Late to the party solar thread

[Crowley]

We eventually joined the What LS? club (thanks @Akasha ). We bought the house at the beginning of December so still a lot of renovations to be done.

Our requirements were pretty easy, enough power to be completely off-grid (even though we are still grid tied). This meant cooking, geysers and three power hungry computers would have to be able to run all day long on batteries only if we have to. We have a 4 bedroom house with 2 geysers as well as a 2 bedroom duplex with it's own geyser.

We got approval on a quote that had 2 x 8KW inverters but out installer got us 3 x 6KW inverters for the same price. In the end we went with the following

3 x 6KW Luxpower SNA-6000 inverters



6 x Revov R100 2nd life batteries



28 x Canadian Solar 550w solar panels



The inverters and batteries were supposed to be installed on this wall in our garage but as you can see, the wall hasn't been cleaned since it was built so it needed a bit of paint first. We don't use the garage to park our cars so space wasn't a issue.



The BMS doing it's work



I bought a second hand 36U network cabinet to mount the batteries in.




We have 15 panels on the northish facing roof and 13 on the southish facing roof. We have a lot of tall palm trees in the yard so the charging only really picks up between 9 and 10 AM. The south facing panels aren't as effective as the north ones but the give a nice boost from 12 till about 4.





The batteries hooked up and charging



Install done



We did run into some issues. We have 3 phase power but the previous owner had a 20A earth leakage breaker installed in the main DB so every time the inverters started ramping up it tripped. That got replaced with a 63A breaker. We also installed 2 x Sonoff POW Elite 20A for the two main geysers but still playing around with the timers.

Our charging peaked at 7.7kWh and our peak usage was 5.3kWh but still some fine tuning to be done. Also, the combiner box is getting a vinyl sticker with the same warnings but rotated 90° to the left.

 

[AfricanTech]

Very nice- welcome to the club.

 

[Lupus]

Welcome, but 7.7kwh out of a possible 15.4 is rather low in winter in JHB you should only be losing about 20% maybe 25% at max.
Any shading blocking panels will cause issues and looking at your pics you've got a lot of shading. Maybe cut those trees as generation should start around 8am as well.
What was your overall generation for the day?

 

[richjdavies]

Agree with the above. Maybe unfortunate timing on the photos, but your panels are in the shade when the sky is still blue...

 

[Crowley]

Welcome, but 7.7kwh out of a possible 15.4 is rather low in winter in JHB you should only be losing about 20% maybe 25% at max.
Any shading blocking panels will cause issues and looking at your pics you've got a lot of shading. Maybe cut those trees as generation should start around 8am as well.
What was your overall generation for the day?

We have two tall palm trees that are messing with the generation in the mornings but we don't want to cut them, they are part of why we bought the house.

Our generation for the day was 34.7kWh. The batteries were at 90% yesterday at 4PM and at 33% this morning so there is still enough power to last us for a bit. Will see how the charging goes today.

 

[TribbleZA]

Wow that is a much bigger system than the one I had put in this week.



Still figuring out how best to work to avoid grid use.



Seeing if I really have to cut the tree smaller. This is 8:17 in the morning. By 9:30 they are all in the sun. But at 3pm there is a tree on the other side that makes shade too.

9 x 605 watt Bifacial solar panel
1 x Fox K Series 10.5kw inverter
1 x Fox 10.4kw battery
2 x Wifi Digital switch
1 x Geyser electrical current controller

 

[Lupus]

We have two tall palm trees that are messing with the generation in the mornings but we don't want to cut them, they are part of why we bought the house.

Our generation for the day was 34.7kWh. The batteries were at 90% yesterday at 4PM and at 33% this morning so there is still enough power to last us for a bit. Will see how the charging goes today.

Yeah check today, cause by 4pm if your batteries aren't charged you're either using to much or have insufficient generation. But you should be producing 10 easily at peak not 7

 

[Tongs of Destiny]

that's a lot of Kwhs used at night, 18kwh if my SG maths is correct?

also, can I ask why you chose the revov 2nd life batteries and not 1st life ones from a different company?

 

[Crowley]

that's a lot of Kwhs used at night, 18kwh if my SG maths is correct?

also, can I ask why you chose the revov 2nd life batteries and not 1st life ones from a different company?

We use the stove as normal and then three gaming computers sucking power as well. We are going to put the third geyser on a timer this week so that should make a difference.

The Revovs were the cheapest batteries we could find that is on the inverter compatibility list. They come with a 10 year warranty as well.

 

[Lupus]

What's the generation been now?

 

[Crowley]

What's the generation been now?

Yesterday was 32kWh but we haven't used any Eskom power since Friday.

And funny enough, our power is not problem any more but a water pipe burst yesterday and to make it a double whammy the contractors dug up our fibre cables when they were attempting to repair it. So at the moment, power is good, water is non-existant and we are running on a 20mb fixed wireless connection.

 

[richjdavies]

Maybe worth checking how much is shaded when you have shade and making sure the strings / inverters are suited to that. The panels perform at the worst of any in the string.

I. E. One panel with a bit of shade and 6 others in full sun won't be producing if they are strung together with no optimisers.

 

[Lupus]

Yesterday was 32kWh but we haven't used any Eskom power since Friday.

And funny enough, our power is not problem any more but a water pipe burst yesterday and to make it a double whammy the contractors dug up our fibre cables when they were attempting to repair it. So at the moment, power is good, water is non-existant and we are running on a 20mb fixed wireless connection.

Ouch that sucks sorry man .

 

[Fcon_Vpro]

We eventually joined the What LS? club (thanks @Akasha ). We bought the house at the beginning of December so still a lot of renovations to be done.

Our requirements were pretty easy, enough power to be completely off-grid (even though we are still grid tied). This meant cooking, geysers and three power hungry computers would have to be able to run all day long on batteries only if we have to. We have a 4 bedroom house with 2 geysers as well as a 2 bedroom duplex with it's own geyser.

We got approval on a quote that had 2 x 8KW inverters but out installer got us 3 x 6KW inverters for the same price. In the end we went with the following

3 x 6KW Luxpower SNA-6000 inverters

View attachment 1826044

6 x Revov R100 2nd life batteries

View attachment 1826045

28 x Canadian Solar 550w solar panels

View attachment 1826046

The inverters and batteries were supposed to be installed on this wall in our garage but as you can see, the wall hasn't been cleaned since it was built so it needed a bit of paint first. We don't use the garage to park our cars so space wasn't a issue.

View attachment 1826047

The BMS doing it's work

View attachment 1826048

I bought a second hand 36U network cabinet to mount the batteries in.

View attachment 1826049


We have 15 panels on the northish facing roof and 13 on the southish facing roof. We have a lot of tall palm trees in the yard so the charging only really picks up between 9 and 10 AM. The south facing panels aren't as effective as the north ones but the give a nice boost from 12 till about 4.

View attachment 1826050

View attachment 1826051

The batteries hooked up and charging

View attachment 1826052

Install done

View attachment 1826054

We did run into some issues. We have 3 phase power but the previous owner had a 20A earth leakage breaker installed in the main DB so every time the inverters started ramping up it tripped. That got replaced with a 63A breaker. We also installed 2 x Sonoff POW Elite 20A for the two main geysers but still playing around with the timers.

Our charging peaked at 7.7kWh and our peak usage was 5.3kWh but still some fine tuning to be done. Also, the combiner box is getting a vinyl sticker with the same warnings but rotated 90° to the left.

Those inverters are off grid inverters so not grid tied inverters.
Very nice system, congrats. Having 3 inverters and all those batteries is going to give you great redundancy.

Do you need 2 geysers in your house? Get a plumber to route that hot water to your one geyser.

 

[Düber]

Nice system, doing well for this time of year. Summer is going to be a breeze for you guys.

 

[Steamy Tom]

Looks nice but where is the split trunking?

 

[Crowley]

Those inverters are off grid inverters so not grid tied inverters.
Very nice system, congrats. Having 3 inverters and all those batteries is going to give you great redundancy.

Do you need 2 geysers in your house? Get a plumber to route that hot water to your one geyser.

My bad, they are hybrid inverters. We can still pull from Eskom when we need to.

The third geyser is in what was once a servants room but the previous owner converted it into a small apartment with it's own geyser and kitchen. We could probably plumb it in but for now it is fine, the geyser switch is on it's way.

Looks nice but where is the split trunking?

The solar installer explained to me that the 100 x 40mm trunking houses separate trunking for the different cables. One is fixed to the top and the other one running along the bottom.

 

[Magnum]

Yesterday was 32kWh but we haven't used any Eskom power since Friday.

And funny enough, our power is not problem any more but a water pipe burst yesterday and to make it a double whammy the contractors dug up our fibre cables when they were attempting to repair it. So at the moment, power is good, water is non-existant and we are running on a 20mb fixed wireless connection.

Next is get a booster pump on a 5Kl tank. if you have a Borehole you get bonus points.

 

[Crowley]

Next is get a booster pump on a 5Kl tank. if you have a Borehole you get bonus points.

A borehole is definitely on the list but that list just keeps on getting longer and longer

 

[Magnum]

A borehole is definitely on the list but that list just keeps on getting longer and longer

You need water, Power and Safety. that is primary.