Hi,
I live in Hampton, in south Cheshire, UK. I have a new DIY solar PV system, but am falling at the last hurdle.
I'm a retired chartered chemical engineer. I have lots of DIY experience but this is my first solar PV project.
My kit is:
16 off 400W or so panels, so max PV ~ 6.5 kW. Ground mounted.
Voltacon ESS 5.5 kW inverter (actually made by Voltronic, model ESS510).
3 off PylonTech US5000 batteries.
Eastron smart meter.
Various isolators, and surge protection at both ends of the DC feed cable.
I bought all this from Voltacon (Birmingham, UK) in early 2013. It took a long time for me to install, but it has been "complete" for a couple of months now. It charges up the batteries fine, but at present I can't get the system to export more than a few watts to my house.
I've checked several times the various Voltacon videos on youtube, and scrutinised the installation instructions, and as far as I can tell it is all correct. Local PV installers don't really want to help as they worry that they might lose their accreditation for working on a system made by a non-accredited installer, or so they say. One did come over as a favour and cast an informal eye over it, and he spotted a couple of installation shortcomings that I have since fixed, but he wasn't familiar with this inverter.
Whatever load is being drawn by my house, the inverter exports nothing. I put a clamp ammeter on the connection from the inverter to the nearby consumer unit, and it usually shows 16W (0.016kW), dropping to zero if I open the isolation switch.
Voltacon's explanations on youtube are difficult to follow and sometimes ambiguous in my view. They try, but they are not professional educators!
My troubles started when applying for a G99/G98 certificate from my local network operator, Scottish Power. They said this inverter wasn't on the ENA register and they won't grant a certificate without that, unless they do a witness test which costs close to £400 on top of the registration fee. This led to lots of heated discussions and emails with Voltacon, who didn't want to go to the expense of putting it on the register. (It later appeared on the register, maybe done by Volronic, but only for G99 approval, not G98, which Scottish Power said I need.) After I threatened legal action, Voltacon agreed to pay Scottish Power to do the witness test. Hence I'm not on the best of terms with them.
I need it to work before calling in Scottish Power's engineer. However, it won't export, so something is wrong. There are a lot of setup parameters, which I've been through several times, and can't see a problem. Clearly it's time for less myopic eyes to help!
I can post any information (eg all the setup parameters) if it helps.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Stuart
I live in Hampton, in south Cheshire, UK. I have a new DIY solar PV system, but am falling at the last hurdle.
I'm a retired chartered chemical engineer. I have lots of DIY experience but this is my first solar PV project.
My kit is:
16 off 400W or so panels, so max PV ~ 6.5 kW. Ground mounted.
Voltacon ESS 5.5 kW inverter (actually made by Voltronic, model ESS510).
3 off PylonTech US5000 batteries.
Eastron smart meter.
Various isolators, and surge protection at both ends of the DC feed cable.
I bought all this from Voltacon (Birmingham, UK) in early 2013. It took a long time for me to install, but it has been "complete" for a couple of months now. It charges up the batteries fine, but at present I can't get the system to export more than a few watts to my house.
I've checked several times the various Voltacon videos on youtube, and scrutinised the installation instructions, and as far as I can tell it is all correct. Local PV installers don't really want to help as they worry that they might lose their accreditation for working on a system made by a non-accredited installer, or so they say. One did come over as a favour and cast an informal eye over it, and he spotted a couple of installation shortcomings that I have since fixed, but he wasn't familiar with this inverter.
Whatever load is being drawn by my house, the inverter exports nothing. I put a clamp ammeter on the connection from the inverter to the nearby consumer unit, and it usually shows 16W (0.016kW), dropping to zero if I open the isolation switch.
Voltacon's explanations on youtube are difficult to follow and sometimes ambiguous in my view. They try, but they are not professional educators!
My troubles started when applying for a G99/G98 certificate from my local network operator, Scottish Power. They said this inverter wasn't on the ENA register and they won't grant a certificate without that, unless they do a witness test which costs close to £400 on top of the registration fee. This led to lots of heated discussions and emails with Voltacon, who didn't want to go to the expense of putting it on the register. (It later appeared on the register, maybe done by Volronic, but only for G99 approval, not G98, which Scottish Power said I need.) After I threatened legal action, Voltacon agreed to pay Scottish Power to do the witness test. Hence I'm not on the best of terms with them.
I need it to work before calling in Scottish Power's engineer. However, it won't export, so something is wrong. There are a lot of setup parameters, which I've been through several times, and can't see a problem. Clearly it's time for less myopic eyes to help!
I can post any information (eg all the setup parameters) if it helps.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Stuart
