Solar PV Hints, Tips & Troubleshooting

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888989#Comment_117888989

Here me out.. 2 showers at the same time! Would be like standing under a water fall!

bullit_dodger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117889005#Comment_117889005

Haha - it'd be like "waterboarding" myself ! LOL

garo

You could repalce the T90 with a power shower (which has a pump in it but doesn't heat the water) and connect the second mixer to it. That will cover the area left open by the T90 and fix the pressure problem at the same time.

Or do you already have a second showerhead connected and it's just the pressure that's the problem? In that case, removing limescale from the second shower hea first and hen installing a pump between the immersion tank and the showerhead second is the way to go.

Blue4u

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117888989#Comment_117888989

Ok I have two showers in house a T90(silent version) and a Triton 2000 XT. The XT is connected to the hot/cold water and my house is a bugalow so its at the same height as the immersion tank which I think is your issue. I actually prefer the XT to the T90, it would have better pressure I think and it will use the water generated from the solar PV. I think the XT is now gone but I am sure Triton have a replacement model.

bullit_dodger

Brand new showerhead on that lower mixer - problem is pressure due to simple physics. 1 bar = 32 ft drop of water. Since I have maybe a 5 foot drop from the top of the water height on the tank in the attic to the shower head, I've maybe 1/5 Bar water pressure as the system is gravity fed. The T90 of course has it's own little pump internal to it, so that's fine.

Never an issue before as I never used the immersion to heat water, so that 2nd lower mixer in my picture was unused for years. I was just using the T90 and didn't even have a shower hose fitted on the lower mixer, because with the T90 just heat what you use, so it was more energy efficient. However since I've "free" (it's not free I paid for the eddi !) water via solar for many months of the year - wanted to take advantage and hence my need for a pump now.

Sorry - thought it would be a problem eddi owners would have come across here, but yeah, I'll search for a plumber to do the pump install. Thanks lads.

slave1

Ah, got ya, I too have same setup as Graememk, dedicated hot water cylinder and cold water from attic tank to pumped shower

seandugg

New system installed today. Attic box shows, usage, what is going to grid vs battery vs usage etc. But app (solarman) only gives info on current and daily generation.

How best to get the full picture of what is happening via an app?

DrPhilG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117929564#Comment_117929564

Did your installer not sort it while on site? Or did you not realise it was not working until they had left?

seandugg

installer sorted the solarman app set up, it was a little rushed and I didnt spot the basic level of info available on the app until he left

prf

when you launch the app, you will see your current production, production today, consumption today and soc.when you select check the plant, you get a graphical display of your system showing production, grid,battery,and consumption.you can see where the power is going.Now school down to the 24 hour trend and you see more info.To change the data you can see you need to touch in the graph, and then you can select whatever parameter you need.Ido this by toggle the headings, and just selecting one at a time.

Hope this helps

championc

Maybe your site was setup on the app with the wrong Plant type. Sounds like it knows nothing about your battery - correct ?

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117929585#Comment_117929585

Can you give us a screen shot then we can guide ya, I hope

seandugg

Thanks for your help, i'll get back onto the installers tomorrow if it looks like unexpected behaviour.

1 - only generation stats visible in the summary graphs - no consumption,grid, battery etc

2 - Plant type = Residential Rooftop. System Type = All on Grid (from solarman website login)

3 - battery shows as charged but 0 discharge after sun has gone down

Geeyfds53573

Sorry never user Solarman. Should installers not be including the data logger for the Solis Cloud now? Much much better in my view.

championc

What is your Intro > On-grid Type ?

Should be Storage System if you have a Hybrid Inverter

seandugg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117931296#Comment_117931296

On grid type = Distributed all power on grid, so looks like a configuration issue?

championc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117931326#Comment_117931326

Yes, so just click on "Other Info >" and change it

seandugg

Thanks - view in the app view looks good now.

Battery discharge seems to be 0 since install. Consumption seems to stay between 18 - 25 watts regardless running kettle / monitor / pc etc.

Will keep an eye on it today and contact the installer

championc

The app only updates once every 5 mins. The data comes from the cloud, not from the inverter.

You'd need to be using the RS485 interface and a Raspberry Pi or similar to get live stats

seandugg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117933340#Comment_117933340

It doesn't appear to be a data lag issue.

The behaviour is consistent for the full day. According to the app:

• Consumption stays between 10 - 30 watts all day, even with multiple heaters, tvs etc on as a test
• 0 discharge from battery since yesterday when app was set up
• battery has been 100% charged since it filled up first time
• Picture on app = same as on inverter screen in attic.

Waiting on a call back from the engineer since this morning.

slave1

CT clamp on wrong direction?

seandugg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117934033#Comment_117934033

no call back from the installers today - will let you know the outcome

randomname2005

Something a little left of field. Has anyone mounted panels on their wall? The side of the house gets quite a lot of sun and I have limited roof space. I was thinking about getting panels installed like little wings on the top of the wall. If set at 30 degrees from the wall the would face pretty much due south. Something like this but turned on its side.

Is this just crazy talk because I am going down the rabbit hole of trying to getting as many panels as possible??

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117940368#Comment_117940368

Not the craziest idea I have seen.

randomname2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117940405#Comment_117940405

With your experience in this field I'm sure you have heard some very crazy ideas!!

Wind damage or stress is what I would be worried about, being in the west of the country.

championc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117940368#Comment_117940368

Makes a lot of sense, especially if you fix and hinge them along the top edge, allowing you to vary the angle. If you had them perfectly flat on the wall, you would have pretty good output for the winter (and decent spring and autumn), which might compliment the decrease from other panels that you have (assuming you have an E/W setup). And the easiest way to cable them would be to have a micro-inverter per panel

MAULBROOK

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117940470#Comment_117940470

No experience in this field but my day job is a Lift Engineer.

Good quality fixings and a good robust galvanized frame would work I would say.

It could turn out to be a very nice feature on the house if its done right.

Bobeagleburger

If anything, that's a very clever idea.

Bobeagleburger

Is the Solis Cloud app acting up for anyone today?

Currently telling me nothing is being generated!

DrPhilG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117940956#Comment_117940956

Yeah something up. Slow updates at best.