Ronski's Solar & battery DIY build with whole house backup

Gav_r26 said:
I'll be honest i'm not convinced with wall mounted ones. Theres a house near my parents with none on the roof, but the walls are covered. I'd imagine its planning related
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I think there's a massive difference between my installation and theirs. They are almost certainly a very poor DIY install, not only do they look unsightly they must be heavily shaded, so not very effective. Clearly the home owner didn't have the skil or knowledge to do a roof installation, and didn't want to pay for a proper install.

b0rn2sk8 said:
The roof may also be in very poor condition and is effectively at the end of its life.
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I'd be very surprised if that roof is at end of life, it will just be as I've said above

And as Fraser says, very unlikely to be planning related, it won't be a listed building, could be a conservation zone, but then they'd still need permission for wall mount.
 
I don't personally know anybody that's built one, or even anyone I know on forums, obviously Andy's Off Grid Garage has.

If you want ultimate savings, then probably direct from China, if you want a bit more support should something go wrong and less chance of dodgy cells then Fogstar - although they seem to be out of stock of complete kits.

You used to be able to order off the Fogstar Wholesale website for a bit of extra discount, but I see you need to register now, but if order a large quantity of cells may be worth requesting a bulk price.

DIY case and 16 x 314AH grade A EVE cells, thus 15 kWh battery for £1800, great value.

Actually, by the time you've paid shipping, and potential import/vat duties I'm not even sure if you can get them for that price from China.

There are also some concerns about cells laying on their sides, I've no idea whether it is actually a problem though.

diysolarforum.com

Seplos V4 ?

https://www.fogstar.co.uk/products/seplos-mason-280l-and-x16-grade-a-eve-lf280k-battery-bundle-copy "Active Balancing Colour Screen DC Breaker Easier Assembly White, Black and Silver Options" I cannot find any reference to this on the Seplos website
diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com


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During my solar additions earlier in the year I had to remove my battery heater system, it was also rather messy as well.

So I came up with a bit better solution. As the relays in the Cerbo GX can't handle the current of the heater mats, I've had to use external relays.

My solid state relays are now mounted on a little PCB, in a box, the relays have built in heat protection, but hopefully that won't be a problem anyway.



And the new setup.

 
The forecast is looking a tad on the cold side isn't it :(

The batteries do tend to keep themselves warm to a certain extent, charging and discharging generates heat, IIRC last year it only tended to get cold enough for the heating to come on around 1am, then the charging kicked in at around 2am so that would warm them up.

Might be a colder winter this year though, don't think it was particularly cold last winter.
 
Last winter was the 5th warmest since 1659, so probably not a great one to go off. :cry:

Getting off Flux has helped mine as I now force discharge in the evening and it keeps them warm enough ready for charging at 11.30pm on. There's also 6 hours to do it rather than 3 on Flux, so if it is very cold and charge rates drop, there's plenty of time still.
 
Looking good, keep us updated on how its working out.

A 12v electric blanket used to do me when the pack lived in the shed, no problem now as its in the house (changed from 24v to 48v)


RE, price of cells shipped from China, here a quote from the last month.


"Hello,This is Esther from XIHO, LF280K with shipping:65.035$/pc
EVE280Ah V3:$44/pc (busbars and nuts)
16pcs*44($704)
DDP to England by sea:336.56$
Total:704+336.56($1040) "


Your looking at under a grand if the pass customs ok, under £1200 if duty is added.
Shipping is the killer as it adds 50% to the cells.
Plus you have to wait 6-10 weeks for them to arrive via ship.

Same 16 cells from Fogstar £1040 to your door in under a week, no brainer now just go to Fogstar.

PS have you tried the new Victron app for a watch, it works ok, hard to see its real use as you have your mobile with you.
 
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It's incredible how cheap cells are now, but I really don't need another battery.

Surprisingly I don't have a smart watch, but always have my phone with me, although I own a normal watch I very rarely wear it, as a mechanic wearing a watch is a bad idea, so I'm just use to not wearing one.

Have you seen the new Venus OS, I've not yet upgraded, but it looks good. Dynamic ESS looks interesting, and works with Octopus, I haven't tried that either yet.
 
Yes, on the beta one, swap back and forth between the original and new interface.

The new one might be a good option for the van as it will show alternator charging.

To be honest I like the old look, everything I need is there for the house system.

I'm surprised how well my 48v battery is coping with 8 cells A graded 1 year older than the newer 8 B graded EVE cells.
Works fine usually less than 10mv difference, but more at the top of the charge cycle.
 
Ron-ski said:
Last night I finally got around to upgrading the Cerbo to Venus OS 3.52

This is what a display directly attached to the Victron system would display, or if I connect to the console, the VRM hasn't changed.
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I like the Overview tag the most, go straight to it and leave it there.

Best part any box in the overview with a blue outline around it, press that box and it takes you into the menu for that item.
Options to add a lot more with the new interface.
 
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