₦airaland Forum

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Yes you are on point.

This illustration is beautifully done - far better than my scatter diagram - please what software/tool are you using to make the diagrams?

Two things I would add;

1) Keep the jumper cable between battery negative and battery side of the shunt as SHORT and THICK as possible. When I used a meter such as this I paralleled two short lengths of 16MM to make my jumper cable.

2) Don't forget the 2W/3W jumper pins that Oga Pranil mentioned in case the meter does not come on at first try. The jumper pins are pretty close to the +Vn switch where you attach the red wire coming from battery positive to the shunt near the battery side.

The applicable scenario is the first one on the manual I believe - the option with no external separate power supply.

If you have 2P DC breaker why not disconnect both + ve and -Ve- The way I normally do it is to use DC breaker immediately after the battery so it can safely switch off all inverter, charge controller and the shunt

S007:
I am considering adding one more rule to my solar rule book. Thou shall not touch anything called 'roy'.

Although to be fair I am using two ROY charge controllers in my current setup and they are doing their job wonderfully.

....

Keeping the generator starter batteries charged with 20 Watt panels

What did I buy ROY -- Their colours matched my generator body so easy for me to know which CC is charging the gen

And their USB output is also wonderful - I run a Small LED LAMP on them and the Garner is happy charging his phone . What more can you ask for 9000 NGN

ayinba1:
If you are not sure and you sink another earth rod, and somehow you end up with 2, does it cause harm?

Not at all. more the merrier

In electric substation ( high voltages ) we use more than 10 earth pits ( 3 to 10-meter deep earth rod) and create a whole mesh of copper flat connecting them buried @ 500 to 600 mm deep below earth so the short circuit currents can sink in

godspeed:
Thanks bro

In all honesty, deep down, I have always suspected the charge controller.

I have no problems changing it if it is definitely it's the cause of the problem.

Can I be sure I'll enjoy up to 15 hrs (the battery' s full charge capacity )if I get a new charge controller ? Which do you recommend ?

Then, do I really also need to change the inverter too. I think the inverter is ok, it's one of the best out there for home use

If it is only two weeks old I would suggest to check if the seller will replace it ( inverter+ CC) with one of Luminous or Prag hybrid inverters ( even by adding few thousand nairas)

That may be cheaper and easier in the short run and the products are optimized for each other so no additional fiddling is required
https:///luminous-850va-12v-solar-hybrid-1-unit-wetcell-battery-220ah-12v-3636947

ideally, the product you need in your case is Luminous regalia) unfortunately still not sold in Nigeria
( sellers in the house - Any takers ? ) I have at least 3-4 buyers
https://www.luminousindia.com/regalia/


For those of you who may not be aware Luminous is now owned and operated by SCHINDER electric ( merger got completed in 2017)

http://www2.schneider-electric.com/documents/press-releases/en/shared/2017/01/release-acquisition-luminous-2017.pdf

godspeed:
Thanks for the detailed explanation

My fear is the battery is not getting a full charge even when the sun is at full blast for more than seven hours and where I'm located, the sun is frying.

I said this because when I bought the battery new, I charged with electricity before the first use as advised, and I got an estimated 15 hour use from the full charge. Ever since then,the battery has never lasted for more than 2 hours even though I don't use it at all during the day and I have 500w panels.

I don't think my power consumption is even up to the 200w u advised cos my tv + decoder + 5w bulb adds up to just about 150 watts.

My fear of adding an additional battery (I have a spare old one that does 3 hrs on a full charge ) is that I'll need more panels to get a full charge which I feel is an unnecessary expense as I .mainly need to power the tv

The inverter is luminous eco volt 1050 and the pic is attached together with the charge controller.

15 hours sounds about right for a new battery but never do that with any battery. from a 200 AH battery you should take maximum 50 % which is 1 to 1.2 KWH ( 100 watt 12 hours or 200 watt 5 hours roughly)

1. This inverter has an eco mode if not on pls. switch it on if not on
2. which charge controller you are using? the inverter does not have one
3. You may have continuously starved the battery of a full charge thus reducing the life. - All tubular batteries like to work not more than 30 % -50 % DOD for a good long life. Also they need a complete Bulk charge , absorb, float which may not be possible with your no of panels and load profile


500 watt panels will normally produce between 1.5 to 2 KWH ( assuming everything is perfect, alignment, position, weather)


you have two options

1. Occasionally use a generator to top up the batteries when you use them extensively such as weekend
2. reduce your usage to match the battery charging so they reach float every day with comfortable margin say by 4 PM
( I would invest in a cheap voltmeter at the least so that you can monitor your batteries)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Digital-Voltmeter-DC-Voltage-Panel-Meter-For-6V-12V-24V-Electromobile-Motorcycle-Car-with-Two-wire/32824519194.html - 2.5 USD

or better a cheap AH meter - 15 USD

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/DC-100A-LCD-Combo-Meter-Voltage-current-KWh-Watt-Panel-Meter-12v-24v-48v-Battery/32672996346.html?

godspeed:
Hello house,

I just installed solar panels in my apartment as there is no electricity where I am presently.

The solar panels output is 500 watts and I use a luminous tubular battery of 220 ah (12v)with a luminous Inverter of 1000 watts.

My power consumption is as FF

TV. 135 watts

Decoder. 500maH

Bulb. 5v

The issue is that the battery does not last for more than 2 hours at night even when the sun is hot throughout the day.

Note that I don't use it at daytime as I'm always at work.

Pls what could be the issue and possible solutions

The tubular battery is approximately 2.4 KWh so with inverter efficiency of 80 % you might get 2 KWH ( as No nepa at all )

your inverter is consuming 40-100wh per hour even if not used when there is no sun - check if the inverter has power saver mode and switch is on


also, keep in mind that 200 AH battery at 12 V should be used with C10 rate (max 200 watts load or less) anything more and the rated AH will drop as per phuekerts law - see the table below of similar Trojan battery note as you increase load the rated battery capacity falls

The minimum I would recommend of one TV +Decoder and few lights for full overnight use is 2 x 200 AH - Anything less and your battery will fail prematurely due to the high rate of charge-discharge

if you can give the model no of inverter I can check the efficiency and loss figures for you to better design the system

NiyiOmoIyunade:
I guess the second picture with inverter and batteries in it is your current setup.

Two challenges I see - your current RC 150 meter has an internal shunt (by design this will probably carry no more than 20amps of current safely - at a stretch perhaps 50amps) - you dedicated this RC meter to measuring just your solar power generation but not battery consumption per the diagram.

The new meter has an external shunt hopefully rated for higher amps and hopefully capable of bidirectional readings if you want to measure both amps into the battery and amps out of the battery - I have learnt from hard experience that a meter such as this new one you have rated for 100A should be derated to 50A max when placed in service.

How To Proceed in General... .







Switch off PV input breakers then inverter input breaker

1) Identify the battery and load side of the shunt - in your picture the battery side is the leftmost side with the small black wire connected to the large terminal that has a bolt and nut on it - the load side is the one with the small red wire attached.

2) The way the meter works is to measure the voltage drop across the battery and the load side of the shunt - there is a calibrated piece of metal with known resistance between the two big nuts/screws that have a tiny black and red wire attached to their bases. Those tiny black and red wires are measuring voltage drop between battery and load and given a known resistance (in the shunt) you can calculate the AMPs and or watts flowing from battery to load or from power source (load) into battery.

3) You will need to make a small jumper cable to connect from battery negative terminal to the battery side of the shunt else you bolt the battery side of the shunt directly to the battery negative terminal post if you can. This jumper cable should be as thick as possible and properly crimped

Key to note, the shunt is always connected to the negative cable/side of CC, batteries, inverter

4) Any thing you want to measure through the meter e.g CC amps into battery or inverter amps into battery you place of the load side of the shunt (right side of shunt with small red wire in your picture) - you first switch off the PV and inverter and then trip of DC breakers - disconnect negative terminal of inverter and CC from the battery and attach it to the load side of the shunt (side with small red wire) simply unscrew the nut from the shunt (load side) , connect the lug side of your inverter and CC negative cable through the bolt on the shunt (load side) and replace the nut and tighten.

It will be really long to type all the steps so if you can excuse my abysmal writing and drawing skills, I have attached a diagram that may help you - follow the big red +s for positive cable connections and the big black --s for negative cable connections. Please reach out freely in case of any questions

Niyi excellent information and painstakingly explained. -
I used this meter ( there is even a wireless version) many times. The only thing I would like to add is that the meter has a jumper on the PCB ( called two wire or three wire )

In two-wire the meter supply comes from the battery while in three wire the meter can be powered from separate auxiliary -

After connecting the meter if it still remains off take a look at the jumper

Also, the meter needs to be reset after batteries are fully charged as part of initial calibration to report AH correctly

see attached user manual of a similar meter ( all of them use the same generic chip and work exactly the same)


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6eOIBrQmTfLUDdUZ3N4MnNGZWM/view?usp=sharing

lexi28:
mr Niyi, concerning the earth test, you're okay. this link may explain better:

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/19304/how-to-find-out-if-electrical-outlet-ground-is-working

same applies it your test case here.

Very nice you raised the issue. most clients are not even sure if they have functioning earthing at all.

my regards.

I beg to differ. T[b]he only way of reliably testing of earth connection is using something called earth megger[/b]

https://www.tester.co.uk/megger-det4td2-earth-tester?gclid=CjwKCAjw0ujYBRBDEiwAn7BKtxVskY0Ebjn7_IDanAUeQ2PbLikI69LuLmSiKQYo8X56c5zYl-vlZBoCPHwQAvD_BwE

- If the earth is even connected by 1.5 mm2 wire the light bulb will light up or multimeter will show low voltage. The earth is supplied already from the disco in a good installation by neutral grounding and hence neutral will always show low voltage with earth.

A good way to check if the Neutral is earthed at home is to switch off NEPA at the entry point ( including neutral) and then measure the inverter output neutral to earth you will be surprised to note that most inverters will show balanced voltage with respect to earth say 110 V ( P to E) and ( 110 N to E)

The higher end inverters have a sperate grounding relay which actuates the main relay ( Victron) or auxiliary contact ( SMA. even newer Ipower models) earth to neutral short on the failure of the grid



That kind of earth is enough to reliably trip a ELCB ( earth Leakage) circuit breaker but may not be strong enough to sink a lightning surge ( or switching surge

typically earth resistance measured ( when isolated from earth bar) should be less than 5 OHMS ( IEEE) , 10 Ohms ( India) 25 ohms ( USA)

In layman's terms during lightning strike, the earth can carry several kiloamperes of current and a high resistance path may raise the circuit potential above 1.5 KV where the normal equipment may fail or people can get shocked

Also there are two values to be concerned with earth Touch potential and step potential. Both concern with human safety. A weak earth can raise a potential along the earth point potentially shocking people on failure of insulation of the equipment



M[i]y advice is to sink one more rod if you are not sure and connect directly to your earth bar with a solid connection without a break -

Typically if the property has large generator e.g. 20 KVA and above you can easily trace and use the generator earth rod as most generator companies will sink a Rod close to the generator and connect to neutral and generator body
[/i]

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Lolz. Do I detect a hint of low key 'dissing' in there?

I would say a lot of these tweaks and mods are need driven and of course there is always that passion and desire to push things to the next level.

I think I am just getting started though - now that I have managed to bypass the AVS30 so that it carries zero house loads but rather just sends a signal to the contactor to connect the loads when AC line voltage is within my preferred limits (208v to 235vAC), I am thinking of adding on a timer switch after the AVS30, the timer will allow the voltage signal to pass through only between 10PM and 4AM should it happen that mains supply from PHCN is available.

As you know I really don't need PHCN power for anything but my battery supplier showed me analysis that convinced me to use our cheap priced mains supply when available after sundown - if my expected battery life at 30% DoD was 5 years, I could ostensibly get an additional 2 or 3 years by not running off battery whenever battery can be substituted by mains supply. So, instead of being entirely offgrid as I was, now, during the day I will run off solar power and from evening I run off mains if available vs batteries hence shallower battery cycles and better longevity - we have mains supply 60% of the time where I live.

Another option I am thinking about is to use the 'solar priority mode' on my 6kw inverter vs 'utility priority' - in this mode, mains if available would run the house loads but not charge my batteries unless they are really low. In my usage scenario, the lowest voltage I have ever recorded is 49.0vDC and I was actually capacity testing my 48v 800Ah battery bank to get to that voltage. Really though, I am not yet ready to pull the plug on that 'solar priority' option except perhaps I divert the relay functions on my battery monitor to trigger mains charging to start once battery voltage drops below 49.9vDC

These are just some of the many tweaks I have been contemplating apart from trying to invent a battery low voltage disconnect device similar to Oga Sinistrian's except that this would be entirely independent of any battery monitor relay to work and thus save the end user some cash. If I can build a reliable battery LVD that can detect SoC and trigger a disconnect independently of any battery monitor, a lot of people would no longer need to buy a Fangpusun or Victron or other expensive battery monitor.

I would say now you have reached a level where you should be seriously thinking of ESS setup. Becuase at some point, the different logics end of getting complicated and prone to failure or misbehaving unless continuously tweaked (speaking from past experience.

In ESS setup when the AC is available the AC from the grid is only used if the solar is not enough so the system uses exactly the shortfall between solar and demand to keep batteries at 100 %

That was one of the main reasons ( along with lithium compatibility) for me to switch to Victron

Have a look at this video - Quite long but explains the ESS concept very well


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbpQzEZTElI

also shown a snapshot of my system in morning note the grid setpoint at 100 watt to avoid export

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Lolz my Oga!



If I may, Oga Pranil is looking at a new GoodWe inverter despite having a Victron and 2 IpowerPlus amongst others... other folks here too could bring out all their collection - acquiring all these stuff just comes naturally to the enthusiast...

Dont even start - If I have to list the spare materials, PCB, cables, sleeves, screws, display meters , MCB's boxes , various tools - I will need 2 to 3 pages .

The other day I asked the security guy and gardner to help me only sort and store the extra material accumulated over the last one year and it tool good 5 to 6 hours to sort and label them

mank1234:
Bigrovar you're a genius. I can't start mentioning how you, dmerciful, earthrealm, niyiomoIyunade and others have contributed to my going RE.

The original Emonpi hardware goes for over 150 pounds and is originally made by them to measure only AC, temperature and humidity. Kudos.

With this your innovation, one can monitor generation and disconnect non-essential loads when generation is poor. Will you be kind enough to acquire, program and probably sell a unit? Or do a step by step procedure and the link to get the required parts.

I just want to be able to monitor pv generation and battery voltage remotely in order to turn OFF power gulping appliances. I already have Sonoff switch for remote ON/OFF.

It is relatively easy to use Raspi running Emoncms and nodered. then you can programme nodered with MQQQT to operate your sonoff.

https://github.com/emoncms/emoncms

https://guide.openenergymonitor.org/integrations/nodered/
https://github.com/arendst/Sonoff-Tasmota/wiki/MQTT-Overview

https://captain-slow.dk/2016/05/22/replacing-the-itead-sonoff-firmware/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLnDVrKmTRM







Nodered is GUI and doesnot need programming knwoledge. The EMONPi image has nodered and MQQT built in

bigrovar:
Hi guys, I just finished adding internet and live monitoring to my offgrid solar setup using the Raspberry Pi, a USB 3G modem, and the open energy monitoring system software called Emonpi. The output of the system can be viewed here. http://energy.bobby.com.ng/dashboard/view?id=1

For those interested in how I did this. I live tweet the whole process on twitter and you can follow the thread here

https://twitter.com/bigbrovar/status/1001819352008658945

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DectXchX0AEtHnS.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dewpp41X0AEhwRZ.jpg

very nice - Looking at it I feel many manhours are ( well) spent develpoing the final dashboard

NiyiOmoIyunade:
I may know a source...

I have visited two live installations and though the hardware build quality is solid, the software interface and configuration appeared clunky with a few odd quirks.

Further, there was signifcant complexity and additional hardware (meters e.t.c) required to manage the grid export/no export interface.

All in all, I came away believing the inverter not worth the stress - you are probably better served with the Victron ecosystem with which you already have great expertise

I need gOodwe as it is compatible with the lihium battery I just took delivery of - Herewin china

I managed to use the two wire BMS control for hook up with Victron The system ran find few days before BMS developed a problem . The company made a handmade BMS to work with victron which has not worked well.

Normally they have a Quality BMS ( SMD compoenents etc) which is certified by GOODwe


On checking Goodwe I realized that it may fit my requirements at half the cost of Victron ( 1100 Pounds in UK) with an added advantage That I can add 6-8 panels in series keeping my cabling intact ( the panles are on the roof of 4 story building ). and I am on first floor diagonally opposite ( almost 80 meters of run)
The cost of cabling, solar combiners etc, stopped me from doing more KW - I am using right now 700 Watt candian solar on 500 Watt microgrid inverter

As an added bonus since the system is fanless and the inverter is instaled in reception the lound fan noise during charging is nonexistant


In my case I also needed a Energy mater , Venus GX , AC contractor, BMV 712 etc with Victron ecosystem So moving to Goodwe actually frees up lot of components.


What I will need is only threee things

1 Goodwe Inverter
2. Ezmeter
3.Ezconverter ( canbus to Rs485)


I can use the office Quattro to go 3 phase 5 KVA x 3 at home

Does Anybody know if Goodwe distributors are in Nigeria or anybody seels one

I am in the market for Goodwe 5048D-ES 5kW

Thos of you owning a Ipower/ Gennex or other clones of Voltronic/Axpert - ( or considering buying one )_ might find the attached the link interesting. A ton of information there on software, customized firmware, repairing, optimizing

Warning - the posts Huge running into hundreds of pages

http://forums.aeva.asn.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=4332

Found an interesting link on the issue of CC blowing up when the battery MCB trips

http://gwl-power.tumblr.com/post/119710076701/faq-never-disconnect-the-battery-from-the-solar

Barezzi:
This is outstanding hack Pranil! One carton of Gulder for you baba...
1. Your cold water booster pump is also set at 2 bar(about 30 psi)? Is it not too low for a duplex?
2. What were your "teething troubles" setting this up?
3. Given the chance to redo this, what/where will you change/optimise?

thanks, I prefer Goldberg though

The house has only ground floor. For the cold water, I have a Grundfos scala (https://www.grundfos.com/products/find-product/scala2.html) which will maintain 2 bar for one tap or 8 taps ( variable speed)
since hot water is rarely used in two taps at once and gets mixed with the thermostatic valve the 2 bar is more than enough

Teething troubles plenty
first of all the system had no installation manual so google was my friend to see how to install the tubes then no feeder tank so tried to source locally. when that could not be found tried a pressure reducer and direct thermostatic valve with Siphone suction ( grand fail by the way)
then tried various forums and websites till stumbled upon SR500 . The first SR unit came with wrong inlet valve causing a partial leak. turns out they have two different pressure sets 0-0.1 PA and 0.1 to 8 PA I needed the high-pressure one as it closes only with correct water pressure

I would say from installation to final working was 3 months or more ( some of the time due to aliexpress and amazon shipping )


without the correct booster sizing and thermostatic valve it was difficult to get correct pressure if you selected too hot the cold water booster will cutout if too cold the hot water will cutout


3. The thing I will change is to get the plumbers to properly insulate the pipes. As can been seen from photos the plumber while joining the Cu pipes cutout the insulation in many places. Now I am on the lookout for good thermal insulation tape - I could only find glass wool in Abuja
Also I would suggest to check the heater if it is prefitted . It took measuring with vernier and lots of googling to get the correct thread size and depth -

for future reference, all Chinese models have 1/2 inch pipes for inlet and outlet and the heater is 1/1/2 inch opening

saint2ace:
I might be interested too if the price is right..

Once they are ready I am happy to offer an open bidding right here but the buyer has to take them from Abuja or take the shipping costs

I have also offered them as first priority to my office staff so they can split it and run a small 1 KVA sukam solar hybrid

DUNKA:
nice one pranil. Please where did you source the Simba solar water heater?

KONGA - and interestingly the reason I started playing with it ( and it was cheaper) was that the seller did not provide a feeder tank with the unit and after calling up claimed that they supply and install the system without the tank in many places!

I could only imagine how many unhappy homeowners are out there where the systems have started leaking when the inlet pressure changes

I see on Konga GHGSOLAr is selling similar one for 180K ( including feeder tank - altleast as per pictures) My system has 15 tubes but longer the GHG seems to be higher thermal output with 24 tubes

https:///ht-non-pressurized-solar-water-heater-200l-3926437

Other accessories I used

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Non-pressure-thermosiphon-solar-water-heatervcontroller-SR500-110-220V-with-4class-water-level-display/32616786802.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-Brass-Thermostatic-Mixing-Valve-G1-2-Adjust-the-Mixing-Water-Temperature-DN15-thermostatic-valve/2037378844.html


- Heating element longer the better - also check if one is supplied already with your heater - many companies offer one preinstalled - if not what is the size of the opening or if you have to make one

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/220v-1500w-1-1-4-Thread-Immersion-Water-Heater-Element-Screw-Type-heater-with-Thermowell/1862595_32824906264.html

https://www.amazon.co.uk/KATSU®-Automatic-Priming-Water-Booster/dp/B01NATU1R9

the pump is from 130 Watt all the way upto 600 Watt. I chose smaller so I can run on the inverter - so not only heating but pumping is also on SOLAR

sinistrian:
Who has up to four used (not abused please) 12V 200AH AGM batteries for sale, all of the same manufacturer? I want to put together a 48V bank for experiments ...

I might have one for sale by end of JULY - Quanta AGM 200AH x 4 - used in the office for last two years which has GEN so gets used top 5 % only during GEN changeover. and probably 10-20 % over the weekend to run security cameras, servers etc. only cloudy days

GUYS.

since weekend afforded me some spare time I decided to post my efforts on solar water heating

Those frequenting the forum would have known my efforts to acquire a solar water heating system and the challenges I faced

I am happy to report that I am very happy with the final results after the first teething troubles

Due to large content, the file is PDF ( acrobat reader) and can be downloaded from

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UnUpyI6UxUekqTklURmjERpapvRYGcnD

room089:
HElP! HELP!! HELP!!!

Good morning house, please we are having serious electricity power challenge. What do I need aside generator to power my small laptop for 7 - 12 hours a day, 24/7? I mean something affordable o!

It may be cheaper to just buy a new laptop ( the new ultrabook type) which itself will last 8 to 10 hours .

If the laptop has a removable battery just buy one or two more batteries - The whole process of battery -inverter - power supply ( AC) - convert back to DC through Battery charger for a laptop is horribly inefficient

otherwise there are dedicated DC to DC power banks for laptops like this one -

https:///ct-mobile-laptop-powerbank-105-600mah-1926234

Jamzig1:
Made in Nigeria, by Nigerians and for Nigerians Lithium based Powerwall coming soon... Watch this space

It was about time. Wish you all the best

Barezzi:
Egbon, I'll advise you get a standalone scc to support your ministry.

I notice my Axperts (Gennex) go to float too quickly. The absorb phase is really short, like 10 minutes or so if I remember correctly. Pranil can confirm.

In addition, it takes about 35 seconds for it to track and acquire mpp after a brief cloud cover. My Classic does this without breaking a sweat

Back to your reliability question, updating the firmware may help. I do not think Inverters with inbuilt scc are effective solar chargers. They may kill your expensive batteries in the long run. Always support them with a standalone scc.
Good luck Charlie...

the AExperts are quite good compared to their pricepoint serving their primary purpose i.e. supplying residential load from solar and battery when grid is missing - A few clever tricks allow them to optimize the use of solar etc .
For critical or industrial purposes there are many options out there but at a higher price point

as Barezzi pointed out they go to float too quickly ( can be solved with a firmware hack) and aprt from the 60 V 5 KVA/5KW model cannot equilize . also mind you that, most of the components used have been quoted to have 2000 hours of active use based on the autrialian fan user club testing

in my opinion, it is a great first system to get familiar with solar as takes out a lot of guesswork and gives easy monitoring using PC.

or if you are like me who loves to hack things and play with them and on a budget wants to have a fallback system with lots of power required to support a heavy load and don't mind the attendant losses

bigrovar:
tbh I didn't really follow your OP however the quoted caught my attention and I feel it should be corrected before someone else subscribe to similar line of thinking. Most MPPT charge controllers are powered by the battery not the solar panel. We should remember that a charge controller is an electrical not a mechanical device. It requires electricity to carry out its functions of regulating and down converting solar from high voltage to lower voltage of the panel. Connecting a CC to PV without battery is basically short circuiting the controller.. The huge amount of energy unregulated coming from the PV can blow through the cc circuitry since they have no where to flow to.

On the question of a full battery.. What happens is the cc (remembered using power from the battery) stays in the higher voltage curve of the PV.. The higher voltage curve has lower current and that is how the system works.. If your battery is low.. The cc would detect the the battery state and move to the optimal curve that allows the battery to be charged using the maximum voltage obtainable at the best current.. There have to be a balance and the cc is always adjusting based on solar Ray. I am sure something with a more in depth knowledge can explain this better.

A well designed charge controller does not blow even if battery is disconnected !- I have specifically checked with Victron and Morningstar ! the official reply was posted a while back . the cheap versions have volatge selection on bootup where battery needs to be connected first to select correct volatge before it starts working it's electronics. may be that is the reason of failuer where the elctronics inside get the unregulated full PV Open circuit (Voc voltage ). it can not be current which causes failure as the massive energy flow you talk about will require some kind of load to sink that current in

duwdu:
This is brilliant... I saw what appears to be the Quattro's colour monitor component on solardepotng for 180k, but couldn't immediately see how fundamentally important its role could be. Many thanks for the education, pranil.

And thanks to you, hancock, for rolling out those relevant questions, to begin with.

........
P34c3
.....
...

Thank you. The Venus( operating system behind CCGX /color control can be run also on raspberry pi ( that's what got me started with Victron family)- after which next was BMV then charge controller and then Quattro as my confidence and appetite for the technology got better of me


Infact thos of you with BMV 700/702 can give it a try all you need a raspberry pi and a Ve-direct to USB cable ( few USD) the Pi will connect to VRM(Victron remote portal) Then you can monitor your SOC from anywhere in the world - set alarms etc. as the system is open source there is enough support on google groups even from victron for non standard setups

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Oga Sinistrian.

This is nice! Very nice and clear. You have managed to simplify a concept most find difficult to understand not to talk of explain.

Kudos and many thanks

Another simple design will be to use NC contact of BMV in series with a AC contactor coil. the AC contractor will be in the output of the inverter and the inverter if available can be set to power save mode So it uses minimum power from the battery when idling. Whenever the SOC is below the set value the BMV contact will open, the contactor coil will de-energize and output to the house will be disconnected

I had used similar scheme few years back but only to start the gen and disconnect heavy loads of the house.

Nowadays the Victron Quattro makes life much easier with it's dual output, Battery life algorithms and SOC based ESS - see my screenshot in the morning. The system will not allow washing machine unless SOC is 100 % but then the SOC can drop to 60 % before it will disconnect non-critical loads. forcing the family to start washing machine after 9 /10 am depending on the day . if the weather is bad and the battery cannot charge next day it will raise the lower limit to 65 and so on ensuring the batteries reach absorption every day and don't get abused

sinistrian:
The dry contact device (in my case, the BMV because I already had one) is connected to the battery terminals in series with a 10,000+ Ohm resistor (to reduce the energisation current, we can't be wasting precious battery power), as well as a normally-open DC-AC solid state relay (SSR). I chose a normally-open relay because I only want current passing through it when needed, as opposed to all the time.

.

The new BMV 712 has a latched contact which draws very little current when closed - I recently installed one for my lithiums as the drain on lithium is more serious issue than Lead acid

hancock:
Good morning House
I recently aquired 4 sets of Monbat Batteries with a new Felicity 5KVa 48v inverter. Will likely go Solar in the next couple of months.
In order to maitain a 50% DOD regularly on the batteries, is their any battery monitor i can attach that would triger and alarm/shutdown when the batteries discharges to a certain value?
Recently saw this on aliexpress, dont know how useful it will help out towards what i intend to achieve.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/High-quality-Display-DP50V5A-Constant-Voltage-current-Step-down-Programmable-DC-Power-module-buck-converter-voltmeter/32656651549.html?spm=a2g0s.13010208.99999999.262.ZlXUgO

That is a wrong product in the sese if you want to install a meter to measure battery you better install one with AH measurements
a cheap but reliable version is

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/DC-100v-50A-LCD-Combo-Meter-Wireless-Voltage-current-KWh-Watt-Meter-12v-24v-48v-Battery/2792045_32867047351.html?spm=2114.10010108.1000023.1.5a7958b8QLYjLV

if you want high quality but costly stuff then many suppliers here can sell you the Victron /Fangupson BMV 700/702-
https://www.victronenergy.com/battery-monitors/bmv-700

Trippledots:
hello,

setup A fronius eco is connected in grid tie inverter mode to a three phase victron setup.

observation fronius eco keeps hitting 25kw production and trips off showing an error code which translates to frequency mismatch then fronius starts a cycle of booting which takes almost a minute.

request pls does anyone have experience like this or knowledge about how to tackle this?

temporary fix reduced the panel stream by one so that it doesn't hit that value, but this affects total fronius output esp when sky is overcast. kindly mention me when you advice.


thanks in advance

I assume the eco is on output of victron . did you chcek if Fronius IG50 is correctely selected and ESS assistant or PV assistant is loaded with correct values ?

To load 25 KW eco you need 10 KVA multi/quatro per phase what is the size of your inverters?( Victron has 1:1 AC coupling rule

Also the battery size should be " 1 kWp installed PV power requires100 Ah accubank 48 Vdc"

https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ac_coupling:start

please go through entire checklist to ensure something was not missed




did you update the firmware to prevent flickering ?

Quote from Victron support

F[i]ronius has a special firmware available, on request, that fixes light flickering issues that occur on certain installations under certain circumstances.

For Fronius PV inverters produced after 2018-week 16, contain the flicker-fix already straight from production.

To update earlier and/or already installed PV Inverters, contact Fronius Tech Support for the file. The required file is fro29130.upd. Which works for all snap-inverter models (Primo, Symo and Eco)[/i]. " End Quaote


Also would be better if you contact Fronius directly stating the problem they are very helpful.

[quote author=lexi28 post=67458517][/quote]Can you post a picture of teh DB and the inverter model may be there is a simpler way I can suggest?

Beware that in contactor method your overall load cannot be higher than 2 times the rated power of inverter ( check inverter manual) as during Grid failure the inverter will momentarily carry all load acting as UPS

pranil:
https:///wireless-tv-network-adapter-for-wifi-range-extender-3738753 - cheapest I found . will also need a wall plug for 5 V DC ( any of the old mobile chargers) or use dedicated Battery to 5 V converters from Aliexpress

I am sure to find may repeaters if I browse through my stuff( upgraded from N to AC last year). If you can arrange pickup from Garki , Abuja I can give for free a dlink DIR505 which may be perfect for you as a wifi extender

http://dlink.com.sg/products/?idproduct=588&idCategory=271