Solar PV Hints, Tips & Troubleshooting

waterwelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119797058#Comment_119797058

What would be involved in fitting optimizers?

Cutting the tree down is an option as well!

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119797168#Comment_119797168

Oh that's been done but the big oak is not for chopping.

Optimizers are very straightforward to fit, getting up to the roof for some might be a problem

silver_sky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119795563#Comment_119795563

With no battery the Eddi should be first. What's taking the power otherwise?

Galego

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119795563#Comment_119795563

I actually prefer to fill the battery first than the excess going to the Eddi. I guess I am not alone and that's why it has been designed for excess to fill battery first. I dont find the Eddi a very effective way to heat the hot water. I think my oil boiler does a better and much cheaper work at it.

Yes you can set up a booster once your battery is full so pulls the energy from the battery, I guess.

idc

@MAULBROOK Do you have Tigo optimizers and if so did you also get the Cloud Connect and TAP to monitor each panel?

DC999

There's debate on the benefits of them. They work for me.

I've them on a flat roof that gets more shade so would drag down the other half of the string on the main roof. This shows 5 with optimisers and most are around 120w. One is on 29w as the neighbours roof shades it (or ~5 times less than the others). At that time of day, I'll see a chunk of the panel is in shade. Without optimisers, at that time of the day I’d get 5 times less output on 9 panels (5 on this roof and 4 above it)

And in the morning the other side of the flat roof is shaded when the sun is rising. And later in the afternoon when the sun moves the flat roof gets a lot of shade while the main roof is still in the sun (more so when the sun is higher in the sky). So optimisers help at the start and end of the light on that flat roof.

Our installer said they say a 20% output improvement on an unshaded site when tested them. Seemed genuine as they weren't selling optimisers for all panels.  

Optimisers - shade from neighbours roof.png

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119798835#Comment_119798835

Tigo, I got them for nothing plus 4 extra panels because 4 people I work with went with the company that installed my setup. It just the optimizers no other monitoring. All I know is they work.

championc

Optimizers would be badly needed if you have shading in the core hours of the day. There's little point chasing 500w in the early morning or late evening

randombar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119800132#Comment_119800132

that's what I'm wondering, plenty of shading these mornings with the low sun but what wins would I really get from the optimizers this time of year.

yankinlk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119798539#Comment_119798539

Kinda agree. Don't put eddi in front of battery... it's a summer excess nice to have device. Do use eddi on night rate to boost water from grid power.... as long as your normal heating tech is more expensive... right now the oil in my tank is at least 2x my night rate, so I only use oil during daytime to heat water. Very little excess in winter time after battery fills up, so my eddi won't really give me free hot water until maybe march.

Galego

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119801381#Comment_119801381

I am stuck with a 24 hr standard meter so my current rate is @38c. Very high I know. Not much I can do about it I am afraid! Nothing cheaper than that out there at the minute.

Anyway, i worked out the match and heating my hot water with the oil boiler is around 14c (oil purchased @1.30eur per ltr). And that is why I tend not to use the Eddi and I'd rather have that in the battery!

Tree

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119801541#Comment_119801541

Why not schedule the oil to boost the hot water?

Galego

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119801541#Comment_119801541

Yes I have started doing that.

cobham

We have gas for c heating and could also heat water with it but would be the whole tank. The previous set up with timer on sink element was how we managed. Our timer has been dumped even tho only a new one. We still have to sort the Eddi App to be able to program its timer function. There was good heat into water from mid afternoon when battery was full. But now the battery is draining now as it it topping up the feed off the roof. The Eddi was heating the small top section of immersion tank first. Hopefully we will have some decent night rate so battery and water can be topped up for the following day.

cobham

I read somewhere here that in N Ireland there is a limit to the size of an inverter. Why would that be? and is it the same in England?

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119805117#Comment_119805117

It's brutally low at 3.6kw. Standard limit in the Republic is 6kwh on a domestic installation and if you pay extra to esb networks it can go to 16kwh on the inverter.

silver_sky

Discharge Limit kicked in yesterday on my Solis+PureDrive setup, dropped to 50A from 100A. It picked back up to 100A when the dinner was being made and there was a large load - I guess higher temperatures.

Today there wasn't such a load (quick dinner) so it's been on a Discharge Limit of 50A since about 7am.

Is this normal during winter/colder periods? Should I expect it to go lower? 😥

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119826322#Comment_119826322

I just checked mine and it also dropped yesterday circa 10am. I hadn't noticed though as it dropped from 200A to 100A (which is still limited by inverter). Ambient temps in the attic at the time were 10-11C.

I don't remember this list year, but I had built a insulating housing for the battery which now doesn't fit any more since getting the second battery.

ELM327

This could be LFP related, they really don't like cold.

silver_sky

I guess it could be. My attic got down to 6.5C in the early hours this morning. I'll see how it goes this evening but it's been stuck at 50A discharge limit since yesterday.

silver_sky

The 100A limit was restored this evening when the inverter internal temperature peaked back above 30C under load. Although it may have had more to do with sustained (5 min) 50A discharging. I wonder is there a BMS temp reading available?

spose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119834326#Comment_119834326

If it’s a seplos you can go in to the history tab and it will show the probe temps and the bms temp

silver_sky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119834677#Comment_119834677

Nah, it's a Solis Hybrid & PureDrive Battery

ForzaForward1

I have a Solis inverter (non hybrid) and no Eddi. I have the Solis app but it doesn't show what power I am drawing from the grid like other people seem to have, it only shows the solar I am generating.

I presume this is because there's no clamp or an eddi measuring it. What's the cheapest way to go about adding something to the system that would add this feature?

championc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119836062#Comment_119836062

Adding a CT clamp to the Solis BUT can the Solis take one ?

graememk

The solis can, for export limiting for sure, not sure if it shows up in the monitoring.

There is registers for it in the modbus spec.

DrPhilG

Few questions...

Friend got solar a few months back and her installer seems to be a tube. She has asked me for some advice on load shifting to the battery.

First off, she says her inverter is a Solis rhi-3.6k-48es-5g. Am I being thick, or is that only a 3.6kW inverter? She has 16 x 410w panels so a 6.5kW system. If that's a 3.6kW inverter then it's ridiculously undersized. Or maybe I'm reading it wrong.

Secondly, she has 3 x 2.4kW Dyness batteries, and a miserable 2hr cheap window (smart tariff). Anyone know the max rate she can charge them?

Jonathan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119842687#Comment_119842687

Yes, that's a 3.6kW inverter. Is she in ROI or NI? NI installs need DNO approval for anything greater than 3.6kW.

That inverter is limited to a charge/discharge rate of 62.5A.

DrPhilG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119842718#Comment_119842718

She's in Donegal. She sent a picture of the manual, I'll get her to check the actual inverter.

DrPhilG

This is her inverter: