Solar PV battery options

munsterfan2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118635182#Comment_118635182

Order was 6th December, got email with tracking number 17th January, about 2 weeks before they arrived in Poland. Chinese New Year will definitely delay you. I wouldnt worry, they seem very reliable.

BuzzFish

Hopefully will get some update soon. All messages gone unread for last 10 days. When I click tracking it just says pending so I suspect they've not even started their journey. Anyone else order in last 4 weeks?

championc

Basically allow the guts of 10 - 12 weeks for delivery

E30M3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118637787#Comment_118637787

I ordered 29th November and scheduled for delivery today according to UPS Website.

mp3guy

Another triumphant day for battery storage, grid down for the past 2 hours but you wouldn't know it at home. Whole house running off the inverter's backup power output, heating on, full kitchen available for breakfast.

E30M3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118638741#Comment_118638741

3 boxes delivered on 16th Feb and 1 on the 17th. All good

irishchris

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118655167#Comment_118655167

Assume no duty/vat due? About to pull the trigger on Monday and order 32 cells.

Question for those that ordered from pwod as to how you found them to deal with?

Struggling to get an answer to question from them and message showing as unread for last week. Oye store were quick to respond so not sure as to which to go with as was siding with pwod originally.

Just wondering which store people used when purchasing?

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118656403#Comment_118656403

I've had 3 orders from pwod,

Only time actually messaging them was to either confirm my phone number or for th second order, they were out of stock of the blue ones and was it ok to send white ones.

Got the ups number shortly after dispatch.

Haven't pushed the new set to the limit yet. But seem to be performing fine.

E30M3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118656403#Comment_118656403

Oye Store

Your assumption is correct, via Poland

shanemc30

Which aliexpress supplier ships the batteries quickest

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118663273#Comment_118663273

All much of the same.

The odd time they have EU stock then they come quick.

slave1

Got mine from PWOD (I think we've said here they are the same shop as Oye), ordered on a Monday afternoon and arrived following Monday morning from Germany

irishchris

Well no going back now, first 16 cells ordered from oye store and going to order the second 16 cells later this evening from pwod.

Just in case I had a senior moment I assume I have ordered correct cells here

€ 1.442,93 35%OFF | Grade A 16PCS CALB 3.2v 200Ah LiFePO4 Rechargeable Battery Brand new 24V 48V 200AH Lithium iron Phosphate Packs Solar Battery

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mNMg1I0

fairly certain I have but thought best to check 😃

championc

That's them alright.

Are you going with 16s2p or 2 x 16s ?

harderthanf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118651991#Comment_118651991

Envious - I was offline for about 36 hours. Had to rollout the extension leads, and hook the inverter up to the LA batteries - bloody nightmare.

I really want to extend my current setup - add a storage inverter and aliexpress batteries - but I just can't find anyone willing to do the sparks works for me. Nobody will touch it!

championc

The only bit you [officially] need a sparks for is to connect a Storage Inverter (Sofar ME3000) to it's own RCBO / MCB in your board. Everything is low voltage DC, so taking your time, it's time consuming, but quite straight forward.

irishchris

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118668626#Comment_118668626

Nice one 👍. Going with one combined battery - 2p16s

spose

When buying from oye are people contacting them around pricing or is it just a case of add to cart and go for it

BuzzFish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118669595#Comment_118669595

I just added to basket and went for it. VAT drops off and I wanted to get mine in before the "glitch" is fixed or noticed on entry to EU 😉

slave1

It's not a glitch, they can't pay the VAT so are giving you an "allowance" to pay VAT and Duties upon receipt in Ireland

BuzzFish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118673039#Comment_118673039

I understand that.... the glitch is on the EU side.

harderthanf

I have a question about a battery setup, using an AC coupled inverter (say, the ME3000sp, for example). I have my current system setup with an auto-switch off at the PV side (SEAI required). Once the grid power fails, this opens the circuit and stops the PV from sending power to the inverter.

If I add the 3000SP on the AC side - how do I keep the PV array generating on grid outage?

At the moment, if my neighbour farts, my power goes out. It's unreal, always has been. I get at least 6-7 outages a year and some are up to 48 hours.

Adding the battery option would be great, especially for use when the grid goes, but it would be great to keep it topping up, from the PV side, if we're out for a couple of days.

If the CT clamp detects zero current on the live side, will this setup switch on and keep providing power to the AC isolation switch at the PV side?

Not ever sure if I have asked this question correctly, it's confusing me just reading it back!

slave1

More experts will likely follow up but there is an EPS option with the ME3000SP for when the grid fails. A simpler option is a double socket off the ME3000 for emergency use whilst the grid is down.

I'm not sure you can keep PV up and running when the grid is down given all our inverters are Grid Tied, you would be off battery only, open to correction

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118679656#Comment_118679656

I always understood that if I got rid of my fireman switch, I could charge the battery on my Solis hybrid and then use the EPS output. I haven't tested this, but that was my understanding.

bullit_dodger

I'm....not so sure.

As I understand it, it's complicated. The inverters pump out a higher voltage than the grid, so that appliances in your house will take that source over the grid. If the grid is "down" then it doesn't know what voltage to set the inverter output too. If you were to fool that with say the output (EPS) from one inverter so that your 2nd inverter would work......hmm, in theory (and again I'm heavily speculating) I think it would "work", but it'd be "bad medicine" in my book.

Probably easier ways to start a fire/kill someone - LOL.

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118679972#Comment_118679972

Sorry, I meant use the EPS output to power appliances directly. I'm not talking about feeding the EPS output back to grid input on inverter!

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118680068#Comment_118680068

Ahh right gotcha now. It was just when you were mentioning removing the firemans switch you threw me there :-)

graememk

In short, on the me3000, when grid goes down it shuts down the grid connection if the grid fails.

After 5 seconds the eps goes live.

There's no* way of putting solar into the me3000 when the grid is down.

*Nothing is impossible... you could DC couple solar via a charge controller to the battery.. but that's a whole different kettle of fish.

championc

So to show how an ME3000 fits in, it's its own device off it's own RCBO / MCB. The ME3000 has CT clamps to read the solar output and the grid importing / exporting

harderthanf

This is great. Thanks for all the replies. I've a better understanding now. Easiest is to use that EPS and run a couple of sockets for essentials and not bother with any trickery!