Battery draw while sufficient solar

[shavermcspud]

Can anyone explain why i see draw down on my battery bank but yet I'm producing sufficient solar to cover my requirements.

As you can see my overall load is 416 watts with 429 coming from PV I presume overheads make up the additional 13 watts difference but yet the battery indicator shows I'm drawing 2 amps / 54 watts from battery.

I know my solar supply is enough as I can switch on the washing machine and happily draw 800-900 watts from PV but still 3-3 amps from battery. is this a mis-reading?

 

[Supervstech]

Possibly the battery sensor isnt calibrated.
What system do you have?

 

[shavermcspud]

I have the Iconica 3000W 24V hybrid pure sine wave inverter with 40A MPPT solar controller and 25A mains charger


what is odd is that my shunt direct to battery shows something completely different, if i add more load to the system i.e 400 watts, the PV goes up to 558 and shows a positive battery current charge but my shunt show way more current

 

[tictag]

As you can see my overall load is 416 watts with 429 coming from PV I presume overheads make up the additional 13 watts difference but yet the battery indicator shows I'm drawing 2 amps / 54 watts from battery.

As the current and power reading is -ive, I suspect that this is indicating a trickle-charge to the battery.

 

[Fred S]

A rough schematic of where the system shunts/sensors are located would be of help. It looks like one may be located in a wrong, or at least a confusing, location. However, I doubt there actually is anything wrong with your system's operation.

 

[shavermcspud]

The shunt is in the correct place according to the hookup instructions, connected to the negative leg on the battery bank.

Its very odd that i get one reading from the shunt sowing one current draw and something totally different from the inverter. don't know which one to believe.

 

[Fred S]

The shunt and meter that you added will be the accurate reading, although you should verify it with another meter (such as a clamp meter) once, to be sure the new meter is reading correctly. While you're at it, you can check the actual current in all the wires and its direction.

Yes that's the correct place for the shunt. Here, it will show a "net" value of amps and watts going into (charging) or out of (the make-up amps for what the PV can't provide) the battery. Since all the controller sensing is done internally in the unit, I think you'll have to ask Iconica support about the meaning of the apparent display discrepancies.

 

[shavermcspud]

The shunt and meter that you added will be the accurate reading, although you should verify it with another meter (such as a clamp meter) once, to be sure the new meter is reading correctly. While you're at it, you can check the actual current in all the wires and its direction.

Yes that's the correct place for the shunt. Here, it will show a "net" value of amps and watts going into (charging) or out of (the make-up amps for what the PV can't provide) the battery. Since all the controller sensing is done internally in the unit, I think you'll have to ask Iconica support about the meaning of the apparent display discrepancies.

Thank you Fred,

I have a clamp meter so will give that a go later today.
I guess as long as one is reading correct that will have to do, the only issues is it messes up my logged PV production,battery and usage values each day within the ICC software.

I have spoken with the supplier (rebranded Axpert unit) and they are useless, I guess a firmware update might fix this if such a thing existed.

 

[shavermcspud]

I remember back in the day , Tesla had a court battle with power companies who wanted access to their battery bank controls. Tesla won if I remember right. Denying the power company that privilege. But there are some funny laws regarding the switchers, and how much access a power company has to "privately owned" battery storage. You need a manual switcher. Your storage is too small to let them monkey with it. I'll never go grid tie with my system unless I have a manual shut off, so they cannot take my power against my will. Some people call me paranoid, but I've seen it too many times to think its "coincidence"

Because power companies rig the "smart meters" to avoid giving you credit during day light, and want to charge you after dark at peak demand charge. Anyone who thinks "smart meters" are a good thing, needs their head examined. They are taking your production at rock bottom price, to sell it back to you at double the cost they paid you for it. Just think about it, they are charging your neighbor, for the solar your producing, so they can turn down their plants during daylight, and you drain your batteries meanwhile. After dark, they charge you full price and fire their plants up. Its a win /win, ,,,,, for them.

I think you have misread my post completely, im not on a grid tie system or even feed in, this is stand alone system, its a hybrid inverter that feeds a totally separate non grid connected ring main for an out building.

There's no sneaky theft by the utilities or dodgy smart meeters

 

[Fred S]

Yes agreed Affordable Solarguy, for grid-tie, it is shame that so many disincentives are allowed for the utilities providers.

shavermcspud, it's too bad that the supplier isn't helpful. Looking briefly at the controller/inverter, manual, software and price, it looks like a very nice unit.

 

[shavermcspud]

Yes agreed Affordable Solarguy, for grid-tie, it is shame that so many disincentives are allowed for the utilities providers.

shavermcspud, it's too bad that the supplier isn't helpful. Looking briefly at the controller/inverter, manual, software and price, it looks like a very nice unit.

Hi Fred

It does or did appear to be a good unit, however to my horror yesterday I came home from work and the inverter had basically frozen/crashed, upon inspection the display and controls were non functioning, the net result was that it had continued to run on battery all day, ignoring the low cut off voltage, not swithcing to solar or mains and it had run my battery bank down to 17V!!! im now in the process of trying to recover the batteries with a mains charger. I was really hoping for a set and forget type system to a degree.

 

[Fred S]

Dang, I'm very sorry. I hope I didn't jinx the thing by praising it!

I guess you are on lead acid batteries, hopefully you'll be all right!

 

[Ampster]

So many people invested in grid tie, and are disappointed. Their systems won't even pay for themselves for decades under current laws, and corporate interests.

That is primarily a result of making uninformed decisions and those tend to be the ones that get talked about. I can say with a great deal of certainty that the ones I am in contact with that they are very happy with excellent paybacks of under 10 years.

 

[denarius]

I guess as long as one is reading correct that will have to do, the only issues is it messes up my logged PV production,battery and usage values each day within the ICC software.

Posting what solar assistant looks like as an alternative to ICC for interest sake:

Real-time solar monitoring from a Raspberry Pi | SolarAssistant Software

Real-time charts, analytics and power management from via a Raspberry pi - the most powerful, cost effective device on the planet.

solar-assistant.io