Ronski's Solar & battery DIY build with whole house backup
- Thread starter Ron-ski
- Start date
AC wiring at end of day 1
0.9kWh generated on the new panels.
0.9kWh generated on the new panels.
Associate
My little occlusion specialists are doing their job perfectly!
Associate
This is amazeballs! All that work has come together! Super excited for the next sunny day!AC wiring at end of day 1
0.9kWh generated on the new panels.
AC side should be done tomorrow, but they'll still need to change the house consumer unit next week.
Smart meters are being replaced next week as well, finally, but just in time, then need to see if I can get on Flux for the summer at least.
Smart meters are being replaced next week as well, finally, but just in time, then need to see if I can get on Flux for the summer at least.
We've been running off the battery/solar since early afternoon 
A few teething issues, which was a couple of settings in the Victron system, but other than that at the moment its doing what its supposed to.
Electricians done a very neat job, they will be back soon to update the consumer unit in the house. I've still got numerous little bits to sort out.
A few teething issues, which was a couple of settings in the Victron system, but other than that at the moment its doing what its supposed to.
Electricians done a very neat job, they will be back soon to update the consumer unit in the house. I've still got numerous little bits to sort out.
As the weather going to be bad for a few days, I decided to force charge the battery - it needs a full charge to calibrate the battery SOC, just as the Mrs put the kettle on.
5.6kw into the battery, 4.5kw to AC loads.
5.6kw into the battery, 4.5kw to AC loads.
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Soldato
Only improvement I can think of is properly displaying battery % there, or maybe remaining kWh left?
Also guess this needs more work to dump into pvoutput?
Also guess this needs more work to dump into pvoutput?
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It wasn't displaying battery % because it needed a full charge to calibrate it, it is now, it will also display time left.
Yes I need to setup home assistant, then get that to talk to the Victron system, then send it to PV Output, it will be done, but not just yet.
Yes I need to setup home assistant, then get that to talk to the Victron system, then send it to PV Output, it will be done, but not just yet.
Soldato
Will Victron be able to see it all?
Associate
Open advanced, go to widgets(top right of the screen) chose what widgets you want displayed for each individual component.
(it will give you the total widgets for each device to chose from)
That is where the real magic of the Victron VRM is
(it will give you the total widgets for each device to chose from)
That is where the real magic of the Victron VRM is
See what?
Open advanced, go to widgets(top right of the screen) chose what widgets you want displayed for each individual component.
(it will give you the total widgets for each device to chose from)
That is where the real magic of the Victron VRM is
No, the real magic is in Node Red
If the above was directed to me I already have loads of widgets setup - you can take a look via the link below in my signature.Here's the VRM with % remaining, and time to go, time to go is based on the last three minutes use, but you can alter that 3 minutes to what you want.
Here's something I've playing with in Node Red, Node Red uses Java script, which unfortunately I've never programmed with, so I need to learn it.
The titles at the top for the panels are not correct, its very much a work in progress.
Node Red runs on the Cerbo GX, which is the heart of the Victron system, and what I'll need to use to setup scheduled discharging.
Permabanned
@Ron-ski .. so all in all what was the cost if i may ask ? how much saved on an installed system ? thx
Soldato
Sorry I mean will it see your entire solar estate giving you one place to run pvoutput from for combined stats?
I've not added up the complete costs yet, and I'm hoping the spreadsheet has some errors in it as it's rather high, and I haven't had the invoice from the electrician either.
Yes , it can see the entire PV, if you look on the advance tab in the VRM there are two graph's, one show each individual string, the other the total generation.
This is great, well done. Would love to see more photos when ready.
The new consumer unit that has appeared on the left(looks like its tails dropping down in the trunking), is that just for your garage?
And the new earth cabling running left, off to a spike?
The new consumer unit that has appeared on the left(looks like its tails dropping down in the trunking), is that just for your garage?
And the new earth cabling running left, off to a spike?
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The new consumer unit is just for the garage, the existing fuse box dated from cira 1974
The earth cable running left is to a spike, this is solely for when running off grid, the inverter will switch to this if the grid fails. This is the only bit I'm not keen on, it could have been installed nearer to the other stuff, then the spike/cabling outside would be less visible.
What would you like to see pictures of?
We might require the addition of a 100a MCB, in theory the inverter can pass through 100a and add an additional 34a/8kw which would exceed the cabling and rating of the CU.
The earth cable running left is to a spike, this is solely for when running off grid, the inverter will switch to this if the grid fails. This is the only bit I'm not keen on, it could have been installed nearer to the other stuff, then the spike/cabling outside would be less visible.
What would you like to see pictures of?
We might require the addition of a 100a MCB, in theory the inverter can pass through 100a and add an additional 34a/8kw which would exceed the cabling and rating of the CU.
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Soldato
No, the real magic is in Node Red
Here's the VRM with % remaining, and time to go, time to go is based on the last three minutes use, but you can alter that 3 minutes to what you want.
Here's something I've playing with in Node Red, Node Red uses Java script, which unfortunately I've never programmed with, so I need to learn it.
Well done mate what a great project you have installed. I myself was tinkering on the stats and node red, scripts, automations etc. so please share as you continue. One of my next gadgets is to ct measure the import only energy and get more or less a live, logged graphing.
Soldato
Can i ask what yuo may use to do that?? as i want the same sort of monitoring, but not sure what to use....
At the moment i am using an efergy sensor, transmitter and monitor....but its not online data and there's no way of getting that data from the monitor ( unless you buy the home hub) which is not in stock currently anywhere lol
Soldato
Are you with Octopus by any chance?
Their mini will record incoming and is basically real time. Might give you enough info