SenileOldGit
Solar Enthusiast
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2022
- Messages
- 320
I have just set up my first solar system, 12kW using 20 x Canadian Solar 595W panels, two MPP Solar PIP5048MKX inverters in parallel, and two Pylontech US5000 batteries (10kWh in total). I have been using the system for three or four weeks. My girlfriend and I built a ground mount using ground screws and scaffolding poles, and Renusol mounting rails. I use MultiSIBControl to monitor the panels' output, the load and the battery SOC. My inverters came with a custom Pylontech cable, which I have inserted into the RS485 socket on the first battery, and the battery icon flashes on the inverter, to show it is communicating with the battery. My inverters are classed as 'off grid', they cannot export energy to the grid.
Here's my problem: before I got the solar system, I was using an average of 11kWh of electricity a day from the grid. I have several years of electricity bills, and they all show me that my average yearly use is 4,000kWh. But the solar system is bringing in from 22kWh per day, to 26kWh per day, and most days the batteries are fully charged by the solar panels before sundown, and during the night time hours, I normally use 70 - 80% of the power in the batteries. I don't understand how I am using more than twice as much electricity as before. Are there huge losses in the system that I am unaware of? I hired a very good electrician to do all of the electrical work, all cables, etc. were done by him, all I have done is physically mount the solar panels, he did all the connections, etc.
On sunny days I could easily fill six batteries (30kWh) but I am waiting to see how the two batteries I have already got, work out. On cloudy days, I get around 2kW coming in for most of the day, but I don't manage to charge the batteries completely, normally they get to four or five out of the six LEDs lit up.
Does it sound like something is wired wrong in my system? I have heard numerous reports from people with 4kW or 5kW systems, who say that their panels bring in more than enough to supply all the electricity they need, in houses similar in size to mine. I've heard that solar panels can work 'in reverse' and if power goes out to the panels by mistake, they will radiate it like giant LEDs (although you can't see the light due to its wavelength).
I've just turned off the circuit breakers on the panels for the last three days, and I have been taking meter readings from the electricity meter from the grid, and I'm using only 11kWh a day when I'm grid only. I've watched the graphs on MultiSIBControl when I turn on my 3kW immersion heater, and the load goes up correctly, by 3kW, and the same when I use an electric kettle, 2kW, the graph shifts up 2kW - so I think the data from the inverter is correct. (I also use WatchPower on my Android phone, the PIP5048MKX inverters have WiFi, and that shows me a daily total too, which has always been 22kWh to 26kWh).
I wonder if the batteries are actually communicating properly with the inverters - if I take the cable out of the battery's RS485 port, the inverter shows error 61 (battery communication not connected), but if I then plug the lead into the ACAN port on the battery, the error 61 goes away and the battery icon flashes again. This should be impossible, because ACAN and RS485 use different pins on the cable, and only two cables are actually in the connector (the RS485 ones). There is nothing in the MPP Solar manual to tell you which port on the battery to plug into, just a tiny diagram which isn't clear about which port to use.
Does anybody else here use MPP Solar inverters, and Pylontech batteries, and if so, what port are you using, and what information do you get from MultiSIBControl? I only get the battery voltage displayed, and the SOC, but I think the SOC may be estimated by the inverter, using the battery voltage, rather than direct communication from the battery.
I've attached a screenshot of MultiSIBControl from a few days ago - please note that I only turned the computer on 8:45am, and my system generates 1kW by 8am in October, so the daily total will have been over 21.7kWh. Note that the batteries have received 12.45kWh - and they were at least 10% full when the day started. The large power spike at around 3:30pm is when I was using a woodchipper and it jammed, please ignore it!
Here's my problem: before I got the solar system, I was using an average of 11kWh of electricity a day from the grid. I have several years of electricity bills, and they all show me that my average yearly use is 4,000kWh. But the solar system is bringing in from 22kWh per day, to 26kWh per day, and most days the batteries are fully charged by the solar panels before sundown, and during the night time hours, I normally use 70 - 80% of the power in the batteries. I don't understand how I am using more than twice as much electricity as before. Are there huge losses in the system that I am unaware of? I hired a very good electrician to do all of the electrical work, all cables, etc. were done by him, all I have done is physically mount the solar panels, he did all the connections, etc.
On sunny days I could easily fill six batteries (30kWh) but I am waiting to see how the two batteries I have already got, work out. On cloudy days, I get around 2kW coming in for most of the day, but I don't manage to charge the batteries completely, normally they get to four or five out of the six LEDs lit up.
Does it sound like something is wired wrong in my system? I have heard numerous reports from people with 4kW or 5kW systems, who say that their panels bring in more than enough to supply all the electricity they need, in houses similar in size to mine. I've heard that solar panels can work 'in reverse' and if power goes out to the panels by mistake, they will radiate it like giant LEDs (although you can't see the light due to its wavelength).
I've just turned off the circuit breakers on the panels for the last three days, and I have been taking meter readings from the electricity meter from the grid, and I'm using only 11kWh a day when I'm grid only. I've watched the graphs on MultiSIBControl when I turn on my 3kW immersion heater, and the load goes up correctly, by 3kW, and the same when I use an electric kettle, 2kW, the graph shifts up 2kW - so I think the data from the inverter is correct. (I also use WatchPower on my Android phone, the PIP5048MKX inverters have WiFi, and that shows me a daily total too, which has always been 22kWh to 26kWh).
I wonder if the batteries are actually communicating properly with the inverters - if I take the cable out of the battery's RS485 port, the inverter shows error 61 (battery communication not connected), but if I then plug the lead into the ACAN port on the battery, the error 61 goes away and the battery icon flashes again. This should be impossible, because ACAN and RS485 use different pins on the cable, and only two cables are actually in the connector (the RS485 ones). There is nothing in the MPP Solar manual to tell you which port on the battery to plug into, just a tiny diagram which isn't clear about which port to use.
Does anybody else here use MPP Solar inverters, and Pylontech batteries, and if so, what port are you using, and what information do you get from MultiSIBControl? I only get the battery voltage displayed, and the SOC, but I think the SOC may be estimated by the inverter, using the battery voltage, rather than direct communication from the battery.
I've attached a screenshot of MultiSIBControl from a few days ago - please note that I only turned the computer on 8:45am, and my system generates 1kW by 8am in October, so the daily total will have been over 21.7kWh. Note that the batteries have received 12.45kWh - and they were at least 10% full when the day started. The large power spike at around 3:30pm is when I was using a woodchipper and it jammed, please ignore it!
Attachments
Last edited: