Solar PV battery options

spose

I think your issue is the error where it reports cell 1 and 2 as having zero volts or close to it. Had similar and turned out to be poor connection between the terminals and bus bars. No matter how many times I rebuilt or moved batteries or wires around always showed voltage drops on cell 1 and 2 and then a short circuit alarm. After taking sandpaper to each bus bar and terminal in the pack and putting a tiny bit of conductive paste on each issue went away

noelocon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120089430#Comment_120089430

yea I'll try that. It's stuck on standby now so I'll wait until I get the conductive paste and try again.

I'm still confused as to why it dropped SOC from 97% to 10%. I had finished top balancing it the night before and it wasn't discharging.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120091030#Comment_120091030

Don't believe everything a BMS tells you 😂

Voltage will give a decent indication of state of charge. What's the pack voltage?

Geeyfds53573

Seplos needs time to calibrate it will settle after a while

noelocon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120091120#Comment_120091120

"Don't believe everything a BMS tells you"...I wish I knew this earlier 😂

it's 53V and now the SOC is 28.8%......still chucking a SCP alert when discharging

I'm wondering if its related to this https://diysolarforum.com/threads/seplos-bms-output-short-circuit-protection.35755/page-2 but I've pinged seplos so lets see what they come back with

slave1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120091122#Comment_120091122

One full charge and discharge should be enough

unkel

53V (while there is no load or charge) is about 80-90% SOC

Only ever trust the BMS that is located between your ears 😁

Evd-Burner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120089390#Comment_120089390

Hi Noelocon,

Looking at your images and I am looking for exactly where you got the standoffs as per below?

noelocon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120091481#Comment_120091481

I got a mate to 3d print them for me from these designs https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5265259/files

Evd-Burner

No access to a 3d printer here. Might look for a company that does and see what the cost is.

Geeyfds53573

I thought wine corks were the trend

redmagic68

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120092055#Comment_120092055

Your local secondary school will have one if they have have engineering or technology as a subject

randombar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120091502#Comment_120091502

Stupid question but which ones do I have to print? (please don't say all!!!)

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120092459#Comment_120092459

for the standoffs. 3 of these

Theres a lid, that clips on the seplos, and then a case for the screen (that can mount to it)

If you had said I could have sent some down with the sofar2mqtt!

HotSwap

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120092055#Comment_120092055

My local library has one.

randombar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120092589#Comment_120092589

Damnit!!!!

I have a printer idle at home here. Might move it out to the shed and start printing out a few bits.

Evd-Burner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120092983#Comment_120092983

Would pay you a fair price if your interested.

So I have confirmation that PWOD and OYE store are one in the same, I know it has been long expected to be the case but I now have proof.

I purchased through PWOD and as I am going for a green loan I needed an invoice with all of the details for AIB. The online order details and automated emails weren't enough. So messaged PWOD asking for a manual invoice, get one with everything in it pointing to OYE store.

DrPhilG

I used OYE for my 32, murderously slow delivery and communication not the best but got there in the end.

irishchris

Bought 16 cells from oye store and 16 from pwod last year on the same day. Conversations with both in relation to things were nearly word for word and both deliveries showed up on the exact same day. Boxes were marked 1/32, 2/32 etc. 100% the same company

slave1

Got my 32 from PWOD, arrived the following week!!!!!!!!

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120098521#Comment_120098521

For all that speed was worth it only then took you a year or two to deploy the battery 😉😁

(I wasn't hugely better myself, had to wait for a long time to get my battery inverter hooked up by an electrician)

slave1

Ah now, just 15months, when I think back, what a learning curve but also the DIY second array and installer availability took waaaayyyy too long.

Top balancing was a success though, 3mv of a difference 10months afterwards, good indication of battery quality I think

noelocon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120091209#Comment_120091209

I've been back and forth with Seplos all week with new firmware and settings being tried but to no avail.

Charging seems to be working but the BMS shuts down a few seconds into discharging.

Seplos are also questioning the settings in the Sofar ME3000 but I don't think the problem is there.

Is there a method to take the BMS out of the equation and just check that the Sofar is doing it's job correctly?

Is it also possible to use another BMS but now connect it to the Sofar or just use a cell balancer?

I've attached the BMS event log showing the status of the pack while all of this is going on.

Grouped data 20230114_0825.xls

unkel

From your log "Output short circuit protection" points to where the problem is. Did you double check the connection from your P connectors on your Seplos to the positive terminal on your ME3000SP? Is all good and tight? I presume you also have a fuse in that circuit as you should do?

What sort of load was on your ME3000SP early this morning?

noelocon

Yea they're very tight and wired correctly. I have a fuse between the battery and the bms and an isolator switch between the bms and the sofar.

One thing I did notice is that the inverter is showing the wrong ampage for the grid which I think is strange, I wonder if that's a software bug or something else

Not sure what's causing that. What version of software are people using on the sofar . My one is 3.0 out of the box.

PXL_20230114_110515015.jpg

fael

Is the Seplos capable of working with a shunt? That would give you a very accurate SOC. I have one on my BMS (don't have a Seplos though) and the shunt measures the exact amount of kWh that is going in and out of the battery. So once you have fully charged and balanced, that is your 100%, everything from there is measured by the shunt for the SOC. But the BMS still protects the cells by keeping an eye on the voltages.

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106982#Comment_120106982

The seplos is in its error state on that photo?

Would explain the battery voltage of 1.

Yes ,the me3000 can be connected directly to the batteries, bypassing the seplos, just put move the cable that goes to the inverter from P+ to B+. And put the me3000 into default mode, these settings are close enough for a test anyway.

Type Default

Capacity 185Ah

Discharge Depth 80% (EPS) 80%

Max Charge 60A

Over Protection 58.5v

Max Charge 57v

Max Discharge 60A

Low Protection 42.5v

Min Discharge 49.7v

Empty Discharged 51.1v

Fully Charged 53.6v

noelocon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120107440#Comment_120107440

Thanks for this, I set everything up and wired the battery as you said and now there's an error in the Sofar a high battery temp warning of -21C.....wtf.

I've tried a couple of time to reset it by powering it off and leaving it for a while but the error still persists.

I'm gonna try and update the Sofar firmware tomorrow to a later version as I'm on 3.0. Is there a common version that people use or is it better to raise this with Sofar support ?

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120108048#Comment_120108048

Ah you need a temp sensor for default mode!

graememk

Just to add it's the ntc sensor, it would have come with the inverter.

noelocon

Yep I just put it in and the battery seems to be discharging nicely

PXL_20230114_152248540.jpg

noelocon

Oops pressed post too soon.

I wonder if it's feasible to set this up without a bms connection to the sofar inverter...does that even make sense

championc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120108698#Comment_120108698

It will work, but the Sofar will guestimate the SOC%, which it is then doing based on the discharge curve of Lead-Acid's rather than LiFePO4's (mind you, it was pretty crap dealing with Lead-Acid's). So it's likely to break your heart somewhat, in that there could be 30% remaining, and it thinks there's only 10% remaining, and could stop charging before it reaches a real 100%

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120108833#Comment_120108833

Id second that. Pigging nightmare. I even resorted to passive mode to prevent recalcs etc

As least you know it's not the sofar.

Now to figure out why the bms is throwing a fit.

unkel

Cause it's a Seplos? 😂

noelocon

It seems that Seplos and most of China will be on holidays until the 30 of January so I might be waiting a while for some response from them.

I've read conflicting information that the RJ45-RJ10 CANBUS cable from Sofar to Seplos needs to be modified so that only pins 4 & 5 are used.

Is this correct?

championc

I think the cable I made has all 4 connected

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120113374#Comment_120113374

I have heard that too.but have no confirmation of it.

If you put the sofar in default mode, and discharge through the seplos, does that work?

unkel

Yes, China is closed now. Back open for business on February 1st.

noelocon

So I cut the cable as an experiment and it seems to have fixed the issues. The seplos is no longer going into shutdown and the battery back seems to be charging and discharging. I'm still occasionally getting a "The power grid frequency is too low" error in the Sofar but that may be an intermittent thing that I'll contact Sofar to fix.

So good so far, I'll keep an eye on it during the day and hopefully it settles down and I can forget about it ;-)

I very much appreciate all your help so far and hopefully I'll stop bugging you now.

slave1

No bugging, others have similar issues so great to see the more informed folk (not me) answering the queries, every day is a learning day with more knowledge and tit bits to pick up

championc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120114661#Comment_120114661

Fantastic outcome, and great knowledge sharing

graememk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120114661#Comment_120114661

Thats grid issues. theres nothing for sofar to fix.. unless its reading it incorrectly..

Have you it set to the correct standard?

noelocon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120115783#Comment_120115783

yep I had set it to the Ireland code but then set it back to generic European (as per the sofar manual to fix the issue). I'll keep it there for a while to keep things stable and then move back to Ireland

Pavlova lova

Hi Folks,

Looking at battery options for Huawei Hybrid inverter, are there any alternatives to Huawei/LG batteries and is the Huawei Luna battery worth the extra dosh? Thanks in advance

Mr Q

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120120582#Comment_120120582

I don't have one of those inverters but I think your only options are the two brands you mention. Definitely not worth the extra money.

You could forget about using the Huawei with a battery and get a ME3000SP or similar plus suitable batteries (DIY if you can) for a lot less money.

micks_address

Got my post solar Ber report today. Went from b3 to a2 with 7kwp panels

jasgrif11

My installation is coming up next month. I ordered 16 X 380w panels totalling 6.0KWp, 1 X Solis 5G Hybrid Inverter and 1 X Dyness 4.8KWH battery.

I started having second thoughts on the battery purely from the cost perspective (it's €4400). I can source a Dyness 5.1KWH battery online for €1700 including delivery. In fact, I was tempted to cancel the battery from the original order and order 2 X Dyness 5.1 batteries separately.

The issue I have is the supplier will only install the Solis Hybrid Inverter if I order the battery from them. Otherwise, they install the standard inverter. So my dilemma is that I would need to replace the Inverter and the outlay of the battery cost after the installation if I want to source the batteries myself.

I'm new to this, so don't think I'd venture down the DIY route just yet. Maybe later if/when I add more panels.

Any advice is appreciated.

jkforde

have you signed or paid a deposit yet? did they explain why they would not install a hybrid without battery? (missing out on a tidy profit!)

jasgrif11

Ordered in September and paid deposit. It will be end of February for installation. They will remove the battery cost from the bill, but this means installing a regular inverter.

What is approx cost of Solis Hybrid?