Mike's (non-Sunsynk) System

Mike Hoxbig said:
Upgrade time next month. Have about 70k to play with until next year.

Do I go with 2 more batteries, or 1 battery and 6 panels?
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I'm in a position where I struggle to get my batteries charged most days (9.6kWh on a 6kWp array). So, in my case, adding another battery would be futile. So my suggestion to you would be to first make sure you have enough panels to cover your consumption on most days (obviously excluding overcast days etc) before adding more batteries. It only makes sense to add more batteries if you have sufficient PV to actually charge them.
 
The Door said:
Is solar covered under household contents or building? Given that geyser is under building I would have thought building...
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As others have mentioned, it falls under building. You just need to check your cover amount covers the additional value of the solar
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Yeah that's why I'm thinking 60k excl sundries and installation. It leaves 10k for that. So it's either 2 batteries, or 1 battery & 6 panels.

The concern with going for 2 batteries is not having enough PV to run load and charge batteries.

Going with 1 battery and 6 panels maxes out the panels for the inverter, and gives an ok boost to night time use. Might still fall a bit short for next year winter, but there's at least a better chance of getting 1 more battery next year than the same panels.

Or am I smoking something?
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Seems logical .. at least this way, you know you at max PV ... but I would recommend to go for the highest W panels you can find that work within the constraints of your MPPT thresholds. I seriously am chuffed with the 8 x 545w I have, but the next set will be 645 or higher (if possible).
 
ands45 said:
As others have mentioned, it falls under building. You just need to check your cover amount covers the additional value of the solar
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FWIW, am with Naked and they just asked me to update building value by the amount of installation via the email. But they work in 250K increments so that's what I did. I also for good measure sent them the pics of the install and the COC via a support request which they added somewhere (not possible to do via app).
 
Speedster said:
I'm in a position where I struggle to get my batteries charged most days (9.6kWh on a 6kWp array). So, in my case, adding another battery would be futile. So my suggestion to you would be to first make sure you have enough panels to cover your consumption on most days (obviously excluding overcast days etc) before adding more batteries. It only makes sense to add more batteries if you have sufficient PV to actually charge them.
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I've got 6.3 kWp feeding 9.6 kWh as well. You'll find charging in summer to be no issue, should be done by 10/11 because of the longer days and lower load.

The issue is winter, which is why I'm leaning towards maxing out the panels and just one battery. It might be a stretch for 6.3 kWp to charge a 19.2 kWh bank for most of the year...
 
TedLasso said:
FWIW, am with Naked and they just asked me to update building value by the amount of installation via the email. But they work in 250K increments so that's what I did. I also for good measure sent them the pics of the install and the COC via a support request which they added somewhere (not possible to do via app).
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I luckily could just increase by the 100k I spent, also sent my CoC and invoices just so they have it
 
TedLasso said:
Seems logical .. at least this way, you know you at max PV ... but I would recommend to go for the highest W panels you can find that work within the constraints of your MPPT thresholds. I seriously am chuffed with the 8 x 545w I have, but the next set will be 645 or higher (if possible).
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Also have 8 x 545w, working very well but would like to add 2 more to round out 5kwp so I can try avoid battery discharge when the geyser etc comes on.
 
Question - I have the below anti-theft solar panel clips in my installation (these were the only ones I could get at the time). Problem is once clipped in you can't adjust the panels and there are a couple that are slightly out of alignment - which is driving me crazy. Apparently there is a tool to undo them but as they are anti-theft I cant seem to find where to get hold 1.

Would love to be able to adjust them to straighten the panels so just wanted to see if anyone has experience with these ones and where I might find the tool?

1659004067052.png
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
I've got 6.3 kWp feeding 9.6 kWh as well. You'll find charging in summer to be no issue, should be done by 10/11 because of the longer days and lower load.

The issue is winter, which is why I'm leaning towards maxing out the panels and just one battery. It might be a stretch for 6.3 kWp to charge a 19.2 kWh bank for most of the year...
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We are heading to summer now, so rather add 2 batteries to make full use of the summer sun. Before next winter you can then add a few more panels if needed.
 
ands45 said:
Also have 8 x 545w, working very well but would like to add 2 more to round out 5kwp so I can try avoid battery discharge when the geyser etc comes on.
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The trick would be to have your geyser come on close to noon, or when your production reaches its peak. So, a timer would help a lot, or you can manually flip the switch. The geyser is the single biggest power hog on my system.
 
Superjakes said:
The trick would be to have your geyser come on close to noon, or when your production reaches its peak. So, a timer would help a lot, or you can manually flip the switch. The geyser is the single biggest power hog on my system.
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Geysers and pool pumps are power guzzlers!
 
Superjakes said:
The trick would be to have your geyser come on close to noon, or when your production reaches its peak. So, a timer would help a lot, or you can manually flip the switch. The geyser is the single biggest power hog on my system.
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I have a wifi timer, so I watch the generation and only put the geyser on when getting peak power (unless it is a rainy day like today is) but still if I have that on with the pool pump and home load it does discharge the battery. Just would be good to avoid that and reduce the number of cycles on the battery
 
ands45 said:
I have a wifi timer, so I watch the generation and only put the geyser on when getting peak power (unless it is a rainy day like today is) but still if I have that on with the pool pump and home load it does discharge the battery. Just would be good to avoid that and reduce the number of cycles on the battery
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Or on your inverter schedule, just set a slot for your geyser with grid charge ticked to prevent your battery going below a certain threshold. Then on the geyser timer set the same slot for the geyser to turn on.

On days with enough PV it'll draw from that, otherwise it'll draw from grid. No need to micro manage the geyser...
 
Plans are in motion to get 2 more batteries added. Hopefully within the next month depending when I can get stock and an install date.

Generated 35.5 kWh today, with 4 kWh purchased. This should take generation to 40+ kWh...

Screenshot_2023-01-11-19-54-25-029_com.microsoft.office.word~2.jpg
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
Or on your inverter schedule, just set a slot for your geyser with grid charge ticked to prevent your battery going below a certain threshold. Then on the geyser timer set the same slot for the geyser to turn on.

On days with enough PV it'll draw from that, otherwise it'll draw from grid. No need to micro manage the geyser...
Click to expand...

If you have a Sunsynk inverter you can use the Aux port - no timers needed.

e.g. When battery SoC reaches 100% and solar PV is generating more than 600W then connect loads on Aux. If battery SoC drops to 95% disconnect Aux loads. That way you can use the spare capacity at any time of the day which will assist in not using the grid at all.
Use a smaller geyser element on Aux and it can heat water throughout the day without overloading the inverter.

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Correction from Power Forum post:

The "Solar power(W)" is a load limit. In my example the Aux port would stop supplying power if the connected load exceeded 600W or the battery SoC drops below 95%.

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