Solar PV Hints, Tips & Troubleshooting

phester28

yup mine shows 20W when its off. ON both app and online. for those who dont know you can get a lot more data from the PC site: https://m.ginlong.com/login.html

graememk

phester28 wrote: »

yup mine shows 20W when its off. ON both app and online. for those who dont know you can get a lot more data from the PC site: https://m.ginlong.com/login.html

ginglong, solarman, they are all the same

you can log into the solarman website and the ginlong one with the same login.

championc

phester28 wrote: »

yup mine shows 20W when its off. ON both app and online. for those who dont know you can get a lot more data from the PC site: https://m.ginlong.com/login.html

I wouldn't agree - and in fact would say quite the reverse.

When you are in the Device > History, do you realize that you can scroll the parameters with coloured dots from left to right. There are about 30 items which can be graphed

The same can be done to the coloured dots on the bottom of the Summary page, just above the default generation graph

phester28

championc wrote: »

I wouldn't agree - and in fact would say quite the reverse.

When you are in the Device > History, do you realize that you can scroll the parameters with coloured dots from left to right. There are about 30 items which can be graphed

The same can be done to the coloured dots on the bottom of the Summary page, just above the default generation graph

If you are referring to the app I dont see it.

I am on solarman 1.6.6 in case there is a revision difference. I have a basic plant
and the only parameters are the "generation power" and the daily graph

graememk

phester28 wrote: »

If you are referring to the app I dont see it.

I am on solarman 1.6.6 in case there is a revision difference. I have a basic plant
and the only parameters are the "generation power" and the daily graph

Are these screenshots any help?

Once you go to the devices and tap on your inverter it brings up more info

The history is where all the other graphs are

KCross

graememk wrote: »

Are these screenshots any help?

The pic of your array in that screenshot is impressive!

You must be looking forward to FiT being introduced!

graememk

KCross wrote: »

The pic of your array in that screenshot is impressive!

You must be looking forward to FiT being introduced!

Costa de la Donegal!

championc

phester28 wrote: »

If you are referring to the app I dont see it.

I am on solarman 1.6.6 in case there is a revision difference. I have a basic plant
and the only parameters are the "generation power" and the daily graph

Click on your Device and click on History

You should see a screen like the one attached. This bar of coloured dots half way down can be scrolled left to right, with a massive amount of data available.

phester28

championc wrote: »

Click on your Device and click on History

You should see a screen like the one attached. This bar of coloured dots half way down can be scrolled left to right, with a massive amount of data available.

Thanks for the help
OK found it, never knew you could do it via the app too. The same or at least most of that info is available online too

DaveyDave

Hi all, I think this thread makes the most sense to post in. I like the idea of excess solar heating water but I have no idea it it's worth considering, if it's possible or if it's even worth the cost?

We have a measly 1.2kW system on a new build, is it worth looking into or should I just leave it if there's actually going to be a feed in tariff this year?

unkel

Covered many times in this forum. Makes no sense on a small install like you have, makes even less sense once we get a FIT. So forget about it

championc

DaveyDave wrote: »

Hi all, I think this thread makes the most sense to post in. I like the idea of excess solar heating water but I have no idea it it's worth considering, if it's possible or if it's even worth the cost?

We have a measly 1.2kW system on a new build, is it worth looking into or should I just leave it if there's actually going to be a feed in tariff this year?

Do you even generate enough for your own needs ? Can't imagine you have very much excess with that small a system, and if you do, is likely to be for a very small portion of the day too.

DaveyDave

unkel wrote: »

Covered many times in this forum. Makes no sense on a small install like you have, makes even less sense once we get a FIT. So forget about it

I figured as much. I'm sure as a whole the requirement for new builds to have some form of renewable will make a difference but on an individual basis I'm surprised there's very little difference. A few euro off the Summer bill but no water heating, no battery storage and no grants available!

championc wrote: »

Do you even generate enough for your own needs ? Can't imagine you have very much excess with that small a system, and if you do, is likely to be for a very small portion of the day too.

Probably not, I was just thinking once herself is back to the office and the house is empty during the day it's just wasted and wondered if there was anything at all I could benefit from with a small system, the answer is a big fat no!

air

On the plus side you already have DC cabling ran to your rooftop and an inverter wired in.
If you have the roof space an expansion of the system should be relatively straightforward.

slave1

DaveyDave wrote: »

I figured as much. I'm sure as a whole the requirement for new builds to have some form of renewable will make a difference but on an individual basis I'm surprised there's very little difference. A few euro off the Summer bill but no water heating, no battery storage and no grants available!

The only reason that PV system was put in was for the builder to improve the BER rating to gain higher selling price, it is effectively worthless for 4/5months of the year (not trying to knock it), hopefully will help at best parts of the year which are actually April and May not high "Summer".

unkel

I wouldn't call it worthless, it will take the full base load of the house quite a lot of the time and will take some of it most of the time (when not dark)

And as air said, it could possibly be extended for not that much money (but should have been much bigger to start with, I grant you that, the system is faulty)

slave1

So I’ve installed the Ginlong app on the phone to link up to Solis inverter, I can see moment info on both my strings but I can’t see further e.g. daily/weekly/monthly split.
Does anyone know is this available?

graememk

slave1 wrote: »

So I’ve installed the Ginlong app on the phone to link up to Solis inverter, I can see moment info on both my strings but I can’t see further e.g. daily/weekly/monthly split.
Does anyone know is this available?

I cant see that on the app, but on the website, you can go in and export (each?) days data to excel and generate the graph...... Tedious

You do have to generate the watts too by multiplying the Voltage and current

championc

On the summary page, just above the graph and the coloured dot(s) at the bottom is Day, Month Year and Total.

And just to clarify, the app connects to the cloud, which is where the inverter uploads it to.

Attached

slave1

Thanks guys, just to clarify it the string split I’m interested it, didn’t realise there was an online account, I’ll look that up tomorrow

championc

slave1 wrote: »

Thanks guys, just to clarify it the string split I’m interested it, didn’t realise there was an online account, I’ll look that up tomorrow

So have you configured your WiFi dongle in the inverter to connect to your home wifi ? You'll need this done for it to send all data to the portal

slave1

Yep, have that up and working

slave1

slave1 wrote: »

So I’ve installed the Ginlong app on the phone to link up to Solis inverter, I can see moment info on both my strings but I can’t see further e.g. daily/weekly/monthly split.
Does anyone know is this available?

graememk wrote: »

I cant see that on the app, but on the website, you can go in and export (each?) days data to excel and generate the graph...... Tedious

You do have to generate the watts too by multiplying the Voltage and current

Howdy, have exported the detailed data but I don't recognise a way of splitting PV Generation between my two strings.
I can see voltage and amps for each string but the data is at 5 minute interval time stamps so not cumulative which is what I think I am after...

graememk

slave1 wrote: »

Howdy, have exported the detailed data but I don't recognise a way of splitting PV Generation between my two strings.
I can see voltage and amps for each string but the data is at 5 minute interval time stamps so not cumulative which is what I think I am after...

So if you multiply V*A that gets you the watts (w)

If you take the 5 minute w value (or the total sum of the column ) and divide that by 12 that would get you the Wh value, (divide by 1000 to get kWh).

I cant find anywhere in the website that shows it

Yesterday my SW set generated 5.7kWh, my NE generated 3.3kWh.

slave1

graememk wrote: »

So if you multiply V*A that gets you the watts (w)

If you take the 5 minute w value (or the total sum of the column ) and divide that by 12 that would get you the Wh value, (divide by 1000 to get kWh).

I cant find anywhere in the website that shows it

Yesterday my SW set generated 5.7kWh, my NE generated 3.3kWh.

Thanks, I can see what you are doing there, when I divide the total sum of the V*A by 12 the sum of PV1+PV2 is higher that the Daily Generation figure.
In my case the Sum of PV1+PV2 is 3.72kWh whereas the Daily Gen figure is 3.4kWh.
If I assume the Daily Gen figure is correct then I can just use my breakdown of PV1 and PV2 to work back on a pro-rata basis.
This gives me 63% PV1 and 37% PV2 so I think that's the best way I can calculate it.

I'd really like that data on a monthly table though, not going through on a daily basis to work it all out.

Thanks again, I know you're not Solis support....

mp3guy

slave1 wrote: »

In my case the Sum of PV1+PV2 is 3.72kWh whereas the Daily Gen figure is 3.4kWh.

This is because you're approximating an integral numerically in the most inaccurate way possible. Don't sweat it though, a lot of noise in the whole measurement process end to end!

graememk

slave1 wrote: »

I'd really like that data on a monthly table though, not going through on a daily basis to work it all out.

Thanks again, I know you're not Solis support....

So would I. Step in the right direction anyway

championc

slave1 wrote: »

I'd really like that data on a monthly table though, not going through on a daily basis to work it all out.

Surely you can click on the YEAR tab which will then give you the monthly figures ?

graememk

championc wrote: »

Surely you can click on the YEAR tab which will then give you the monthly figures ?

Only gives the total kWh, not what each string is outputting

the_amazing_raisin

Quick question for all you solar experts

Is there a site where you can get a solar irradiance forecast for the coming days?

I know there's annual data and plenty of sites use this to give you annual generation estimates

But I'm wondering is there a site or resource where you can take the irradiance data and combine it with the weather forecast to give a forecast of irradiance for the coming days?

I think it'd be useful to plan some power intensive tasks ahead for days when there is plenty of sunshine