The Battery Thread (Solar / Inverter)

[Spizz]

How many panels?
Add 2 or 3 strings of 110v in series

That sounds familiar. There’s 6 panels and he said they were in 2 groups of 3 or something to that effect.

 

[TheChamp]

That sounds familiar. There’s 6 panels and he said they were in 2 groups of 3 or something to that effect.

Your panels are not a good match for the inverter, it should be at a bare minimum 4 panels per string, assuming you are working with 400W panels or thereabouts.

In short you need to get more panels to get the string voltage to fall within the mppt range. Maybe he was trying to explain that there is a problem with the configuration as it is? If it's 120V - 450V you want to be somewhere at the midpoint of the range, not necessarily exact midpoint but somewhere there.

 

[johnjm]

The installers are nearly finished with a solar installation at my house. Long story short, there was a change in inverter due to the one planned being a new model they carried but it is not compatible with the battery or something so they changed it out for a better one. Basically panels were set up coming in at 110, MPPT range is 120-450 but they ran out of time yesterday so will finish on Monday.

So until Monday I've got a Synapse 5.0+ inverter hooked up to a 4.8KWh battery which is charging from the grid, and as a complete noob, I'm wondering how you all monitor the inverter from your desktops and phone? Inverter apparently has bluetooth and an ethernet port.

Sorry if this has been asked before, it's a big old thread and I've not read it all.

I googled and researched a bit. The EPever brands aren’t the most known for their software. But some DIY and you can get some great stuff so it depends on what the manufacturer offers.

My process was a WiFi dongle for the MPPT, linked to my home network. An existing Rpi3 I had acting as a pi hole then also had red node installed to program the dashboard that was out there on GitHub.

 

[wingnut771]

That sounds familiar. There’s 6 panels and he said they were in 2 groups of 3 or something to that effect.

Rather have 1 string of 6 panels instead of 2 strings of 3. Series connection the voltage increases. Parallel connection the amps increases. 110V is too low for the inverter, so I assume by making 2 strings into 1, you'll have 220V.

 

[Spizz]

Your panels are not a good match for the inverter, it should be at a bare minimum 4 panels per string, assuming you are working with 400W panels or thereabouts.

In short you need to get more panels to get the string voltage to fall within the mppt range. Maybe he was trying to explain that there is a problem with the configuration as it is? If it's 120V - 450V you want to be somewhere at the midpoint of the range, not necessarily exact midpoint but somewhere there.

Okay. Well space is an issue and I have 6 x 320W installed at the moment on the only bit of roof I have facing north. Other than that bit, my roof is a slope facing east and west.

But this started off as a loadshedding solution and has since grown a bit with the addition of the PV component. I have some big load still on Eskom such as the geyser and pool pump, so it’s not an attempt at going off grid at the moment, more a loadshedding beater with the added benefit of running the lights and plugs pretty much full time for now.

 

[wingnut771]

Okay. Well space is an issue and I have 6 x 320W installed at the moment on the only bit of roof I have facing north. Other than that bit, my roof is a slope facing east and west.

But this started off as a loadshedding solution and has since grown a bit with the addition of the PV component. I have some big load still on Eskom such as the geyser and pool pump, so it’s not an attempt at going off grid at the moment, more a loadshedding beater with the added benefit of running the lights and plugs pretty much full time for now.

Keep your strings facing the same direction. AFAIK, series connection adopts the weakest link in the chain so if you have half the series in shade then it won't work. So have 1 string of 6 facing north, then when you add on have 1 string east and 1 string west.

 

[Spizz]

Keep your strings facing the same direction. AFAIK, series connection adopts the weakest link in the chain so if you have half the series in shade then it won't work. So have 1 string of 6 facing north, then when you add on have 1 string east and 1 string west.

Good to know. Thanks.

 

[johnjm]

Good to know. Thanks.

How is it performing? I only installed two panels in series for a Voc of 80v as my MPPT had a max of 100v. Even my little system ran the idle house yesterday while I was using a drill in the garage too. But then some rain came hehe.

If you read the manual it isn’t a good idea to have the voltage out of range and it would recommend a string of panels for best performance.

 

[Spizz]

How is it performing? I only installed two panels in series for a Voc of 80v as my MPPT had a max of 100v. Even my little system ran the idle house yesterday while I was using a drill in the garage too. But then some rain came hehe.

If you read the manual it isn’t a good idea to have the voltage out of range and it would recommend a string of panels for best performance.

They finished up late on Friday without doing everything they wanted to do and are coming back tomorrow. So just now the PV is out of the loop and just for this weekend I’m running the inverter on Eskom power with the battery charged and ready to jump in if there is loadshedding .

 

[haroldj]

I have recently purchased 6Kw Sofar hybrid inverter with a single Dyness B4850 battery from solar advice, which will be installed on tuesday, I have decided to use it mainly for loadshedding at first then eventually for solar, basically, what devices can I power with the 3,6Kw battery for 2 hours, I am presently thinking of powering all my lights (40 w,led) and 1, 40" inch lcd tv, and my induction stove, will that be enough for it to last or can I add a refrigerator to the mix?

 

[obsidian86]

Anyone use the Ecco or G-energy battery's?

 

[Dimpie (COMPUTEK)]

Anyone use the Ecco or G-energy battery's?

Running a 200Ah Ecco since 18Feb 2020 ... touch wood, all good still

 

[wingnut771]

I have recently purchased 6Kw Sofar hybrid inverter with a single Dyness B4850 battery from solar advice, which will be installed on tuesday, I have decided to use it mainly for loadshedding at first then eventually for solar, basically, what devices can I power with the 3,6Kw battery for 2 hours, I am presently thinking of powering all my lights (40 w,led) and 1, 40" inch lcd tv, and my induction stove, will that be enough for it to last or can I add a refrigerator to the mix?

B4850 looks like a 2.4kwh battery. I assume it's similar to pylontech's 0.5C rating so it can only deliver 1.2kw load so I doubt you'll be able to run the stove at all. You can run the fridge, but is that even necessary just for 2 hours?

 

[TheChamp]

I have recently purchased 6Kw Sofar hybrid inverter with a single Dyness B4850 battery from solar advice, which will be installed on tuesday, I have decided to use it mainly for loadshedding at first then eventually for solar, basically, what devices can I power with the 3,6Kw battery for 2 hours, I am presently thinking of powering all my lights (40 w,led) and 1, 40" inch lcd tv, and my induction stove, will that be enough for it to last or can I add a refrigerator to the mix?

Buy a gas stove.

 

[The_Librarian]

Buy a gas stove.

Best solution.

 

[Spizz]

Keep your strings facing the same direction. AFAIK, series connection adopts the weakest link in the chain so if you have half the series in shade then it won't work. So have 1 string of 6 facing north, then when you add on have 1 string east and 1 string west.

So they came this morning to alter the set up and I now have one string of 6 @ 220V and everything is running as it should.

 

[Spizz]

I need some advice or comments please. I'm a real noob as explained over th last page or two, but to remind y'all my set up is 6 x 320 PV panels, a Synapse 5.0+ inverter hooked up to a 4.8KWh battery. It was initially intended as a load shedding solution but I took advice and I added the PV to help with reducing the Eskom draw during the day.

So I have set up the priorities so that in the daytime the house will run on the solar backed up by Eskom for additional needed loading. If Eskom goes off loadshedding, then the battery will back up the solar.

At night the house is run on Eskom with the battery standing by topped up in reserve in case of loadshedding so the battery will kick in and run the house during that period.

So as it is essential that the battery is topped up to 100% to meet both load shedding scenarios, I have set it to charge the battery back to "full" should it be used in reserve as described.

So, the issue is that the battery is now constantly shown as charging in the display and the charging light is on full time and I'm wondering if this will damage the battery. I know cellphones have management systems for trickle charging and automatic cut off etc, but will this type of battery? It is LiFePO4 so it is apparently safer, but I'm wondering if this is just normal for these type of inverters to show as 'charging' as I've read they don't read battery levels very well.

Here's the photos from day and night to show the scenarios.

 

[AchmatK]

I think it should be fine. The lithium battery should have a bms to protect it from overcharging.

When my batteries are full there's always a small amount of current going to the battery as the BMS needs this to operate. The inverter will interpret this as charging. I sometimes only have 20w going in to the battery and the inverter will show battery charging.

Can you see how much current is going to the battery? On my setup I can see if its 200w or 20w going into the battery.

 

[TheChamp]

Your solar is only giving you just under 10amps from all the 6 panels at 220V, that's not much to work on given your settings of running on solar during the day.

Don't worry too much about the battery being shown as constantly charging, I am sure it's not a big deal. What's the total charging current set to?

 

[Spizz]

Your solar is only giving you just under 10amps from all the 6 panels at 220V, that's not much to work on given your settings of running on solar during the day.

Don't worry too much about the battery being shown as constantly charging, I am sure it's not a big deal. What's the total charging current set to?

From the manual the default maximum charging current is set to 60A and the maximum utility charging current is set to 30A. I’m pretty sure these settings haven’t been changed but I’ll check later.

Excuse my ignorance, but I’m assuming you worked out the solar current of 10A from my solar set up, and knowing the other settings, what does this mean regarding the solar proving power to the house during the day? Does this more of less mean it’s not doing much due to the small number of panels? Would you recommend I change some settings somehow?