Starting a new thread as this was getting lost in the Hints, Tips & Troubleshooting thread.
Post details of your integration with Home Assistant etc.
40W at 12v, nah the Eaton one won't do it as it's only 3A at 12v.
I like these Eaton ones:
But I have an APC 750 here and it's great as it supports my server and switches (70w) for around 40 mins. You can swap the batteries out for alarm type cells for 15 or 20 EUR each.
had a 24 hour power cut friday/saturday... ran starlink internet/tv/low wattage kettle/coffee machine.. all day long long when we needed it.. routers.. was really nice - from our eps circuit from battery storage... luckily had about 9kwh in the battery when the power dropped..
I have a whole house EPS with 18.9kWh of battery, but it doesn't solve the problem of sudden power loss to your devices. Unless you have an automated UPS changeover which I haven't heard of anyone having domestically in this country.
Or power the NUC/Pi from the Hybrid inverter EPS output? Poor man's UPS.
It's the changeover that's the issue, it's manual, EPS usually always off and when grid is restored it cuts out. So a canonical UPS (or laptop battery) is required to carry things through that manual changeover period.
The givenergy inverter can be set to run in ups mode.
I took a look at the manual and it says the EPS terminals are always powered from the grid when available and switch to PV/battery when grid goes down, but no indication of the latency for this switch. Also, you're limited by the inverter's output then (5kW?). So it's not really practical to run your whole house constantly off the EPS. Maybe a sub consumer unit? But that's a pain either way.
Yep limited to 2.4kwh..they have a new all in one unit that can go higher..
I have 18 panels on a SE ground mount. 2 strings of 9 on a 6kWh inverter. I could fit 8 more panels on the back roof of my house which is SW facing.
Forget about ESBN regs for a min; what would be the best setup here?
Just extend the existing strings with 4 panels each?
or
Get another inverter and hook up the 8 panels as a single string on this. Leaving the other string for other future expansion.
The house never draws more than about 5kWh which is always satisfied by either the PV or the battery. And even if it did it would only for for 1-2 mins if the kettle, toaster, oven washing machine were all drawing at the same time; which in the 6 months I’ve been monitoring things has never happened.
in summer it would clip; but I can just maintain my battery at a lower lever than I currently do to allow the excess to be soaked up by the battery if I stick with a single inverter.
obv the second inverter gives me a greater AC output (with ESB issues - I could do a NC7 to request a much higher MEC to allow 2 x 6kwh inverters) but maybe this expense isnt needed.
thiughts??
Wrong thread (or looking for technically minded audience)? Let me know if you want me to move it to another thread.
Extending won't really work that well, as you'd be mixing ordinations. On both strings.
Prob best off having another inverter just for them 8 panels
feel free to move to a different thread if you think there is a better one. I know all the people in here will have opinions.
Maybe one of these threads
https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058222496/solar-for-dummies#latest
Similar situation here. I thought about adding more panels on to a solar charge controller, something like EPEVER MPPT XTRA-N. This would charge my batteries off-grid and outside of ESBN regs.
Just by a cheap secondhand string inverter on Adverts or Donedeal.
And if you need 4kW, get your hands on 2 X 2kW units
This is my battery SOC for the last two weeks. 3 days I wasn’t able to fully charge overnight in the two hours boost tariff (2-4am). And only one day (28th) where I didn’t get up to 100% during the day on solar PV charging.
wondering when I should / need to change my charging to extend another hour 2-5 am; I’m tempted to let it run until I hit a day (or several days in a week) where I totally drain the battery at some point.
I think in the depths of winter I’m gonna just set the battery to charge between 2-8am; to prevent it discharging until 8am when peak kicks in (need to avoid this at all cost) with the hope that 10kWh (plus any bonus solar) will last me from 8am -11pm when peak ends.
And ideally I would just make a clean swap over from current “summer mode; charging 2-4 am; discharge all other times. To “winter” mode; charge 2-8am; discharge all other times.
as much as I love monitoring this; I don’t want to be messing with the settings more than I need to. Wondering what would be the optimal date to make that switch?
This is my setup now:
How much is your cheap rate? Vs night rate?
I have my night charging determined using a Solcast forecast, in my experience it's the most accurate service.
night boost from electric Ireland.
I went with that for a while, but eventually decided to just charge to 100% every night in an effort to max export the following day.
Why not just let it charge to 100% from 2am-8am (when day rate kicks in)? Your night rate after 4am of 20c is close to the FIT you get paid. So you're not losing when you export during the day (when the battery is full). Then you've a full battery starting the 8am-11pm day rate.
And then load shift everything else to the 12c 2-4am slot.
That’s the plan. But only in winter. Just wondering when I should make the change. I guess your suggestion is to just set it up like that all year; but:
In summer the above will result in me unnecessarily using night rate for the base load of my house when it could be using the battery that was charged at the boost rate.
I know it’s penny’s; but I like to feel I’m using the system as optimally as possible.
@bullit_dodger is a 'math head' and he ran the numbers on his battery optimising before and it was pennies as you say. He sets it to check the forecast before the cheap slot and the software decides what % to charge. But he wrote that himself (software dev afaik).
True, I hadn't coped that "In summer the above will result in me unnecessarily using night rate for the base load of my house when it could be using the battery that was charged at the boost rate". You want it to discharge for when people wake up and start using juice. Good idea to just wait until you run out and then decide.
When you say the baseload between 4am and people waking up, is it not just 200w max between the fridge and freezer and a modem? Rest can be set for the cheap night slot.
From the graph (I added some hilighting) you can see I can use between 10-20% (1-2kwh) of power between 2-8am. Let’s be conservative and say 1kwh a day; that’s 30 a month @.20 cent it’s 6 euro. But I’d rather it was my 6 euro than electric irelands
here is a typical day; looks like someone put on a wash at about 6am (defo wasn’t me) and then breakfast between 7-8 am uses a good bit
For anyone using the Solarman HA integration, the latest release (v1.5.0) has undergone a pretty significant refactor and now uses pysolarmanv5 under the hood. This release also adds two services for writing Modbus registers (FC 6 and 16):
Hi all, working through thread slowly, can i get a quick steer from people what to look at to save time time, new to HA, solis hybrid, with one of the newer wifi dongles. Objective is to look at solar forecast and define charge time based on that - happy with basic setup as fine tuning is pennies and time for learning the next HA task.
Take Solcast and its ilk with a massive pinch of salt. Unless it's a clear sky all day long then it is wildly inaccurate. I live in the plain of a wide valley. It might be blazing sunshine up on the hills but down here I can be in fog until midday before the Sun punches through. Today, Solcast has me down for 28KWh. Outside, I see a blanket of fog so I know it's going to be more like 15KWh.
Also, the forecasts can never predict that one cloud that stubbornly sits between you and the Sun. At best, forecasts tell you if it's going to be overcast or not. i.e. batch cooking and washing machine day or not.
The best way to determine charge time is by using averages. For your first year it will be monthly based. As you get more years of data then you can increase the resolution of your forecast. Make a note (on paper or automated database) of when the battery started to charge and when it got to 90% (better than 100% as your inverter might start to export at over 90%). Calculate monthly averages and you will have a good idea of the seasonal variation. Overtime your average will be more accurate than anything Solcast can provide you.
Or rather I used to do this. Now, I just instinctively know what I can do in any particular month. HA just turns the hall light on at sunset, turns the immersion on in the winter when the solar thermal is inactive and allows me to keep within a self-imposed 5KW limit when using multiple high-power devices so as to avoid grid import.
If you are a big power user then you are probably charging your battery at night even at the height of summer. I am sure average usage can help there too. If you are all over the place with your usage then nothing is going to help you.
It's best to have a daily routine and to try to fit into the seasonal solar average, making as much credit as you can for the winter.
I hope that helps. Everyone's system and routine is different so everyone else will do it differently.
I have a 20kWh battery. Last year, I charged each night in the low months to about 70%. This gave me space on a good day to take all production, while if a day was crap, I had enough to get me to midnight (Day / Night meter)
Makes sense. I do not feel the need to overly fine tune on a daily basis unless it is super easy. My battery is only 10kwh, so realistically only 7 or 8 usable, so its a case of I am charging it on night rate or not, I wont worry about trying to charge it to 72.22% or whatever. High user of energy so every day in winter is a full night charge, so its September/October that any automation will benefit, and I guess if I can forecast an overcast summer day the I might load shift during summer too.
Before any of that I need to learn how to actually link in solcast or met.ie and make a card/dashboard. Likewise, how to get HA tracking my solis hybrid- i think this is the hard part?
So forecast.solar is mostly crap. Solcast is generally good at the top and bottom, and in the middle it's a bit fuzzy. @Jonathan's met.ie script is pretty reliable though it can be fuzzy in the morning/evening https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119620207/#Comment_119620207
Current automations based on forecast:
Any minute now I'll add the car boosting overnight, but I'm not driving a lot these days and it's only ~10kWh goes into the PHEV anyway.
I just use my inverters app for long term tracking, and HA's energy dashboard for anything less than a month.
(I've a 5.5kWp system, 5kWh battery, and my household is two adults who work from home. Oh and a pumped rain shower, so I love my Eddi, and that probably sinks a little more energy than we strictly need. All cooking is electric, GFCH, average daily use ~11-18kWh)
