Hi. Quick question- the growatt manual says it has rs485 comms. Do you know where it is? Looking to do some solar assistant logging. Thanks
wow this is excellent information, thanks!!Yea, I found that information before in another of Growatts MIN 3000 manual:
James West from Growatt confirmed that information is correct.
Got connected. I updated to latest version of solar assistant(the version I downloaded two days ago was not the latest ?)Yea, I found that information before in another of Growatts MIN 3000 manual:
James West from Growatt confirmed that information is correct.
- Siemens 200 Amp 2-Pole 3-Wire General Duty Fused Outdoor AC Disconnect: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Siemens...-General-Duty-Fused-Outdoor-GF224NR/302352591
I have this exact disconnect and have an anecdotal story about it... Electrician was landing some circuits in the main panel (also the same exact panel as you). He was working live and with a slip of a ground wire, POW! It touched a bolt of the bus bar. After a bit of troubleshooting, we found it blew one of the 200A() fuses in the disconnect. One heck of a short circuit. Of course, this was Friday at 3:15pm, before a long holiday weekend. No area supply houses had that fuse in stock. Closest I could get was 150A, which at least got us running again. Note, we were able to run off-grid from the 15k, just couldn't use the grid, due to one leg gone.
^ Moral for me - Order one or two of those big fuses for backup. This stuff shouldn't happen, but when it does, it could be at the worst time.
Also Ryushin, I have been researching (and have posted a couple other places) for how to solve my needs. I have 22 more panels I'd like to AC couple to the 15k. Another inverter would be great for several reasons, including having a "backup" to the 15k. I couldn't find suitable inverters until I came across this thread. Thanks very much!
Here is what I am deciding between:
- Growatt MIN11400TL-XH-US: About $1000 after tax credit.
- Solis S6-EH1P11.4K-H-US-RSS: About $1400 after tax credit.
- Sol-Ark 15k: About $4150 after tax credit.
Main thing I don't like about the Growatt and Solis is that they are HV battery, with Growatt only theirs. Solis can do others. I have 48v Homegrid batteries now, so those two inverters could not charge my batteries. Of course, the 15k checks all boxes, but is $3k more.
As you did, I will run this by the home boss. Perhaps she'll just say "what the heck, just get the 15k."![]()
Well, nice to know those fuses work!I have two spares fuses I keep in the wire trough under the fused disconnect.
Thing is, after I had bought everything, and installed it, then having the couple of issues with the two Growatt MIN (which got fixed), the CFO/wife who does not like to spend money and was very upset with how much I went over budget, came out of the blue and said I should have gotten a second Sol-Ark 15K. If she sees the wisdom of that, you're wife may too. Having the second Sol-Ark will not only give you redundancy, it will allow you to run twice the load in the house. You'll probably need another distribution block too which is listed on the first post.
Yea, if the CFO would have green lighted the second Sol-Ark it would have made things easier. Other thing is, I have 7 strings that would have to fit into that Sol-Ark and I could not make that work with my current layout. I'd probably have to loose a panel and figure out a different layout to make it balance in the 3 MPPTs. There is 17.6kW of PV going into those two Growatts.
Ha! That's hilarious. Perhaps I'll show this to our boss, so she'll just agree with your CFO. Right now, we're talking about 22 REC N-Peak 3 400, for about 8.8kW. Pocket change for the 15k.
Yeah, I have a couple fuses coming, plus the 150A that can also serve in a pinch, as it is now. My disconnect is outside (rest of everything is inside); I wonder if I can store the extra fuses in the disconnect?
BTW, I just noticed your location. We are over in Palisade (Grand Junction).![]()
I have this exact disconnect and have an anecdotal story about it... Electrician was landing some circuits in the main panel (also the same exact panel as you). He was working live and with a slip of a ground wire, POW! It touched a bolt of the bus bar. After a bit of troubleshooting, we found it blew one of the 200A() fuses in the disconnect. One heck of a short circuit. Of course, this was Friday at 3:15pm, before a long holiday weekend. No area supply houses had that fuse in stock. Closest I could get was 150A, which at least got us running again. Note, we were able to run off-grid from the 15k, just couldn't use the grid, due to one leg gone.
^ Moral for me - Order one or two of those big fuses for backup. This stuff shouldn't happen, but when it does, it could be at the worst time.
Also Ryushin, I have been researching (and have posted a couple other places) for how to solve my needs. I have 22 more panels I'd like to AC couple to the 15k. Another inverter would be great for several reasons, including having a "backup" to the 15k. I couldn't find suitable inverters until I came across this thread. Thanks very much!
Here is what I am deciding between:
- Growatt MIN11400TL-XH-US: About $1000 after tax credit.
- Solis S6-EH1P11.4K-H-US-RSS: About $1400 after tax credit.
- Sol-Ark 15k: About $4150 after tax credit.
Main thing I don't like about the Growatt and Solis is that they are HV battery, with Growatt only theirs. Solis can do others. I have 48v Homegrid batteries now, so those two inverters could not charge my batteries. Of course, the 15k checks all boxes, but is $3k more.
As you did, I will run this by the home boss. Perhaps she'll just say "what the heck, just get the 15k."![]()
PVWatts say I should be able to make over 80kWh during December. We'll see.
Is that per day, or for the entire month?
Total of All Solar Arrays | |||
Month | Daily Average POA Irradiance (kWh/m2/day) | DC Array Output (kWh) | AC System Output (kWh) |
1 | 4.74 | 2,832,004.05 | 2,691,557.95 |
2 | 4.78 | 3,280,213.79 | 3,122,815.32 |
3 | 4.82 | 4,597,114.71 | 4,375,470.56 |
4 | 4.86 | 5,141,206.60 | 4,884,809.22 |
5 | 4.89 | 5,711,248.80 | 5,437,625.84 |
6 | 4.91 | 5,723,732.92 | 5,464,748.00 |
7 | 4.91 | 5,652,194.03 | 5,394,284.71 |
8 | 4.91 | 5,196,618.82 | 4,957,439.20 |
9 | 4.90 | 4,628,841.90 | 4,417,104.98 |
10 | 4.90 | 3,769,734.09 | 3,591,560.65 |
11 | 4.90 | 3,013,989.97 | 2,868,663.32 |
12 | 4.91 | 2,483,857.28 | 2,354,841.54 |
Annual Total | 4.87 | 52,030,756.96 | 49,560,921.29 |
Well, we were told on Friday that they are still anticipated to ship this month...but here we are on the 29th...EG4 Chargeverter from Current Connected, which is back ordered for the time being. @HighTechLab any idea how long these are back ordered for?
The battery is about 1/4" too wide for the extra-heavy-duty rack slides to fit between the battery and the rack. Unfortunately, we don't have 1/4" inside the battery to give to make it skinnier without a full redesign that would require updating our UL listings (note, lots of money).It would be nice if the SOK batteries came with the standard mounting holes on the side so I could attach sliding rails to them which would make racking them so much easier. @HighTechLab, hint, hint.
Well, we were told on Friday that they are still anticipated to ship this month...but here we are on the 29th...
We closed backorder/preorders today. My team is working on calling everyone that has a pre-order and let them know of the situation and that we still don't know when we are going to actually have them - we are offering either a full refund to cancel the order (with the option to be put on a notification list when they do arrive), or provide a $25 refund if you wish to keep the pre-order in as an apology for the continued delays. We will resume taking orders only once the inventory has arrived to our facility.
The battery is about 1/4" too wide for the extra-heavy-duty rack slides to fit between the battery and the rack. Unfortunately, we don't have 1/4" inside the battery to give to make it skinnier without a full redesign that would require updating our UL listings (note, lots of money).
I'm asking a noob question here- can't you just connect the generator directly to the inverter?On Saturday I picked up a Firman Tri-Fuel generator from Costco and ordered the EG4 Chargeverter from Current Connected, which is back ordered for the time being. @HighTechLab any idea how long these are back ordered for?
Firman Tri-Fuel Generator: https://www.costco.com/firman-7500w-running--9400w-peak-tri-fuel-generator.product.100840185.html
EG4 Chargeverter: https://www.currentconnected.com/product/eg4-chargeverter-48v-100a-battery-charger-240-120v-input/
My plan is to run the generator on natural gas so this week I'll create my plans and submit them to my AHJ. The generator (5500 running watts on NG) seems sized perfectly to run the Chargeverter at 100% to charge the batteries. Once the AHJ approves my plans I'll go visit Home Depot again.
I'll be contacting Firman today to have them send me the high altitude jet for the Generator. They have a 3000-6000 jet and 6000-8000 jet. I'm at 6600ft in altitude. Most of Denver is 5000-5550 feet. I'm leaning torwards the lower altitude 3000-6000 jet in case I take the generator to another location in the Denver area. Mountains though go a lot higher. When I talk with Firman I'll see what they recommend.
My wife is open to the idea of buying more batteries around the June time frame. Planning on adding another five SOK batteries and placing all 10 in 55U 20" deep open frame four post rack: https://www.racksolutions.com/server-racks/server-racks-cabinets-enclosures.html#description
Using these rails: https://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-4POSTRAIL-4-Post-Universal-Mount/dp/B00TCELZTK/?th=1
If I can get the batteries to stack perfectly on top of each other, I should be able to fit another 3 batteries in that rack for a total of 65kWh.
It would be nice if the SOK batteries came with the standard mounting holes on the side so I could attach sliding rails to them which would make racking them so much easier. @HighTechLab, hint, hint.
Generators typically have a very poor waveform or a frequency that is not stable. Inverters will typically shutdown or not allow charging when one is connected. Hence why the Chargeverter was created.I'm asking a noob question here- can't you just connect the generator directly to the inverter?
Generators typically have a very poor waveform or a frequency that is not stable. Inverters will typically shutdown or not allow charging when one is connected. Hence why the Chargeverter was created.
I'm asking a noob question here- can't you just connect the generator directly to the inverter?
How's the system working. Have you received your first subzero bill yet?
Congrats on your upcoming first negative bill month!Yesterday I made my first 10 MegaWatts, yay! My utility adds a few extra charges such a delivery fee, time of use, taxes, etc. Those come out to be about $40 a month. My utility bills have before the solar was installed were normally been between $225-$400. The bills have been as follows since then (date is when the bill was delivered):
December 7th: $69.57
January 8th: $58.72
February 7th: $33.00
March: Have not gotten it yet and there is probably 2-3 more days left before it's finalized, but I ran the numbers today, and if they billed me today it would be my first negative month with -$20.71
On average during December, I used about 10-15kWh from the grid per day. The nights are so long the batteries get down to the 20% floor I have them set for. Still hoping to add another five SOK batteries around June and that should get me through the nights as I was still seeing 80-90kWh a day during December.... if the panels were not covered in snow. I've attached the Last 12 Months report from Solar Assistant.
The EG4 Chargeverter came from Current Connected (thanks @HighTechLab ) and the natural gas hose came a couple of days ago. Waiting on the 30Amp cable I ordered from Home Depot still. Going to run 30A Romex from the garage to the back of my house and put in the 30A recepticles and tap into the natural gas BBQ line back there and run the Firman generator under my deck. Need to finish the insulation in the garage before doing that. Probably get it all done this month.
But overall, I'm blown away with the power this system is producing. Today was a 157.4kWh day. Can't imagine what it will be like during the summer solstice. Just need to get those five batteries and I shouldn't be buying from the grid any longer, baring snow or stupidly dark cloudy days. The system even pulls in good numbers during the winter cloudy days.
PV Pro says I've earned back $1,315 so far, as of today. I can see the system making $5-6K a year at this point. So hopefully my breakeven will be within seven years.
Just did my taxes today, so much fun that was, let me break out the paper cuts and lemon juice to celebrate. Still going to have some of the tax credit to apply next year. Uggg.... the government wants so much money.
Congrats on your upcoming first negative bill month!
7 years for such a system is a phenomenal payback time.
As a self proclaimed diy battery evangelist, would you consider a diy battery? For about the same money you can get double the capacity, or spend half for the same capacity.
Nice work. I'm at 3044kwh since turning my system on December 17th