Another Solar Journey Thread

Saba'a said:
I agree with longer.


I have 8 x 545w panels north facing and def want to place other 8 EW for longer hours.

Or maybe another 8 North facing but then 4 or 6 panels EW.

But before then 2 x 5kw batteries.

But probably 2024 as 2023 other minor priorities.
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I went with 8 North and 8 West facing panels. Getting good PV in the late afternoon. Really happy with the panels. Today was very cloudy and I could easily power my essentials from PV.
 
milan188 said:
@Mzezman just had a look at my flow diagram on the inverter. My load for the house icon is not showing correctly. When there is no non essential load the amount is showing - 65000W then when I add a 4kw non essential load it goes to - 61000W.

It is not impacting anything (the stats and diagrams all look fine). If the CT coil was the wrong direction it should just show the negative of the non essential load.

Any ideas on what's the issue.
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Restarting the inverter sorted out the issue.
 
I had a 30min gap of no clouds today during peak sun hours and my system produced 95%-97% of the installed solar output for the full 30min. Very happy with that. I still get good output in slightly overcast weather as well. Only the dark clouds really kill my production.
 
Is it normal for the ac output voltage to drop when loadshedding starts?

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Mzezman said:
Yes it is, the grid runs anywhere between 220 and 240v while your inverter is set to 220 / 230 and maintains that
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Do the essential loads still run at the 220V? or do they also experience the voltage drop.
 
Mzezman said:
Key learnings / thoughts in the first month?
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So many:

  • Sizing of inverter is really important. You can get away with a smaller inverter if you put high load appliances on non-essentials.
  • If you looking to save money, maximise your solar as much as possible - taking into account roof space and inverter capabilities.
  • When doing solar calculations assume that you will product about 60%-80% of the max production of the panel due to clouding and rainy days. The clouding really has a significant impact.
  • Do a lot of research and understand the fundamentals of how the system works - it can save you a lot of money but it is a bit of a steep learning curve.
  • Do research on batteries - I was initially going to go with Hubble batteries but I saw the issues and glad I decided against it.
  • I am happy I went with good brands because the system is performing exactly to how I expected it to.
 
Had a lightning strike close by the other day.

Power in the whole house went down for a couple of seconds. Then everything rebooted.

No warnings or anything on the inverter and the surge indicators are all green.

I think the inverter saved a lot of our electronics from blowing up. But I am not sure what happened.
 
Update:

Its been a while since the last update:
  • Everything is still running good. 17.7MW generated since install. So around 1MW per month.
  • Over R50k saved in electricity. Payback period is projected to be around 5 years.
  • No side effects since the last lightning strike.
  • Inverter goes into UPS mode when one phase drops from supply side so behaves like there is loadshedding.
 
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