Solar - 8kW Hybrid Inverter w/10kWh (upgraded to 20kWh in Sept. 2022) ESS/battery (not DIY)

[lom]

 

5 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

The UPS scenario I am looking for is that the inverter will use battery down to say 30%, then switch to grid. If the grid then goes down, the inverter will go back to battery until a lower, say 10%, battery protecting SOC. Is there an option for that?

Yes.

Continue a bit further down is section 5.7  to "Time of use".  Time of use when activated controls charging/discharging when grid power is present. The setting takes precedence over the battery setting in section 5.6.

 

I have the battery setting in 5.6 at 10% deepest discharge but at 20% between 4 am to 8 am in time of use.

If battery goes down to 20% when grid is active then grid will take over, if grid is inactive then I have another 10% until the inverter stops producing from battery.

You can also charge the battery from the grid at a certain time based on the SOC setting in Time of use.

[lom]

[ExpatOilWorker]

3 hours ago, lom said:

 

Yes.

Continue a bit further down is section 5.7  to "Time of use".  Time of use when activated controls charging/discharging when grid power is present. The setting takes precedence over the battery setting in section 5.6.

 

I have the battery setting in 5.6 at 10% deepest discharge but at 20% between 4 am to 8 am in time of use.

If battery goes down to 20% when grid is active then grid will take over, if grid is inactive then I have another 10% until the inverter stops producing from battery.

You can also charge the battery from the grid at a certain time based on the SOC setting in Time of use.

That is absolutely brilliant. I see you have different settings during the day, so during cloudy days, you will always start the night with 50% batteries.

Just one question, shouldn't your grid charge settings be ON?

What brand of inverter are you using?

 

 

[scorecard]

On 8/8/2022 at 9:38 AM, motdaeng said:

thanks for sharing all the useful information!

 

the house and the solar project, well done, congratulation!

i am sure, you and your family will enjoy the new home, and

the new ev-car is also on the way, what can you wish more!

 

all the best to you, regards motdaeng

 

Re the EV car, I'm wondering if there's any solar packages specific to charging a set of batteries during daylight houra and then using that charge in the batteries overnight to replenish the EV car batteries? 

[Crossy]

 

"Grid Charge" actually charges your batteries from the grid, this you probably don't want (actually, you might if you are low on battery early in the night and the grid is on).

 

This is the relevant page from the Deye manual.

 

Look at the examples.

 

It doesn't actually say it, but once you reach the stop discharge SOC the inverter will use grid power if available, if no grid then you will continue discharging until the low voltage cutoff when you get the candles out.

 

[lom]

4 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Just one question, shouldn't your grid charge settings be ON?

What brand of inverter are you using?

It is a Deye and I did previously have grid charging enabled for Time 1 but that was when we had lots of grid cuts.

That to make sure that I started midnight with not less than 28% SOC which would take me through the night without power cuts. The screenshot is from the Solarman remote monitoring and configuration program.

[ExpatOilWorker]

7 hours ago, Crossy said:

 

"Grid Charge" actually charges your batteries from the grid, this you probably don't want (actually, you might if you are low on battery early in the night and the grid is on).

 

This is the relevant page from the Deye manual.

 

Look at the examples.

 

It doesn't actually say it, but once you reach the stop discharge SOC the inverter will use grid power if available, if no grid then you will continue discharging until the low voltage cutoff when you get the candles out.

 

One (last) question 🤔.  Is the inverter sensitive to a bit of ground leakage or will the system only trip if an external ELCB or RCBO breaker is installed?

My outdoor lighting has a couple of cable joins that are just isolated with black electric tape. I have tried to fix it, but the LED lights still glow on rainy days, so I suspect the ground leakage is a bit more than the 40 mA required to trip an ELCB breaker.

I measured 32 VAC from the connection to wet ground.

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

The quote arrived.

481,000 baht for 10 kW inverter + 18 panels and 30 kWh battery. 

The 65,000 baht in labor, 15,000 in permits and 31,000 baht of VAT do add up, but ballpark as expected. 

I am still waiting for a quote from CBC.

[lom]

Some parts are way overpriced..

Deye 10KW 1-phase 75000 + VAT = 80250  can be had from shopee for 69000

Combiner box 15900 ouch !  A PV only combiner box is 2500-3000 and the AC breaker and surge protector is no more than 500 baht. Still, they should not mix high voltage DC and AC in the same box!

Batteries 165000 + VAT 11500,   you can get 2x15KW LVTopSun  from Shopee for 122000 baht.

Same physical dimension but only 2 battery packs.

 

Permit? You only need a permit to change the house structure if you mount the panels on your roof and you get that from the tessaban/amphoer.  Doesn't cost 15900 + VAT..  You also need to tell PEA that you are installing solar but you don't need their permit to do it. They may come and inspect your install but it is without cost for you.

[ExpatOilWorker]

3 hours ago, lom said:

Some parts are way overpriced..

Deye 10KW 1-phase 75000 + VAT = 80250  can be had from shopee for 69000

Combiner box 15900 ouch !  A PV only combiner box is 2500-3000 and the AC breaker and surge protector is no more than 500 baht. Still, they should not mix high voltage DC and AC in the same box!

Batteries 165000 + VAT 11500,   you can get 2x15KW LVTopSun  from Shopee for 122000 baht.

Same physical dimension but only 2 battery packs.

 

Permit? You only need a permit to change the house structure if you mount the panels on your roof and you get that from the tessaban/amphoer.  Doesn't cost 15900 + VAT..  You also need to tell PEA that you are installing solar but you don't need their permit to do it. They may come and inspect your install but it is without cost for you.

I agree. Profit + VAT makes it less attractive. 

The major components, Inverter, 3 x batteries + panels is 175,000 baht.

I will check with a local electrician if it os a job for him.

The 15 kWh are too heavy to transport. Even the 87 kg 10 kWh will be a challenge. 

[ExpatOilWorker]

3 hours ago, lom said:

Combiner box 15900 ouch !

The wonders of online shopping 🛍. 

https://th.shp.ee/1DT2Uzm

 

[lom]

41 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

The 15 kWh are too heavy to transport. Even the 87 kg 10 kWh will be a challenge. 

There is a difference in price of around 54000 baht, a bit of that towards a couple of strong Thai men wont fix it? A good electrician should be able to dismantle a LVTopSun 15KWh battery into a 20kg box and 16 batteries of 5.5Kg per piece and then put it together again.

[ExpatOilWorker]

10 minutes ago, lom said:

There is a difference in price of around 54000 baht, a bit of that towards a couple of strong Thai men wont fix it?

Unfortunately not.

[lom]

Stunning view you have there! Where in Thailand is that?

[UWEB]

14 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Unfortunately not.

Some like this would be a good help for heavy stuff

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

On 3/25/2025 at 11:09 AM, ExpatOilWorker said:

The quote arrived.

481,000 baht for 10 kW inverter + 18 panels and 30 kWh battery. 

The 65,000 baht in labor, 15,000 in permits and 31,000 baht of VAT do add up, but ballpark as expected. 

I am still waiting for a quote from CBC.

An alternative quotation from https://www.solartop.net.

293,000 baht for all the components vs. 481,000 baht for a fully installed system.

Solartop seems to be a major importer and have really good pricing. Batteries and the inverter are VAT except.

A few cable lugs and cable trays might still be required, but other than that it is a complete system.

 

 

[KhunLA]

[ExpatOilWorker]

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

750 kwh/month is exactly what I need.

How come your night time (4 pm - 8 am) consumption is so low, 6 kWh/16 hours?

Also, how come consumption and production match every day in the chart? 

In your best guesstimate, how many kWh did you curtail in that month?

 

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

750 kwh/month is exactly what I need.

How come your night time (4 pm - 8 am) consumption is so low, 6 kWh/16 hours?

Also, how come consumption and production match every day in the chart? 

In your best guesstimate, how many kWh did you curtail in that month?

 

1800 - 0800 hr overnight is usually 6 - 8 kWh, as that's simply what we use, all that is needed.  Only 1 AC on, if needed, and we're usually in the bedroom, unless snacking.  Laptop / TV (65" monitor) is in bedroom, for torrents.

 

Never curtail, restrict use of solar.  Beginning of the month had nice temps, so didn't break 800kWh, let alone 1000kWh.  If home for whole month, then Feb, Mar, Apr & May, we can hit 8-9-1000+kWh.   There's only 2 of us.  If another person & bedroom AC on, or main room AC on, then we'd use twice as much, or more.

 

ACs are heavy duty inverters, and once at temp, they really don't use much on low fan.  TV only uses 100w per hour, and that's usually off around midnight.  

 

Unless really high temps overnight ...

... 1800-0000 hrs uses ~4-500w / hr

... 0000-0800 hrs uses <300w / hr

 

Higher use months (900+kWh) were ...

... April 2023, 989kWh

... May 2023, 1000+kWh

... April 2024, 1000+kWh

 

March 2023 was about the same use, 764kWh.  March 2024 was much less, 581kWh, but we were O&A for 12 days.

 

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

4 hours ago, KhunLA said:

1800 - 0800 hr overnight is usually 6 - 8 kWh, as that's simply what we use, all that is needed.  Only 1 AC on, if needed, and we're usually in the bedroom, unless snacking.  Laptop / TV (65" monitor) is in bedroom, for torrents.

 

Never curtail, restrict use of solar.  Beginning of the month had nice temps, so didn't break 800kWh, let alone 1000kWh.  If home for whole month, then Feb, Mar, Apr & May, we can hit 8-9-1000+kWh.   There's only 2 of us.  If another person & bedroom AC on, or main room AC on, then we'd use twice as much, or more.

 

ACs are heavy duty inverters, and once at temp, they really don't use much on low fan.  TV only uses 100w per hour, and that's usually off around midnight.  

 

Unless really high temps overnight ...

... 1800-0000 hrs uses ~4-500w / hr

... 0000-0800 hrs uses <300w / hr

 

Higher use months (900+kWh) were ...

... April 2023, 989kWh

... May 2023, 1000+kWh

... April 2024, 1000+kWh

 

March 2023 was about the same use, 764kWh.  March 2024 was much less, 581kWh, but we were O&A for 12 days.

 

 

By curtailment I don't mean you reducing your usage, but power that your panels don't produce, simply because usage is lower than production capacity, battery is full and you can't export. Just your best guess, maybe another 100-200 kWh in a good month?

I still don't get why your production and consumption always match in your chart. Is battery charging counted as consumption?

@Crossy 's is very different with the two parameters moving independently. 

[KhunLA]

26 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

By curtailment I don't mean you reducing your usage, but power that your panels don't produce, simply because usage is lower than production capacity, battery is full and you can't export. Just your best guess, maybe another 100-200 kWh in a good month?

I still don't get why your production and consumption always match in your chart. Is battery charging counted as consumption?

@Crossy 's is very different with the two parameters moving independently. 

It will only produce just a wee bit over what we consume, as inverter uses about 80w / hr.  Think of it the same as water supply to a house.  If not using it, it doesn't need to be brought in.  Or petrol from tank to the engine.

 

When the inverter senses a need for electric, simple allows more electrons to enter and be dispersed.

 

Yes, charging the ESS is consumption.  The March 2025 graph above shows what and where going and % used for feed the load.

 

Of course if we exported, then I could easily produce 1500kWh a month, on a good, sunny month.   We we did test exporting, and it did produce 50kWh for the day, and wasn't even a clear day.  We didn't own the MG ZS EV then.

 

The only 8 days we exported, before getting the digital meter.

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

It will only produce just a wee bit over what we consume, as inverter uses about 80w / hr.  Think of it the same as water supply to a house.  If not using it, it doesn't need to be brought in.  Or petrol from tank to the engine.

 

When the inverter senses a need for electric, simple allows more electrons to enter and be dispersed.

 

Yes, charging the ESS is consumption.  The March 2025 graph above shows what and where going and % used for feed the load.

 

Of course if we exported, then I could easily produce 1500kWh a month, on a good, sunny month.   We we did test exporting, and it did produce 50kWh for the day, and wasn't even a clear day.  We didn't own the MG ZS EV then.

 

The only 8 days we exported, before getting the digital meter.

 

What is your historical lowest monthly production?

Not a monthly you were away, but weather limited month.

[KhunLA]

9 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

What is your historical lowest monthly production?

Not a monthly you were away, but weather limited month.

First couple months, we were being conservative, seeing how little we could use, and overcast, rainy season, so used fans instead of AC when comfy enough.

 

Aug 4th to 31st, and rest of 2022.  We were staying local, maybe just a local day out.

 

 

 

 

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

First couple months, we were being conservative, seeing how little we could use, and overcast, rainy season, so used fans instead of AC when comfy enough.

 

Aug 4th to 31st, and rest of 2022.  We were staying local, maybe just a local day out.

 

 

 

 

 

Can you share August-December for 2023 and 2024 also?

Can you make it through the rainy season without tapping into the grid with your 20 kWh battery?

Would it be nice to have another 10 kWh or it wouldn't make a difference?

[KhunLA]

41 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Can you share August-December for 2023 and 2024 also?

Can you make it through the rainy season without tapping into the grid with your 20 kWh battery?

Would it be nice to have another 10 kWh or it wouldn't make a difference?

We don't need the grid at all.  Just stay conx, JIC, system has an oops.  Will occasionally use to charge the car, if needed after coming back from an O&A, as like coming back at 20%.

 

We were O&A quite a bit in 2023, so a few months, on home 20 days, or less.  

 

2023 ...

 

Months we were away longer than a week ...

 

2024 ...

 

I think I stopped keeping track for a while, as missing Oct, Nov Dec