Btw. sharing your experience with the shadow management of the Fronius is amazing! That is exactly what many people don't understand. My approach would have been to make 2 strings (left+right) and connect them first in serial for testing purposes and seperate them on the two MPPT of the Fronius later.
@@Remigius0815 Oha, da mach ich aber gar nicht so viel drauf. Reiner Zeitmangel... Ich kann dort aber eine PayPal Adresse hinterlegen. Danke Dir vielmals!
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I am adding Sol-Ark hybrid inverters to two properties where I previously had built Enphase and will be making them AC coupled to the Sol-Arks to charge the battery system when off-grid (both normally grid-tied). The GEN input does the same Hz control to turn them off if needed.
Hi Andy, I'm on the 44c + 8c feed in. I was going to update my system as it was 3kw panels but 5kw inverter. I did the numbers and it wasn't worth upgrading as I wouldn't get my money back however, luckily, we had a hail storm and the panels were damaged so insurance paid most of the cost of the new system. I went with the Sungrow inverter because in my opinion they have the best software/app on the market! I also went with Canadian solar panels 415w × 12. This system has been AMAZING, I face north on a 12 degree roof and I generate just over 30kw and export just over 24kw to the grid on a cloudless day. I was still getting a $300 bill with the old system and with the new system I get a $300 credit. I can not be more happier with my system. I have 3 phase so I had to pay $500 for a smart meter but if you see how good the Sungrow software is you would pee your pants! I got the installer to run all the 3 phases cables in the roof ready for batteries so when the 44c tariff ends I can upgrade my inverter to 3 phase connect batteries add more panels on the roof and I will be energy sufficient! Thanks for all your videos I learn a great deal from your experience.
Thanks a lot for sharing. My sparky loves the Sungrow inverters. But they are not an option for the Victron system I have. It makes perfectly sense for your situation though. Of the 20kWh I'm producing atm, I use only 1.5kWh myself thanks to the battery (plus extension cables) and having connected a lot of larger loads like the hot water system, pool pump and EV charging to the battery already.
Great rundown of data for a 2 day sample Andy. If you are going to paint ur roof at all use white for reflectivity & coolness, I believe hydroponics started using white as a reflective backdrop years ago as they found white was overall more reflectively efficient than silver, as silver has black in it’s makeup, it absorbs some light & creates heat as well, compared to using white. Thanks for all ur great info. Cheers
Thanks for your comment. I won't paint my roof as this collects our drinking water for the house (yes, we have filters, but...) The bifacial panels were just the same price as normal ones, so... 🤷♂️
Thanks for the info. Your 30v is lost through the cable length from the roof to the inverter. You can calculate your power lost through the cable length as 31.16V x 12 = 373. 92V Then 373.92V - 343.5V = 30.42V lost Your power lost through the cable length would be 30.42V x 12.04A = 366.26W. Thats quite a bit. Great info you gave, thanks.
a short solar cell doesnt reduce current, but voltage (by 0,5V approx) When a panel is shaded and the others can give current, the internal panels bypassdiode routes the current, so that the resistance of the shaded panel doesnt affect the current flow. You then lose the panels voltage, but not the whole string.
We live in an electronic era. I'm very glad I I've spent the last 50 years studying, learning, building, and repairing electronic devices. That allows me the opportunity to become the master of electronic systems instead of being turned into a sort of 'slave to the system', having to reset the system at exactly 52 seconds, for instance. :)
I will appreciate and really need that old poor Chinese inverter, I could have pay for shipping instead of throwing it away😊. I will not mind resetting the inverter at 52seconds every day😂. I always learned new things from your presentation❤. Greetings from Nigeria.
I upgraded my microinverters and increased production > 1kW with the same 10 panels, and then added 2 more panels for a total of 4.8kW AC, which increased from 3kW AC. Also, I agree 100% regarding what you said about shading with a lot of small strings, it is better than one big string. I take this to the max and use microinverters. So every panel can deliver its maximum.
@Off-Grid Garage it seems if you go microinverter you probably have to go all the way microinverter I'd like to possibly do that on my next system if I am ever able to build another one. I'm totally off-grid. I have a 12-volt system built with victron. And then I have a 48 volt system with 1 lv65 sungold and I have for Server rack batteries from EGR
@Off-Grid Garage it seems if you go microinverter you probably have to go all the way microinverter I'd like to possibly do that on my next system if I am ever able to build another one. I'm totally off-grid. I have a 12-volt system built with victron. And then I have a 48 volt system with 1 lv65 sungold and I have for Server rack batteries from EGR
I've had a great idea. I'm going to start the OFFGRID GARAGE DRINKING GAME! everytime we see the donkeyballs graphic, we have to down a shot of our favourite tipple. After this episode I'd be pretty wasted! Looking forward to a high donkeyballs count in future videos......keep up the good work!
And yes the Home Assistant energy dashboard is pretty nice. I have my off-grid and the Fronius grid system integrated with HA. You should be able to integrate your Shelly metering as well. Looking at your screen grab it looks like you've already done that. I use HA to manage a range of things, e.g. load management (pool pump automation for instance), it decides if my off-grid system needs a bit of supplemental charging from the grid PV, there's all sorts of possibilities. Different outcomes here as of course we don't have the PFIT you do, so self consumption of PV has priority over exporting.
Yeah, very new to HA. I hate it! But I must say the energy tab was very easy to integrate with the Fronius Inverter and the Shelly meter. It gives me a great overview of my grid connected power. So, I have not been able to connect the Victron system to HA. If there is no integration, it won't happen. I have a life after all! 😂
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Home Assistant Community Store (HACS). You will find a few guides online on how to install HACS. Then you can add Victron GX modbusTCP integration. Few steps involved but worth it if you ask me.
25:00 These MC4s are not easy to disconnect if the tool is not at hand. Thus I have a nearby fusebox for easy PV disconnect, made a disconnect tool (using stainless steel material - so it wont rust nor get brittle from UV if plastic) attached to the panel with an SS cord.
There were 2 MC4 type things. I can imagine, one can be ripped apart easily. We are talking about a fire afterall, so reconnectability is not the highest priority
@@HolgerNestmann re Fire situation Agree. But the MC4 on Andy's panel 24:53 (exactly same as mine) are not easy to rip out. And ripping it out will expose the wires which negates the argument "shutting off solar to prevent electric shock".
Im looking forward to getting my small system back up and operating. We moved to a new property 1 year ago and have spent the entire time renovating, improving the property itself, getting chicken coop completed etc etc. We got our communications tower up about 6 weeks ago, and the solar is getting much closer to the top of our long project list. Only have 800w now, but really looking at increasing the size and running our shop panel off of solar exclusively
I too am just thinking of using Home Assistant, so will be very interested to see how you get on, I will be adding Shelly to monitor grid and solar as my provider needs their own smart meter to get any useful info
@@Juergen_Miessmer It's a f* mess of yaml files, scripts and endless possibilities if you're not married and have nothing else to do. The update of software and technology constantly breaks things and the time you have to spend maintaining the system is far to high.
Question, since you have a nice feed in tariff. Could you on a cloudy day sell some of your power in your garage battery to match the max contract output. Basically make money when you wouldn't have?
Hi Andy, I think the STandby power by night is because the Inverter is still connected to the Internet I have a SolarEdge System and it is also using a little bit of AC Power during the Night to keep connected to the Online Portal. So I think it is normal behavior.
Hi Andy, something is wrong in the Fronius mppt/settings etc. When half of the string is in full sun and the other half is in the shade, you should at least measure the full power output of the panels in the sun because the bypass diodes of the shaded panels will kick in. Those diodes only consume a couple of Watts.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia For debugging purposes, disable the mpp trackers in the Fronius. Then redo the partially shade test (without trackers). You should see the total power of the panels in the sun (shaded ones will be bypassed by the diodes).
@@OffGridGarageAustralia If you have all panels in one string and connected to mppt1. Go to your fronius and turn off mppt2. I had to do that in my fronius. For some reason i don't know, my fronius was producing less when i had mppt2 ON.
The inverter will have options for overnight modes, they can be told to shut down. It will be using some standby power to keep the data manager and internet/network connections running (which you will want if you have the smart meter like I do). But 7 W seems a tad high, my 10 kW Symo has an idle consumption closer to 1 W.
Andy, I would recommend you at least to the back panels that install tigo. Costs about 40 euros per panel and works very well with partial shading. I've had good experiences with it
Thanks Andy 👍👍 This is exactly the dilemma I’m facing too. My old system is 6.8kW, 36 x 190w panels but lucky to produce 4kW max, except for a spike to 5kW when the sun pops out from behind cloud. There are discoloured cells, snail trails, tracks and cracks and every other issue you can imagine shared between all the panels. I have replaced four that have failed completely with second hand, but I suspect some of the second hand were not much better. Some installers have told me I could replace “like for like” and fit 6.5kW on the roof, but others have said no, too risky, you’ll almost certainly lose your FIT, something I certainly don’t want to risk, …. which means it would need to be just 5kW of panels to avoid risking the premium FIT. I also get “isolation fault” some mornings too, maybe one morning in eight on average, but sometimes it can be two mornings in a row even when it’s absolutely bone dry. However the other down side that will add cost is that it’s a complex, difficult roof and replacing them and bringing it all up to current specs will be a very big job, with four separate sections of panels. Do I replace them all at VERY great expense for maybe another 5kWh per day? Or do I try to nurse the old system along? I’m still not sure but might have to bite the bullet sooner or later.
Thanks Dave. I had a chat to Energex before I contracted the sparky. And they said as long as I follow the rules on the QLD website, I won't loose the tariff. As I had only 5.1kW solar and a 5kW inverter, there was nothgin to fear about. The new system has now 4.98kW solar and still the 5kW inverter, so I 100% fulfilled the requirements here: www.qld.gov.au/housing/buying-owning-home/energy-water-home/solar/feed-in-tariffs/solar-bonus-scheme-44c In your case it is a bit unclear if you can keep your 6.8kW of solar or will be restricted to 5kW of panels only to match the inverter size. If you want to go down this path, send the QLD department an email and request some clarification. So you have something in written. I'm sure with your system, you will get more power than 5kWh per day. Mine is facing East and has shading, so only limited production in Winter.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Thanks again Andy. I think I’ll have to go down this path sooner rather than later. I had the dreaded “isolation fault” again this morning and took about half an hour of isolating strings and retrying with power cycles to get it to successfully connect. Yesterday was no issue, and probably (HOPEFULLY😳) tomorrow will be too. It’s impossible to predict, (and is no worse in wet weather.) It’s all a PITA as we expect to be getting away in the caravan very soon, so might very likely cost us a lot in lost FIT. When we do take the plunge it will be an expensive exercise- and I certainly won’t be game to go for more than 5kW of panels without written confirmation despite having 6.8 kW now. Also, maybe it’s a job for microinverters due to our complex roof layout?
Andi,you get a lot of money from the gov in Australia and become rich, I get only 0,07€ for each delivered kwh in Germany. You also get this amount if you install the system yourself and an electrician certifies the proper function. With all other subsidy programs, you are obliged to hire a company to install the system. But I have never applied for a subsidy or something similar here in Germany, because then you have to have everything done by a company and the costs are usually so high that if you do everything yourself, you are better off without a subsidy and can do the installation for a fraction of the cost.
Hallo Andy! Den Verbrauch von 7-8Watt in der Nacht haben auch z.B. die Kostal Wechselrichter und das ist eine Katastrophe. Huawei z.B. hat in der Nacht keinen messbaren Verbrauch. Der Gesamtwirkungsgrad ist sehr schlecht, wenn du den Wechselrichter am Ausgang vom Multiplus hängen hast. Ich hatte das auch jahrelang so, aber erst als ich alle Module über Victron MPPT Laderegler laufen lasse, komme ich sogar über den Winter hier in Österreich ohne Strom zukaufen zu müssen.
Ja, DC-Coupling ist immer am besten. Nun gehts das leider bei mir nicht, weil das Haus ein gutes Stueck weg ist von der Garage. Bleibt also nur die AC Anbindung.
How is your AC usage doing since you have the solar panels installed? You had a white roof reflecting most of the sun IR and now you have a black roof converting 80% of the sun rays to heat.
I am facing here the same situation with a very long string of panels and a shadow of a Tannenbäumsche whose shadow walks through the string in the morning in spring/autumn. I also observe - like on your system - that it only starts to deliver after 50% of panels are in sunlight. I don't like that because then the bypass diodes of the shadowed panels are seeing 10A for over an hour, which maybe will stress them too much over the years. I will halften the string length an put the first half on a MPPT on the DC side of my Battery. Beneath reducing the stress on the bypass diodes, I also think, that it then starts much earlier to deliver power. I'd suggest for you to test at least the same, even due that you have one DC Input in spare! Grüße from the motherland of regulations!
Thanks for sharing. I'll keep running the setup for a while to gain more data and experience before I change it. It was more to show what happens and get some data for these who constantly nag me about using a Victron RS for my garage.
Was für ein Zufall hab hier meinen alten WR gegen einen Fronius Symo GEN24 am 12.04 ausgetauscht. Hab auch ein Smartmeter verbaut, funktioniert mit der APP ganz gut.
Hi, in welches Land bis Du ausgewandert? Kann man da nicht einfach die Anlage selbst installieren? Oder sind da auch solche Vorschriften, dass das nur ein Meisterbetrieb kann. Selbst wenn man Elektriker ist.
Andy let me rephrase my question. Apart from your irrigation pump, pool pump and EV charging what other loads are you powering from your DIY powerwall. Are you powering any loads in the house, especially critcal loads you can power during a power outage or are you going to wait until July 2028. I am not sure where you ended up in this long process and there are too many videos to go back over to find out. Thanks.
The hot water system is no connected through a transfer switch to the battery and grid. Apart from that the occasional dishwasher, washing machine via an extension cable but nothing else in the house as this would require a separation of circuits. I will wait through winter now and see hoch much power I'm getting from the garage... Here are the videos are are after: Part1: ruclips.net/video/LQJZUmWDuCs/видео.html Part2: ruclips.net/video/evuxwiY8z1Y/видео.html
I probably could but there is a link in the video description where someone has tested them. They optimise the profit of the manufacturer, nothing else. Not worth it unless your panels face different directions and are connected to the same string (that's a bad solar design anyway but some roofs don't allow anything else...).
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I retro fitted some to some of my panels due to winter shading, and I'm personally happy with them. One thing it really like is been able to see the performance of each panel.
Don't use Home Assistant. Before you know it you'll have sensors everywhere and automated literally everything, like I did. All locally hosted obviously.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Nope. As opensource person since 1993, it's definately a different but once you learn some basic aspects of it, it gets easier. It's a cross-platform system which is partially reason why it's a bit different.
Nice upgrade to the house system. After seeing the morning shading I was thinking having the left half and right half in parallel might work better than all in series. As is, it seems to be producing pretty well.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Some youtubers playing with enphase off grid but I noticed envoy-s now has DRM and can be setup for zero export which the M series couldn't. They just put the power on to the grid effectively the older ones just pushed everything they had out so trying to use off grid had issues blowing those inverters, but youtubers did show if the load matched the enphase inverters could be done.
@@ssoffshore5111 I have them. In full sun they’re basically the same (as long as you don’t go over max of the units rating which is what most people don’t look at). With partially shaded arrays they help a lot by balancing the voltage of every panel so series connection works properly.
@@jameshancock Interesting. Every third party testing I've read has suggested they offer minimal gains at best over a quality string inverter in partial shading, yet add connections (which can be problematic over time), and obviously add to efficiency losses... never mind the additional cost to the system.
@@ssoffshore5111 $17 /panel and the overhead is actually significantly less than the losses of increased amperage in the same wire. And at the current price of copper (pun intended) you’ll pay for the units in copper savings sizing it up to handle the additional amperage without losses way more than the dc/dc optimizers. To be clear: AC optimizers are silly. 240vac doesn’t get you the squeeze. 450+ dc does. And I’d guess we’ll see 900vdc MPPT soon given the new 900v ganfets so you’ll be able to put 16 50v panels in series on a single string at 15amps instead of probably 250 amps and monster sized wire soon. And DC optimizers fix shading of single panels nicely. They’re pointless if you don’t get systematic shading like in this video though. Ie, if you’re doing it for a single tree that goes across the panels or something, it isn’t worth it. Just let the MPPT do its thing.
Regarding the financial perspective: even if it does not pay off in 5 years, you still have a better system in the end. That value needs to be included in your calculations as well. Even if the 44c tariff ends, the new solar system will continue to produce more kWhs every day...
Great vid Andy. Have you thought of having Optimizers added. I have the JA bi-facials and a similar situation with shading at certain times of the day. My installer suggested optimizers and I had them installed. I must say my KWs are definitely higher now even when 70% of my panels are shaded obviously no difference once all of them are in full sun. But like you I have a great feed in tariff and wanted the best I could get. The optimizers will payback there selves in under 4 years
Nice upgrade, i've thought about replacing my 'old' panels but the increase in power would not be worth the cost to do so, we have non problem producing 8kw with the 8kw inverter and 10kw panels, the only increase we would see is that the ramp up and ramp down to Peak power would be marginaly faster. In your case its a No brainer, 👍
Hey, keeping busy enjoying what you do is priceless as we age and more money becomes so much less of a goal. Paul Hibbert, hahaha love watching him, great comedy! Don't give up on Home Assistant.. keep plugging around with it on the side. You'll be addicted to figuring it out! It's how some of us are wired. LOL
Thanks a lot, Dan. Money is not the goal any more, thankfully and I can start enjoying the fruits of all the hard work done in the past. Paul is the best, the master of bait 😂 Yeah, HA is a big challenge. I have installed it now on a NUC PC and I'm trying to connect all my Sonoffs to it, without having to flash them to Tasmota. I'm almost there, I think. Almost...
In the UK, our neighbour removed a tree from their garden which was shading our array - a Silverbirch. Over a one year period our generation increased by 60%. So, it's definitely a reasonable explanation.
I agree moving 6 panels under other 6 and then parallel them. I just found 10 good 235 watt panels which I will add to my ground mount for a total of 11,280 12 in series with with 2 string in each parallel. That will not max out my inverter but comes close since I can have 6kw pv to each inverter. This should help a lot in winter. Still thinking of 3kw facing east with a little south to catch morning sun better for winter. I have to many trees from the west so nothing I can do since they are my neighbors trees. Its nice not having an electric bill. saves me $225-$275 a month.
Hi Andy, You have to add limiter to Your ongrid system. If You have 5kW licence, You can have 10kW solar panels and limiter limits to 5kW. You can double Your production in this way. You can put panels also to other side of roof. Some inverters work as limiter. For sure there are additional limiters also.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia OK, I have not fixed but börse (changing) tariff here with ongrid. It can be 0 to 50 cents. Usually about 10 cents for selling to grid.
With the old panels, its worth checking each panel very carefully in good light for damage. In particular, water damage. Water damage can cause corrosion which in turn can cause a partial short to the frame (which is grounded). Thus, ground fault. This would not be a direct ground fault, but it would be enough to reduce the resistance below the 10 Megohms trip point for ground-fault detection. A crack... well, cracks can short portions of the panel out, but usually when that happens you also see actual burning and heat damage from the current (look on the back of the panel after you take it out, too). If you just see a crack but no heat damage, it went open instead of short. Cracks alone would not cause a ground fault. After the panels are removed you can try using a multi-meter to measure the resistance to ground (aka the panel frame, at the grounding screw) from the positive and the negative lead, for each individual panel. However, standard multi-meters generally aren't sensitive enough to properly measure resistances that high. Still, if you get a reading at all it probably means that panel is causing a ground fault due to damage. -Matt
After replacing the first batch of solar panels in my 3kW system in Canberra (due 25% drop in 5 years) it was great to see the initial power jump from the new Trinas but there has been a (slight) noticeable drop in output over 5 years, difficult to accurately measure though due 3 v wet La Ninya years. So your earnings boost estimate may need discounting a little...my installer also was eventually able to get STCs for new panels for me which halved the overall installation cost, 10 years to go on contract so definitely worth while. With the huge jump in energy prices, I do feel for the anti-solar brigade who rubbished the whole idea as being unworkable, sadly some of the naysayers having missed out on 10 years of (relatively) 'free' power still won't make the switch as they won't see the benefit in their lifetime.
Thanks, James. Good point. The Phono cells I have, come with a 30years performance warranty down to 85% after that time. They also state to lose 2% in the first year and then go linear down over the rest of the time period. The first sharp drop is normal with all panels and expected. Yeah, climate will be unpredictable and if we go into another drought up here, we will have a lot more sunshine in comparison to the last 2-3 years.
Hi The Victron RS Solar controller has two strings off I/P So you can split your panels into two lots.. Then in the morning when the first 6 panel are in sun they are producing... Later all are ... and later again the last 6 . I have it set up this way and it seems to work a treat..
Yes, it will be interesting. Production is still going down as expected but thanks to the pool fence system, I can still keep up. So far, the new system produces 37% more than the old one, so that's a win.
Fronius was my first grid tied and it was a pile of sheep. It keep having multiple errors like arching and ground fault. And the it just died. The sma sunny boy was connected with no modifications and has worked flawlessly since.
It looks like you have some land--- it would make sense to build a frame to house your solar panels in a totally unshaded area, more than double your production without losing the trees that give your house shade.
two strings would be better. When there is partial shade on a string it really knocks down the output. With two strings the other string will be at full power. That's why people use microinverters. But it will be interesting to see your experiment.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to give some of the trees a hair cut / cleanup that are near your house just enough to reduce the shading over the panels. I would plant trees that are 2-3m high to replace any going forward
Some of these trees? We're talking about a lot of trees which are in the way. That is all part of the setup, right from the beginning when I started the installation. Here is a video where I explain it: ruclips.net/video/nS72GpEO-zA/видео.html
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I was think just start at the one shading the house in the morning, on the new house areay. it looked to me that one palm tree was casting a majority of the morning sun you mentioned I’d take my pole chain saw and give the fronds a hair cut I have very tall furn trees that have dead fronds hand down and cast shadow near my array and I periodically get my Ego pole saw and give it hair cut to ensure less blockage on the sun rays :) Small hair cuts can help too I used the pole saw to take out another 2.5m furn so we could put a hotwater heat thermann X split pump in, we also sold the furn tree as they don’t mind being cut down and replanted else where
Our system exported 38kw/h on a good day. Its only 6.6kw with a 5kw inverter. very happy with it. using a solis 5kw inverter and 330w astroenergy perc mono half cut panels. was only $3150 installed, and has performed flawlessly the last 2 and a half years.
Great, that's what I'm going to do as well. The inverter can handle up to 7.5kW of panels... This additional power from the house roof will be enough to get me over the winter months when it is connected to the battery.
Check the Diodes of all the panel as during night time they prevent reverse power as panels tends to consume energy during night time and because of that you may be getting Error in morning
the global mpp function takes a but if time to adopt to the new shadow, the inverter should perform good after adapting to the shadows after it scans the whole IV curve.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia yes, at gmpp fronius would be slow just as every other inverter with gmpp because they can't go about scanning the whole IV curve again and again repeatedly because it would result in a major efficiency loss due to the time taken to scan the whole curve, in real time they only look for the local MPP and periodically scan the global (about 5min interval) and even at local MPP tracking victron might be faster because the fronius will be tuned to deliver a stable and not a nervous feeling result.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia hehe, mein Mann liebt deine Videos bzgl Solar und ich hab es heute geguckt und gleich gesagt das ist aber kein Australier. ( ich arbeite für welche in Deutschland) Ganz liebe Grüße 🖖
Andy, The Fronius is the only Inverter natively supported by Victron. If you can connect it to the same LAN network as your Cerbo, then the Cerbo will recognise it an you can configure it to be on Grid side of the MultiPlus inverter. It will then come up on your Cerbo screen, and you can log and trend it there. I have this working, and also, have it all coming into Home Assistant.
No, no, no, no. The Victron system is off-grid. This is a grid connected system. They are not connected together. Off-grid - grid connected. See the difference.
looks like a flat mount would be better as you have so much morning shading and the afternoon you would get more with flat. maybe you could put one panel up there as a test?
Hallo Andy. Mein Fronius Symo lässt sich per eingebautem DataManger (hat beim Gen24 einen anderen Namen ) konfigurieren und zeigt auch die aktuellen Daten (auch Tagesdaten) . UND es werden alle Daten im Victron VRM mitgeloggt !!! die Funktionalität muss aber im DataManager aktiviert werden; dann findet Cerbo/Venus den Fronius und kann die Daten loggen. Vielleicht hilft Dir diese Info. Hinweis: Der Fronius taucht dann aber in allen Cerbos im Netzwerk auf und muss wo nicht gewünscht rauskonfiguriert werden.
@@OffGrid-Home Als was soll ich denn den Fronius im Victron system einrichten? Der muss doch entweder am AC-in oder AC-out untergebracht werden. Unter Settings - System Setup muss man doch das dem Venus mitteilen...
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Btw. sharing your experience with the shadow management of the Fronius is amazing! That is exactly what many people don't understand. My approach would have been to make 2 strings (left+right) and connect them first in serial for testing purposes and seperate them on the two MPPT of the Fronius later.
A small contribution to this fantastic channel ✅
Thank you.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Bitte auch einen Spendenmöglichkeit auf „Living Down Under“ einrichten - wir würden den Kanal gerne spezifisch sponsorn !!
@@Remigius0815 Oha, da mach ich aber gar nicht so viel drauf. Reiner Zeitmangel... Ich kann dort aber eine PayPal Adresse hinterlegen. Danke Dir vielmals!
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Ich finde die anderen Kanäle spektakulär, würde ich gerne unterstützen !!
Super happy with my Enphase system. Panel level monitoring picked a panel issue after 18 months. App is great and the API is available for tinkering.
Great. I wonder how they will work in an off-grid setup...🤔
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I am adding Sol-Ark hybrid inverters to two properties where I previously had built Enphase and will be making them AC coupled to the Sol-Arks to charge the battery system when off-grid (both normally grid-tied). The GEN input does the same Hz control to turn them off if needed.
Hi Andy, I'm on the 44c + 8c feed in. I was going to update my system as it was 3kw panels but 5kw inverter. I did the numbers and it wasn't worth upgrading as I wouldn't get my money back however, luckily, we had a hail storm and the panels were damaged so insurance paid most of the cost of the new system. I went with the Sungrow inverter because in my opinion they have the best software/app on the market! I also went with Canadian solar panels 415w × 12. This system has been AMAZING, I face north on a 12 degree roof and I generate just over 30kw and export just over 24kw to the grid on a cloudless day. I was still getting a $300 bill with the old system and with the new system I get a $300 credit. I can not be more happier with my system. I have 3 phase so I had to pay $500 for a smart meter but if you see how good the Sungrow software is you would pee your pants! I got the installer to run all the 3 phases cables in the roof ready for batteries so when the 44c tariff ends I can upgrade my inverter to 3 phase connect batteries add more panels on the roof and I will be energy sufficient! Thanks for all your videos I learn a great deal from your experience.
Thanks a lot for sharing. My sparky loves the Sungrow inverters. But they are not an option for the Victron system I have. It makes perfectly sense for your situation though. Of the 20kWh I'm producing atm, I use only 1.5kWh myself thanks to the battery (plus extension cables) and having connected a lot of larger loads like the hot water system, pool pump and EV charging to the battery already.
hi there,who is the electricity provider u are using ?
@@philmain9313 Alinta, 44c in the Government feed in and 8c is from Alinta
@@philmain9313 I'm using Diamond Energy for the last 5 years. 100% renewables. They don't do anything else.
Great rundown of data for a 2 day sample Andy. If you are going to paint ur roof at all use white for reflectivity & coolness, I believe hydroponics started using white as a reflective backdrop years ago as they found white was overall more reflectively efficient than silver, as silver has black in it’s makeup, it absorbs some light & creates heat as well, compared to using white. Thanks for all ur great info. Cheers
Thanks for your comment. I won't paint my roof as this collects our drinking water for the house (yes, we have filters, but...)
The bifacial panels were just the same price as normal ones, so... 🤷♂️
Spot on E 1
Thanks for the info. Your 30v is lost through the cable length from the roof to the inverter. You can calculate your power lost through the cable length as 31.16V x 12 = 373. 92V
Then 373.92V - 343.5V = 30.42V lost
Your power lost through the cable length would be 30.42V x 12.04A = 366.26W.
Thats quite a bit.
Great info you gave, thanks.
That means then the resistance of the cable (plus and minus together) is 366,26W / (12,04A²) = 2,52 Ohms.
Oh yes, please show us that Homeassistant integration thingy! Those graphs look very stylish AND informative.
Very interesting. Awesome pictures of wind and sun over your roof! Thanks a lot for sharing.
Thanks Peter, thought it makes a good story and real world experience.
a short solar cell doesnt reduce current, but voltage (by 0,5V approx) When a panel is shaded and the others can give current, the internal panels bypassdiode routes the current, so that the resistance of the shaded panel doesnt affect the current flow. You then lose the panels voltage, but not the whole string.
We live in an electronic era. I'm very glad I I've spent the last 50 years studying, learning, building, and repairing electronic devices. That allows me the opportunity to become the master of electronic systems instead of being turned into a sort of 'slave to the system', having to reset the system at exactly 52 seconds, for instance. :)
Thanks Andy
Enphase micros also work with phase shift control. Also individual mppt at panel level. Great videos. Prost!
Did you think of spraying reflective paint under the new bi facial panels?
Natural limewash works great for that
I will appreciate and really need that old poor Chinese inverter, I could have pay for shipping instead of throwing it away😊.
I will not mind resetting the inverter at 52seconds every day😂.
I always learned new things from your presentation❤.
Greetings from Nigeria.
I upgraded my microinverters and increased production > 1kW with the same 10 panels, and then added 2 more panels for a total of 4.8kW AC, which increased from 3kW AC. Also, I agree 100% regarding what you said about shading with a lot of small strings, it is better than one big string. I take this to the max and use microinverters. So every panel can deliver its maximum.
Yeah, I was looking into the off-grid integration in a few years. MI are not great with that and not compatible with Victron.
@Off-Grid Garage it seems if you go microinverter you probably have to go all the way microinverter I'd like to possibly do that on my next system if I am ever able to build another one.
I'm totally off-grid. I have a 12-volt system built with victron. And then I have a 48 volt system with 1 lv65 sungold and I have for Server rack batteries from EGR
@Off-Grid Garage it seems if you go microinverter you probably have to go all the way microinverter I'd like to possibly do that on my next system if I am ever able to build another one.
I'm totally off-grid. I have a 12-volt system built with victron. And then I have a 48 volt system with 1 lv65 sungold and I have for Server rack batteries from EGR
Heya, those new panels gone give you some nice power on a smaller foot print nice nice nice
Nice house!
Big roof, ey?
Thanks for the video, Mr Off-Grid. Please *DO* show us how you got the Fronius set up in Home Assistant. Will be very informative!
OK, I'll see if I can squeeze this video in at some stage...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Thanks, much appreciated!
Would they produce better if they were spaced off the roof a bit -- to run cooler?
I've had a great idea. I'm going to start the OFFGRID GARAGE DRINKING GAME! everytime we see the donkeyballs graphic, we have to down a shot of our favourite tipple. After this episode I'd be pretty wasted! Looking forward to a high donkeyballs count in future videos......keep up the good work!
Hahaha, sounds great. I'm in! 🍷🍸🍹🍺
Wonderful new system. Nice. I would enjoy a Home Assistant demo. Thanks for sharing
OK...
nice upgrade
Oh, Andy and all that wind energy floating by!😉
I know right lots of wind always over there it seems
I need to get a generator! Two!
Can I have that JFY to mount next to the last working Sunny Roo in my solar museum?
It's probably worth a lot of money for people who need to replace their faulty one 😂
And yes the Home Assistant energy dashboard is pretty nice. I have my off-grid and the Fronius grid system integrated with HA. You should be able to integrate your Shelly metering as well. Looking at your screen grab it looks like you've already done that.
I use HA to manage a range of things, e.g. load management (pool pump automation for instance), it decides if my off-grid system needs a bit of supplemental charging from the grid PV, there's all sorts of possibilities. Different outcomes here as of course we don't have the PFIT you do, so self consumption of PV has priority over exporting.
Yeah, very new to HA. I hate it!
But I must say the energy tab was very easy to integrate with the Fronius Inverter and the Shelly meter. It gives me a great overview of my grid connected power.
So, I have not been able to connect the Victron system to HA. If there is no integration, it won't happen. I have a life after all! 😂
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Hey Andy, get HACS up and running and you will find an integration called "Victron GX modbusTCP integration".
@@angyp74 what is HACS?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Home Assistant Community Store (HACS). You will find a few guides online on how to install HACS. Then you can add Victron GX modbusTCP integration. Few steps involved but worth it if you ask me.
25:00 These MC4s are not easy to disconnect if the tool is not at hand.
Thus I have a nearby fusebox for easy PV disconnect, made a disconnect tool (using stainless steel material - so it wont rust nor get brittle from UV if plastic) attached to the panel with an SS cord.
There were 2 MC4 type things. I can imagine, one can be ripped apart easily. We are talking about a fire afterall, so reconnectability is not the highest priority
@@HolgerNestmann re Fire situation Agree.
But the MC4 on Andy's panel 24:53 (exactly same as mine) are not easy to rip out. And ripping it out will expose the wires which negates the argument "shutting off solar to prevent electric shock".
It's just stupid regulation, not practical approach. I'm just glad they got rid of the fuse box isolators on the roof which caused half of the fires.
Im looking forward to getting my small system back up and operating. We moved to a new property 1 year ago and have spent the entire time renovating, improving the property itself, getting chicken coop completed etc etc. We got our communications tower up about 6 weeks ago, and the solar is getting much closer to the top of our long project list. Only have 800w now, but really looking at increasing the size and running our shop panel off of solar exclusively
Big project, wow... glad I don't need to renovate any more. Well, not that much at least...
I too am just thinking of using Home Assistant, so will be very interested to see how you get on, I will be adding Shelly to monitor grid and solar as my provider needs their own smart meter to get any useful info
Yeah, the setup of the Shelly and Fronius was pretty easy in HA. I'll make a video...
HA is a really amazing software.
Endless posibilities.....an eldioado for DIY
@@Juergen_Miessmer It's a f* mess of yaml files, scripts and endless possibilities if you're not married and have nothing else to do. The update of software and technology constantly breaks things and the time you have to spend maintaining the system is far to high.
Hey Andy, could you cut a couple of trees to get rid of the early morning shading?
Question, since you have a nice feed in tariff. Could you on a cloudy day sell some of your power in your garage battery to match the max contract output. Basically make money when you wouldn't have?
Hi Andy, I think the STandby power by night is because the Inverter is still connected to the Internet I have a SolarEdge System and it is also using a little bit of AC Power during the Night to keep connected to the Online Portal. So I think it is normal behavior.
Hi Andy, something is wrong in the Fronius mppt/settings etc. When half of the string is in full sun and the other half is in the shade, you should at least measure the full power output of the panels in the sun because the bypass diodes of the shaded panels will kick in. Those diodes only consume a couple of Watts.
What would be wrong?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia For debugging purposes, disable the mpp trackers in the Fronius. Then redo the partially shade test (without trackers). You should see the total power of the panels in the sun (shaded ones will be bypassed by the diodes).
@@OffGridGarageAustralia need to split the strings so one in shade dont work as resistors
@@OffGridGarageAustralia If you have all panels in one string and connected to mppt1. Go to your fronius and turn off mppt2. I had to do that in my fronius. For some reason i don't know, my fronius was producing less when i had mppt2 ON.
Thanks for the knowledge. What is the best hybrid 5 kw solar inverter?
What is the best car, the best mobile, the best computer, the best shoes???
That solely depends on your setup, system and regulations.
I just ❤ Home Assistant
🤮
The inverter will have options for overnight modes, they can be told to shut down. It will be using some standby power to keep the data manager and internet/network connections running (which you will want if you have the smart meter like I do). But 7 W seems a tad high, my 10 kW Symo has an idle consumption closer to 1 W.
I could not see any such setting to turn it off. I went through the customer and tech login...
I don't need it to run over night at all.
My off-grid Growatt does the same, even though it is connected to the battery it draws a small amount of AC to stay on.
I know EXACTLY where that smash button is!!!💥
Thanks for your help, Joe! 😊
Andy, I would recommend you at least to the back panels that install tigo. Costs about 40 euros per panel and works very well with partial shading. I've had good experiences with it
I have Tigo and they're OK. Seem to bring down overall output (I have a string on South and East faces and separate one on West.
Thanks Andy 👍👍
This is exactly the dilemma I’m facing too. My old system is 6.8kW, 36 x 190w panels but lucky to produce 4kW max, except for a spike to 5kW when the sun pops out from behind cloud. There are discoloured cells, snail trails, tracks and cracks and every other issue you can imagine shared between all the panels. I have replaced four that have failed completely with second hand, but I suspect some of the second hand were not much better. Some installers have told me I could replace “like for like” and fit 6.5kW on the roof, but others have said no, too risky, you’ll almost certainly lose your FIT, something I certainly don’t want to risk, …. which means it would need to be just 5kW of panels to avoid risking the premium FIT.
I also get “isolation fault” some mornings too, maybe one morning in eight on average, but sometimes it can be two mornings in a row even when it’s absolutely bone dry.
However the other down side that will add cost is that it’s a complex, difficult roof and replacing them and bringing it all up to current specs will be a very big job, with four separate sections of panels.
Do I replace them all at VERY great expense for maybe another 5kWh per day? Or do I try to nurse the old system along?
I’m still not sure but might have to bite the bullet sooner or later.
Thanks Dave. I had a chat to Energex before I contracted the sparky. And they said as long as I follow the rules on the QLD website, I won't loose the tariff. As I had only 5.1kW solar and a 5kW inverter, there was nothgin to fear about. The new system has now 4.98kW solar and still the 5kW inverter, so I 100% fulfilled the requirements here:
www.qld.gov.au/housing/buying-owning-home/energy-water-home/solar/feed-in-tariffs/solar-bonus-scheme-44c
In your case it is a bit unclear if you can keep your 6.8kW of solar or will be restricted to 5kW of panels only to match the inverter size. If you want to go down this path, send the QLD department an email and request some clarification. So you have something in written.
I'm sure with your system, you will get more power than 5kWh per day. Mine is facing East and has shading, so only limited production in Winter.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Thanks again Andy.
I think I’ll have to go down this path sooner rather than later. I had the dreaded “isolation fault” again this morning and took about half an hour of isolating strings and retrying with power cycles to get it to successfully connect.
Yesterday was no issue, and probably (HOPEFULLY😳) tomorrow will be too. It’s impossible to predict, (and is no worse in wet weather.)
It’s all a PITA as we expect to be getting away in the caravan very soon, so might very likely cost us a lot in lost FIT.
When we do take the plunge it will be an expensive exercise- and I certainly won’t be game to go for more than 5kW of panels without written confirmation despite having 6.8 kW now. Also, maybe it’s a job for microinverters due to our complex roof layout?
2 strings in the same place so when shading first string isn't affected mad increase in power
Andi,you get a lot of money from the gov in Australia and become rich, I get only 0,07€ for each delivered kwh in Germany. You also get this amount if you install the system yourself and an electrician certifies the proper function. With all other subsidy programs, you are obliged to hire a company to install the system. But I have never applied for a subsidy or something similar here in Germany, because then you have to have everything done by a company and the costs are usually so high that if you do everything yourself, you are better off without a subsidy and can do the installation for a fraction of the cost.
Not sure how you get rich by selling your extra solar.
@@chrisfx4212 don't take every word so seriously, ever heard of a joke?
Hey Andy, can you export any data to PVoutput so you can view stats away from home?
Hallo Andy! Den Verbrauch von 7-8Watt in der Nacht haben auch z.B. die Kostal Wechselrichter und das ist eine Katastrophe. Huawei z.B. hat in der Nacht keinen messbaren Verbrauch. Der Gesamtwirkungsgrad ist sehr schlecht, wenn du den Wechselrichter am Ausgang vom Multiplus hängen hast. Ich hatte das auch jahrelang so, aber erst als ich alle Module über Victron MPPT Laderegler laufen lasse, komme ich sogar über den Winter hier in Österreich ohne Strom zukaufen zu müssen.
Ja, DC-Coupling ist immer am besten. Nun gehts das leider bei mir nicht, weil das Haus ein gutes Stueck weg ist von der Garage. Bleibt also nur die AC Anbindung.
Just curious, how did you figure out that 52 seconds was the magic number??
Should not be 42 the solution for everything ?
;-)
I tested for years and figured out what works...
Nice.
Ist deine Garage mit den Haus verbunden. Wieso lässt du nicht das Haus mit laufen.
How is your AC usage doing since you have the solar panels installed? You had a white roof reflecting most of the sun IR and now you have a black roof converting 80% of the sun rays to heat.
I am facing here the same situation with a very long string of panels and a shadow of a Tannenbäumsche whose shadow walks through the string in the morning in spring/autumn. I also observe - like on your system - that it only starts to deliver after 50% of panels are in sunlight. I don't like that because then the bypass diodes of the shadowed panels are seeing 10A for over an hour, which maybe will stress them too much over the years. I will halften the string length an put the first half on a MPPT on the DC side of my Battery. Beneath reducing the stress on the bypass diodes, I also think, that it then starts much earlier to deliver power. I'd suggest for you to test at least the same, even due that you have one DC Input in spare! Grüße from the motherland of regulations!
Thanks for sharing. I'll keep running the setup for a while to gain more data and experience before I change it. It was more to show what happens and get some data for these who constantly nag me about using a Victron RS for my garage.
Was für ein Zufall hab hier meinen alten WR gegen einen Fronius Symo GEN24 am 12.04 ausgetauscht. Hab auch ein Smartmeter verbaut, funktioniert mit der APP ganz gut.
Hi, in welches Land bis Du ausgewandert? Kann man da nicht einfach die Anlage selbst installieren? Oder sind da auch solche Vorschriften, dass das nur ein Meisterbetrieb kann. Selbst wenn man Elektriker ist.
Similar regulations down here in Australia as in Germany.
As soon as something is connected to the grid, a whole lot of regulations apply.
Andy let me rephrase my question. Apart from your irrigation pump, pool pump and EV charging what other loads are you powering from your DIY powerwall. Are you powering any loads in the house, especially critcal loads you can power during a power outage or are you going to wait until July 2028. I am not sure where you ended up in this long process and there are too many videos to go back over to find out. Thanks.
The hot water system is no connected through a transfer switch to the battery and grid. Apart from that the occasional dishwasher, washing machine via an extension cable but nothing else in the house as this would require a separation of circuits. I will wait through winter now and see hoch much power I'm getting from the garage...
Here are the videos are are after:
Part1: ruclips.net/video/LQJZUmWDuCs/видео.html
Part2: ruclips.net/video/evuxwiY8z1Y/видео.html
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Thanks for the reply Andy👌
Maybe you could use this roof for some testing of some tigo optimisers
I probably could but there is a link in the video description where someone has tested them. They optimise the profit of the manufacturer, nothing else. Not worth it unless your panels face different directions and are connected to the same string (that's a bad solar design anyway but some roofs don't allow anything else...).
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I retro fitted some to some of my panels due to winter shading, and I'm personally happy with them. One thing it really like is been able to see the performance of each panel.
Catching sunshine
Is always a win win 💪
Don't use Home Assistant. Before you know it you'll have sensors everywhere and automated literally everything, like I did. All locally hosted obviously.
this sounds somehow familiar...should have gotten this warning sooner ;)
I’m already going that direction.
I just started and HA is the worst, I have ever seen!
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Nope. As opensource person since 1993, it's definately a different but once you learn some basic aspects of it, it gets easier. It's a cross-platform system which is partially reason why it's a bit different.
Yes Andy I would be very interested in how you used home assisstant to display your Fronius data.
OK, I'll do a video 👍
Nice upgrade to the house system. After seeing the morning shading I was thinking having the left half and right half in parallel might work better than all in series. As is, it seems to be producing pretty well.
Yeah, the half shade situation is only for 30min or so...
And I wanted to do the experiment with such a long string...
I wonder how mounting a biphasic panels on its edge would be like in that situation.
Didn't look at micro inverters (enphase)?
Do they work with and off-grid system and Victron?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Some youtubers playing with enphase off grid but I noticed envoy-s now has DRM and can be setup for zero export which the M series couldn't. They just put the power on to the grid effectively the older ones just pushed everything they had out so trying to use off grid had issues blowing those inverters, but youtubers did show if the load matched the enphase inverters could be done.
Good use case for DC optimizers.
From everything I've read, they gain little in partly shady conditions and lose some in full sun. I'm beginning to think they are marketing snake oil.
@@ssoffshore5111 I have them. In full sun they’re basically the same (as long as you don’t go over max of the units rating which is what most people don’t look at). With partially shaded arrays they help a lot by balancing the voltage of every panel so series connection works properly.
@@jameshancock Interesting. Every third party testing I've read has suggested they offer minimal gains at best over a quality string inverter in partial shading, yet add connections (which can be problematic over time), and obviously add to efficiency losses... never mind the additional cost to the system.
@@ssoffshore5111 $17 /panel and the overhead is actually significantly less than the losses of increased amperage in the same wire.
And at the current price of copper (pun intended) you’ll pay for the units in copper savings sizing it up to handle the additional amperage without losses way more than the dc/dc optimizers.
To be clear: AC optimizers are silly. 240vac doesn’t get you the squeeze. 450+ dc does. And I’d guess we’ll see 900vdc MPPT soon given the new 900v ganfets so you’ll be able to put 16 50v panels in series on a single string at 15amps instead of probably 250 amps and monster sized wire soon.
And DC optimizers fix shading of single panels nicely. They’re pointless if you don’t get systematic shading like in this video though. Ie, if you’re doing it for a single tree that goes across the panels or something, it isn’t worth it. Just let the MPPT do its thing.
Watch the video linked in the video description. They mainly optimize the profit of the manufacturer.
Regarding the financial perspective: even if it does not pay off in 5 years, you still have a better system in the end. That value needs to be included in your calculations as well. Even if the 44c tariff ends, the new solar system will continue to produce more kWhs every day...
Great vid Andy. Have you thought of having Optimizers added. I have the JA bi-facials and a similar situation with shading at certain times of the day. My installer suggested optimizers and I had them installed. I must say my KWs are definitely higher now even when 70% of my panels are shaded obviously no difference once all of them are in full sun. But like you I have a great feed in tariff and wanted the best I could get. The optimizers will payback there selves in under 4 years
Well, there is a video linked in the description. I'm not a fan of optimizers. I have three here and tested them... not good.
so the cost of the panels now?
I know fire brigade people in nsw and they said no way are they going onto a roof let alone disconnecting solar panels.
I know, these regulations are nuts!
Nice upgrade, i've thought about replacing my 'old' panels but the increase in power would not be worth the cost to do so, we have non problem producing 8kw with the 8kw inverter and 10kw panels, the only increase we would see is that the ramp up and ramp down to Peak power would be marginaly faster.
In your case its a No brainer, 👍
Hey, keeping busy enjoying what you do is priceless as we age and more money becomes so much less of a goal. Paul Hibbert, hahaha love watching him, great comedy! Don't give up on Home Assistant.. keep plugging around with it on the side. You'll be addicted to figuring it out! It's how some of us are wired. LOL
Thanks a lot, Dan. Money is not the goal any more, thankfully and I can start enjoying the fruits of all the hard work done in the past.
Paul is the best, the master of bait 😂
Yeah, HA is a big challenge. I have installed it now on a NUC PC and I'm trying to connect all my Sonoffs to it, without having to flash them to Tasmota. I'm almost there, I think. Almost...
hi there, what is the name of the power suppler your using? are u in qld.
I use Diamond Energy.
Yes it would be great to see your Home Assistant Integration.
OK, it's just a simple one but gives me all the data I want... Video is coming...
Hey Andy. Nice Upgrade. Maybe you have cut a tree if anyone asks. 😊
DOOOOOOHHH!
In the UK, our neighbour removed a tree from their garden which was shading our array - a Silverbirch. Over a one year period our generation increased by 60%. So, it's definitely a reasonable explanation.
@@chrisroyle4813 I understand that, but it's not a reasonable option.
Hi Andy, I was wondering why you didn’t use micro- inverters. Wouldn’t you get more output?
Not sure either! Old mate just likes cheap junk lol yet buys a decent inverter?!
Gary, do you know any which work with an off-grid system and Victron?
Try Grafana instead Homeasistant for the Grafik.
If Fronius 'talks' mqtt, it's pretty easy to build a dashboard with a SBC thats runs Influxdb, Nodered and Grafana.
NOOOOOOOO. I have a life!
I agree moving 6 panels under other 6 and then parallel them. I just found 10 good 235 watt panels which I will add to my ground mount for a total of 11,280 12 in series with with 2 string in each parallel. That will not max out my inverter but comes close since I can have 6kw pv to each inverter. This should help a lot in winter. Still thinking of 3kw facing east with a little south to catch morning sun better for winter. I have to many trees from the west so nothing I can do since they are my neighbors trees. Its nice not having an electric bill. saves me $225-$275 a month.
Yeah, I'll do the same with a second string in 2028. The Fronius can handle 7.5kW, so I can add another 6 panels to the second MPPT.
Andy, why micro inverters were not considered?
Do you know any which work in an off-grid system?
Can anyone link the channel for Paul? (Home assistant zealot featured in the video)
It's linked in the video description...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Thanks Andy. It's a very entertaining and yet informative video.
Hi Andy, You have to add limiter to Your ongrid system. If You have 5kW licence, You can have 10kW solar panels and limiter limits to 5kW. You can double Your production in this way. You can put panels also to other side of roof. Some inverters work as limiter. For sure there are additional limiters also.
No, you can't. You will lose the high feed in tariff. An upgrade of panels is not allowed.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia OK, I have not fixed but börse (changing) tariff here with ongrid. It can be 0 to 50 cents. Usually about 10 cents for selling to grid.
With the old panels, its worth checking each panel very carefully in good light for damage. In particular, water damage. Water damage can cause corrosion which in turn can cause a partial short to the frame (which is grounded). Thus, ground fault. This would not be a direct ground fault, but it would be enough to reduce the resistance below the 10 Megohms trip point for ground-fault detection.
A crack... well, cracks can short portions of the panel out, but usually when that happens you also see actual burning and heat damage from the current (look on the back of the panel after you take it out, too). If you just see a crack but no heat damage, it went open instead of short. Cracks alone would not cause a ground fault.
After the panels are removed you can try using a multi-meter to measure the resistance to ground (aka the panel frame, at the grounding screw) from the positive and the negative lead, for each individual panel. However, standard multi-meters generally aren't sensitive enough to properly measure resistances that high. Still, if you get a reading at all it probably means that panel is causing a ground fault due to damage.
-Matt
Thanks Matt. I've checked and tested them all, no ground fault, short or connection between frame and DC side.
how did you find out 52 seconds on the old inverter
It's been for 2.5 years, so I tried a lot 😊
After replacing the first batch of solar panels in my 3kW system in Canberra (due 25% drop in 5 years) it was great to see the initial power jump from the new Trinas but there has been a (slight) noticeable drop in output over 5 years, difficult to accurately measure though due 3 v wet La Ninya years. So your earnings boost estimate may need discounting a little...my installer also was eventually able to get STCs for new panels for me which halved the overall installation cost, 10 years to go on contract so definitely worth while. With the huge jump in energy prices, I do feel for the anti-solar brigade who rubbished the whole idea as being unworkable, sadly some of the naysayers having missed out on 10 years of (relatively) 'free' power still won't make the switch as they won't see the benefit in their lifetime.
Thanks, James. Good point. The Phono cells I have, come with a 30years performance warranty down to 85% after that time. They also state to lose 2% in the first year and then go linear down over the rest of the time period. The first sharp drop is normal with all panels and expected.
Yeah, climate will be unpredictable and if we go into another drought up here, we will have a lot more sunshine in comparison to the last 2-3 years.
Hi
The Victron RS Solar controller has two strings off I/P
So you can split your panels into two lots.. Then in the morning when the first 6 panel are in sun they are producing... Later all are ... and later again the last 6 .
I have it set up this way and it seems to work a treat..
The Fronius has the same but I wanted them in one string to see what happens.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia
I guess: You will mount some additional cables for a second string soon.
@@Juergen_Miessmer Well, as I explained, I can't. The contract does not allow that.
1/3 on top off your old yearly production seems like an more accurate estimation. It will be interesting to see what you get in the winter time.
Yes, it will be interesting. Production is still going down as expected but thanks to the pool fence system, I can still keep up.
So far, the new system produces 37% more than the old one, so that's a win.
Fronius was my first grid tied and it was a pile of sheep. It keep having multiple errors like arching and ground fault. And the it just died. The sma sunny boy was connected with no modifications and has worked flawlessly since.
Yeah, I wanted something with works with Victron and Fronius is the only one atm which is officially supported.
contrails reduce sun rays fo 25%
I miss Australia sometimes, I'm from France, living south
It looks like you have some land--- it would make sense to build a frame to house your solar panels in a totally unshaded area, more than double your production without losing the trees that give your house shade.
There is no larger unshaded area. And I have to stick to the contract to not lose the 44c...
Have you considered cutting the tops off the trees? Even if they are not yours, propose doing it for your neighbor.
two strings would be better. When there is partial shade on a string it really knocks down the output. With two strings the other string will be at full power. That's why people use microinverters. But it will be interesting to see your experiment.
Yes please, show the home assistant and dashboard integration!
OK, no problem.
The fronius does show the kWh without the smart meter but the numbers are only Updated every hour or so
At least with wireless. With LAN cable It should be faster
Not in mine, it shows only the current production. Nothing else...🤷♂️
@@OffGridGarageAustralia may be helpful to reset the communication config?
Weird you aren't allowed to catch-up to total expected output over all years of the PPA.
You should wait a bit more for these panels
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to give some of the trees a hair cut / cleanup that are near your house just enough to reduce the shading over the panels.
I would plant trees that are 2-3m high to replace any going forward
Some of these trees? We're talking about a lot of trees which are in the way. That is all part of the setup, right from the beginning when I started the installation.
Here is a video where I explain it: ruclips.net/video/nS72GpEO-zA/видео.html
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I was think just start at the one shading the house in the morning, on the new house areay.
it looked to me that one palm tree was casting a majority of the morning sun you mentioned I’d take my pole chain saw and give the fronds a hair cut
I have very tall furn trees that have dead fronds hand down and cast shadow near my array and I periodically get my Ego pole saw and give it hair cut to ensure less blockage on the sun rays :)
Small hair cuts can help too
I used the pole saw to take out another 2.5m furn so we could put a hotwater heat thermann X split pump in, we also sold the furn tree as they don’t mind being cut down and replanted else where
Our system exported 38kw/h on a good day. Its only 6.6kw with a 5kw inverter. very happy with it. using a solis 5kw inverter and 330w astroenergy perc mono half cut panels. was only $3150 installed, and has performed flawlessly the last 2 and a half years.
Fantastic results the older system I have no ware near that.
Great, that's what I'm going to do as well. The inverter can handle up to 7.5kW of panels...
This additional power from the house roof will be enough to get me over the winter months when it is connected to the battery.
I wish you had done this with Sunpower!
New one coming to market smaller parabolic solar, even cheaper.
Need to get a leaf blower to get rid of those leaves on the shadecloth. :)
I will buy a leaf sucker. A blower just makes the situation worse 😂
@@OffGridGarageAustralia LOL! Be warned, if you suck up sand it destroys them. (Maybe that isn't a thing anymore, but ask if you do buy one!)
@@GTrainRx7 I would not think this is an issue. When you vacuum leaf, there is always dirt, sand and dust. It also mulches it 10:1 ration.
Check the Diodes of all the panel as during night time they prevent reverse power as panels tends to consume energy during night time and because of that you may be getting Error in morning
Panels consume energy during night time... interesting 🤔😊
the global mpp function takes a but if time to adopt to the new shadow, the inverter should perform good after adapting to the shadows after it scans the whole IV curve.
It seems, the Victron MPPTs are a lot faster with their tracking than the Fronius.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia yes, at gmpp fronius would be slow just as every other inverter with gmpp because they can't go about scanning the whole IV curve again and again repeatedly because it would result in a major efficiency loss due to the time taken to scan the whole curve, in real time they only look for the local MPP and periodically scan the global (about 5min interval) and even at local MPP tracking victron might be faster because the fronius will be tuned to deliver a stable and not a nervous feeling result.
Really cool Videos. Bist du ursprünglich deutsch? 😊 liebe Grüße
Ich??? Guck mal in die Beschreibung, da sind links zu meinen deutschen Kanaelen...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia hehe, mein Mann liebt deine Videos bzgl Solar und ich hab es heute geguckt und gleich gesagt das ist aber kein Australier. ( ich arbeite für welche in Deutschland)
Ganz liebe Grüße 🖖
@@m.b.8313 Danke Dir. Viele Gruesse in die alte Heimat.
Andy, The Fronius is the only Inverter natively supported by Victron. If you can connect it to the same LAN network as your Cerbo, then the Cerbo will recognise it an you can configure it to be on Grid side of the MultiPlus inverter. It will then come up on your Cerbo screen, and you can log and trend it there.
I have this working, and also, have it all coming into Home Assistant.
No, no, no, no. The Victron system is off-grid. This is a grid connected system. They are not connected together.
Off-grid - grid connected. See the difference.
looks like a flat mount would be better as you have so much morning shading and the afternoon you would get more with flat. maybe you could put one panel up there as a test?
Bi facial solar panels need be mounted slightly higher on the roof leaving sufficient space beneath the panels for reflection of sunlight.
Hallo Andy. Mein Fronius Symo lässt sich per eingebautem DataManger (hat beim Gen24 einen anderen Namen ) konfigurieren und zeigt auch die aktuellen Daten (auch Tagesdaten) .
UND es werden alle Daten im Victron VRM mitgeloggt !!! die Funktionalität muss aber im DataManager aktiviert werden; dann findet Cerbo/Venus den Fronius und kann die Daten loggen.
Vielleicht hilft Dir diese Info. Hinweis: Der Fronius taucht dann aber in allen Cerbos im Netzwerk auf und muss wo nicht gewünscht rauskonfiguriert werden.
Danke Dir, aber der Gen24 ist ja nicht mit dem Victron System verbunden.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Das spielt keine Rolle. Es funktioniert trotzdem.
@@OffGrid-Home Als was soll ich denn den Fronius im Victron system einrichten? Der muss doch entweder am AC-in oder AC-out untergebracht werden. Unter Settings - System Setup muss man doch das dem Venus mitteilen...