Solar for Dummies.

THE ALM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121844517#Comment_121844517

Was actually in CT Electric(Kellehers) about the BPE micro inverter and they are having issues with support from BPE and there range of products.

DC999

Badger power electronics (bpe) are a rebange of some microinverter it seems but I can't find what brand by googling. Anyone have a link to show it's really DYE under the hood?

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121841724#Comment_121841724

You could also just buy, say a high powered Deye Hybrid and just use it as an AC coupled battery manager (no PV input utilised)

ColemanY2K

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121841319#Comment_121841319

That's grand if there's no power going to the load. If there is then only way of knowing what the microinverter string is producing is to attach and energy monitor to the feed.

Am I right?

I'm planning something similar by putting 4 panels on the well house and monitoring using a Shelly with the CT attached to the feed in the distribution board.

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845316#Comment_121845316

Ya, I have a shelly em monitoring mine. They're also connected directly to the aux output of my Sunsynk inverter so they're monitored from there too. They have zigbee built in and you can buy a monitoring device for them.

I wonder would a generic zigbee dongle pick them up?

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845230#Comment_121845230

Don't have a link but the specs are identical and they also look identical.

THE ALM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845249#Comment_121845249

Had looked at that option and may well get a deye/sunsynk down the line. The micro inverter suits a bit better for this project and the whole lot will only cost me a few hundred € as the panels, connectors and some cable cost me nothing and probably have the makings of the mount.

THE ALM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845316#Comment_121845316

Have a harvi here that I can use to monitor the load.

I plan on running opendtu on a esp32 as a cheap setup compared to hoymiles own dtu and can feed that into loxone or home assistant.

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845509#Comment_121845509

Meant that for your 50kW commercial setup😎

The devils

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845412#Comment_121845412

I bought and connected a zigbee energy monitor for my diy, its just alright. Sorry I didn't go for a shelly. The data you get back is average. Anyway not bad for 25 euro

The devils

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845316#Comment_121845316

Yes from what I've seen 👏 shelly all the way..

THE ALM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845811#Comment_121845811

Ah, get you

Rulmeq

I'm wondering if there's some way to test/verify if the installation is working correctly. We got 20 panels and a battery towards the end of September, and the form was sent to energia in December (We had some serious difficulties with the installers, and it took far longer than it should have). The app they use (fusion solar) gives us junk figures - including claiming that we are generating electricity during the night, and that we are consuming for example 4kWh when we are generating 5 (and it follows this figure as our production climbs and falls). So, before we got the solar panels installed we were averaging 18kWh per day, so we were hoping that the panels + battery would have a decent impact on this. However, what we have seen at the start of March is that we are now consuming 20kWh for the first 2 days, and we sold 3.8kWh and 8.6kWhs back respectively. Now this doesn't make any sense as the 2nd of March our app claimed we had a yield of 20kWh for the day - so this would suggest that we used at least 40kWh (and that ignores anything that was sent to the battery).

I guess what I'm asking is if this is something that will require another solar company to investigate, or if there's something we can do ourselves - we have lost all faith in the original installers, and would prefer not to have to go back to them (or at least if we are going back to them, that we could have a report on hand that shows if there is an issue or not)

THE ALM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853214#Comment_121853214

Do you have a smart meter and can you see what you are importing/exporting from that.

I wonder is there a CT clamp in the wrong direction?

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853214#Comment_121853214

Do you have a smart meter?

You can sign up for an account on esb networks and that will show you your use and export.

What inverter do you have(and battery)?

Rulmeq

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853244#Comment_121853244

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853252#Comment_121853252

I have a smart meter, but I only signed up for a new smart plan at the end of January, so I only have figures for February and March. That's where I could see the 2x20kWh days on the 1st and 2nd of March (and the export values), since the app itself doesn't match with those at all (I also have singed up for the ESB networks account, and can see the 30minute values, and again, they don't match with anything the app is saying).

Would a regular electrician be able to tell if the CT clamp is in the wrong direction?

Inverter and battery are huawei. No Eddi diverter, and no car charger, just the house (no immersion heater, we use oil for heating and water)

Just as an example, the sun is out now, and it's generating 5kW (according the app, I mean it makes sense, I had to pull the blinds :p ), but according to the app I'm consuming 3.3kW, which doesn't make any sense, the battery is full, everything is turned off - apart from my laptop, so the only thing that could be running is the fridge (about 300W I think). It just doesn't make any sense

Edit: adding a picture of the graph from today

https://imgur.com/a/dRuUenN

The red line is my usage (which disappears when it matches exactly with the dark green line, but you can still see the orange gradient in the area chart, so from 12:00 on it is mirroring the dark green line)

Light green is PV generation

Dark green is consumption from PV (I hate this app, like even the colours are bad)

Blue is battery charge.

So you can see that my usage is orange, and during the night it was less than 1kW, and continued lower than 1kW until the battery was fully charged, and then for no reason it goes up to 3-4kW and seems to match the solar generation (see the dips at 12:30, and again around 13:00).

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853307#Comment_121853307

Also need to watch your units too.

kWh Is energy, kW is (instantaneous) power

Eg have you consumed 3.3kWh or are consuming 3.3kW

Put up a few screenshots so we know what we're dealing with.

What does the screen on the inverter say?

Rulmeq

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853342#Comment_121853342

I've added a graph to my last post, I keep typing kWh for both (my apologies, I've corrected them in my post now). Right now I'm generating 4.6kW, and according to the graph consuming 3.6kW, battery is full, and everything bar the fridge and my laptop is off - I would expect my consumption to be as close to zero as possible.

Just checked the inverter, there's no screen (just 2 green lights). This is the inverter: https://solar.huawei.com/en/professionals/all-products/SUN2000-3-4-5-6KTL-L1

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853355#Comment_121853355

Do you have an Eddi or hot water diverter?

Rulmeq

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853378#Comment_121853378

No, we don't even have an immersion (I've been planning on getting one, but it's impossible to get an electrician - which is kind of why I'm posting this here, if I could get an electrician out, I could ask him to take a look)

Muahahaha

Anyone know pre installation do you need to tell your home insurance co. that you are getting solar installed? Both from the perspective of workmen being on the roof and potential accidents and also going forward in terms of changing the electricity system, perhaps an increased fire risk?

slave1

Take a clear photo of your CT clamp.

BTW, you can't just get an immersion, you need a new tank and possibly wiring, better off exporting in any case

DC999

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853450#Comment_121853450

For installation, no as they installer needs their own insurance. Post installation, I informed my insurance company. There has been no increase in the last 2 years renewal related to panels. 1st year was me updating them during the policy being active and no cost increase. I’ve no battery, no idea if that has any impact. 

Rulmeq

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853455#Comment_121853455

Everything is sealed up, I can take the cover off the fuse box, but I can't see anything that looks like a clamp. There's a sub-box with a few extra fuses in it, but again, all you can see are the circuit breakers.

However, from googling, it would appear that an incorrect CT clamp location can cause the issues we are seeing. So it's something I can start with, I'll see if I can find anyone locally who is willing to come and take a look at it for me, and I've a feeling I'm going to have to go back to the original installers anyway (they nearly broke our spirits, I really was hoping to avoid them).

Thanks everyone for your insights, and help.

THE ALM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853624#Comment_121853624

It could be in the meter cabinet

allinthehead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853624#Comment_121853624

Where're you based? If in Cork I could take a look for you.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853624#Comment_121853624

Does the battery discharge as normal in the evening?

If you compare a day like today, does the export be 2kW or closer to 5kW?

Rulmeq

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121854125#Comment_121854125

Thanks for the offer, I'm in Waterford, it's a bit of a trek for you. I will see if I can contact a local electrician now that I know what I'm asking him to look for. Or I guess, I could suck it up and just go back to the original installers, it's supposed to be under warranty still.

Rulmeq

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853679#Comment_121853679

I had a look there, there does appear to be something in addition to the meter, I'll take a photo of it when it's bright tomorrow, and post it.

Rulmeq

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121854354#Comment_121854354

The battery discharges at a normal rate, sometimes it can even last all night (if it's cold, then it will be gone in a few hours, because we have electric heaters on).

The best export day I've had so far was in February at 16kWh (On the 28th of February), and on the 2nd of March we exported 8.5kWh, but we also imported 20 from the grid, which seems really high (If the app is correct, and we generated 20kWh, and we also consumed 20kWh, that would mean 40kWh across 24 hours, which means we were using 1.6kWh every hour of the day, which is insane consumption)