »

Hope you're converting that ride on lawnmower to electric?

If there was a drop in electric motor + reduction gear for them engines, I'd be all over that!

DrPhilG

unkel wrote: »

Hope you're converting that ride on lawnmower to electric?

I actually might be. Not as in conversion, but I'm looking into robot options.

KCross

DrPhilG wrote: »

I actually might be. Not as in conversion, but I'm looking into robot options.

Full thread on that here,
https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057213541

And just to keep it on topic, the robot will be out the most when the sun shines the most, so it will be largely “driven” by your Solar PV. They cost pittance to charge anyway.

I’m 7yrs with the robot now. Highly recommended if it suits your layout.

DrPhilG

KCross wrote: »

Highly recommended if it suits your layout.

Layout is the issue alright. 3 areas, including some either side of the driveway so it would need to cross the concrete.

There is a seam in the concrete though so I could possible bury a guidewise there without having to dig up too much.

slave1

DrPhilG wrote: »

Woo hoo, 7 boxes now in the (slightly untidy) garage.

1 more due tomorrow. Driver confirmed that the call centre is in the far East and wasn't remotely surprised at the poor communication about rescheduling the deliveries.

Is it worth a separate build thread Dr Phil, I know there's a few already done one but also a few like me waiting to see it "live" step by step???

championc

slave1 wrote: »

Is it worth a separate build thread Dr Phil, I know there's a few already done one but also a few like me waiting to see it "live" step by step???

There's very little to it @slave1.

Step 1 - Bolt the modules together with the accompanying bolts and busbars

Step 2 - attach the BMS cables as per the post I did on about the third page of this thread (mockup of BMS cables connected to my ACTUAL pack)

Step 2.1 - Check and double check the voltage of the BMS cables, ensuring that the voltage is rising by about 3.2v from one cell to the next, thereby ensuring that you didn't mix the cables sequence up

Step 3 - Connect - (negative) main cable from the battery "pack" to the BMS. Connect BMS to - terminal on inverter

Step 4 - Connect + (positive) main cable from the battery "pack" to your fuse / breaker / disconnect. Connect from here to + terminal on inverter

Step 5 - Configure the parameters on the inverter for your battery setup

Step 5 - Turn on the fuse / breaker / disconnect and away you go

You MUST use a decent multimeter, buttakeyour time and it's all relatively straight forward

slave1

I'm a visual learner, still on the fence, am mostly consuming generation at the minute but that could change and therefore accelerate storage choices

DrPhilG

championc wrote: »

You MUST use a decent multimeter, buttakeyour time and it's all relatively straight forward

Apologies I'm pretty sure you gave a link before, but recommendation on multimeter? Friend of mine was supposed to lend me one but he's mad busy and keeps forgetting.

championc

DrPhilG wrote: »

Apologies I'm pretty sure you gave a link before, but recommendation on multimeter? Friend of mine was supposed to lend me one but he's mad busy and keeps forgetting.

AC and importantly DC

Digital to 2 decimal places. They have them in Aldi and Lidl from time to time.

A claw type is great for reading current, but not essential, and would seldom be used.

Personally, I bought a UNI-T model UT210D

garo

Uni-T does the job. I blew mine when I tried to measure voltage while it was on the current setting. Got a Lidl replacement and no complaints.

championc

DrPhilG wrote: »

Woo hoo, 7 boxes now in the (slightly untidy) garage.

1 more due tomorrow. Driver confirmed that the call centre is in the far East and wasn't remotely surprised at the poor communication about rescheduling the deliveries.

Toys unboxed yet ? The busbars and bolts will be packed in one of each set of 4 boxes (or on one of the 8) so don't panick if you don't initially find them. They were in my 4th of 4. And of course, feel free to reach out if you want anything clarified

unkel

Same. I got 3 boxes and there were no busbars or bolts at all. Slightly panicked

Got the last box a few days later. Of course with the other bits and bobs...

DrPhilG

Only opened 2 boxes so far, been busy.

1st box had bolts, 2nd had busbars lol.

championc

DrPhilG wrote: »

Only opened 2 boxes so far, been busy.

1st box had bolts, 2nd had busbars lol.

And are the cells more impressive than you expected ?

DrPhilG

championc wrote: »

And are the cells more impressive than you expected ?

Impressive? They look like they did in the picture, not sure what more impressive means!

Deagol

garo wrote: »

Uni-T does the job. I blew mine when I tried to measure voltage while it was on the current setting. Got a Lidl replacement and no complaints.

That's just a blown fuse most likely. Easy to replace.

DrPhilG

1st question (of many)...

I'm going to have 32 cells in total, 16 sets of 2.

Do they need to all be in a line connected by busbars or can they be in 2 sets of 16 (or 2 sets of 8 doubles) connected by cable?

I have a heavy duty shelving unit, just wondering if I need to do 2 shelves in 1 unit, above each other. Or if I need to split the unit into 2 and run a single line of cells right across it which will be nearly 2.5m.

I have the space, so just wondered if there was a preference.

DrPhilG

Better still, I can do them side by side in a U shape and then stick with the busbars.

Confused myself for a minute just now. Started hiking around the PylonTech batteries and found what looked like canbus and rs485 cables going into them. False alarm, they had just tidied in the excess cable into the same conduit. The rs485 is going back towards the fusebox.

Only things connecting to the PylonTech are the orange and black cables, the can cable and an earth.

DrPhilG

DrPhilG wrote: »

Better still, I can do them side by side in a U shape and then stick with the busbars.

Or not... My shelves are rated for 175kg. Combined weight of 32 cells is 179...

championc

DrPhilG wrote: »

Do they need to all be in a line connected by busbars or can they be in 2 sets of 16 (or 2 sets of 8 doubles) connected by cable?

You could replace all busbars with cables if you wanted (or needed). The batteries not the inverter won't know. So all you need to do is ensure that the cables and connectors on the ends on the joining cables are sufficient for the load.

So arrange the string an whatever way suits your shelving, and possibly draw out your string on paper and then start bolting them together with the busbars.

I suppose I had smaller and cheaper cells from an initial option to compare against. I was certainly very impressed with the strong casing and the large bolts and busbars. If you opened up a Pylon unit, I very much doubt they would be up to the same quality.. With these cells, you could pull some amount of power if you had the load and inverter to do it

DrPhilG

Yeah I'll do 2 shelves, one above the other and just cable 1 set to the other.

Neater unit too. My plan in winter is to add sheets of insulation around the batteries and maybe a thermostat controlled fan in the odd chance it gets too warm.