Which did you go with in the end?
Solar panels and battery - any real world reccomendations?
- Thread starter GinG
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Soldato
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400w panels same as i currently have on the original ground mount. so once all is built it will be 6.4kw panels, 6kw inverter, 4.8kw export limit
The Longi 400w then I guess. Not bad at £49 each! Payback will be quick on those.
Funnily enough they sell the exact 400w Sharp panels I have on my SE roof. It's annoying as I have room for two more underneath the second string in a landscape position, but it wouldn't be economical to add them as I'd need scaffolding and don't really have the knowledge to do it myself.
Soldato
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yep the longi ones, all my panels are longhi.. so made sense. i reckon i be exporting around 45kwhs a day on a good day. so thats £6.60.... so 30 days is 198 bucks.
has the welshman suddenly turned american?
that angry he starts speaking yank
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Soldato
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tbh ive always said bucks.... never had an issue with it and loads of people i speak to say it too... maybe its a welsh thing i dont knowhas the welshman suddenly turned american?
that angry he starts speaking yank
Yeah after doing all the firmware update on my Givenergy battery, it now only charges at 1.62kw, I've been monitoring this for about a month now.
It's rated for 2.5kw, and it used to charge at 2.5kw, I don't understand why not it wont go above 1.62. I've checked the settings and it's still set to 2500w max, and it will still discharge faster.
I' pretty dissapointed with this battery/AC inverter overall, the capacity is quite a bit short and now this, the reactivity is slow as well, even after the firmware update which I would hope it would improve.
It's one of those though, I don't want to keep throwing money at it as that just increases the payback.
It's rated for 2.5kw, and it used to charge at 2.5kw, I don't understand why not it wont go above 1.62. I've checked the settings and it's still set to 2500w max, and it will still discharge faster.
I' pretty dissapointed with this battery/AC inverter overall, the capacity is quite a bit short and now this, the reactivity is slow as well, even after the firmware update which I would hope it would improve.
It's one of those though, I don't want to keep throwing money at it as that just increases the payback.
Yeah its temperature. Charge rate on some firmware is throttled to 60% below 20c iirc.
Maybe mine would do it as well but I'm self throttling at 2100w so the 9.5 uses more of the Go window. FWIW mine started off at 10.4c at 00:30 and reached a peak of 17c at 03:30. Battery is in a cold garage.
Maybe mine would do it as well but I'm self throttling at 2100w so the 9.5 uses more of the Go window. FWIW mine started off at 10.4c at 00:30 and reached a peak of 17c at 03:30. Battery is in a cold garage.
Soldato
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Yeah temps for sure throttling battery charge rate.
I see it on mine, when above 20c they will charge at 5.5kw, but as the temps are lower and towards zero its as low as 1kw
I have battery heating on though so that stops it dropping below iirc 5c
I see it on mine, when above 20c they will charge at 5.5kw, but as the temps are lower and towards zero its as low as 1kw
I have battery heating on though so that stops it dropping below iirc 5c
Ok thanks for all the replies @Mercenary Keyboard Warrior @200sols @b0rn2sk8
That does make me feel a bit better then, so I guess pre-firmware the battery might have been stressing itself, It's in the loft so it's reasonable cold up there at the moment.
The throttling isnt the end of the world, means we will either export a little more or it'll go into the hot water, both are slightly less efficient than storing it, but its not a total loss I guess.
Nice to see some sun today as well, yesterday was pretty good as well, our electric bill over the last few months has been pretty horrific due to the lack of sun we have had, last week in particular was dire but its not been a great start to the year generally. Bring on the summer.
That does make me feel a bit better then, so I guess pre-firmware the battery might have been stressing itself, It's in the loft so it's reasonable cold up there at the moment.
The throttling isnt the end of the world, means we will either export a little more or it'll go into the hot water, both are slightly less efficient than storing it, but its not a total loss I guess.
Nice to see some sun today as well, yesterday was pretty good as well, our electric bill over the last few months has been pretty horrific due to the lack of sun we have had, last week in particular was dire but its not been a great start to the year generally. Bring on the summer.
My AIO was 50mm of PIR surrounding it, except the inveter heat sink on the top.
It peaks at about 26c after recharging and drops to about 15 over the course of the day. It’s dropped quite quickly the last 2 days as the sunshine as meant it is sat idle for quite a few hours. I’ll take it off once it’s sustaining 20+
Fortunately when it drops below 20c, my charge rate only drops a few hundred watts as it’s a relatively large battery. I’d notice if it got down to 5 though.
It peaks at about 26c after recharging and drops to about 15 over the course of the day. It’s dropped quite quickly the last 2 days as the sunshine as meant it is sat idle for quite a few hours. I’ll take it off once it’s sustaining 20+
Fortunately when it drops below 20c, my charge rate only drops a few hundred watts as it’s a relatively large battery. I’d notice if it got down to 5 though.
No, not really unless it was really cold, it's Givenergy being over protective. LifePo4 should not be charged below 0c. To start throttling charging at 20c is ridiculous, especially at such a low charge rate.
The optimum charging temperature for LifePo4 is 5c to 45c. My battery heating comes on at 10c and then goes off at 12c, and I'll happily charge at 8kW at that temperature.
That is into two batteries, so 4kW each.
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Mine will charge at 48A (14.8kW) above 20C, 24A (7.4kW) at 10-20C and at 10A (3.2kW) from 5-10C. It means I get the full rate of my inverter (5kW) above 10C.
To start throttling to such low rates below 20C is silly. If that were the case on mine, it would be for most of the year. I had my insulation on until mid-June last year. I've never seen a maximum cell temperature above 40C in the time I've had them and that's in the loft!
Yeah can confirm the 9.5 doesn't seem to throttle much at all. I'm wondering if that is a firmware issue budforce has.
Just a **** battery and inverter, I got the gen 1 I'm not overly impressed.
I'll have to keep an eye on it when the temps get higher and see.
it’s no different to your battery though, it’s all about the C rate at a specific temperature. If you apply the same C rate to a tiny battery, it will not take much power.
Gen1 5.2 maxes out at 0.5C (2.5kw), it then drops to 0.33c (1.8kw) below 20C.
I’m pretty sure it will drop to 0.25C and then down to nothing at 0C cell temperature.
It’s definitely a gen 1 product that’s for sure.