Crossy

A big chunk of that is used by Madam's koi pond. With their filters, air pump and UV light along with their special koi food those ruddy fish get a better life than I do! We've just added (yesterday) another 6 panels bringing us to 15.3kWp on the car-port, that should give us around 45kWh per day. Our aim is to be grid-independent (rather than off grid) so we will retain a grid connection for backup purposes. There's 56kWh of storage currently in boxes waiting for me to actually assemble battery packs. In order to use all that energy I'm going to have to upgrade our inverters probably to 3 x Deye SUN-5k-SG05LP1-EU running in parallel https://www.lazada.co.th//products/i4978816678-s20977309094.html Madam has designs on an EV and enclosing (and air-conditioning) our large downstairs living space so even more panels are in the plan. All good fun (and $$$).

My UK grandkids just went home. Down to a reasonable 60kWh/day total usage (Thai grand-daughter is still with us or it would be 30kWh/day) from >>90kWh per day whilst they were here.

Luyuan have an assembly video for their kits (complete with cheesy music).

Meanwhile we installed the last 6 panels that will fit on the car-port.

In the end we manhandled the box from their pickup into ours so we could unpack at our leisure.

Is that how the manual says to do it?

Being delivered today, probably came by train rather than boat. A minor bump in the road to storage delight. The logistics company called last evening "do we have a forklift?". The kit is in 18 boxes, but regulations required that these be packed in a wooden crate, total weight 250kg! They were less than delighted when we said "No forklift". Their happiness factor increased significantly when we said "But we'll unpack the box on the truck".

Yeah, I'm a little concerned about the positioning of the breakers/fuses in relation to the packs and inverter.

You're welcome. Do note that it has absolutely nothing whatever to do with this afternoon's magical transformation of a 0.5mm2 BMS sense wire into a poof of acrid smoke and a slight black stain on the top of the battery pack I'm building! ** I didn't even say "Abracadabra"! ** The un-stripped end of the wire contacted the B- terminal, 4 x 560Ah (2P - 280Ah) cells in series can generate an amp or two!

IMPORTANT NOTE: - Please don't lose sight of the fact that there is a LOT of energy tied up in your battery packs. These packs are quite capable of pushing several thousand amps if shorted, that 1/2" drive ratchet stands no chance. A litre of petrol/gasoline contains about 33MJ or about 10kWh => 200Ah @ 48V. It may be "only" 48V but please treat your pack with the respect it deserves.

Your only issue could be when you re-connect the parallel if the packs are different states of charge, significant currents could flow as one pack charges the other.

For high-current parallel connections I'd use a bus-bar with one lug per bolt. Something like this. https://www.lazada.co.th/products/i4750566069-s19589324451.html

I don't think I would have done it like that!! What size is your wire? It's friend?

How about this https://www.lazada.co.th/products/ukk-80a-125a-160a-i1156400257-s20734054416.html? Or https://www.lazada.co.th/products/din-rail-terminal-block-wkh207-power-distribution-box-modular-connection-block-i2679352352.html

That's definitely gotten rather warm!! Clean-up and reconnect, keep an eye on it. You may want to reconsider using two wires in one hole on a high-current connection.

Yeah, hot connection. Pull the wire and cut off the damaged end, re-connect. Hopefully it's not damaged the breaker itself. Check your other connections are tight!

I've had this type of situation in the past (although in my case I actually wanted the short stay coz I was visiting immigration the next day). The incoming officer asked if I really did only want 2 days or would I rather have a 30 day exemption. So, ask the officer on entry.

The beauty of running grid-tie or grid-synchronised is that you can size your system to carry as much, or as little of your load as you want (or can afford). Size for your daytime A/C load and if you're not running the A/C then the energy offsets whatever else is running. A 1,000Watt micro-inverter and 3 x 340W panels will offset your bill by about 3kWh per day on average (1,095kWh per year). At current prices that's about 5,400 Baht per year that you're not paying to PEA. 3 x 340W panels = 9,000 Baht, 1kW GTI 2,500 Baht, say 2,000 for mounting hardware, cables etc. and you're online for 13,500 Baht. So, using simplistic numbers and DIYing you are getting free electricity within 3 years!

Read your meter at about 9AM and 4.30PM for the day/night split, you need to generate all your energy in the 9-4.30 slot. Have a look at my Solar carport thread https://aseannow.com/topic/1120934-how-about-a-solar-car-port-on-a-budget/ although the "on a budget" tag isn't really relevant now with the latest planned enhancements

This ^^^. Edge of Darkness is still superbly watchable and the Troubleshooters (UK series name with the MOGUL oil company) definitely worth a re-look.

Many modern hybrid inverters can run with or without battery, so you can start with no or a small pack and add later. Do beware of inverters which use proprietary packs (e.g. Huawei) where the OEM packs are silly money and no second-source is available. The only system component that I recommend you max out on initially is your inverter(s). If you need a system where two or more inverters are going to be required then I suggest you buy all of them at the start. There's no guarantee that you will be able to parallel more modern units with your existing ones when you decide you need more oomph.

Even using a contractor, you should expect to see payback in around 7-10 years. From then on, the energy you get is free! Panels are usually warrantied for 20 years to 80% rated capacity. LiFePO4 batteries are good for 6-10k cycles (>16 years) to 80%, treat them gently and they will last forever. Barring accidents your inverters should last as long as any other modern piece of electronics, many have 5-year warranties. As far as maintenance goes, it's really limited to cleaning your panels and any fan filters your inverters may have.

So long as we don't get a repeat of 2022!

Any indication of day/night usage split - To size your battery pack? Peak load - To size your inverter? Do you actually want to be off-grid or maintain a PEA supply for backup? Finger in the air: - 40-50 x 340W panels @ 2,500-3000 Baht each - say 150,000 Baht (that's 100m2 of panels!!) 30kWh battery pack - say 4kUSD (as a kit from China) so about 150,000 Baht 10kW hybrid inverter (2 x 5kW) - 90k Baht the pair. So, a ballpark 400k Baht for the kit, add 50-100% if you use a contractor to install.