Solar PV battery options

Blakes77 · 01-06-2022 09:29AM

What’s the overall opinion on aliexpress batteries? Folk on the diy solar forum seem to think it highly risky and you most likely will not receive good cells. The aliexpress price is certainly attractive. What are the better aliexpress stores?

Anybody looked at the Jakiper or SOK server rack batteries? Both seem to be in the process of opening EU warehouses but they do not have stock.

SD_DRACULA · 01-06-2022 09:39AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119143015#Comment_119143015

Depends if you win the cell lottery I guess (most folk here seem to have)

I personally wasn't convinced or willing to risk getting dodgy cells and the seplos issues didn't inspire much confidence either (but fair play to the guys trying to get that sorted)

All I will say is that I couldn't be happier with going with off shelf 20kwh Dyness batteries, didn't have to think about them since they went in 2 months ago.

Yes you're paying just over twice the amount of the DIY ones but in my books that's worth the peace of mind and you get a proper warranty too in case something does go wrong.

DrPhilG · 01-06-2022 01:24PM

I think it is can be a lottery, but we must have 10 or so people here who have received batteries and only 1 with any issue (currently in discussion with the store to resolve).

Buying from a recommended store is a must.

Fantana2 · 01-06-2022 07:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119143058#Comment_119143058

Have you a link to this battery?

Alkers · 02-06-2022 12:34AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119143058#Comment_119143058

Thats a very decent price so for a non DIY battery, have you a link?

SD_DRACULA · 02-06-2022 07:20AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147391#Comment_119147391

https://www.failtesolar.com/dyness/5-1kwh-lpf-battery-bx51100

Alkers · 02-06-2022 05:45PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119147610#Comment_119147610

What a strange website, no prices shown, had to setup an account to add items to a cart, then get an email that someone in sales will call to verify my account before it can be used

con747 · 02-06-2022 06:02PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119150368#Comment_119150368

I'm still waiting 2 months on for that call! Good job I was only enquiring about prices so never followed it up.

puntypower · 02-06-2022 06:22PM

Rang last week and it's trade sales only nothing for general public. Don't want the business I guess.

SD_DRACULA · 02-06-2022 11:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119150518#Comment_119150518

That's strange they had no problem in the past.

E30M3 · 03-06-2022 09:43AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119144148#Comment_119144148

I don't think we can state that definatively. Not everyone who has an issue might choose to post the detail, especially if looking for a resolution.

irishchris · 06-06-2022 06:19PM

Looking for some help from all those with the DIY batteries here. I'm having more problems with the over voltage protection disconnecting everything. Happens early in day when battery hits 100% and inverter stops producing any solar for about ten minutes until comes back online after the error.

This to me isn't a massive problem but at the heaviest use time of day for cooking dinner I'm running into big problems with it. With ovens and hob running, it draws from both solar and battery. Problem I have is as the oven and hob hit their temperature and stats kick in and out then power starts to go back into battery for short time which triggers the over voltage protection cut out again and again and again so in effect I end up using lots of grid power every day cooking.

Surely others must have had this problem or similar. Anyone got any ideas on how I could work around this?

connesha · 06-06-2022 06:48PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166229#Comment_119166229

Do you have any automation in place Chris? HomeAssistant/NodeRed?

It is working around the issue rather than addressing it, but you could prevent your battery from hitting 100% by switching to FeedInPriority (FIP) mode at 98% (e.g.) and back to SelfUse (SU) at 93% (e.g.), so you can avoid the 100% issue

If its useful/necessary to let it hit 100% occasionally, then you could have the automation let it go to 100% once per day, at a time when HouseLoad is less than 200w (for example)

I'm using HA to switch between FIP and SU every day now for the past week or so, and its been solid. In my case I'm using it to prioritise the Eddi over the battery; i.e. when the battery SOC exceeds 65% in the morning, it switches to FIP so the Immersion kicks in. It switches back to SU when the Immersion is full/takes 2kwh/ SOC goes below 50%. This is on a Solis 6kw 5G, sane as yourself IIRC.

irishchris · 06-06-2022 07:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166345#Comment_119166345

I have home assistant setup alright with solarman and Eddi data to monitor but modbus seems alien to me and the more I read up on it, the more I am lost. I just wish there was a basic guide/video to help that I could follow.

My Eddi tends to hit max temp most nothing by about 10am and battery full by 11ish. One of the problems of having built a large solar array for winter is the excess it produces in summer. Not a problem in that get paid decent fit for excess exported but means I'm hitting 100% battery quite early in day.

Screenshot_2022-06-06-19-01-21-869_io.homeassistant.companion.android.jpg

connesha · 06-06-2022 07:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166406#Comment_119166406

Are you using pysolarmanv5?

You don't really need to get into understanding modbus; pysolarmanv5 gives an easy API read/write. All you got to know for the majority of usage is that you can "write to a register", and that is essentially the same as changing some inverter setting as if you went to the attic and pressed some buttons on the inverter.

Different register addresses (numbers) map to different inverter configs. Its can be as basic as calling this to set to FIP mode (put some error handling/retires around it):

self.modbus = PySolarman(self, "192.168.1.100", 123412341, port=8899, mb_slave_id=1, verbose=0)
return_val = self.modbus.write_holding_register(register_addr=43110, value=96)

For reading state from the inverter, its just a different/wider set of registers that you read from. pysolarmanv5 allows you to read a bunch of them in a single API call.

Yea, its great to have the battery full early these days. I'm in the same boat, large array and am planing on 20kwh DIY in the next few months. But, when autumn comes that my not be the case. And thinking ahead, the larger battery will mean a longer wait for hot water in the morning... So having this ability to prioritise Eddi over battery could be very handy for earlier hot water.

graememk · 06-06-2022 07:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166406#Comment_119166406

What emulation mode are you using in the seplos. I wonder if you set it to sofar and see what happens? (Still use the aobo setting)

The sofar setting is basically the SMA protocol

Jonathan · 06-06-2022 07:42PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166406#Comment_119166406

Very off topic PSA, but your screenshot reminded me;

The HA Solcast integration is broken as of 2022.6.

https://github.com/oziee/ha-solcast-solar/issues/39

irishchris · 06-06-2022 07:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166513#Comment_119166513

Cheers Graeme, I am using the sofar emulation with aobo battery currently. I tried all of the battery selections one by one as lots added by Solis with recent update but all fail apart from aobo.

graememk · 06-06-2022 07:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166538#Comment_119166538

I found the same with the zeva, aobo seems to be the one that doesn't do a name check on the battery.

The over voltage alarm must be coming from the seplos, does it just hit when it gets to 100%? What comes first?

Does it hit 100% and then alarm

Or does it alarm and set itself to 100%?

irishchris · 06-06-2022 07:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166563#Comment_119166563

It seems to hit the error and then go to 100% instantly.

graememk · 06-06-2022 08:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166597#Comment_119166597

Im just spouting ideas here, I wonder is there anyway to get it to 100% without it hitting the alarm.. do you have a max charge voltage or just a max cell voltage?

What Im aiming at here, is say your max charge voltage is 56V but your max cell voltage is 3.55V (56.8V)? the inverter wont pass that max charge voltage of 56V so the cells dont go too high and then alarm?

irishchris · 06-06-2022 09:01PM

I have max charge voltage set but unfortunately the seplos allows the cells to go right up to 3.65v and then bottles out on max charge protection warning.

graememk · 06-06-2022 09:04PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166843#Comment_119166843

what is your max charge voltage set at?

Is it just one cell hitting 3.65

irishchris · 06-06-2022 09:17PM

I don't see a max charge voltage setting per cell in the seplos. There is the high voltage warning set at 3.5v per cell and high voltage protection at 3.65. problem is it doesn't stop at 3.5 and continues right through to 3.65 then disconnects. It is different cells hitting it but all are practically at 3.64/3.65v when alarm is triggered

graememk · 06-06-2022 09:19PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166932#Comment_119166932

I mean is there a total charge voltage setting somewhere?

In around the 55 volt range?

irishchris · 06-06-2022 09:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166943#Comment_119166943

Not from what I can see, have gone through all the settings on the seplos parameters page several times and no total charge voltage setting.

Nearest voltage to what you mentioned is simply the protection "total voltage overvoltage protection" of 57.6v. but no total charge voltage setting unfortunately.

championc · 06-06-2022 09:32PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166932#Comment_119166932

Individual Cells = Monomer values

irishchris · 06-06-2022 09:39PM

Monomer high voltage alarm3.500V

Monomer overvoltage protection3.650V

Monomer overvoltage recovery3.400V

Monomer undervoltage protection2.700V

Monomer undervoltage recovery2.900V

are the only available voltage related settings

Geeyfds53573 · 06-06-2022 09:47PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119166490#Comment_119166490

@irishchris this is what you need the workaround. So it’s set to 96 for the SOLIS 6kw 5G to turn on Feed In Priority.

graememk · 06-06-2022 10:03PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119167005#Comment_119167005

So if you go into the solis information menu (could be in the battery or along them lines) does it tell you the max charge voltage there, (it's part of the protocol, inverter is told what's the max it can charge at and see what it's being told)

I wonder does the inverter clear the error when the cells get below 3.4 (over voltage recovery) if we put that to 3.6 it should clear the alarm sooner, not a fix but a workaround.

Solar PV battery options

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