Solis RAI-3K-48ES Issues

[b0mbays]

Hi, I have the Solis RAI-3K-48ES with 16x PV and 2x Pylontech 2.4kWh batteries and I have a few issues hopefully somebody has come across before.

Firstly, I can't see a 'self use' mode inside the storage mode settings. I only see 'Time charging', 'Off Grid mode' and 'Reserve Battery'. From reading this forum it seems other users are using the 'self use' mode.. I wander if I'm on an older firmware and require an update. Looking via the Solis app I'm using inverter version: 220013.

Below shows what my current setup is inside the 'Time Charging' mode:



The manual is hard to understand, but what I want to do is slowly charge the batteries (also try and power some of the house) throughout the day using the PV's and then use the batteries during the peak hours so I have set the 'Charge Time' to 06:00 - 17:00 and then 'Discharge Time' from 17:00 to 05:00. My issue is that when I go to sleep around 1am the batteries are at around 20% which is good as they have slowly trickled down, but when I wake up in the morning at around 8am the batteries are now fully charged again. So I must be charging them via the grid during the night?

My other issue is that the Solis wifi stick is very unreliable and is disconnecting every hour meaning I have to keep reconnecting it to my Wifi. Has anyone come across this before? The signal strength is good so maybe the stick is just malfunctioning. I see they do a LAN version that I could run an ethernet cable to my router so that could be my solution.

Finally, has anyone got any recommendations for any DIY logging systems they have setup

I really appreciate any help on this as i'm a complete newbie to all of this but excited to get things working!

Thanks,

Sam

 

[rpdom]

Yes, you are charging from the grid between 06:00 and 17:00. You're also DISCHARGING into the grid from 17:00 to 05:00. You don't want to be doing that. It is costing you money.

Those settings are for gird charge/discharge only. The inverter will charge the batteries from solar without any settings in self-use mode.

How the solar is used is: Solar to power house. Any spare solar goes to charge batteries and any left over after that exports to grid. Any shortage from solar is made up from batteries and any shortage from that is made up from grid.

If you have a cheap-rate overnight tariff you may want to charge your batteries using that. In that case set the Charge time only.

 

[Umski]

It looks like you have the RHI (H for Hybrid) rather than the RAI (AC coupled) - they are similar but you see more info on your screen. Would suggest setting all your ToU settings to 00.00 to avoid the forced charge/discharge. The self-use settings is apparently the default but I don't know if the menu system is identical on the RHI vs RAI although similar so may be worth waiting for an RHI owner to share some info.

For logging, take a look at Open Energy Monitor - not sure about stock of hardware in the current climate but it's very flexible - I've had mine going for 10+ years with hot water diversion and a with a few small tweaks have been able to add the battery input/output with an extra CT...happy to PM you my battery dashboard link for you to see but this is just an example of the dashboards that can be used depending on the data you have.

The Solis Cloud app in comparison it complete rubbish I've found - I've only been using it to check my SoC value and then tweak my calibration values on the CMS to match (it's derived rather than exact) - I'll probably get shut of the dongle in due course!

 

[SeaGal]

agree with @Umski that you have an RHI if your have PV input. Guess you have an older firmware version than ours as your screen only shows a single charge/discharge setting - mine has about 4 or 5. Not that that should matter in itself.

Re charging from grid, this guide may help...

Solis Hybrid Inverter: charging from the grid

How to configure your Solis Hybrid Inverter to charge from the grid on schedule.

blog.jonsdocs.org.uk