Ted Lassoes the Sun!

TedLasso said:
Question for folks.

1. Is it is good idea to put surge protection on the incoming feed from Eskom? To Protect the Inverter.

I assume from the inverter side to house , everything is already clean (like a UPS) so hopefully no further surge protection required.

Most of my electronic devices already have a surge protected plug in any case which I wont' be disconnecting.
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Yes, it's mandatory in the (draft) standards. On the PV too. And even if it weren't, it's not a great idea to leave it out TIA.
 
Guys, I am sad. My installation was supposed to happen over the past weekend , then pushed to tomorrow.

But without renusol rail connectors , he says he can't come. First he said he had the two parts I was missing. Today he doesn't have the rail connectors - He would prefer to do the whole job in one go. That is the inverter, solar, battery . The connectors will only be back in the country at the end of the month. I tried other places none available and I need 4.

What should I do ? Find another sparky, so that at least the main electrics and battery / inverter get done and then do solar at the end of the month.

The sparky is a sunsynk guy who I won't name and of course is in demand. At least with him , I know it's gonna be a good install. Cost is 26k to install considering there is at least 30-35m of that 16mm Eskom feed cable install too incl in quote with surge protectors on incoming and PV.

Just sad sad sad..
 
TedLasso said:
Guys, I am sad. My installation was supposed to happen over the past weekend , then pushed to tomorrow.

But without renusol rail connectors , he says he can't come. First he said he had the two parts I was missing. Today he doesn't have the rail connectors - He would prefer to do the whole job in one go. That is the inverter, solar, battery . The connectors will only be back in the country at the end of the month. I tried other places none available and I need 4.

What should I do ? Find another sparky, so that at least the main electrics and battery / inverter get done and then do solar at the end of the month.

The sparky is a sunsynk guy who I won't name and of course is in demand. At least with him , I know it's gonna be a good install. Cost is 26k to install considering there is at least 30-35m of that 16mm Eskom feed cable install too incl in quote with surge protectors on incoming and PV.

Just sad sad sad..
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Rather just wait it out. You have waited this long. I waited about a month with all my stuff lying on the garage floor to get an installer.
 
W@P said:
Rather just wait it out. You have waited this long. I waited about a month with all my stuff lying on the garage floor to get an installer.
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Same I also waited a month for my slot, believe me they are in high demand it will be worth it in the end
 
TedLasso said:
Guys, I am sad. My installation was supposed to happen over the past weekend , then pushed to tomorrow.

But without renusol rail connectors , he says he can't come. First he said he had the two parts I was missing. Today he doesn't have the rail connectors - He would prefer to do the whole job in one go. That is the inverter, solar, battery . The connectors will only be back in the country at the end of the month. I tried other places none available and I need 4.

What should I do ? Find another sparky, so that at least the main electrics and battery / inverter get done and then do solar at the end of the month.

The sparky is a sunsynk guy who I won't name and of course is in demand. At least with him , I know it's gonna be a good install. Cost is 26k to install considering there is at least 30-35m of that 16mm Eskom feed cable install too incl in quote with surge protectors on incoming and PV.

Just sad sad sad..
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I also needed the rail connectors and I was able to find them. In which area are you?
 
Aghori said:
Don't waste your time with batteries and invertebrates and solar.

Go with this:

www.instructables.com

Build a Fusion Reactor

Build a Fusion Reactor: Yes, you can build your very own nuclear fusion reactor in your house! But first, a few warnings: -This project includes lethal voltage levels. Make sure you know your high voltage safety or have a qualified electrical advisor. -Potentially hazardo…
www.instructables.com www.instructables.com
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I found myself strangely drawn to this. Read it a few times over the weekend, and I have to say that it's kinda cool. But this:
The difficulty is that it is often difficult if not impossible to find an appropriate fully assembled DC supply of this voltage level that is affordable to the amateur scientist.
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I have to agree, even in a first-world country a 40kV DC (estimated) power supply is going to be a PITA to source.
Here we are struggling months to get simple things like roof hooks delivered :rolleyes:
TIA
 
The lassoeing has commenced. Mcguyvered a solution for the rail connectors

System went on about 2pm yesterday and solar charged battery from 70 to 100 to rather quickly.

It worked as expected for load shedding at 4pm. What a wierd feeling that was . Also worked flawlessly at the 12AM slot.

I turned on a heater during the first loading slot after 5pm to see what the battery discharge would like. For the first hour of loadshedding according to app it used two percent of battery. Sun was still helping at 4pm with about 70w

Some changes made :-
Geysers and oven made non essential - was planning to be essential. But took the sparkys advice to move them even though I can manage with smart switches

We didn't put a plug here (but was too tired to think clearly and will require one - to power the pi that will run solar assistant ) so he is gonna have to come out again for this. the sunsynk app is too slow.

Plug to manage prepaid is inside house on a nonessential circuit

Today will be full day of solar so going to be interested in seeing how it performs compared to forecast solar solcast apps I have running inside home assistant.

Tonight I will also change the setting so the house runs off battery at night (8pm-6am). I saw it in manual last night. For now , we just using eksom all the time.

My efergy was removed and I am running blind inside Home Assistant so will need to get that my solar assistant setup asap. Planned implementation is a pi ( with WiFi adaptor) connected to inverter ) . Don't have a Riot but may also connect the pi to the Hubble.

Some of the stuff I got from PFS ended up being unused - eg using a smaller top DB as shown in pics due to space so breakers were transplanted. Also have enough of that heavy battery cable left over for a other battery which will come maybe in the next 6 months if required.

My aim with this system as it is.
1. Power house through loadshedding
2. Use solar during the day to power heating of geysers , pool and charge battery #free
3. Use battery to power house at night - schedule operation like dishwasher and washing machine to start around sunrise (not simultaneously) so that it possibly uses last remaining battery left before solar generation starts taking over
4. Reduce Eskom prepaid bill as much as possible

We will use grid most likely but will adapt . IMG_20220713_140850~2.jpgIMG_20220713_142221~2.jpgScreenshot_2022-07-14-05-43-27-381_com.elinter.app.sunsynk.jpgScreenshot_2022-07-14-05-50-18-397_io.homeassistant.companion.android.jpg
 
Why did you remove the efergy, are you not using it to monitor your grid usage? For the non essentials and when you are possibly running off grid?
 
Gielie01 said:
Why did you remove the efergy, are you not using it to monitor your grid usage? For the non essentials and when you are possibly running off grid?
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Took mine out too when I switched to the inverter at the start of the month. Using it for an energy audit at my mom's place, and will then be flogging it.
 
Gielie01 said:
Why did you remove the efergy, are you not using it to monitor your grid usage? For the non essentials and when you are possibly running off grid?
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Because the inverter tracks it as far as I know .. but may just use Solar Assistant to get all the deets in any case.
Speedster said:
Took mine out too when I switched to the inverter at the start of the month. Using it for an energy audit at my mom's place, and will then be flogging it.
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Plan to do the same. Share it amongst family for them to do their energy audits, and then sell it. Also have a few 30A Astute isolaters that I ended up not using (but like an idiot I had opened and configured them) so can't get a refund. Will probably sell to some family members too!

Sparky coming tomorrow to do COC will do the extra plug at the inverter for my Solar Assistant Pi. WooHoo
 
In other news , have been monitoring and switching loads on to extract max value from PV ... I obviously took from Grid, but other than that not bad for first day I think so far. But I think Geysers done for the day and now using remaining PV on the pool pump for remainder of afternoon (it's a 1.1Kw pump unsure why Sunsynk says it's uses less - considering there is also baseload of the house of approx 300w)

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1657800009434.png

That load from grid at 5AM morning was wife turning on heater and the geyser being boosted for 40 mins.

Will need to turn off all the timers I had set directly on my SONOFF switches for all the heating and pumps, so that HA can now manage them since my HA should now be running 24/7
 
Please tell me what the sunsynk is going to here?

As far as I understand, it will use the grid to charge if it needs to during those times and should use battery (if available ) for the remainder. If battery SOC goes to 80% , then what happens ?

Aim is to use battery at night even if grid is available.. will adapt times as I learn more based on our util.

Thx

Heard the fans go on for first time. Thank goodness this is in the garage. IMG_20220714_184403.jpgIMG_20220714_183826.jpg
 

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Edit: I have two setting pics in previous post. I am talking about one where grid stops being used at 20:10 - by then we should be done with cooking
 
You SOC is set to 80 for all times so it will only ever discharge batteries to 80%.

For the times you have Grid ticked, if the batteries get below 80 then the grid is used to top up to 80%

If you want so use battery overnight then set the times from say 10pm to 5am at lower than 80%
 
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