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Solar PV Hints, Tips & Troubleshooting

DrPhilG

Well I've reached the point of driving everyone nuts on the PV quotes thread, and since I now have my system installed and running my endless questions no longer belong there.

So I figured I'd ask here, and also provide a home for others in the same boat, with general questions and advice on managing post-install.

My first question (of many) is how do people best manage their production in order to reduce grid export? Despite being overcast and miserable a fair bit of the day, I've produced 24kWh so far today, but ended up exporting 11.

Not too bad when we're home, as the wife did a few loads of washing and drying, put on the dishwasher etc.

But we're both at work tomorrow so other than a timed or remotely activated washer/dryer run we would end up exporting a lot more.

Extra battery capacity or a water diverter would help, but they don't tend to justify their costs in the long term.

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Deagol

ParkRunner wrote: »

They’re about 15 metres apart. Worked fine for the last two months. The app is displaying the same figures morning, noon and night i.e. 4.6kwh generation, which obviously isn’t right.

I had an issue with mine and I just re-paired them. Solved it easy!

ParkRunner

Thanks for the tips. I checked the firmware on the hub, eddi and app and they’re all up to date. I changed the channel again and it is recording the information correctly when you click into each device but the main page is still static showing the same information 4.6kwh being generated. If I go to pair the device on the eddi it says searching for slaves but nothing happens. The question mark has disappeared from the hub though in linked devices.

Edit…sorted now. Had pretty much reset everything and reupload and connect devices back up.

slave1

ParkRunner wrote: »

Thanks for the tips. I checked the firmware on the hub, eddi and app and they’re all up to date. I changed the channel again and it is recording the information correctly when you click into each device but the main page is still static showing the same information 4.6kwh being generated. If I go to pair the device on the eddi it says searching for slaves but nothing happens. The question mark has disappeared from the hub though in linked devices.

Edit…sorted now. Had pretty much reset everything and reupload and connect devices back up.

Hubs with serial codes ending in 4 had serious issues last week, resolved now but maybe that was the cause

championc

Here is a prime example of why you should consider a separate storage inverter over a Hybrid

I only had the kettle and toaster on, but a 3kW hybrid would mean that you would be importing from the grid. The cost of a standard inverter and a storage inverter is only slightly higher than a hybrid

SD_DRACULA

Not correct, it depends on the inverter and battery.
My solis hybrid can pull 5kw from the battery and I can attest to the fact since I have a CT clamp on my mains and I can see it doesn't pull from grid.
It's all about that 1C

Deagol

championc wrote: »

Here is a prime example of why you should consider a separate storage inverter over a Hybrid

I only had the kettle and toaster on, but a 3kW hybrid would mean that you would be importing from the grid. The cost of a standard inverter and a storage inverter is only slightly higher than a hybrid

Get a better battery

I can pull 3.5kw from my battery - rare that battery plus solar can't supply everything - at least April to Oct

SD_DRACULA

Deagol wrote: »

Get a better battery I can pull 3.5kw from my battery - rare that battery plus solar can't supply everything - at least April to Oct

Yup that's why I didn't go for the pylontechs, I think you need 3 of the 3.5kws ones to max out the inverter discharge rate (5kw)
I can still draw over 10kws if I have kettle/cooker and car on at the same time

[Deleted User]

What's the max you can pull from 2 * 2.4 Poly batteries?

Deagol

6 wrote: »

What's the max you can pull from 2 * 2.4 Poly batteries?

50amp recommended so 50*50=2.5kw.

There's a max value of 100 mentioned but I'd be wary of what would happen if you max them against the recommended.

EDIT: DO you mean pylon or poly?

[Deleted User]

Deagol wrote: »

50amp recommended so 50*50=2.5kw.

There's a max value of 100 mentioned but I'd be wary of what would happen if you max them against the recommended.

EDIT: DO you mean pylon or poly?

Pylontech

[Deleted User]

Hi all

Recently got a 3.1kW array put up with surplus going to the hot water tank. I only have a 100litre tank but I am planning to change to 200 or 300 one. I have noticed the hot water goes fast, nearly like the sink setting is wired and not the bath function, therefore the smaller element. I checked the wiring but its hard to tell.
I was looking through the Eddie but it doesn't tell me too much, any idea could the electrician have wired the smaller sink element?

Winterman1234

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hi all

Recently got a 3.1kW array put up with surplus going to the hot water tank. I only have a 100litre tank but I am planning to change to 200 or 300 one. I have noticed the hot water goes fast, nearly like the sink setting is wired and not the bath function, therefore the smaller element. I checked the wiring but its hard to tell.
I was looking through the Eddie but it doesn't tell me too much, any idea could the electrician have wired the smaller sink element?

If you knock the eddi on to boost and give it 30 seconds or so to ramp up you should see the immersion pull full power. In my immersion the bath element is 3 kW and the sink element is 2kw. May not all be the same, but that's the way mines is. Regarding water going quickly if you have a traditional immersion in top of cylinder then in reality you are most likely only heating the top half - 2/3 of the cylinder.
When you get your next cylinder my advice would be to make sure it can hold 2 immersions one top and bottom or if that's not possible look into getting an external willis immersion.

Alkers

championc wrote: »

Here is a prime example of why you should consider a separate storage inverter over a Hybrid

I only had the kettle and toaster on, but a 3kW hybrid would mean that you would be importing from the grid. The cost of a standard inverter and a storage inverter is only slightly higher than a hybrid

What way is your system setup? Is it a big job to add a second inverter and battery storage to an existing array?

[Deleted User]

Winterman1234 wrote: »

If you knock the eddi on to boost and give it 30 seconds or so to ramp up you should see the immersion pull full power. In my immersion the bath element is 3 kW and the sink element is 2kw. May not all be the same, but that's the way mines is. Regarding water going quickly if you have a traditional immersion in top of cylinder then in reality you are most likely only heating the top half - 2/3 of the cylinder.
When you get your next cylinder my advice would be to make sure it can hold 2 immersions one top and bottom or if that's not possible look into getting an external willis immersion.

Thanks, I have the elemex dual immersion heater, just boosted and it only got to 2kw, the elements are 2kw and 2.85kw, trying to find and instruction now for it

graememk

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Thanks, I have the elemex dual immersion heater, just boosted and it only got to 2kw, the elements are 2kw and 2.85kw, trying to find and instruction now for it

Do you still have a bath/sink switch?

[Deleted User]

graememk wrote: »

Do you still have a bath/sink switch?

Still there but the cable is going from the eddie to the heater

A pic of the wiring there,

[Deleted User]

graememk wrote: »

Do you still have a bath/sink switch?

Still there but the cable is going from the eddie to the heater

[Deleted User]

Actually stupid question here, is tank 1 and tank 2 related to sink and bath? If it is i had thought thats if you had a second tank.

Looking at the eddi manual, it shows that it can take a separate supply for bath and sink, but the elemex has a dual element

[Deleted User]

Solved, the electrician in his moment of greatness cut the brown core at the eddi, this is for bath. Rather than terminating at tank 2 L2 and looping the neutral he cut it.

I swapped the cores at the element side and bath is heating,

championc

Deagol wrote: »

Get a better battery I can pull 3.5kw from my battery - rare that battery plus solar can't supply everything - at least April to Oct

Both of my units are 3kW, so there was plenty more for both to give. The point I was making was that I can pull 6kW whereas a 3kW hybrid would only generate 3kW or a bit more

championc

Alkers wrote: »

What way is your system setup? Is it a big job to add a second inverter and battery storage to an existing array?

It's almost identical to a standard PV inverter. Your standard PV Inverter has PV fed into one side and the AC coming out the other, terminating on a breaker in your board / consumer unit.

The storage inverter has your batteries connected into one side and an identical AC coming out the other side.

So very easy and straight forward

buzz11

Can someone help me out with this question;

I have 5 panels on my roof and I'm thinking of adding upto 8 more, with the same aspect/angle etc

The inverter is located in the utility room on the ground floor - is there a maximum number of panels that can utilise the existing 4mm cable running to the utility room?

Reason that I ask, is that it will be very difficult to run a new cable from roof to ground floor so I want to utilise the existing cable.

Deagol

buzz11 wrote: »

Can someone help me out with this question;

I have 5 panels on my roof and I'm thinking of adding upto 8 more, with the same aspect/angle etc

The inverter is located in the utility room on the ground floor - is there a maximum number of panels that can utilise the existing 4mm cable running to the utility room?

Reason that I ask, is that it will be very difficult to run a new cable from roof to ground floor so I want to utilise the existing cable.

I'm not an electrician (and not sure if we have one on the forum?) but 4mm2 is enough for 35A DC from references I have. 13 panels would be something about 11amps so I can't see any reason you couldn't utilize it.

BUT, I would strongly advise to get proper advise from a sparks. I'd say if you ring the original installer he might be happy enough to give you a wee bit of free advise.

graememk

Another thing to consider is the new panels going to be facing the same as the currently 5?

air

If you're just adding panels to the same string there will be no increase in current so the existing cable will work fine.
Just be sure to check that your inverter can handle the maximum open circuit voltage that can be produced by your proposed new 13 panel string.

air

graememk wrote: »

Another thing to consider is the new panels going to be facing the same as the currently 5?

He said they are the same aspect / angle.

buzz11

Great thanks folks, yes I'd need a new inverter to handle the expansion of the system

Final question; if I add another string of 6 panels (320w each) with a different aspect, how are these wired to the inverter?

The inverter has two MC4 connections so presumably the wiring for strings on different aspects join at some point?

So to summarise the system would have
1 string of 11 panels south facing and
1 string of 6 panels west facing

TIA

graememk

buzz11 wrote: »

Great thanks folks, yes I'd need a new inverter to handle the expansion of the system

Final question; if I add another string of 6 panels (320w each) with a different aspect, how are these wired to the inverter?

The inverter has two MC4 connections so presumably the wiring for strings on different aspects join at some point?

So to summarise the system would have
1 string of 11 panels south facing and
1 string of 6 panels west facing

TIA

You then need an inverter with 2 mppt trackers (strings)(sounds like yours is a single string)

Which would mean 2 more wires coming into the inverter

buzz11

graememk wrote: »

You then need an inverter with 2 mppt trackers (strings)(sounds like yours is a single string)

Which would mean 2 more wires coming into the inverter

OK thats where I'm a bit screwed, its an airtight house with membranes between attic and 1st floor plus the attic is insulated with a type of cellulose fibre stuff so moving around the attic is a real pain...it'll be a job in itself to get an extra 2 cables down.

[Deleted User]

My Smappee is giving crazy consumption readings today. 11 kWh since 2pm. My usual is 10 kWh over 24 hours. Only used base load during that time.

Had to check the meter to make sure, and thankfully it's not real consumption!

Anyone ever have any similar issues?