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Solar panels work best in cold sunny climates.

Yep, split the panels into two strings, one per MPPT input and you'll be fine. I have a Solis 3kW inverter.

You've currently got Feed-in Priority mode enabled, and Self-use mode disabled. That's fine, but it means your generated power will be used to power your house first, then any excess will be exported. The priorities are: Load, Grid, Battery charge. Batteries will only be charged if there is...

If I had a nice big battery pack I would probably set it so that it only charged up to 90%. As it is with 100Ah@48V I need as much as I can get in winter and on cloudy days the rest of the year.

You must set the Forcecharge SOC lower first. Then you can set the Overdischrg SOC. I have 2xUS2000Cs and have set Forcecharge SOC to 8% and Overdischarge SOC to 10%. Even though the settings imply it is possible, the Forcecharge SOC must be lower than the Overdischarge SOC.

I don't usually take advantage of the daytime negative rates. I make more from my export (15p/kWh) than I would from import (-0.54p/kWh). I'm going to charge my batteries up overnight and let them stay full so most of my generation goes to export instead of charging the batteries.

I also have Waveshare RS485 to Ethernet modules. I have one connected to my inverter and the other to the datalogger (which is in a more accessible location now). These ones require a 12V power supply, which I have dropped to 5V for the datalogger.

You can raise a ticket with Solis to ask for Remote Control from the App or Solis cloud website. You'll need a G3 datalogger and fairly recent firmware. I can change my battery charge times from my phone or laptop using that.

I use https://solcast.com/ Although based in Australia, they have forecasts for the whole world (even the US). There is a free API where you can register one location, give it some details about your array and it will give you predictions for hourly kWh generated for the next day.

There is (on the S5 ranges at least) a User Defined battery options where you can fill in the appropriate voltages for any unsupported battery. Otherwise you could use a BMS that emulates Pylontech and select that option.

@SeaGal the circles go grey when idle. 0W in or out. For the batteries that can happen when the panels are generating just enough to cover the load, but not enough to charge the batteries as well. I agree the OP should go back to their installer. Limiting the battery charge like that seems a...

My last electricity bill was £26.00. That's £12.40 standing charge, £12.36 usage and £1.24 tax. I should be receiving £31.50 for my export during the month. So actual cost will be £-5.50. That wasn't a very sunny month. Hopefully this month will be better.

I suspect it isn't held in flash. There's no reason for that value to be stored when the inverter is off. Besides it seems that Solis themselves will be doing that for features like their smart charging based on import prices.

Panel output is rated at a fixed temperature. Usually around 25°C/77°F. If the panels are below that temperature they can produce significantly more than their official rated power. Unless the weather is really cold it won't last long as the panels warm up. They also fade with age. I've had...

I was summoned :) I haven't really noticed any noise from my 3K Solsis inverter other than a slight hum, but it is up in my loft and I rarely go up there to check on it. But I agree that the noise you describe doesn't sound right. It may be something harmless like some resonant harmonic of...

I believe the Max charge current for that inverter is 100A (5kW), so you can set it to that, but it may be one that will drop to around 80A after 20 minutes or so to prevent overheating. (I think the newest models in the S6 range can maintain a 100A charge). So you can set your inverter to 100A...

It's just how the inverter works. I believe it has to ramp up and down relatively slowly to prevent it reacting to brief spikes of use and creating surges.

Here are my actual yield figures in kWh for Chelmsford on a 3kW array SSW facing, 30° roof. Sep 22: 232 Oct 22: 301 Nov 22: 91 Dec 22: 68 Jan 23: 102 Feb 23: 162 Mar 23: 181 Apr 23: 351 May 23: 422 Jun 23: 493 Jul 23: 493 Aug 23: 374 Sep 23: 374

Cold batteries? The BMS limits the current depending on the battery temperature.

3.6kW has its advantages in the UK. Under code G98 you don't need to apply for permission to connect it to the grid, you only need to notify the network company within 14 days of commissioning. Over 3.6kW comes under code G99 and you need to get permission in advance. Of course you still have...

Much under 10°C and your batteries will stop charging. Finding out what the fault is could be tricky. The inverter may not be able to get the details. Pylontech have some software called "Batteryview" (I think) that you can put on a laptop and plug it into the Console port on one of your...

The one I'm thinking of is under Advanced Settings -> Storage Energy Set -> Control Parameter -> Charge Limitation. The default is 0.0A (no limit). It is a "master" charge setting and will limit both charge from PV and grid.

The discharge settings are for discharging your battery to the grid. For normal use (discharge to load) you leave them all at 0:00.

There is a standing charge for your supply, whether you use any electricity or not, as long as you have a grid connection. You don't get charged any extra for having Export on your account. I have Octopus Agile for Import, with a 42p/day standing charge (that will go up next year), and Octopus...

The inverter won't have stored the voltage at the time of the alarm, but if you have a datalogger connected to your inverter, then the voltages will be logged on the Solis servers and you can view the historical battery voltages from the graphs on the website or using the App (I think).

I'm lucky to hit 1.2kW from my 3kW system at this time of year. In summer I get 3kW or more. The peak I've ever seen (very briefly) with cold panels on a very sunny day was 4kW.

The status is "OV" (Over Voltage), not "0V" (Zero Voltage). I get this sometimes with my Solis inverter and one of my US2000C batteries. I've had inverter and battery software updates which reduced the frequency of the alarms. Allegedly there is another inverter update that should fix it...

If it's like our EU/UK ones, there should be a User Defined battery option where you can set voltages and currents manually. It should work without comms, but won't show the SOC%. We were told that we could use Lead Acid, but it would invalidate the warranty. LiFePo4s are more expensive than...

From what I can see the US3000C should be compatible with the US2000B with the caveat that they all might need a firmware upgrade. The US3000C should be the "master" battery, ie the one with the control link to the inverter, then the control line goes to each of the US2000Bs in turn. Procedure...

Some rough initial thoughts. It looks like area C will get some shading from B that may affect output at certain times of day. I've got 3kW of panels (8x385W) on my small SSW facing roof. I have had 4kW peak out of them on a bright cold day. I think you'll be able to get more than 6kW of...

Just as well email notifications are turned off now.

Yes, you are charging from the grid between 06:00 and 17:00. You're also DISCHARGING into the grid from 17:00 to 05:00. You don't want to be doing that. It is costing you money. Those settings are for gird charge/discharge only. The inverter will charge the batteries from solar without any...

Your Solis inverter has a separate "AC Backup" output which (if enabled) will keep running when the grid is down - as long as you have sufficient PV or battery power. Usually that output gets connected to an "Essential Loads" Consumer Unit which will run your lighting and fridge etc. It will...

The most common fault I've seen when work has been done near the meter is to put the CT clamp sensor back facing the wrong way. It looks to me like it is on the correct wire (incoming Live), but I can't tell if it is the right way round. Symptoms can vary, but may include PV generation appearing...

For any of Octopus' "Smart" tariffs you need a Smart meter (SMETSv1 or v2) that logs import and export separately, usually at 30 minute intervals. The one your thinking of is the old style FIT scheme with a "Generation" meter and the payments are made for "deemed export", which is typically 50%...

A transformer without any load on the secondary is basically an inductor and as such will block AC current. It's not quite as simple as that in reality though.

Nah, not addicted at all. Only a few posts and not been here a year yet. I only check in about 3-4 times a day. Quite mild compared to my real addiction where I've been a member for 11 years and posting an average of 2000 posts a year :)

True, while the grammatical errors may be irksome, they should not detract from the meaning of the post. More important are the correct use of Units (which there have already been posts about). Ok, for example, someone using "kwh" instead of "kWh" is incorrect, but in context it is pretty clear...

I'm on a TOU tariff in the UK, where electricity is priced based on the wholesale costs every half hour. We get occasional times when too much is being generated (usually during stormy weather) and rates drop below zero. There were a few days at the start of April where rates dropped below zero...

The reason I bought a 2kW kettle is so that my 3kW inverter's batteries (2xUS2000C which max out at 2.5kW) can power it and the rest of the usual house load without having to import from the grid. *waves* :)

What @SeaGal said. I got caught out last winter when my loft temperature dropped close to freezing and my Pylontechs would only charge slowly when the sun came out. This year I've wrapped them in some insulation (which I'll remove for the summer) and make sure I give them at least a bit of a...

I made a proper version of my Pi console link board. It came out quite well ? The white connector is for a temperature/humidity sensor. The empty space is for a DS32131 RTC chip and battery.

Most 3.6kW inverters will take quite a bit more than that as input. The rating of the inverter is for AC output power. My panels often generate over the 3kW they are rated for and my Solis 3kW inverter is happy with that. It is also rated to charge batteries at up to 3kW as well as the 3kW AC...

Hybrid inverters tend to be more costly because they are more complex. You now have two options. 1. You can install a hybrid system now without batteries and it will act like a grid-tie, and add batteries later. 2. You can install a grid tie now and install a second battery-only inverter...

53.14V seems a bit high. I get occasionally get 2015 alerts when it's below 53.0V. Also 3.54 V/cell is high for LFP. For some reason that doesn't surprise me. Have I run into you somewhere else? Perhaps with 8-bits? Yes, you can do that. I made an interface board for a Raspberry Pi that...

Probably put the CT clamp back on the wrong way round so the inverter is reading import as export. Check the direction of the arrow on the clamp - should be on the live feed pointing towards the grid. You can remove the clamp and put it back the other way round, or there is a setting on the...

You could look at Solis. They are available in .au. Their S6 range of Energy Storage Inverters (hybrids) can be run in parallel (earlier hybrid models couldn't). The range goes up to 10kW with 3-4 MPPT per inverter. They use 48V batteries (check the list of compatible batteries). I have a Solis...

Nice place. :)

From that screen, go into Work Mode -> Self-consumption -> Charge and Discharge

Standard 3kW kettles are definitely faster, but I have noticed that more 2kW kettles have become available recently. I've switched to using a 2kW kettle as I only have a 3kW inverter and I like to keep my normal house load under 2.5kW so the inverter can cover it all easily.

Yep. I've done some more testing which seems to confirm that it is a 5 minute timer (I haven't checked the exact timeout to the second yet, I suspect it might be a little over 5 minutes to allow for update delays), and writing to at any time it resets the timer to 0. I've been writing a "1" to...

Or charge up your batteries on cheap overnight power and run off them during the day. Any PV generation is a bonus.

I don't need to go into the loft very often since I asked Solis to enable Remote Control on the App and Solis cloud website. I can set the charge/discharge details and quite a few other things from my phone or PC. I haven't seen any 100% blips like that, very odd. It may be a temporary comms...

If you want to stop your inverter using the battery, set a Discharge time from 04:01 to 16:00 with a current of 0 Amps. That stops the battery being used during that time. (Solis 3kW Inverter with 2x Pylontech US2000C 2.4 kWh batteries)

The important part of most microwaves is just a honking great transformer that ups the voltage to a couple of kV AC or more to drive the magnetron. That has a PF of close to 1.0. The controls of the microwave will be running from low voltage DC with a switching PSU. That would have a low PF...

Do the previous owners have any representatives? They should be able to get the FIT details for you. I know this because I had to deal with it for my father's house when he passed a few years ago.

That looks wrong. The way you've got that set up you will be charging your battery from the grid from 11:00 to 14:30 and from 15:00 to 15:30 every day. Then from 16:00 to 19:00 you won't be using your battery at all. Set the charge times to the cheap times when you want to charge from grid...

It should be possible to add a non-hybrid PV inverter to your setup. The RHI will detect any export from the other inverter and use it to charge its batteries if needed. For monitoring you can get a cable to dasiy chain your datalogger to both inverters, but you need to change the address of...

You'd need to remove the datalogger stick and connect something that will connect to the datalogger port. There is no unit you can get that just plugs in directly, so you need to do a bit of work involving soldering connectors and things. Basically you need to get the RS485/Modbus data to a...

I'm on Agile for import and Fixed for export. Without an EV Agile generally works out cheapest, with the occasional bonus day when import prices drop very low or even below zero. Some people with EVs do use Agile. They tend to have a lower mileage and don't need to top it up every day. They love...

Good morning. The inverter default is to use the grid when the batteries are too low, so you don't really need to do anything, but there are two main settings for the batteries that you could look at here. OverDischarge SOC %. When the charge gets to this level the inverter stops supplying...

The picture looks normal to me. Note that all the values are snapshots taken every 5 minutes and don't really show the load. It's better to look at the totals and see how quickly they go up. The graphs can be useful too. Spikes can happen if something switching on or off. Your fridge is the most...

I don't have that inverter, but I had the RHI-3K-48ES which was replaced with a S5-EH1P3K-L, and the Backup port is live as long as the inverter has battery power. In normal use it is linked directly to the main Grid connection. When grid fails it switches over to inverter output only. which can...

No. You can't connect the EPS to the Grid side at all. For one thing if the grid fails you'll be trying to power your entire neighbourhood from your inverter and batteries, for another you will be liable if a worker gets electrocuted while trying to fix the fault on a supposedly dead circuit...

One question. Do you see any alerts in the Solis App at all? I ask because it seems to be happening more frequently than I'd expect. Once my batteries drop to 20% charge the inverter starts using about 90% from grid and 10% from batteries until they drop to 15% charge, then it tops them up a...

Usually you'd have a separate breaker box for the EPS which would run "essential equipment", probably some lighting circuits, fridge and stuff.

Got it! pylon>time 23 11 07 20 12 45 @ Test result:pass Command completed successfully $$ pylon>

Panels will only generate what the MPPT takes from them. Any excess sunlight just turns into heat and is radiated off as it would on any surface.

I'm not sure they can reduce the amount once you've got your G99 approved. They just have to take your production into account when approving new G99s in your area. Even 3.68kW export is worth it at 15p/kWh or more. My export has got my effective electricity bills for the summer months down...

A bit off topic, but I'd use a rice cooker for cooking rice*. Cheap and simple to use. Also low wattage resistive heater should work with pretty much any inverter. *I would use one, but I don't have the space. I cheat and use microwave rice.

I'm using two Waveshare RS485/MODBUS to Ethernet adaptors. One connects my inverter to my LAN, the other connects the datalogger to the LAN. That allows me to send MODBUS commands from any computer on my home network while still keeping the Soliscloud working. There is another method that uses...

I assume you mean at or above 15°C. Insulate them.As a temporary measure I wrap mine in bubble wrap during the winter. But I'm planning to build an enclosure for them out of insulation board, but one that can be easily removed in warm weather. Some people add heat pads.

That could have been the same man who delivered my wife's wheelchair. I had to straighten up the brakes.

They can be... and they can be really bad. Usually they're under 20p most of the day, except between 4pm and 7pm where they shoot up. I've seen close to 70p at 5pm on a really bad day. But that's what batteries are for. I love the occasional -8p days when I turn on everything and charge the...

You should at minimum have an RCD/MCB and an earth rod for the backup output.

It's pretty certain that the clamp has been installed incorrectly. It's one of the most common mistakes that installers make. Nine time out of ten it has just been fitted backwards and is a simple job for the owner to fix, but in your case it sounds like it is a job for the installer. I hope...

I suspect your CT clamp has been put back incorrectly, so your inverter can't detect the load. Notice the house load is showing 0.00kW in your picture and it is also showing 2.43kW being exported to the grid. If you turn on a kettle does that figure go up and not change direction? If so the...

I've not done it myself, but it is possible to enable more then one mode on the inverter, which can lead to "undefined behaviour".

As @SeaGal said, check the Fox manuals/website for the upgrade procedure. You shouldn't need to make any changes on the inverter - it just sees one big battery.

I just tried changing my ForceCharge SOC and OverDischarge SOC through the app and it took it. Just one thing, the app is very buggy and I've often seen it either error, or do nothing when I've asked it to change a value. TBH I only really use it when I'm not at home now. The rest of the time...

I don't know how to interrogate the BMS settings. I just know that some people put low power heat pads round their outdoor batteries in cold weather to keep them healthy and charging. I believe LFPs charge best at over 10°C (50°F) and shouldn't be charged at under 0°C (32°F)

That does look worth it. I guess this is a side effect of the energy price caps. The import is capped, but the export isn't. It seems silly, but true. I'm on a mix at the moment. Import from Bulb on their EV tariff so I charge my batteries between 2am and 6am at 10p. Export to Octopus on their...

If you have a string of four panels in series the Volts will be 4 panels x 37.1 Volts = 148.40 Volts. Connecting two of those strings in parallel will still be 148.40 Volts. Unless I've misunderstood what you mean?

Discharging at what rate? "Overdischarge SOC" is when the inverter will stop using the battery to power your load. But the inverter itself is powered by the battery or solar, not mains, so it will keep discharging the battery slowly until it gets down to "Forcecharge SOC" when it will use mains...

It will always try to charge up to 100% if it has enough time/power. The minimum discharge level is set by the Over Discharge SOC value and Force Charge SOC value. Over Discharge SOC is the %age where it will stop using the batteries for load and export. After that it will only use the...

Inside the hamster.

I've got the S5 3K model, but I assume the S6 is similar in self-use mode. The battery will supply both outputs while there is grid present, and just the backup port if the grid fails.

Yes, your export is being limited to 100W! Set the Feed in Power Limit Switch to OFF to enable full export. That is assuming you have the correct approval for your export (G99 in UK for greater than 3.68kW).

I've been happily running various USB drives for years now. I've only had a couple fail in that time. One was just old age (HDD), the other was cheap junk (SSD). I've had no problems with the USB power from any Pi.

Yes, through the web page and through the App. You may need to contact Solis Support to get it enabled, although it is already enabled for most users. At the top of the Inverter detail screen you should see Inverter Control. Solis Europe on YouTube have videos with how to use it.

I thought about running the PI from the AC Backup on the inverter, but I used a Passive PoE splitter ate each end of the cable that I ran up into the loft. I feed 12V from a PSU into one end and have a 12V to 5V converter at the other end. I'm using a PI 3A+, so it doesn't use a lot of power.

There's no way I know of being able to connect the output of one Solis inverter to the MPPT of another. Some of us are connecting directly to the RS485/Modbus ports on our inverters and running our own monitoring/control software instead of or as well as using the optional dataloggers that send...

I asked the company that installed my inverter and they are sending me the connector. With the threat of power cuts looming this winter I'm hoping to get my lighting circuits and a few essentials hooked up to it instead of to the main circuits.

In your situation you should be fine as only one of your inverters will be a hybrid with batteries and the other one will presumably be a grid tied inverter. That combination is fine. Otherwise, if you want two inverters both with batteries you'd need the new S6-EH1PxK range, which do allow...

Do not set a discharge time. That is to dump the battery contents to the grid, not use it for your house. Set all discharge times to 00:00 for normal use. You should only need to set the charge times.

You could possibly replace the 8x250W panels with 8x400W to get 3.2kWh, but you'll probably need to upgrade your 2.4kW inverter to a 3.6kW one to handle the additional load. The new panels may be physically slightly bigger. You would probably need to get the system MCS certified if you did...

Yes, as @SeaGal confirmed, you can set your OverDischargeSOC down that far. But you must set your ForceChargeSOC lower than that first. I've got my ForceChargeSOC set to 10% and OverDischargeSOC set to 12%. I did try at 5% and 10% for a short while, but an imbalance between my batteries meant...

I use Solcast (based in Australia, but cover the whole world). Free registration for non-commercial use. Set up your location, panel ratings and orientation and their API gives you a projected output in kWh in 30 minute slots. I've found their forecasts reasonably accurate.

It's not 5kWh, it'll be a US3000 which is 3.6kWh. So about an hour with a 3kW load. I've got two US2000 at 2.4kWh each. I want to add a US5000 which is 4.8kWh.

Default for the inverter is to charge the batteries if there is spare PV output after fulfilling the Load. There's no manual way to force it that I know of. That does rely on a working meter to detect the export/import usage at the time.