Solar PV Hints, Tips & Troubleshooting

Are there many resources for mounting inverter and battery on the exterior of your house?

My attic is converted so there's no space, and Im not too comfortable putting a battery inside. I started looking at electrical cabinets and maybe adding insulation and a small heater if necessary.

You need automation.

You need the inverter to be controllable by Home Assistant. Home Assistant would have to be able to change the operating modes.

I don't know if this is possible or how easy it is with a Solis. It is certainly easier with a Sofar

Just bang in 1kwp as the size, pick where you are in the country on the map with your mouse, and then see how much you get with 40deg and compare to 0 deg slope.

https://re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/

Well a solis inverter won't let you drop below 4%. I have a weco which is good for a 100% discharge but I can only use 96% of it.

Look at your Data. Look at the DC voltage for EACH of PV1 and PV2. It sounds like one string could be dead

Don't confuse kW's and kWh's.

KW is your output at any particular moment

KWh is your total generation for a period of time.

So what was your kWh for today ? What was your highest kW during today ?

Hi,

If you are using the solarman addon to talk directly to the wifi sticks on solis ( older version 2 stick ). The following automation should give you an idea

<code>

alias: Set Battery Discharge (Pause Zappi)
description: Discharge Excess Battery to Grid
trigger:

• platform: time
  at: "22:15:00"
  condition: []
  action:
• device_id: fd2123e941axxxxxxxxx - Zappi
  domain: select
  entity_id: 2e935353fxxxxxxxxxxx - Charge Mode
  type: select_option
  option: Stopped
• choose:
  • conditions:
    • condition: numeric_state
      entity_id: sensor.bms_soc
      above: 90
      sequence:
    • service: solarman.write_holding_register
      data:
      register: 43142
      value: 550
    • service: solarman.write_multiple_holding_registers
      data:
      register: 43143
      values:
      - 2
      - 0
      - 6
      - 0
      - 22
      - 30
      - 2
      - 0
  • conditions:
    • condition: numeric_state
      entity_id: sensor.bms_soc
      above: 70
      sequence:
    • service: solarman.write_holding_register
      data:
      register: 43142
      value: 550
    • service: solarman.write_multiple_holding_registers
      data:
      register: 43143
      values:
      - 2
      - 0
      - 6
      - 0
      - 23
      - 15
      - 2
      - 0
  • conditions:
    • condition: numeric_state
      entity_id: sensor.bms_soc
      above: 60
      below: 70
      sequence:
    • service: solarman.write_holding_register
      data:
      register: 43142
      value: 550
    • service: solarman.write_multiple_holding_registers
      data:
      register: 43143
      values:
      - 2
      - 0
      - 6
      - 0
      - 23
      - 30
      - 2
      - 0
  • conditions:
    • condition: numeric_state
      entity_id: sensor.bms_soc
      above: 40
      below: 60
      sequence:
    • service: solarman.write_holding_register
      data:
      register: 43142
      value: 550
    • service: solarman.write_multiple_holding_registers
      data:
      register: 43143
      values:
      - 2
      - 0
      - 6
      - 0
      - 1
      - 0
      - 2
      - 0
  • conditions: []
    sequence:
    • service: solarman.write_holding_register
      data:
      register: 43142
      value: 0
    • service: solarman.write_multiple_holding_registers
      data:
      register: 43143
      values:
      - 2
      - 0
      - 6
      - 0
      - 0
      - 0
      - 0
      - 0
• delay:
  hours: 3
  minutes: 45
  seconds: 0
  milliseconds: 0
• device_id: fd2123e941a96xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - Zappi
  domain: select
  entity_id: 2e935353f794xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - Charge Mode
  type: select_option
  option: Eco+
  mode: single

</code>

I think your setup is working fine. Looking at my similar-sized setup albeit across 3 aspects where I generated 16.1 kWh on the 24th, in Dublin City.

I suspect you’re getting your kW, kWh and kWp’s a bit mixed up, coupled with the clipping that your oversized system is doing by design. The following two videos are great and will really help you better understand what to expect from your system.

I'm controlling SolarEdge via HA too. Works very well.

Is there anybody on here with mostly west orientated panels and generating good electric. I can get 12 west facing panels and 6 south on my roof. 1 Installer said my west would receive light early in day too(noon ish) as west roof higher then south facing bit. Just wondering is it worth it, we do use most electric in evening as of now but that may not always be the case. In winter west would have v little generated i would think.

Cheers man, you are a fountain of knowledge. Ground mounting is an option for all south facing but its handier and cheaper to roof mount as my garage does not have power yet. Have you south panels aswell and do they do much better? I am on tou and 5-7 my most expensive time so may make sense to do 12 west 6 south. How many panels generate that 3.4MWh?

Would the roofs on the left(south facing) and on right/straight ahead in pic(west facing) in first attachment impact negatively on each other, shading etc? Installer wanted to put 12 on west facing roof in attachment 2 and 6 on south in attachment 1.

I was thinking putting 6 on both roofs in attachment 1 and remaining 6 on nearside west roof in attachment 2. Thinking that further over roof slots on west facing in attachment 2 will be last to get sun. Not sure if that makes sense.