My Pytes battery install with my SolArk 12k, AC coupled to Enphase micros

[Ampster]

The next day the batteries charged from solar and now that my overnight loads are only 500 Watts I am only down to about 55% by morning. That means I get back to 100% easily by Noon on these clear days. I checked my PG&E site and for the last week or ten days I have barely used the grid. That means my goal of reducing my Non Bypassable Charges for at least the Spring, Summer and Fall may be able to be accomplished.

The only thing that may change that will be if I can't charge my EVs from excess solar and have to use the grid overnight. Even then the $0.025 in NBCs above my lowest overnight rate is still much more convenient and less expensive than buying gas. Shameless plug for EV ownership.

 

[Ampster]

I used Hyper Terminal and a RJ45 to USB cable to list details of my cells. Right now with only a few cycles some of the cells are showing 0.021 volt difference but I expect that to narrow over time. This was at 100% charge and average cell voltage of 3.5 volts. I am still waiting on the WIFI stick to be delivered which will be more convenient than plugging into the console port of the master battery.

 

[Oldphile]

I used Hyper Terminal and a RJ45 to USB cable to list details of my cells. Right now with only a few cycles some of the cells are showing 0.021 volt difference but I expect that to narrow over time. This was at 100% charge and average cell voltage of 3.5 volts. I am still waiting on the WIFI stick to be delivered which will be more convenient than plugging into the console port of the master battery.

Where did you buy the Wi-Fi stick? The only place I found was AltE store.

 

[Ampster]

The only place I found was AltE store.

NAZ, Northern Arizona Wind and Sun. I bought the batteries and enclosures there as well. I hit them at the right time, with an extra 6% discount in addition to their good prices.
EDIT' I just checked prices and the WIFI stick is $200 on the AltE store. My sales order from NAZ shows $37. I don't know why there would be as big a difference even if one vendor has stock on hand.

 

[Oldphile]

NAZ, Northern Arizona Wind and Sun. I bought the batteries and enclosures there as well. I hit them at the right time, with an extra 6% discount in addition to their good prices.
EDIT' I just checked prices and the WIFI stick is $200 on the AltE store. My sales order from NAZ shows $37. I don't know why there would be as big a difference even if one vendor has stock on hand.

Thankyou for the pricing. AltE also had a ridiculous price for the V-box-OC early on. I got my V-box-OC from AltE for the same price as NAZ. I'm sure they'll drop the price on the stick. Once my batteries are functional, I'll give them a call. I'm waiting for the 11' 4/0 battery cables to connect to the Sol-Ark.

 

[Ampster]

I'm waiting for the 11' 4/0 battery cables to connect to the Sol-Ark.

Did you get custom cables? If so, from who? I can crimp 2/0 cables but 4/0 get a little messy without the correct die.

 

[Oldphile]

Did you get custom cables? If so, from who? I can crimp 2/0 cables but 4/0 get a little messy without the correct die.

The installer is ordering the (custom) cables, so I don't know where they are getting them. When I was considering doing this battery install myself, I was planning to buy cables from Windy Nation.

 

[Ampster]

I did not expect the Pytes IC enclosure to arrive for another couple of weeks but since it was here, I assembled it and put the other three batteries in it to test. I only have a permit for the four batteries which are running in the external enclosure but since the internal enclosure has wheels it is easier to move 300 lbs of batteries out of sight until I get my final inspection. I was impressed with the rugedness of both enclosures.

 

[Oldphile]

I did not expect the Pytes IC enclosure to arrive for another couple of weeks but since it was here, I assembled it and put the other three batteries in it to test. I only have a permit for the four batteries which are running in the external enclosure but since the internal enclosure has wheels it is easier to move 300 lbs of batteries out of sight until I get my final inspection. I was impressed with the rugedness of both enclosures.

How many batteries will you have in total?

 

[Ampster]

How many batteries will you have in total?

Seven for a total of 35 kWhs, Four in a V-BOX-OC external enclosure and three in a V-BOX-IC internal enclosure..The engineer said we would avoid lengthy review by the Fire Marshall and a quicker permit process if we only went with 20 kWhs externally. That is why I am using two stages, one for inspection, and another, after inspection.

 

[Ampster]

This morning my pack was down to 45% SOC at which point the SolArk is programmed to no longer discharge it. I used the USB cable to poll the pack via the Console port and see how it was doing. Every cell was within 0.003 volts of each other. The average cell voltage was 3.317 per cell or a battery voltage of 53 volts. It should be noted that the pack was already charging and the SOC was 47% when I took those readings. That is no surprise for that section of the charge discharge curve but a good reality check about the health of the pack.
At 86% one battery had a high cell at 3.439 volts and a low cell at 3.425 which is a difference of 0.014, which is a lot better than my DIY pack ever did at that SOC.
At 100% one battery had a high cell at 3.460 volts and a low cell at 3.439 for a difference of 0.018, which is not surprising to have a higher delta at this point in the curve. This pack has only been through a dozen cycles at the most so I will be curious in a month if the deltas are less.

 

[Ampster]

The WIFI Stick arrived and I got it installed along with some other finishing touches so I am ready to call for inspection. The data from the Stick allows me to see each battery and I was comforted by the data that they are all close together in voltage at the top and the peek into individual cell voltages shows they are well balanced. The advantage of the Stick over the console cable are that the data is logged so you can see historical data and graph it plus it is accessable from my network so I do not have to physically be connected to the cable connected to the console port.

I also checked individual cell voltage deltas and the biggest deviation is 0.04 volts with the highest cell at 3.51 volts and the lowest at 3.47 volts.

 

[Ampster]

Here is the exterior enclosure wired to the SolArk through the box on the left. Then it goes inside where the SolArk (right picture) and feeds through the bottom junction box where my Class T fuse and the Ferrite cores are.

 

[Ampster]

I finally scheduled my inspection today and was planning on being available the whole day. The inspector just called and wanted to know if I wanted to do a virtual inspection. Years ago I had done one of those when I was helping my sister's electrician and trying to save him the time of waiting around for a main panel swapout. I can't beleive they want to do one with something complicated as an ESS and hybrid inverter, but after spending two days cleaning up the site to make it less distracting for the inspector I was happy to do a virtual final inspection. He will send me a link to the app in an hour and we will do the walk through. I am in Sonoma County in a small village about 30 minutes from the building department offices, so I am not in one of the corners of the County which could be an hour and a half away.
EDIT: We finally connected and did the virtual inspecting and I passed everything except the placards and labeling. My plan had some very specific labeling requirements and I stuck as many stickers as I could on the inverter and main service panel. Some of them actually need to be engraved and I found a local place that can do it for me. I now have a correction notice which should be easy to resolve once I plaster the inverter and service panel with the placards and inverter with them.

 

[Ampster]

As noted, I passed the inspection for everything except the placards and labels so when I get those applied my next inspection will also be virtual using Virspect. Based on that I decided to add the three other Pytes V5 batteries to my system since I will not have to show that part at my next video call inspection.
I checked the SOC and voltage of the three cells and when the other four reached that percentage and within 0.05 volts of the other pack I connected them. The Pytes has a power on process that brings up one rack battery at a time and that process was fairly simple. Each of the seven batteries quickly reached th same voltage and even though the SOCs wer off by two or three pecent they all advanced to 100% fairly evenly. One lagged at 95% for a while at the end and the pack showed 99% until it reached 100%. Both the WIFI Stick and the Consol monitoring allowed me to watch the process and I seemed to notice that each pack was charging at a different current which I am not sure how the BMS figures out how to do that but I am pleased.

Now I have 35 kWhs of storage and because the evenings are cool, I can use my heat pump and not have to take the pack down to 45% every night like I did when I only had 20 kWhs attached. I am trying an experiment to see if I can be self sufficient in late Spring, Summer and early Fall. Last year I paid $230 in Non Bypassable Charges and I am experimenting to see if I can reduce that this year. I am also trying to charge my EVs from excss solar during the day to reduce NBCs as well. It is more of a thought experiment that makes this hobby entertaining for me.

 

[Ampster]

I found a great local engraver who was familiar with solar placards and labels. The turnaround time was 24 hours and when I finished installing them I called for inspectrion. I passed with flying colors so now I can move on the other projects around the house. Here is a picture of the inverter labeling.