Geyser timer solution for solar

[wingnut771]

In what proportion is it doing it? That is with the 3.4kVA load how much is coming off battery, PV and grid? Now that I think about it, the issue is at night. I cant recall the bevior during the day with the grid connected but definitely at night it chooses to only use the battery until it hits the cut off.

During the day I cant recall how it worked but the blending it is doing looks familiar. Wait for the sun to completely disappear and see if it will switch to grid automatically. Mine refused in both SUB and SBU.

Looks like solar is matching load. Try 4.5kW.

 

[denmendez65]

In what proportion is it doing it? That is with the 3.4kVA load how much is coming off battery, PV and grid? Now that I think about it, the issue is at night. I cant recall the bevior during the day with the grid connected but definitely at night it chooses to only use the battery until it hits the cut off.

During the day I cant recall how it worked but the blending it is doing looks familiar. Wait for the sun to completely disappear and see if it will switch to grid automatically. Mine refused in both SUB and SBU.

I had to manually turn the grid breaker off (that one or the battery, its been a while) and on after a minute for it to start using the grid at night. Eventually, I gave up and let it run off the batteries the whole night and realised I could run off-grid.

 

[wingnut771]

I had to manually turn the grid breaker off (that one or the battery, its been a while) and on after a minute for it to start using the grid at night. Eventually, I gave up and let it run off the batteries the whole night and realised I could run off-grid.

Isn't that the goal. ROI will be horrible if you just use battery for power failures.

 

[denmendez65]

Isn't that the goal. ROI will be horrible if you just use battery for power failures.

I just wanted backup. Saving on the elec came by accident because the inverter refused to switch to grid at night. I was already saving with the 2kW inverter I had running the pool pump etc, during the day. That one auto-switched to grid once the MPPT controller switched off in the dark. The Must I got after and The voltronic clones dont. So I got tired of turning the breaker on and off every night and let it run off the batteries to see if they would last the night. The GELs impressed and left it like that and ran "off-grid" at the time.

But yeah, the goal is the get the ROI. In his case if it doesnt auto switch he can get a second battery and just let it run off the batteries the whole night.

 

[wingnut771]

I just wanted backup. Saving on the elec came by accident because the inverter refused to switch to grid at night. I was already saving with the 2kW inverter I had running the pool pump etc, during the day. That one auto-switched to grid once the MPPT controller switched off in the dark. The Must I got after and The voltronic clones dont. So I got tired of turning the breaker on and off every night and let it run off the batteries to see if they would last the night. The GELs impressed and left it like that and ran "off-grid" at the time.

But yeah, the goal is the get the ROI. In his case if it doesnt auto switch he can get a second battery and just let it run off the batteries the whole night.

He's probably got another little ups backup trolley thingy from all the loadshedding. That can be his backup if the battery is flat? I can live with just internet and pc through a blackout.

 

[Dark Agent]

but how long does it take to hit 65 with such a small element?

I got similar set up but 2 geysers at 3kw (8kw inverter) but just use the geyser wise smart on both to control everything (don let both geysers come on a the same time but i have tested it both and the oven can go on at the same time bu i rather not push it)
set up some routines to let i go to certain temps based around times 65C in the day but 40-46C if its not hot enough in the early morning or evenings and blast to 70 if there is lots of PV and no where to dump it

you clearly dont live with the lizard people

on a good day both geysers are at 65C. But average there at ~60C. Takes 4 hours in summer and 6 hours in winter(55C-60C). 5KW inverter with 5KW battery, 8 panels. Geysers take 350KW from PV and around 60KW from the grid per month. Overall 450KW production monthly on average. Still got 36 months to break even, but no load shedding, so that a plus.

 

[denmendez65]

So it looks like it can do it it just chooses not to offload more to the grid. Its feeding some of the load of the grid but still chooses to use the battery. Stupid thing.

I wonder if it's not the weather causing the power tracking of the solar to struggle a bit, so it pulls more from than the batter than expecting. It is showing the mppt there so it's struggling to get decent output.

View attachment 1870224

Did it switch back to grid? Or did it stay on battery when the sun went down and only switch with battery cut off?

 

[thomas@88]

So solar setup is installed. I don't know but I was hoping he would angle the panels a bit for better production and to make use of the bifacial panels but I will see later to optimize the setup a bit more.

So, the Navasolar Inverter even though it's in SUB mode it's still pulling from the battery. I need to go through the manual a bit more to understand exactly how this inverter will behave but so far when it was sunny I pull 4.5kw easy all via Solar and excess from battery/grid then the clouds rolled in. Ai

 

[thomas@88]

Hi Cavedog.did you test navasolar inverter without utility only solar and see if it charges batteries fully.mine from start only charges battery to 49v then stops.when only on solar.on utility it charges battery fine.

 

[cavedog]

Did it switch back to grid? Or did it stay on battery when the sun went down and only switch with battery cut off?

Yes it did but by the time it did my battery was at 32% and then charged it to 60% on grid at the 10A max utility charge I set and then it cut off.

I'm guessing its happy to keep it like that until solar returns to charge it to 100%.

I change it now to rather top up the battery more while utility is active because I don't know if there will be an outage so seems odd to keep it at 60% while on bypass/utility anyways.

 

[cavedog]

Hi Cavedog.did you test navasolar inverter without utility only solar and see if it charges batteries fully.mine from start only charges battery to 49v then stops.when only on solar.on utility it charges battery fine.

No I have not.

I can do this test tomorrow. My setup is pretty easy I just flick the supply switch off.

What mode are you running and what battery do you have?

I also suspect my navasolar is not connected correctly to my ecco bms because its guessing the voltages based on what its receiving and not accurately from the Ecco batter BMS which is a concern for me as it's like 1v out. That means the inverter shows 54v for example but on the battery itself the bms says its at 53v.

Its causing my cut off and charging settings to be a bit off on the inverter.

 

[thomas@88]

No I have not.

I can do this test tomorrow. My setup is pretty easy I just flick the supply switch off.

What mode are you running and what battery do you have?

I also suspect my navasolar is not connected correctly to my ecco bms because its guessing the voltages based on what its receiving and not accurately from the Ecco batter BMS which is a concern for me as it's like 1v out. That means the inverter shows 54v for example but on the battery itself the bms says its at 53v.

Its causing my cut off and charging settings to be a bit off on the inverter.

 

[thomas@88]

I have navasolar battery.I have tried all types of batteries.all sorts of battery absorption float settings.inverter just shows mppt in absorb state.and does charge batteries past 24%.Gonna return mine next wednesday.just test yours see does same.when grids available and solar it's fine.

 

[cavedog]

I have navasolar battery.I have tried all types of batteries.all sorts of battery absorption float settings.inverter just shows mppt in absorb state.and does charge batteries past 24%.Gonna return mine next wednesday.just test yours see does same.when grids available and solar it's fine.

Okay let me test it tomorrow.

 

[denmendez65]

Yes it did but by the time it did my battery was at 32% and then charged it to 60% on grid at the 10A max utility charge I set and then it cut off.

I'm guessing its happy to keep it like that until solar returns to charge it to 100%.

I change it now to rather top up the battery more while utility is active because I don't know if there will be an outage so seems odd to keep it at 60% while on bypass/utility anyways.

You probably have to raise the cut off. Otherwise a power outage at night will leave you in the dark. Sounds like it doesn’t switch to grid automatically when the Sun goes down.

 

[denmendez65]

No I have not.

I can do this test tomorrow. My setup is pretty easy I just flick the supply switch off.

What mode are you running and what battery do you have?

I also suspect my navasolar is not connected correctly to my ecco bms because its guessing the voltages based on what its receiving and not accurately from the Ecco batter BMS which is a concern for me as it's like 1v out. That means the inverter shows 54v for example but on the battery itself the bms says its at 53v.

Its causing my cut off and charging settings to be a bit off on the inverter.

I don’t know if Nava has setting 39. Could be that it’s stopping it.

 

[cavedog]

View attachment 1870292
I don’t know if Nava has setting 39. Could be that it’s stopping it.

I do have but it doesn't show SBU mode. Maybe I need to put it in SBU mode and use the SOC values to see if that works out better.

I must mention that I can actually also be off grid hey. I don't use much electricity at night it's just the cheeky aircon I want to use when it's hot at night that keeps me grid tied.

 

[Lupus]

I do have but it doesn't show SBU mode. Maybe I need to put it in SBU mode and use the SOC values to see if that works out better.

I must mention that I can actually also be off grid hey. I don't use much electricity at night it's just the cheeky aircon I want to use when it's hot at night that keeps me grid tied.


View attachment 1870340

SBU is solar, battery and then utility, what are your cut offs set to?

 

[cavedog]

SBU is solar, battery and then utility, what are your cut offs set to?

Cut off is at 60% right now on 1 x 5.12kWh battery. I want some protection for outages.

I'm still monitoring the settings. I have a very basic budget inverter so trying to find that sweet spot.

As long as I can managed to minimum 60% battery at all times I can still use grid for now.

 

[denmendez65]

I do have but it doesn't show SBU mode. Maybe I need to put it in SBU mode and use the SOC values to see if that works out better.

I must mention that I can actually also be off grid hey. I don't use much electricity at night it's just the cheeky aircon I want to use when it's hot at night that keeps me grid tied.


View attachment 1870340

That is crazy. Even the manual is the same it looks like. I knew they are all clones but I thought they would try to change something between them.