Well, seems the world of solar moves much faster than I did. When I purchased the 6000ex it was the *new kid on the block* so I was thinking it would be serviceable for a while and I would be able to purchase a second/third to add on if needed. Oops.
System setup:
1 EG4 6000ex
10 Canadian Solar 355w panels
2 Lifepower4 batteries.
It took me a year and a half after buying those to figure out what I wanted/needed to do for wiring, mounting and connection. I should have set things up the way I have now right away, but I was trying to *future proof* my install and instead missed out on power savings for over a year.
I am still messing with battery settings and alternating between SBU and SUB as the weather is hit or miss.
I have had the install running for 3 days, and using dessmonitor/eg4 app I seem to be in pretty good shape to lower my bills until I can expand.
My average electrical usage via the monitor is between 300w-1.2kws. That is with the TV/computers/network running and two 240v mini splits running. Even with cloud coverage, I seem to be making more power than I use during production hours.
I was annoyed the first night running the batteries in EG4 mode *after updating the battery fw* and the stupid alarm would start on the batteries when the voltage would hit 51v as the batteries thought they were at 25%. I have since set the batteries to user mode and changed the voltage settings to 55.5 flood, 54.0 float. I have set the inverter to use batteries until voltage hits 47 then switch back to grid until batteries hit 54v. From what I have read here, this should get the BMS's to figure out SOC correctly and hopefully keep me above setting the battery alarms off when they shouldn't be going off.
Things that I know I will need to do.... Invest in 4 more batteries to fill up my EG4 rack. I will also need to save up and either get 2 6000xp's or an 18kpv or something similar. So far nothing has kicked off the inverter, but when the hot water heater kicks on or using the stove AND the oven at the same time, it sets off all the alarms as it puts the machine at 110% on both legs.
I think going with 2 of the newer Luxpower 6000xp's is the way I am leaning and would pick up a 3rd as a backup. I considered doing the *trade in* to get one at a discount, but I think I am better off keeping the 6000ex to install on my shed and use it to power lights in there as well as my well pump. The single MPPT input is really holding me back as I am unable to find any of the solar panels I have and would much rather get bifacial's as I can afford. If I have multiple MPPT's then mixing panels is not as much as a concern, and my 355's can be used down the line for the shed.
I considered going the new wall mount batteries, but for the price, I am better off getting 4 more of the server rack batteries to fill out my rack as it gives me more storage for less money.
The end game is to get enough to power my entire property *my house, shop and the 2 travel trailers* and have my existing setup to be used on the back of the property that has no electricity where I am going to build my new house.
What I have learned:
I do not need more solar panels until I get more battery storage.
I DO need more inverting power as 6kw is not sufficient unless I change my stove and water heater to propane.
A single MPPT drastically limits my ability to expand my solar without either replacing them all, or having them lose efficiency by having different wattage/voltage/amperage panels mixed together. I wish I would have purchased 20 panels instead of 10 as I am able to run 18 of my current panels 9S2P config and have 2 spares if they get damaged.
I think my next investment is to get a R-pi to do solar assistant.
System setup:
1 EG4 6000ex
10 Canadian Solar 355w panels
2 Lifepower4 batteries.
It took me a year and a half after buying those to figure out what I wanted/needed to do for wiring, mounting and connection. I should have set things up the way I have now right away, but I was trying to *future proof* my install and instead missed out on power savings for over a year.
I am still messing with battery settings and alternating between SBU and SUB as the weather is hit or miss.
I have had the install running for 3 days, and using dessmonitor/eg4 app I seem to be in pretty good shape to lower my bills until I can expand.
My average electrical usage via the monitor is between 300w-1.2kws. That is with the TV/computers/network running and two 240v mini splits running. Even with cloud coverage, I seem to be making more power than I use during production hours.
I was annoyed the first night running the batteries in EG4 mode *after updating the battery fw* and the stupid alarm would start on the batteries when the voltage would hit 51v as the batteries thought they were at 25%. I have since set the batteries to user mode and changed the voltage settings to 55.5 flood, 54.0 float. I have set the inverter to use batteries until voltage hits 47 then switch back to grid until batteries hit 54v. From what I have read here, this should get the BMS's to figure out SOC correctly and hopefully keep me above setting the battery alarms off when they shouldn't be going off.
Things that I know I will need to do.... Invest in 4 more batteries to fill up my EG4 rack. I will also need to save up and either get 2 6000xp's or an 18kpv or something similar. So far nothing has kicked off the inverter, but when the hot water heater kicks on or using the stove AND the oven at the same time, it sets off all the alarms as it puts the machine at 110% on both legs.
I think going with 2 of the newer Luxpower 6000xp's is the way I am leaning and would pick up a 3rd as a backup. I considered doing the *trade in* to get one at a discount, but I think I am better off keeping the 6000ex to install on my shed and use it to power lights in there as well as my well pump. The single MPPT input is really holding me back as I am unable to find any of the solar panels I have and would much rather get bifacial's as I can afford. If I have multiple MPPT's then mixing panels is not as much as a concern, and my 355's can be used down the line for the shed.
I considered going the new wall mount batteries, but for the price, I am better off getting 4 more of the server rack batteries to fill out my rack as it gives me more storage for less money.
The end game is to get enough to power my entire property *my house, shop and the 2 travel trailers* and have my existing setup to be used on the back of the property that has no electricity where I am going to build my new house.
What I have learned:
I do not need more solar panels until I get more battery storage.
I DO need more inverting power as 6kw is not sufficient unless I change my stove and water heater to propane.
A single MPPT drastically limits my ability to expand my solar without either replacing them all, or having them lose efficiency by having different wattage/voltage/amperage panels mixed together. I wish I would have purchased 20 panels instead of 10 as I am able to run 18 of my current panels 9S2P config and have 2 spares if they get damaged.
I think my next investment is to get a R-pi to do solar assistant.
