Mark, just discovered your very informative videos. Thank you, you have produced an incredibly useful series of videos for new solar users or those considering producing. I wish I'd discovered your series before we installed.
Great stuff Mark. I was pondering whether my panels had degraded or it was a weather related issue as I suspected. Thanks for putting my mind at ease regarding panel degradation and just too much rain. Cheers.
Just checked my solar performance . Since I don't have a full year of solar data to use yet I was curious as to how well the system is performing so far with the data I have compared to the estimate my installer provided before installation. Glad to say I'm doing well. I must say I was getting used to the big totals I was getting during summer. I was a little worried I was having shading issues or dirty panels , but it just turns out the lower output in winter was normal in the end. Glad I know the trick for the Fronuis system now that will be quite handy going forward.
Another great video. Would be interested in a more in depth look at the Voltages & Currents and anything else to make sure things are performing as they should be.
@@markcavanagh its not at all! Without the great content you've been putting out I know I, and a lot of others, would have struggled to find information that's been really helpful!
Thanks Mark that was very helpful, I have Fronius premium and haven't taken the time to set it up properly, so that will be next. I do have a question though. I have looked at the Fronius vlog about settings in my Fronius Solar monitoring to set my battery usage ( we have a 7.5 HVS BYD ) to zero when there is a blackout forecast or when the electricity supplier wants to work on the infrastructure. Could you do a vlog about this?
Hi hank, unfortunately that setting is locked out with the installer password. So, it’s designed to set and forget - unlike Tesla. This is probably the most obvious feature that Fronius needs to improve on.
@@mcelectrical Thanks. There is a vlog from Fronius which is not that clear about this. However, I watched it a few weeks ago and cannot find it back to watch again, as sometimes that clears thins.
Hi Mark, great video. Im about to get a large 20kw 3-phase residential system installed with fronius symo and sunpower panels. Would the catch solar relay provide me with all this data on the fronius apps? Or would i be better of getting the three phase fronius smart meter. I want as much consumption/export data as possible, but also really want the catch power relays load control features. Cheers.
Great question lewis. I was just talking to the guys at catch. They have a three phase catch coming and they promised it will be here on the 31st of never, 2023. So, if you can hang out till next year sometime, then catch will have a 3 phase option ;)
Hello, have you been able to check how Fronius shows the mains battery charge? In my opinion it does not count it and that causes errors in the data. The data shown by Fronius and the data shown by the electricity distributor do not match.
Hi Jan, I asked Fronius about your question to see if they had any more insight. It’s potentially more difficult to see the data on Solar.web if you have set to charge from the grid, but you should be able to see the info you need in the analysis tab. But here are two thoughts: 1) batteries are not usually set up to charge from the grid, so I was wondering if or why yours was set up that way. 2) it’s possible that your smart meter was incorrectly installed.
@@mcelectrical Hello Mark, the installation of the meter (Fronius) is at the power point and I think it is correctly installed, it is the first piece of equipment after the energy meter and before the entire installation of the house, with which all the energy incoming or outgoing passes through it. I think that it is correctly installed because the photovoltaic surpluses indicated by solarweb coincide in more than 97% (in the worst case) with the surpluses indicated by the electricity distributor. This does not occur with consumption that deviates by more than 25% in a single day due to micro-charges from the network to the battery (due to the stabilization of the system in the face of variations in consumption and generation) and this without carrying out scheduled charging of network, if these charges are made the difference increases. I think that these large variations are due to the fact that fronius is not correctly accounting for what is poured out of the battery and into the network. Regarding the possibility of charging the batteries from the electrical network, depending on the country and the regulations, it is possible and recommended to take advantage of the cheap nightly rates to charge the battery. If this charge is carried out, fronius does not record this charge as network consumption, causing the values indicated by solarweb to not coincide with the values that appear in the electricity distributor. In the analysis tab we can certainly see the grid consumption caused by the battery charge (apparent power L1 power point), but I think that this consumption is not being accounted for correctly in the daily and monthly totalizers and I don't know how it shows in solarweb and that is why the difference with the data of the energy distributor.
Tak for dine gode videoer. har du målinger for måske defekte batterier fra Fronius deres ejne mærker , jeg tænker på forbrug på ca. 12 watt som ikke er forbrug, men måske defekt batteri!!! MVH Henrik
@@markcavanagh Hmm... a bit of both. I found it useful in itself but would have loved to see more detail and more in-depth analysis so it was maybe a gateway in to nerdship 🙂 edit: I realise there is likely a much smaller audience for the effort you would put in though, so it might not be worth it.
High grid voltage at lunch when your solar is running may mean you have a voltage rise issue - meaning your cables are too small (you could Google my blog on that). But if you have it when the solar is not turned on, then it is a network issue.
Great knowledge base.
Glad you liked it
Mark, just discovered your very informative videos. Thank you, you have produced an incredibly useful series of videos for new solar users or those considering producing. I wish I'd discovered your series before we installed.
Thanks Catherine! I’m glad you’ve found them helpful:)
Great stuff Mark. I was pondering whether my panels had degraded or it was a weather related issue as I suspected. Thanks for putting my mind at ease regarding panel degradation and just too much rain. Cheers.
Oh great. I guess I answered that question pretty specifically!
Thanks mark great video informative and well presented love the fronius back end hack
Hi Mark, loving your "Know Your Solar" series... such good basic information for customers. Keep it up!
Thanks PRO
Just checked my solar performance . Since I don't have a full year of solar data to use yet I was curious as to how well the system is performing so far with the data I have compared to the estimate my installer provided before installation.
Glad to say I'm doing well. I must say I was getting used to the big totals I was getting during summer. I was a little worried I was having shading issues or dirty panels , but it just turns out the lower output in winter was normal in the end.
Glad I know the trick for the Fronuis system now that will be quite handy going forward.
Hi Dane, yeh we often get calls in winter about “low production”. The hack is pretty handy ;)
Greate Video. A lot of Important Information. Tanks
Another great video. Would be interested in a more in depth look at the Voltages & Currents and anything else to make sure things are performing as they should be.
@@markcavanagh its not at all! Without the great content you've been putting out I know I, and a lot of others, would have struggled to find information that's been really helpful!
Thanks for the feedback! Check out Mark's blog for more in-depth explainers like this one: mcelectrical.com.au/solar-voltage-rise-explained/
The solar web dors not look like in your video. Was it changed after releasing this video, or donyou have premium?
What about spotting individual panels that might be underperforming?
Thanks Mark that was very helpful, I have Fronius premium and haven't taken the time to set it up properly, so that will be next.
I do have a question though. I have looked at the Fronius vlog about settings in my Fronius Solar monitoring to set my battery usage ( we have a 7.5 HVS BYD ) to zero when there is a blackout forecast or when the electricity supplier wants to work on the infrastructure. Could you do a vlog about this?
Hi hank, unfortunately that setting is locked out with the installer password. So, it’s designed to set and forget - unlike Tesla. This is probably the most obvious feature that Fronius needs to improve on.
@@mcelectrical Thanks. There is a vlog from Fronius which is not that clear about this. However, I watched it a few weeks ago and cannot find it back to watch again, as sometimes that clears thins.
Hi Mark, great video. Im about to get a large 20kw 3-phase residential system installed with fronius symo and sunpower panels. Would the catch solar relay provide me with all this data on the fronius apps? Or would i be better of getting the three phase fronius smart meter. I want as much consumption/export data as possible, but also really want the catch power relays load control features. Cheers.
Great question lewis. I was just talking to the guys at catch. They have a three phase catch coming and they promised it will be here on the 31st of never, 2023. So, if you can hang out till next year sometime, then catch will have a 3 phase option ;)
Hello, have you been able to check how Fronius shows the mains battery charge? In my opinion it does not count it and that causes errors in the data. The data shown by Fronius and the data shown by the electricity distributor do not match.
Hi Jan, I asked Fronius about your question to see if they had any more insight. It’s potentially more difficult to see the data on Solar.web if you have set to charge from the grid, but you should be able to see the info you need in the analysis tab. But here are two thoughts: 1) batteries are not usually set up to charge from the grid, so I was wondering if or why yours was set up that way. 2) it’s possible that your smart meter was incorrectly installed.
@@mcelectrical Hello Mark, the installation of the meter (Fronius) is at the power point and I think it is correctly installed, it is the first piece of equipment after the energy meter and before the entire installation of the house, with which all the energy incoming or outgoing passes through it.
I think that it is correctly installed because the photovoltaic surpluses indicated by solarweb coincide in more than 97% (in the worst case) with the surpluses indicated by the electricity distributor. This does not occur with consumption that deviates by more than 25% in a single day due to micro-charges from the network to the battery (due to the stabilization of the system in the face of variations in consumption and generation) and this without carrying out scheduled charging of network, if these charges are made the difference increases. I think that these large variations are due to the fact that fronius is not correctly accounting for what is poured out of the battery and into the network.
Regarding the possibility of charging the batteries from the electrical network, depending on the country and the regulations, it is possible and recommended to take advantage of the cheap nightly rates to charge the battery. If this charge is carried out, fronius does not record this charge as network consumption, causing the values indicated by solarweb to not coincide with the values that appear in the electricity distributor.
In the analysis tab we can certainly see the grid consumption caused by the battery charge (apparent power L1 power point), but I think that this consumption is not being accounted for correctly in the daily and monthly totalizers and I don't know how it shows in solarweb and that is why the difference with the data of the energy distributor.
Tak for dine gode videoer. har du målinger for måske defekte batterier fra Fronius deres ejne mærker , jeg tænker på forbrug på ca. 12 watt som ikke er forbrug, men måske defekt batteri!!! MVH Henrik
I like the idea of having "grandma" level of information, and lets say "nerd" level of information in a suitably named video series perhaps?
@@markcavanagh Hmm... a bit of both. I found it useful in itself but would have loved to see more detail and more in-depth analysis so it was maybe a gateway in to nerdship 🙂 edit: I realise there is likely a much smaller audience for the effort you would put in though, so it might not be worth it.
What is high grid voltage from? As in above what is a issue?
High grid voltage at lunch when your solar is running may mean you have a voltage rise issue - meaning your cables are too small (you could Google my blog on that). But if you have it when the solar is not turned on, then it is a network issue.
mcelectrical.com.au/solar-voltage-rise-explained/
Hi:) Make please new video about GVDPR Fronius function? AC voltage control... Thanks.
Interesting. I have Fronius coming in for a couple of videos, we might try and cover that too.
Using app on iPhone etc you can see a lot of history for free
Yeh the app is pretty good, but you don’t get those daily production curves.
@virgin1958 what is app's name..