How about a solar car port on a budget?

[Crossy]

The car port is really, really full now.

 

At least until ...

 

 

[Crossy]

So, we have a total of 28.8kWp spread over the three areas.

 

I've still got 2 x 540W and 1 x 340W panels spare.

 

Where to get them in ...

 

 

[Muhendis]

15 minutes ago, Crossy said:

So, we have a total of 28.8kWp spread over the three areas.

 

I've still got 2 x 540W and 1 x 340W panels spare.

 

Where to get them in ...

 

 

 

How's about making it a double decker ...........

[lom]

29 minutes ago, Crossy said:

So, we have a total of 28.8kWp spread over the three areas.

 

 

That a lot of unused energy, imagine if you could use all of that all of the day.. 

Are you planning to open an EV charging station for the neighborhood? 😉

[Muhendis]

2 minutes ago, lom said:

That a lot of unused energy, imagine if you could use all of that all of the day.. 😉

Would be good but don't forget that the amount of energy Crossy's potentially harvesting is not constant all day. The power output is quoted as 28.8kWp which only happens when the suns light  is perpendicular to the panels. But by any standards that's a lot of power.

Do you think it might might be a world record? 

[ExpatOilWorker]

43 minutes ago, Crossy said:

So, we have a total of 28.8kWp spread over the three areas.

 

I've still got 2 x 540W and 1 x 340W panels spare.

 

Where to get them in ...

 

 

What is the highest Voc voltage on any of your strings?

Do you keep the Vmp right under the 425 max?

[lom]

17 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

Would be good but don't forget that the amount of energy Crossy's potentially harvesting is not constant all day. The power output is quoted as 28.8kWp which only happens when the suns light  is perpendicular to the panels. But by any standards that's a lot of power.

I compared his April numbers to mine and I had 1500KWh from solar and  55KWh from PEA. My panels output are half of his ie 14.4KWp and my batteries are fullly charged just after midday. I don't know what to do with the sunshine in the afternoon, guess I have to get an EV soon..😃

 

[lom]

26 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

But by any standards that's a lot of power.

Do you think it might might be a world record? 

I tell ya, the guy is a living power plant..

[Crossy]

34 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

What is the highest Voc voltage on any of your strings?

Do you keep the Vmp right under the 425 max?

 

Panels are 340W, Voc = 46.3V, Vmp = 38.7V

 

Longest strings (2) are 10 panels so Voc = 463V, inverter spec. is 500V max. In reality they never get anywhere near that even on a "cool" morning.

Vmp of these strings is 387V, the MPPT range is 150-425 (max power is 300-425), but once again they tend to run well below that.

 

Snapshot just now, nowhere near max power generation this late in the day, trees and house get in the way 😞 

 

 

[Crossy]

This is the voltage of one of the long strings on startup in the morning.

 

You can see the MPPT trying to start as the voltage rises but with no power available, max voltage is about 424V then it actually manages to start making power and pulls the voltage down to 260-270V which is the max-power point at this time.

 

It's this time of day where the greatest risk to the MPPT maximum input voltage occurs. This is a major issue for those in the "cooler" parts of the world as Voc rises by about 0.4% per degree C below 25C (where it is specified). Even in Thailand a chilly, 15C, morning would raise Voc by 4%.

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

This is the voltage of one of the long strings on startup in the morning.

 

You can see the MPPT trying to start as the voltage rises but with no power available, max voltage is about 424V then it actually manages to start making power and pulls the voltage down to 260-270V which is the max-power point at this time.

 

It's this time of day where the greatest risk to the MPPT maximum input voltage occurs. This is a major issue for those in the "cooler" parts of the world as Voc rises by about 0.4% per degree C below 25C (where it is specified). Even in Thailand a chilly, 15C, morning would raise Voc by 4%.

 

Very interesting. One of the installers I approached, offered 10 panels per string, which would give:

Voc= 538 V (STC) 511 V (NOCT)

Vmp= 445 V (STC) 423 V (NOCT)

 

Same inverter limitations as yours, 500 V and 150-425 V.

 

His reasoning was that NOCT numbers are real world max and Voc will in practice never exceed 500 V.

 

Bit risky, so better play it safe and go for 9 panels per string. I am in the south, so low temperatures is not an issue.

[Crossy]

Why not set up the mountings for 10 panels but install 9?

 

Then if you are confident you can just slide in another panel in future.

 

I'm sure we would be OK with 11 panel strings of our lower Voc panels, But there's nowhere to put them anyway. 

[ExpatOilWorker]

7 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Why not set up the mountings for 10 panels but install 9?

 

Then if you are confident you can just slide in another panel in future.

 

I'm sure we would be OK with 11 panel strings of our lower Voc panels, But there's nowhere to put them anyway. 

Actually,  that is a very good idea.

I could even install the 10th panel and just leave it redundant, just in case one of the other 9 panels underperform or crack. 

[Crossy]

We nearly made the magic 100kWh on the 6th.

 

The sun went behind a cloud ...

 

[UWEB]

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

We nearly made the magic 100kWh on the 6th.

 

The sun went behind a cloud ...

 

Had my perfect day on 22. April, was long waiting for

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

1 hour ago, UWEB said:

Had my perfect day on 22. April, was long waiting for

 

Care to explain the chart a bit?

What is red, green, light blue and dark blue?

What is your inverter and array size?

[treetops]

20 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Care to explain the chart a bit?

What is red, green, light blue and dark blue?

What is your inverter and array size?

 

There's pics with a key to show you.  I would guess from the top down:  To the house, to the batteries, to the grid, from the panels, from the batteries from the grid.

 

 

[UWEB]

11 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Care to explain the chart a bit?

What is red, green, light blue and dark blue?

What is your inverter and array size?

Have 2 pcs. Deye 10 kw Hybrid Inverters installed with a total of 21.5 kwp, but in three different directions. 6.5 kwp east, 5 kwp west and 10 kwp south. Colour code for the chart below

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

19 minutes ago, UWEB said:

Have 2 pcs. Deye 10 kw Hybrid Inverters installed with a total of 21.5 kwp, but in three different directions. 6.5 kwp east, 5 kwp west and 10 kwp south. Colour code for the chart below

 

Thanks. That is some serious panel oversizing. 

The SOC with a zero offset on the left y-axes threw me off. Still why does your consumption jump from virtually zero to 8 kW from 6 am to 6 pm?

What is your battery size?

 

I bet you have the SUN-10KSG02-LP1-EU-AM3 model, right?

[UWEB]

5 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Thanks. That is some serious panel oversizing. 

The SOC with a zero offset on the left y-axes threw me off. Still why does your consumption jump from virtually zero to 8 kW from 6 am to 6 pm?

What is your battery size?

 

I bet you have the SUN-10KSG02-LP1-EU-AM3 model, right?

That's not panel over sizing, I can even add 5 kw ( 9 x 580W) more to the System. With having Panels in three different directions I get Solar Power from Sun rise till Sun set and allows me to charge my 3 x 10 kwh House batteries and run all my Equipment like 2 HP Poolpump, Fridges, TV's and Computer, Air Conditioner and finally charge my EV with a 82 kwh Battery. This happened on 22. April by start charging my Car with 32A at 6 am from 8% to 100% poorly from Solar by using my Batteries first , and from 8.30 onward the System produced enough power to charge my House Batteries as well.

My Inverters are 2 x SUN-10KSG04LP3-AU as I have  3 phase Systems in my Houses and Buildings.

[ExpatOilWorker]

Anyone using "smart load"?

 

The way it works is by energizing the generator input, so it becomes an output when batteries are full and there is excess power from the panels.

 

I plan to connect a boiler/tank type water heater on the gen port. A dual heating element boiler, with the top element connected to the load/ups port would be ideal, but I haven't found any dual element water heaters in Thailand so far.

Alternatively, I could put two water heaters in series. A large 100 l unit on the gen port followered by a smaller 20 l unit on the load/ups port.

 

[Crossy]

I've tested Smart Load when we first got our Deye units, seems to function as advertised.

 

It should do exactly what you need.

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

5 hours ago, Crossy said:

I've tested Smart Load when we first got our Deye units, seems to function as advertised.

 

It should do exactly what you need.

 

Almost doable, I even found a dual heating element heater, but there are no straight wires in the electrical world.

As it turns out dual heating element units, do have two thermostats, but they share a single power connection. I don't think re-wiring the heating elements is an option, as the wires run in the insulation behind the outher cabinet and there is also a shared ELCB breaker.

Two separate water heaters in series is the only option. Now I just need to size them right.

[Crossy]

52 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

... but there are no straight wires in the electrical world.

 

Like the Acropolis ...