Solar Upgrade AGAIN

[Zucca]

Do you trust the uinverters in the long run?

Warranty until 2031

and your solar panel warranty?

My experience with any sort of those electronic boxes on the hot roof without any ventilation: they will fail and much sooner than the solar panels.

[EEVblog]

Do you trust the uinverters in the long run?

Warranty until 2031

and your solar panel warranty?

Ironically LG have gone out of the solar business, not Enphase.

[.RC.]

It gets funnier.
I've been posting videos on twitter.
Turns out it was switched on on the roof, but they didn't check that it was connected inside the Enphase box.
Checked with the other electrican who ran the mains wiring and he said he left them lose in the box ready for the solar contractor to connect.
The thing is they did supposedly verify that it was installed and working.
I gave them my phone to log and set up the WiFi, and then they got in with their installer app and told me they could see the microinverters and that it was producing power! Neither of which turned out to be true.
I'll look inside the enphase box tomorrow morning for the video.
Also, the electrician they were sending the fix it all and install the Deye today didn't turn up, and they have no firm ETA on when they can do it.

I had some young electricians out to install a changeover switch in our switchboard.   It resembles yours (although I suspect yours has been upgraded by now) with the typical 1980's rats nest of red wires and not a din rail in sight.   They wired it in, then we did test it when I plugged the generator in.   Seemed to work and away they went.

I later on decided to give the generator a real test as there are two houses, two sheds, pumps, etc running from the main switch board.   Plugged the generator in fired it up, and noticed the meter was spinning backwards.  Rang the electrician business and the boss electrician came out fairly quickly to fix it up.

[watchmaker]

Just got the new meter this AM.  Bright clear day.  35 kWh since 10 AM till 6PM out of a 6.5 KW system.   Lat 35.  Pointed due south (180).  Need to see how this progresses.

[EEVblog]

So, today they installed my Deye hybrid inverter, and this is what happened:

- They couldn't figure out how to get it working, string was producing only 30W. I eventually figured out the inverter it was in the wrong mode and the 30W reading is probably just a current resolution furphy.

- Once string doesn't work at all, zero volts. Must be a broken connection up on the roof somewhere. They have now left to do other jobs, so I only have one string working. Yes, they failed to connect both the Enphase system last week AND now this one. Do I win a prize?

- The electrican didn't have a multimeter so had to borrow mine.

- The AU stock Deye wasn't set up to Australian standard mode by default, local dealer who sold it to me is not happy. Also the menu system sucks and is confusing as hell. Took ages but I finally figured out how to change the standard modes and freqency etc.

- My @SolarAnalytics system failed at 7pm last night, doesn't connect to 4G, so I am currently without my primary tool for monitoring the installation. What are the odds?

- The Deye WiFi system and online cloud system sucks arse and I still haven't figured out how it all works.

And it's overcast and raining.

[Bud]

The electrican didn't have a multimeter so had to borrow mine.

 

[EEVblog]

The electrican didn't have a multimeter so had to borrow mine.

I wish I was kidding.
One solar string wasn't outputting anything and he had no way to test it. Said some other guy had it.

[.RC.]

If only you knew someone who could have sold him a multimeter.

[NiHaoMike]

If only you knew someone who could have sold him a multimeter.

Maybe sell one of the EEVblog branded meters at cost or even a bit below? With the real goal being to get the brand a bit more recognized in the industry, selling below cost could be considered as the cost of advertising.

[tszaboo]

The electrican didn't have a multimeter so had to borrow mine.

I wish I was kidding.
One solar string wasn't outputting anything and he had no way to test it. Said some other guy had it.

Oh I had this as well. Electrician sent by a landlord.
His method of making sure an outlet is wired correctly was plugging in a power tool, if it turns it's fine.
I had 2 outlets that triggered the GFC, and 2 without earth after he left. 

[BarrowBoy]

Any Lively Electrician should know the technique used in the 1960's..that required very little test equipment, indeed none. It was not the safest method of voltage detection though.  I will leave the method undescribed as I don't want to promote unsafe work practices....rather a multimeter with the correct CAT rating for your environment is preferable.

[EEVblog]

I'm going to connect two extra 440W panels I mounted yesterday into the 800W 2 input Hoymiles microinverter I have into the Gen input to give me some extra power. I presume that extra gen power gets treated like the solar input and can charge the battery/load/grid as desired.
I was going to run the DC cable for both panels direct down to the connection wall box next to the Deye so I could experiment with things, but I think I'll never end up using that and it's best to just mount the Hoymiles inverter under the panels and just run the AC cable down for a proper install.



Also, an Australian company AERL are sending me two 5kWh batteries that are compatible with the Deye. They are ones that sent me the extra Deye inverter for the extreme teardown, the founder is one of my viewers.
https://www.aerl.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/AERL_LiFe2_Datasheet_REV_004.pdf

[BarrowBoy]

What you need is a Solar Curve tracer than can check the efficiency of your system against the manufacturers solar panel specs. Is yours a 1000V or 1500V system, and less than 40A?  If so we could lend you a unit. No sales pitch....don't even show the brand. Just prove your Enphase numbers...although they do use decent gear themselves...toot toot.

[EEVblog]

What you need is a Solar Curve tracer than can check the efficiency of your system against the manufacturers solar panel specs. Is yours a 1000V or 1500V system, and less than 40A?  If so we could lend you a unit. No sales pitch....don't even show the brand. Just prove your Enphase numbers...although they do use decent gear themselves...toot toot.

Thanks for the offer, but I'm not really that interested to try and check the characterisation of the panels. Easy enough to just check the max output in summer time, and it's always been as per the ratings in the past.
In this case this summer I would expect 14x415W + 14x295W = 9.94kW at midday with the sun equally on both roof sides, minus a bit for the angle, and plus or minus for the solar insolation.

[floobydust]

Hot panels do put out less power. Trina TSM-415W is 313W at 20°C ambient (41°C NMOT) in a light breeze and 800W/m² irradiance, if I'm reading the datasheet correctly.
P_MAX tempco is -0.37%/K or a loss running at 75°C of 12.6% or 39.4W less/panel.
You might get a thermocouple up there to check roof/panel temperatures, for the science.

Relevant to your other 1630 thread, would be interesting to do the math if cooling the panels by say 30°C is worth it. Even a fan might pay for itself but I'm guessing what it's like during your summers, people saying the roof MPPT is at 80°C.

[Geoff-AU]

In summer our 10kW system produces more energy than we could conceivably use, so doing better in hot conditions isn't important.  In winter, I'd like more generation capacity. 

[EEVblog]

Relevant to your other 1630 thread, would be interesting to do the math if cooling the panels by say 30°C is worth it. Even a fan might pay for itself but I'm guessing what it's like during your summers, people saying the roof MPPT is at 80°C.

Very likely better off just installing some extra panels to compensate (assuming space and other requirements are met) instead fo tryign to eek some more efficiency out with some convolutely method. Panels are cheap. And you get extra power out when it's cooler.

[EEVblog]

Battery storage rack arrived thanks to AERL!
https://www.aerl.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/AERL_LiFe2_Datasheet_REV_004.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JqnVb_qM3-g

[floobydust]

Hey that looks really nice 
I want more vents, more airflow in that rack. Have to do some math on heat generated there or figure what made Tesla use water-cooling, or it's just they repurposed car packs.
Can you add vents to the bottom panel, or it a big scary bugfest in Australia? Snake gets in lol.
I'd have it outdoors with firebrick around it but that's just me being paranoid.

[EEVblog]

Hey that looks really nice 
I want more vents, more airflow in that rack. Have to do some math on heat generated there or figure what made Tesla use water-cooling, or it's just they repurposed car packs.
Can you add vents to the bottom panel, or it a big scary bugfest in Australia? Snake gets in lol.
I'd have it outdoors with firebrick around it but that's just me being paranoid.

It doesn't get that hot, it's very efficient. Will post some temp plots if I get a chance.
LiFePO doesn't have the same exothermic runaway reaction as lithium ion.

[EEVblog]

The Deye doesn't know about my Enphase, so you get this oddity.

https://youtube.com/shorts/oaKOnESXN64

[EEVblog]

Finally got the drone footage:

[EEVblog]

I now have two extra panels connected to the hoymiles microinverter connected to the gen port of the Deye

[EEVblog]

1st day with the two new 440W panels and 800W Hoymiles inverter and I hit the 800W maximum even though it's winter time and it's intermittent sunshine.
Goes to show that if we had the other panels on the front of our house in the same orientation (NNE), we'd get some amazing output.

[EEVblog]

I have no idea why "generator power" is showing a fixed 84W on the Deye. Does anyone know?