Why Solar is Not a F__up: Debunking Misconceptions

eepr0m said:
Today's a slow day. But not too worry. Still plenty of power to go through the night.

We will most prob use approximately 36%-40% through the night leaving us with 27% or 24% in the battery bank.

We prioritize what we plan on doing that requires alot of electricity throug the week when the sun shines.View attachment 1498405
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I ended up using city power for more then I wanted yesterday
 
Lupus said:
I ended up using city power for more then I wanted yesterday
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We dropped to about 32%
Generator was on standby.

Adding 2 more batteries next month and 4 more panels.2 on each string.

Waiting for 2 new inverters to come.
 
itareanlnotani said:
I don't care anymore about iffy weather, I just overprovisioned on panels, and its been enough.

14KW of panels on the roof, and space for another 15KW if I need. Been plenty, even in crappy weather going for days.
Cheaper for me to add panels, vs adding another 10KW of battery. 10KW of storage + 14KW of panels working well for me.

And not having grid, or generator, means that if i'm wrong, theres no power till theres sufficient sun. 5 years in, I'm still good...
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You are increasing the wrong item 6.5kw of solar and 20kw battery bank was the sweet spot for us.

I can tell you now on super over cast days 10x the solar panels wouldnt have made much of a difference.
 
eepr0m said:
What's your total usage and production pm?
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No idea don't have monitoring on the inverter, the laptop I was going to use ended up submerged.
But I used to use 750w a month with the pool pump and other high loads used sparingly. Now that isn't the case :) just yesterday even with the clouds still only pulled 11 units from Eskom with my PC doing 460w for 9 hours, wife using her xbox and tv doing 250, son watching doing about 150, dishwasher and washing machine.
 
Lupus said:
No idea don't have monitoring on the inverter, the laptop I was going to use ended up submerged.
But I used to use 750w a month with the pool pump and other high loads used sparingly. Now that isn't the case :) just yesterday even with the clouds still only pulled 11 units from Eskom with my PC doing 460w for 9 hours, wife using her xbox and tv doing 250, son watching doing about 150, dishwasher and washing machine.
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You mean 750kWh? 750w isn't alot lol
 
People claiming geysers cannot be heated through solar.....
I heated 2 geysers this morning, used the oven, stove and did laundry at the same time.
I'll let the batteries charge for now.
This afternoon I'll bake some cookies.Screenshot_2023-03-26-11-11-37-25_53d78d31f5fddc7fa0cdf74ca6b9290c.jpg
 
Speedster said:
why not do it on the odd occasion, as the poster above did? And are you sure ALL BMS' cut at exacty 3.2V? If so, why do some brands allow 100% DOD while others only allow for 80%?
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I often go to 5% remaing capacity.

There is often a disconnect between BMS reported remaining capacity (amps left) and calculated remaining capacity using volts. Mostly the BMS will calculate capacity and SOC by counting amps in and out

At 5% capacity left per the BMS the cells are at 51v (16 cell battery, so 3.18v per cell, volts is directly from the BMS) which is somewhere between 14% to 20% remaining capacity if using volts.

I suspect a few battery manufacturers are selling their batteries as 100ah (by example) but actual installed capacity is higher.
 
Koosvanwyk said:
I often go to 5% remaing capacity.

There is often a disconnect between BMS reported remaining capacity (amps left) and calculated remaining capacity using volts. Mostly the BMS will calculate capacity and SOC by counting amps in and out

At 5% capacity left per the BMS the cells are at 51v (16 cell battery, so 3.18v per cell, volts is directly from the BMS) which is somewhere between 14% to 20% remaining capacity if using volts.

I suspect a few battery manufacturers are selling their batteries as 100ah (by example) but actual installed capacity is higher.
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Explained well but I doubt speedster will understand it.
 
Snyper564 said:
You are increasing the wrong item 6.5kw of solar and 20kw battery bank was the sweet spot for us.

I can tell you now on super over cast days 10x the solar panels wouldnt have made much of a difference.
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Nope, its quite right. No grid, and no issues. Having excess generation capacity is better than storage if you can guarantee you'll have enough for overnight usage.

I don't have grid to fall back on.
 
itareanlnotani said:
Nope, its quite right. No grid, and no issues. Having excess generation capacity is better than storage if you can guarantee you'll have enough for overnight usage.

I don't have grid to fall back on.
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Our overnight usage is very little. We try to do everything during the day when the sun shines. At night we mostly use a kettle, lights, maybe the microwave tv , internet etc. It's not like we are trying to save power... We have just always lived like this.
 
eepr0m said:
Our overnight usage is very little. We try to do everything during the day when the sun shines. At night we mostly use a kettle, lights, maybe the microwave tv , internet etc. It's not like we are trying to save power... We have just always lived like this.
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Yup, the worry isn't overnight, the worry is the next day for charging. If you can guarantee you'll be at full charge come night time irregardless, its all cool.
 
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