Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Fingers crossed I have fixed or at least significantly improved my cold charging issues, I mean when they refused to charge
Its been properly cold now for a few days and whilst charging is slower (ramping up from 1.x kwh or maybe more at start) they are charging to 100% SoC daily.*

*By 100% SoC I mean the Solax version of 100% which seems to be about 75% ;)
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SOLAX - 100% right 75% of the time!
 
Glad things are working again, I would really look at getting control of your plant now. You have paid £1000's for the system, you should have full control no matter what the solar companies say. Have a look at HA, see if there is anything setup for your system you could roll out to bypass the installer.
 
casper_uk said:
Glad things are working again, I would really look at getting control of your plant now. You have paid £1000's for the system, you should have full control no matter what the solar companies say. Have a look at HA, see if there is anything setup for your system you could roll out to bypass the installer.
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I might have misled you in above.
Hippo was referring to my issue from Dec where the batteries refused to charge at all in a period of prolonged cold. The insulation I have given them seems to keep the temps up enough that they will still charge now even when it was -6 the other night.
They are at 8 degrees right now, with only 2 hours until charge time when they will warm up again.
Im about 75% done on insulation I would say. Need to cut some more wood for the outer layer (9mm shiplap) to cover the sides. Front is now insulated with the below and sides are mainly blocked in plus top.
Gap round the bottom for airflow but I may temporarily block that as well during coldest months. I wasnt sure how much heat they would gain insulated as they are now so played safe and didn't block it initially.

Kay Metzeler (Super Plus 70) Expanded Polystyrene Insulation Board - 1200 x 600 x 50mm | Wickes.co.uk

Kay Metzeler (Super Plus 70) Expanded Polystyrene Insulation Board - 1200 x 600 x 50mm
www.wickes.co.uk www.wickes.co.uk

The issue with not enough charge going in remains. Im not really that worried about the monitoring side, more about the lack of performance.
The lack of monitoring just makes checking the performance harder.

I tried to contact the UK arm but no reply yet to my email, where I requested details on how the batteries would scale down charge, based on what, actual temp or predicted temp etc. And asked that surely there is a chart that lists temp and charge % in it seeing as if its really built in they should know what they have programmed.

Interesting response to a question I posed to main Solax in china on twitter in regards seeing a simple daily generation number "Hi, we will let you know when this function is modified, thanks!"
So maybe they will actually amend the web and app. Having both numbers (solar and total energy inc battery discharge) would be really quite powerful in combination with battery SoC
 
Let's play why my panels aren't producing properly, but the office said they are all fine.....he found 3 like this them gave up. Recommended they change them all to solar edge and my inverter. Just need to have a little warranty argument I guess, as not like for like. But they no longer deal with tigo for a reason!

ZnZg4bu.jpeg
 
For those of us using home assistant to upload to PVOutput, any idea how I get it to log the peak output value? Everyone else in the team seems to have it logged but its missing from mine...

I guess I am missing something in the script, can anyone enlighten me? :)
 
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iwrox said:
For those of us using home assistant to upload to PVOutput, any idea how I get it to log the peak output value? Everyone else in the team seems to have it logged but its missing from mine...

I guess I am missing something in the script, can anyone enlighten me? :)
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You can go in and adjust it manually if you really want too……
 
I’m getting excited now - got my install all coming together for next week!

Had to make a last minute change of panels due to stock issues, so now going with QCells G11+ M 395W All Black Mono - anyone here using these? I had been planning on the 410w Trina Vertex S all black panels but I doubt the 15w shortfall per panel will make much difference in real use (18 panels, so 270w lower overall)
 
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Zeeflyboy said:
I’m getting excited now - got my install all coming together for next week!

Had to make a last minute change of panels due to stock issues, so now going with QCells G11+ M 395W All Black Mono - anyone here using these? I had been planning on the 410w Trina Vertex S all black panels but I doubt the 15w shortfall per panel will make much difference in real use (18 panels, so 270w lower overall)
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I had a similar issue, dropping 5W per panel x 18 No. and negotiated a further £800 reduction ( but these had arrived to my house and I only noticed when checking).
 
I have the trina vertex s panels so can't comment on the QCells.

Here's a comparison:

solaranalytica.com

Report: QCELLS Q.PEAK DUO-G11.

Big module dimensions for utility-scale project developers are now in vogue and the Q.PEAK DUO-G11 range is currently QCells answer
solaranalytica.com solaranalytica.com

solaranalytica.com

Report: Trina Vertex S Plus.

Editors choice 2022 (Trina Solar range). Unlocking a new dimension in advanced module design, the Trina Vertex S plus offers
solaranalytica.com solaranalytica.com

They seem a little less efficient than the Trina but that may not be quite the right ones. Just make sure they have the same quality / performance, else negotiate a price reduction.
 
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The panels are actually marginally more expensive (£10 per panel), but the installer is willing to eat the cost difference due to the short notice…

He did offer the 425w Trina panels too, but they have some pretty major white/silver tracks in them - the panels are very visible on my house and I hate that look… bit daft but I think I’d rather take the small hit to power (it’s already over 7kw total anyway so I think the marginal reduction is minor in the scheme of things).
 
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Nice of em to lower your panel size and then pretend they're doing you a favour! :D

I have 370W panels and seem fine, I potentially could have pushed for larger ones, but the different outputs can also be different physical sizes too, so you have to be careful they don't get too large and still fit.

Game changer would really be like 600-800W panels in the same physical space, or much better efficiency rates, once they're installed you don't really want to touch them.
 
Hah, he’s a very straight forward bloke - I have no concerns on that front.

Like I say he was originally offering me the 425w Trina panel instead as an alternative but it’s me that said I really prefer to have an all black panel… this is an option he came up with that fits in the same space, is all black and importantly is actually available!
 
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Didn't bother me too much, on the roof out of sight out of mind, the blue panels are kind of ugly but the mostly black ones are fine! :)

I have black panels with slate so goes pretty nicely. Mine have visible bits in though, probably similar to your 425W option.
 
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Yeah if they were on the back or something I wouldn’t care, but they are going to be very visible as you approach the house and on view for the whole street so aesthetics do feature in for me.

We shall see if I regret the choice!
 
Zeeflyboy said:
Yeah if they were on the back or something I wouldn’t care, but they are going to be very visible as you approach the house and on view for the whole street so aesthetics do feature in for me.

We shall see if I regret the choice!
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I don't think you will, will be happy with those panels either way :)

I'm sort of lucky in that mine are at the back of the house, and I can't even see my own panels properly as the garden isn't huge. I can only fully see the South facing ones.
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Fingers crossed I have fixed or at least significantly improved my cold charging issues, I mean when they refused to charge
Its been properly cold now for a few days and whilst charging is slower (ramping up from 1.x kwh or maybe more at start) they are charging to 100% SoC daily.*

*By 100% SoC I mean the Solax version of 100% which seems to be about 75% ;)
Click to expand...

ok. A good day yesterday. We set to charge to 85% over night and then the PV took us to 100% during the day.

Is this normal though? Do they struggle to report SOC?

 
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