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

[MJCM]

@KhunLA

 

May I ask why your Battery says 8kW only, is that "usable" (DOD) of your 2x ESS?

 

Your Panels say 12.

 

Just wondering.

[KhunLA]

5 minutes ago, MJCM said:

@KhunLA

 

May I ask why your Battery says 8kW only, is that "usable" (DOD) of your 2x ESS?

 

Your Panels say 12.

 

Just wondering.

I haven't a clue what those #s are ... ????

Any wonder why I didn't DIY it ...

... note to self: read manual ... again.

 

Maybe someone more knowledgeable can answer.

At 55% that should be about 11kW, all things being equal.

 

With 2nd added yesterday, mid-late afternoon, we started at 75% (100+50%)

Peeked at 80% (16kW), then at sunset, think we were at 77% after dinner and retiring to bedroom.  I myself didn't get out of bed till 8 AM, so not sure what it was at sunrise.

 

Clouds are thinning out now, sun's trying, but not enough to cast any dark shadows.

Spike for morning coffee ☕

Check that ... sun is popping out now & then ????

 

We're now at:

 

[MJCM]

Thx.

 

19 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

I haven't a clue what those #s are ... ????

Any wonder why I didn't DIY it ...

... note to self: read manual ... again.

RTFM I believe it's called ????

 

It could be the max that the Inverter is able to handle (8kW) but that is just guessing, the 8 also shows up for house and grid.

[KhunLA]

Wow ... suns popping out a bit more consistent, in between the rains.

 

Dog, kid, wife & myself healthy, ESSs are topped up  ...

... hit it Louie ... ????

 

 

[KhunLA]

Both ACs on 24° (13 & 24kBTUs), 2 frigs, laptop/TV (65"), and wife is sewing.  ACs are cooling ~90m²

 

 

[KhunLA]

The digital meter sucks up a bit of energy, for what it is.

 

When 2nd ESS installed, I snapped a photo, and @ 62.  Then noticed next day or so, was @ 63, and guess it may not have taken much to break 62, as no small reading available. 

 

Today, just a few days later, and @ 64.  So used a whole kw to run the meter ???

 

W T F ... guess I won't be seeing any -0- use bills ????

[Crossy]

Hmmm, the meter's self-use is usually from the unmetered side (so you don't pay for the power).

 

Can you post a photo of the meter clearly showing the display please.

 

[KhunLA]

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

Hmmm, the meter's self-use is usually from the unmetered side (so you don't pay for the power)

Yea, that's what I thought, and part of that 41 ish conx fee.

 

Only thing I can think of, is a conx got wet & grounded for a bit.  Though 1 kWh is quite a bit.   Did see a gecko scurry away in meter (alive), when I walked up to it.   Can't see one making a conx long enough to draw a kwh.  Didn't see any bbq'd inside.

 

Head scratcher.  If it goes to 65, I'll turn off at switch, then see if it goes to 66 afterward.

 

Need to ring them up anyway, as I see it's printed 5(100)A, and supposed to be 30A service, unless they simply use same meters, which is probably the case.

 

Installer knows we're suppose to have 30A as mentioned it when swamping meters.  Was curious why wanting, and nodded, 'understood' when told EV on the way.

 

 

[Crossy]

Yeah, all the electronic meters are the same, that one is fine for your 30/100 service.

 

I'm surprised it doesn't show fractional kWh.

 

[KhunLA]

2 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Yeah, all the electronic meters are the same, that one is fine for your 30/100 service.  I'm surprised it doesn't show fractional kWh.

Fractions would be nice.  Inverter app did show .5 draw one day, so explains 62 to 63.  Probably while redoing things a bit, when adding 2nd ESS. 

 

If you notice old vs new photo of components, one breaker box was removed, as not needed, and initially was set up differently.

[SomchaiDIY]

11 hours ago, KhunLA said:

The digital meter sucks up a bit of energy, for what it is.

 

When 2nd ESS installed, I snapped a photo, and @ 62.  Then noticed next day or so, was @ 63, and guess it may not have taken much to break 62, as no small reading available. 

 

Today, just a few days later, and @ 64.  So used a whole kw to run the meter ???

 

W T F ... guess I won't be seeing any -0- use bills ????

 

smart meter have the impulse kwh indication this can show if energy is metering

 

number of impulse kwh is on meter label 

 

electronic circuit of the meter take power from input side

 

for some info about power directions and smart meter youtube can help

 

here is user book for smart meter

 

2020-11-04_104726_Download.pdf

 

[KhunLA]

This is why we went with 8kW system, instead of 5kW:

Mandatory use; 2 frigs, 1 fan, overnight while sleeping,

yea, 8kW is overkill ????

 

 

Daytime, turn on the 2 ACs (13&24BTUs), then take a shower (3500w)

along with those 2 frigs.  For effect, as after taking the snap, I turned 1 AC off (24BTU), as no need to stress the inverter.   Nobody but the dog in that room anyway.

 

 

 

Back to 2 ACs - other items on (no hot water heater)

 

What yesterday looked like, no AC, until dinner time.  See spikes for AM coffee, and mid day showers.  

 

 

[KhunLA]

Everything depends on your use, and desire to cut the PEA bill 50-75%, or my idea, completely.

 

System doesn't have to be expensive or have ESS for overnight.  Last 2+ months, we average 6kW overnight, all of 30 baht, vs an ESS that may run 50-100k baht (5-10kW).

 

If we went with 5kW + panels, probably installed for about 150k, cheaper if DIY.

 

I'll hopefully see a break even on the ROI, IF lucky enough to hang around 7-10 ish years.   All things being equal, and the wife will have free electric & car energy, for an additional 10-20 yrs after I krap out.

[MJCM]

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

Everything depends on your use, and desire to cut the PEA bill 50-75%, or my idea, completely.

Spot on.

 

I am personally going step by step not because I want to but because of the reservations towards Solar by SWMBO.

 

So 1st I am going On-Grid 5kW for our Daytime usage and after she sees our electric bill goes down significantly  (even WITHOUT EXPORT), I will upgrade

 

Costs for the 5kW On-grid with 10 Panels is around the 70-80k (excl install)

 

Panels 10 of them 37.900 THB Poly 335W @Global (yesterday they were on sale at 3590 ???? )

Sofar Inverter 5kW 20.200

Cables, MCB, etc etc another 15-20k (opted for using NYY (and big size) for everything, you could go a lot cheaper on that) (And I bought spares for everything, MCB, Fuses, Fuse Holders, Lightning Protection etc etc etc).

And I am not even talking about the price for the "Room" we created for the Inverter and the Panel structure, or the HDPE that will carry the cables to the Inverter and the House

 

ROI, NO idea and never thought about it, if it gets our bill down to the 500(ish) THB mark (so around 100+/- units or 3-4 units per day) I am more then happy.

 

 

 

[BritManToo]

56 minutes ago, MJCM said:

Cables, MCB, etc etc another 15-20k

Think I spent about 750bht on mine.

[MJCM]

27 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Think I spent about 750bht on mine.

55555555555555 you are lucky

 

I have a run of 35+m to outer left panel and one of 20+m to the outer right panel from the Inverter and I am using 1x10mm² NYY Cable buried in HDPE for that.

 

From the Inverter to the house is another 30++M and again using NYY 1x10mm² for that buried in HDPE, then another cable (NYY 2x1.5mm²) for the CT (this last cable was around 1800 THB alone)

 

 

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, MJCM said:

I have a run of 35+m to outer left panel and one of 20+m to the outer right panel from the Inverter and I am using 1x10mm² NYY Cable buried in HDPE for that.

Double insulated 2.5mm twin costs under 1,000bht/50m and will do the job just as well.

Good for 16-20A and your panels only send 9A.

[MJCM]

9 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Double insulated 2.5mm twin costs under 1,000bht/50m and will do the job just as well.

Good for 16-20A and your panels only send 9A.

I know what I did is overkill but I mentioned that you could go a lot cheaper then what I did..

 

by double insulated twin do you mean VCT?

[KhunLA]

What a difference a day or 2 makes.  I'm declaring rainy season over ????

 

At PKK ... ???? 

 

ESS topped before 1000 hrs.  Usually not before 1200 hrs, and sometimes not before 1600 hrs.  Sunshine is a beautiful thing.  I'll start complaining about the temps next week, and enjoy this week.

 

Maybe a spot of rain, next Thursday, but now, all high cirrus type clouds, so no worries.  Windy as hell though and surf is quite stirred up.

[KhunLA]

Possibly my last ฿100+ bill from PEA:  18 units = ฿103.73

28/39 units for Sept/Aug.  Solar installed 4 August

 

Meter readings 26-27-28th, digital meter since 19 August

August - test test test, conservative to 8 days feed in to grid

 

September, more normalized use

 

October 3rd, second 10kW ESS added for ttl: 20kW of ESS

 

Pick up MG ZS EV tomorrow, nothing life changing expected ????

Just few 1000 extra baht in the pocket every month.

 

 

 

 

 

[MJCM]

@KhunLA

 

Looking at your last graph, I am noticing that your production is a lot of the days in line with your consumption, I would expect to see the production to be a lot higher.

 

Or am I looking it all wrong?

 

And am I right that in 1 day (26th) your consumption is nearly 25kWh?

 

Edit: I think I get it now, consumption also goes towards filling your ESS? Correct?

[KhunLA]

21 minutes ago, MJCM said:

@KhunLA

Or am I looking it all wrong?

 

And am I right that in 1 day (26th) your consumption is nearly 25kWh?

Nah, you got it right, as inverter only brings/allows in just a wee bit over what is consumed.  Since we don't feed back to the grid, nothing else comes in that's not needed.

 

You see in August, the 8 days of production much higher than consumption, they were the days we were exporting to grid.  And the only days that we did.

 

The 26th, was shy of 24kw consumed

 

[MJCM]

5 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Nah, you got it right, as inverter only brings/allows in just a wee bit over what is consumed.  Since we don't feed back to the grid, nothing else comes in that's not needed.

Thx,

 

so when you get your EV and you start charging we will see totally different figures for production.

 

Thx again for the explanation

 

at first I thought that consumption was also used for charging your ESS.

 

And how can you use 24kWh in one day, we need 4 days to do that (unless you leave the garden pump running all night (as I did a couple of days ago, fortunately it didn't break down because the 4000 Liter tank ran out of water )

[Crossy]

49 minutes ago, MJCM said:

And how can you use 24kWh in one day, we need 4 days to do that (unless you leave the garden pump running all night (as I did a couple of days ago, fortunately it didn't break down because the 4000 Liter tank ran out of water

 

We average 30-40 kWh per day total usage ????

[KhunLA]

58 minutes ago, MJCM said:

at first I thought that consumption was also used for charging your ESS.

 

And how can you use 24kWh in one day, we need 4 days to do that (unless you leave the garden pump running all night (as I did a couple of days ago, fortunately it didn't break down because the 4000 Liter tank ran out of water )

20kW is easy, we like our AC.  I doubt if the car will be using more than 5kW a day, as that's about 35kms a day, which we don't drive now.   Though I will be out exploring more, since it's basically free.  Spending ฿300-700 a day on petrol just to drive around, check out a new coffee shop or restaurant, just doesn't cut it.

 

Some days you see more consumption than production, simply means first 7 hrs of the day, running off the battery.   

 

Using about 8-9kw overnight now, 1700-0700 hrs.  Before 2nd ESS, tried to keep it at 6kW.  Most of that get logged before midnight, with AC/TV on.   After midnight, usually minimal use, frigs & fan.  Probably a 5-6/2-3kW split in usage, before/after midnight.

 

Then production, you got that big blue wave from 8 am to noonish, as any extra produced goes to recharging the battery.  Unless the sun is actually out, rare the past 3 months.  If topped up before 10am, it's a sunny day.

 

Or it's raining most of the day, and didn't top up till 1600 hrs

 

 

[MJCM]

12 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

We average 30-40 kWh per day total usage ????

You are running a factory there I guess. Crossy Inc (c) 55555555555

[MJCM]

6 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

20kW is easy, we like our AC. 

We love our AC as well, but not during the day (we are talking Oct-Nov now remind you and not April and also we don't have Aircon in the living room). I can stand the heat quite well and the SWMBO is in the garden all day anyway ????

 

Our highest avg use of units was in March - April - May of 2021 and was around 14 Units a day but that was before we got the Solar in to feed to Garden Tank, this year it was down to avg < 9 Units a day (same period) .

 

12 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Using about 8-9kw overnight now, 1700-0700 hrs. 

With our GTI we are down to max 2 (sometimes if 1(ish) and that is running an aircon at 26c - 28c, fridge (21Q) showering, TV, NUC/Apple TV, lights etc etc.

 

That said we have a meter that is spinning backwards

[Encid]

2 hours ago, MJCM said:

And how can you use 24kWh in one day, we need 4 days to do that (unless you leave the garden pump running all night (as I did a couple of days ago, fortunately it didn't break down because the 4000 Liter tank ran out of water )

Currently we average about 60 kWh/day.

Monthly usage is always north of 1400 kWh... and usually about 2000 kWh around Songkran.

Our highest consumption was May last year 2021/2564 when we recorded 2156 kWh for the month.

Mind you... we did have relatives staying with us so AC use and water heater use was heavy.

 

Can't wait to sell and build a more passive house with a roof full of PV panels. 

[MJCM]

b.... h... @Encid 60 units a day.????

 

11 minutes ago, Encid said:

Can't wait to sell and build a more passive house with a roof full of PV panels. 

I bet you do

[Encid]

5 minutes ago, MJCM said:

b.... h... @Encid 60 units a day.????

Read it and weep... or should I say "be thankful"! 

See how the recent price hike has hit us to the tune of an additional 1,400 baht/month?

We are heavy domestic consumers.