Just installed 7.7 kWPV and 6.2 kW inverter

[atpeace]

Mentioned in other threads I was installing solar this week and thought I would give an update. 

 

Little history first:) I Decided last Saturday to stop debating solar and just do it even though my options are a little limited here in the sticks.  I got in the car  and drove an hour to a small town/village about 20k outside Ubon that has a couple of solar shops that the locals use on their farms.  Both shops were semi-clueless in regards to larger residential setups.  Decided to go with a kid that had been doing farm setups for a couple years.  Bought 14x550 (7.7 kW )panels from him and scheduled an install the following Wednesday.

 

He showed up and put all the panels on the roof that is SW.  Not ideal but had to work with the roof I had.  I over paneled ( charger max 6.5 kW and panels 7.7 kW ).  The panels IMO were installed professionally and in the end produced BIG watts 🙂  At this point everything was progressing beautifully!  

 

Now on to doing what he wasn't experienced at.  Hooking up everything to the houses main panel and inverter (Anern 6.2 hybrid ).  Took them a day to do this and had them disconnect the water heaters from the inverter (too much draw).  Still have to confirms this was done correctly but he will fix it if not.  He so far has been extremely easy to work with and I speak little Thai but more than his English.  Solar is in the end is  mostly just numbers and numbers are for the most part universal 🙂

 

Total for For the panel install and all the wiring and misc electric parts came to 69,875 baht.   On top of that I purchased in Anern 6.2 inverter for 14,000.  I have a 13.4 kWh battery on the way I ordered on Shopee.  I know this could badly but I did a ton of research on the seller and I "think" it will be all good.  He is claims it is new CATL cells unlike 95% of his other build where he uses used cells ( he states used cells for most his builds).  His used cell build seem to be great also.  Funny, he literally doesn't  communicate with buyers which is bad but I knew that going into the transaction.  I sent a few messages and crickets -lol.  He won't even help if they need it need to be returned.  Big risk it would seem 🙂 Total price with shipping 44,600 baht (great price even if the cells are used IMO ).  I bet they will be able to produce 280 AH but if not oh well.

 

Cost Breakdown

Panels and complete solar install minus storage (including 14,000 B inverter) - 83,875

Storage (13.4 kWh)  - 44,600

 

Total -  128,475

Expect about 10K of misc thing I'll end up adding to the system so i guess roughly 140k baht all in.

 

 

Today at 8:30am (probably double the capacity at 1pm is sunny) had both ACs, 2 fridges, lots of electronics,  and 440w pond pump running. Solar was able to match the roughly 2.5 kW!  Yesterday no sun and it still managed to almost keep up with my needs.  Used only 1.5 kWh from the grid.

 

The ROI because of my meager electric needs of 300-450 units will be somewhere around 6 years if using my current needs.  There are other benefits though! I can drop my AC to 24c and precool my exercise room for basically free.  Run my pond pump all 6 hours a day instead of a couple.  If I did all the above pre solar I would have used ~700-800 units and my ROI would be 2-4 years.  Hard to put a value on the extra benefits of solar so I'll just go with a 6 years ROI 🙂

 

So far all good but still have to hookup storage this week.  Should end well 🙂

 

[Crossy]

Looks good, thanks for sharing, a few photos of your installation would be appreciated.

 

I've fixed your units (kW and kWh) for less confusion.

 

Is your storage LiFePO₄ or NMC(Li-ion)?

 

Did you install any surge (lightning) protection, DC breakers, etc?

 

[atpeace]

2 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Looks good, thanks for sharing, a few photos of your installation would be appreciated.

 

I've fixed your units (kW and kWh) for less confusion.

 

Is your storage LiFePO₄ or NMC(Li-ion)?

 

Did you install any surge (lightning) protection, DC breakers, etc?

 

I'll include photos later when I have the battery hooked up.  Tomorrow I think.  I guess I could send phots without the battery 🙂  A humble setup compared to others here. My cats have torn up the patio wall beside the inverter so it looks even worse 🙂

 

Had him install breakers and fuses in all the right places.  Actually he did that without me asking.  I probably should get cutoff knobs   ( not sure of the name) between the inverter and the main panel and also between the panels and the inverter.  Currently have breakers that do the job but assume there is a reason many use the knobs that you rotate to on/off.  

 

Have a big breaker between the battery (280 Ah LifePO4) and the inverter that will be installed.  Will be buying a shunt also to measure battery info.  

 

The battery is the big question mark but one plus to  buying from a vendor that slaps the cells together and attaches a BMS/active balancer is that they are easier to repair yourself.  I will have no choice if something goes wrong with the battery but over the last 5 years I have acquired a decent understanding of LifePO4 batteries.  Easy enough to slap in a new cell if needed but I have a good feeling the battery I bought will be fine for many years. Thought it was a good way to get my feet wet and eventually I might upgrade the battery as well as the inverter if I get an EV.

[KhunLA]

5 minutes ago, atpeace said:

I'll include photos later when I have the battery hooked up.  Tomorrow I think.  I guess I could send phots without the battery 🙂  A humble setup compared to others here. My cats have torn up the patio wall beside the inverter so it looks even worse 🙂

 

Had him install breakers and fuses in all the right places.  Actually he did that without me asking.  I probably should get cutoff knobs   ( not sure of the name) between the inverter and the main panel and also between the panels and the inverter.  Currently have breakers that do the job but assume there is a reason many use the knobs that you rotate to on/off.  

 

Have a big breaker between the battery (280 Ah LifePO4) and the inverter that will be installed.  Will be buying a shunt also to measure battery info.  

 

The battery is the big question mark but one plus to  buying from a vendor that slaps the cells together and attaches a BMS/active balancer is that they are easier to repair yourself.  I will have no choice if something goes wrong with the battery but over the last 5 years I have acquired a decent understanding of LifePO4 batteries.  Easy enough to slap in a new cell if needed but I have a good feeling the battery I bought will be fine for many years. Thought it was a good way to get my feet wet and eventually I might upgrade the battery as well as the inverter if I get an EV.

That's what the 'paint' app is for, makes anything look better.

 

Well done ... welcome to solar.  You'll love it, every month when the PEA/MEA bill arrives.

[KannikaP]

I think about doing this Solar thing, but at my age, 76, I'll be gone before ROI kicks in. And then there will be no-one here to understand/maintain the thing. Stick with PEA !

[atpeace]

Just now, KannikaP said:

I think about doing this Solar thing, but at my age, 76, I'll be gone before ROI kicks in. And then there will be no-one here to understand/maintain the thing. Stick with PEA !

I agree, it isn't for everybody.  I'm healthy and only 57 so should be able to easily recover my costs.  It is more of a fun project and not ROI centric.  Not a big investment but positions me well to increase capacity easily enough if I get an EV.  My life is so simple that it is hard to have big saving when my current electric need is not large.

[atpeace]

15 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

That's what the 'paint' app is for, makes anything look better.

 

Well done ... welcome to solar.  You'll love it, every month when the PEA/MEA bill arrives.

Too lazy to touchup 🙂

 

Battery added in the next few days.

[BritManToo]

5 minutes ago, atpeace said:

I agree, it isn't for everybody.  I'm healthy and only 57 so should be able to easily recover my costs.  It is more of a fun project and not ROI centric.  Not a big investment but positions me well to increase capacity easily enough if I get an EV.  My life is so simple that it is hard to have big saving when my current electric need is not large.

It's nice not to have power cuts though!

[atpeace]

Just now, BritManToo said:

It's nice not to have power cuts though!

Happened all the time 5 years ago but now very rare. Did you setup WIFI on your Anern? That was fun- not!!! Took me 4 hours to get it working.

[KhunLA]

4 minutes ago, atpeace said:

I agree, it isn't for everybody.  I'm healthy and only 57 so should be able to easily recover my costs.  It is more of a fun project and not ROI centric.  Not a big investment but positions me well to increase capacity easily enough if I get an EV.  My life is so simple that it is hard to have big saving when my current electric need is not large.

Me ... installed 2 yrs ago @ 67 yrs old, and knocking on 70 come December.  I'm more just being spiteful to PEA ... no more baht for them.  Same with owning EVs, no more baht for big oil.   Hate monopolies, though the better performance of the EVs was worth it alone.   

 

Being a spiteful old fart has it's advantages 😎  Independence is amazingly gratifying.

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, atpeace said:

Happened all the time 5 years ago but now very rare. Did you setup WIFI on your Anern? That was fun- not!!! Took me 4 hours to get it working.

It's not very reliable, Chinese server doesn't seem to work much in the day, early morning or evenings are best.

[atpeace]

Just now, KhunLA said:

Me ... installed 2 yrs ago @ 67 yrs old, and knocking on 70 come December.  I'm more just being spiteful to PEA ... no more baht for them.  Same with owning EVs, no more baht for big oil.   Hate monopolies, though the better performance of the EVs was worth it alone.   

 

Being a spiteful old fart has it's advantages 😎  Independence is amazingly gratifying.

In the end do whatever is satisfying if you can afford it.  ROI is hard to calculate because all the variables ( Upgrades, repairs, future and actual electric needs)  My system as it will be after the battery is installed will cost roughly 1,100 baht a day to run ( PV and ESS amortized).  I  underestimated life expectancy of the components ( e.g., inverter 4 years).  So all the electricity used over 1,100 baht is savings).

[atpeace]

Quick question.  I just changed the inverter setting to export.  Solar power jumped from 3 amps ( my home) to 21 amps. My voltage is around 320 from the panels (slightly overcast). Am I sending 19 amps x solar voltage of 320 = 6,200 watts back to the grid? The meter definitely is spinning backwards and my inverter now is much louder.

 

I'm just messing around and will turn export off but just wondering.  Not sure how I calculate what is being sent back.

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, atpeace said:

My system as it will be after the battery is installed will cost roughly 1,100 baht a day to run

I hope you meant a MONTH.

[KhunLA]

30 minutes ago, atpeace said:

Quick question.  I just changed the inverter setting to export.  Solar power jumped from 3 amps ( my home) to 21 amps. My voltage is around 320 from the panels (slightly overcast). Am I sending 19 amps x solar voltage of 320 = 6,200 watts back to the grid? The meter definitely is spinning backwards and my inverter now is much louder.

 

I'm just messing around and will turn export off but just wondering.  Not sure how I calculate what is being sent back.

6200 watts = 6.2 kilowatts, and should be subtracting about that amount from the meter per hour, if holds.

 

Take a photo (or write down) what meter is, then do again in an hour.  Just make sure meter reader doesn't see it spinning backwards.   Don't ever spin it back past your last meter reading 

 

I've spun back 20-30kWh in a day, as tester of course.   Irrelevant, as when they replaced our temp meter, it was replaced with a digital, as all new construction is here/PKK.

 

Inverter told me I spun back 158kWh in 8 days (test) days, if memory serves.  Lower 'purple' is export, and all excess 

 

I could run  another house with our excess solar, on sunny days, and that day was cloudy, hence the peaks & valleys.

[atpeace]

31 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

I hope you meant a MONTH.

Sorry, yes per month

 

[atpeace]

10 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

6200 watts = 6.2 kilowatts, and should be subtracting about that amount from the meter per hour, if holds.

 

Take a photo (or write down) what meter is, then do again in an hour.  Just make meter reader doesn't see it spinning backwards.   Don't ever spin it back past you last meter reading 

In 15 minutes it dropped 2 units.  Maybe longer but it seemed like 15 minutes. Installer thought I would max out at 4 KW.

 

I wonder if sending 6.2 back to the grid is too much work for my less expensive meter 🙂  It is loud now with the fan and was quiet before.  Maybe didn't need to overpanel -555

[JeffersLos]

4 hours ago, atpeace said:

There are other benefits though! I can drop my AC to 24c and precool my exercise room for basically free.  Run my pond pump all 6 hours a day instead of a couple.  If I did all the above pre solar I would have used ~700-800 units

 

That's the thing with solar. One will be a lot more generous with their usage, as it's pretty much for free. Turning on the aircon much earlier etc.

 

I recently installed good insulation and the power bill is around 2000 Baht a month in the hot season. Will probably be <1000 Baht in the cool season. Peanuts. That's with 2 aircons on for 5 or 6 hours every evening. 

 

With such a small monthly bill I don't think it's worth the outlay of 300,000 THB to get it down to zero. (I think we used around 450kw per month before we got the proper heat insulation).

 

Of course with solar we'd probably close the doors and windows at midday and turn on the aircon more often than we do now. 

[lom]

2 hours ago, atpeace said:

Quick question.  I just changed the inverter setting to export.  Solar power jumped from 3 amps ( my home) to 21 amps. My voltage is around 320 from the panels (slightly overcast). Am I sending 19 amps x solar voltage of 320 = 6,200 watts back to the grid? The meter definitely is spinning backwards and my inverter now is much louder.

18x320 = 5760 x 90% (DC to AC conversion efficiency) = ~ 5200W going into the grid. Or thereabout. Doesn't the display on your inverter show how power flows?

[atpeace]

15 minutes ago, lom said:

18x320 = 5760 x 90% (DC to AC conversion efficiency) = ~ 5200W going into the grid. Or thereabout. Doesn't the display on your inverter show how power flows?

Probably but can't figure out where it shows what is flowing to the grid.  I know what I'm using and what solar is producing so I just subtract my use from solar and use that number as an estimate.  Good point about the conversion efficiency.  

 

I was using a treadmill, lots of electronics, and AC (900w) for most the time since starting to export. In 2 .5 hours it has dropped roughly 9 units.  Lots of clouds but still much better than I expected.

[atpeace]

OK now the whole system is up and running.  The last 10 days I've been producing large kWs but nowhere to send them but hooked up the battery last night.  Last night I was completely disconnected from the grid and only used 15% of the battery!  It wasn't too hot yesterday so assume that percentage will be closer to 70% on hot days. 

 

 The battery ran 2 ACs, a water pump, and a hot water heater (shower) all at once and without a voltage sag as happens on my older lifepo4 batteries I use for night spot lights.  The cells look new and are not swollen so maybe I lucked out!  Will have a better idea after I cycle them many times over the next month.  I'll be beating them up and don't care about charging them to 99% and discharging to 2%.  I think the the calendar aging will be greater than any abuse I put them through.  Not worried if I'm wrong.  Even if I got 1000 cycles that would get me roughly 6 years of good performance and many more of less than 80% state of health.

 

Final Cost:

Solar Panels (7.7kW) and Install - 69,875

Inverter Anern 6.2 kW - 14,000

Battery (13.440 kWh ) - 44,700

Misc - 2,000

 

Total - 130,575

 

 

 I was planning on still using the grid throughout the day but really don't see the point. It's raining now and solar is keeping up with my current 1.5 kW needs and I have the battery if needed.  The grid is a great backup though and glad it is there.

 

My humble setup 🙂 🙂 I will be covering the battery today.  Don't want to kill her cats which would possibly make the woman angry.

 

 

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, atpeace said:

OK now the whole system is up and running.  The last 10 days I've been producing large kWs but nowhere to send them but hooked up the battery last night.  Last night I was completely disconnected from the grid and only used 15% of the battery!  It wasn't too hot yesterday so assume that percentage will be closer to 70% on hot days. 

 

 The battery ran 2 ACs, a water pump, and a hot water heater (shower) all at once and without a voltage sag as happens on my older lifepo4 batteries I use for night spot lights.  The cells look new and are not swollen so maybe I lucked out!  Will have a better idea after I cycle them many times over the next month.  I'll be beating them up and don't care about charging them to 99% and discharging to 2%.  I think the the calendar aging will be greater than any abuse I put them through.  Not worried if I'm wrong.  Even if I got 1000 cycles that would get me roughly 6 years of good performance and many more of less than 80% state of health.

 

Final Cost:

Solar Panels (7.7kW) and Install - 69,875

Inverter Anern 6.2 kW - 14,000

Battery (13.440 kWh ) - 44,700

Misc - 2,000

 

Total - 130,575

 

 

 I was planning on still using the grid throughout the day but really don't see the point. It's raining now and solar is keeping up with my current 1.5 kW needs and I have the battery if needed.  The grid is a great backup though and glad it is there.

 

My humble setup 🙂 🙂 I will be covering the battery today.  Don't want to kill her cats which would possibly make the woman angry.

 

 

Great feeling, isn't it ... INDEPENDENCE 😎

 

.... priceless 👍

[arick]

On 8/18/2024 at 9:48 AM, atpeace said:

Mentioned in other threads I was installing solar this week and thought I would give an update. 

 

Little history first:) I Decided last Saturday to stop debating solar and just do it even though my options are a little limited here in the sticks.  I got in the car  and drove an hour to a small town/village about 20k outside Ubon that has a couple of solar shops that the locals use on their farms.  Both shops were semi-clueless in regards to larger residential setups.  Decided to go with a kid that had been doing farm setups for a couple years.  Bought 14x550 (7.7 kW )panels from him and scheduled an install the following Wednesday.

 

He showed up and put all the panels on the roof that is SW.  Not ideal but had to work with the roof I had.  I over paneled ( charger max 6.5 kW and panels 7.7 kW ).  The panels IMO were installed professionally and in the end produced BIG watts 🙂  At this point everything was progressing beautifully!  

 

Now on to doing what he wasn't experienced at.  Hooking up everything to the houses main panel and inverter (Anern 6.2 hybrid ).  Took them a day to do this and had them disconnect the water heaters from the inverter (too much draw).  Still have to confirms this was done correctly but he will fix it if not.  He so far has been extremely easy to work with and I speak little Thai but more than his English.  Solar is in the end is  mostly just numbers and numbers are for the most part universal 🙂

 

Total for For the panel install and all the wiring and misc electric parts came to 69,875 baht.   On top of that I purchased in Anern 6.2 inverter for 14,000.  I have a 13.4 kWh battery on the way I ordered on Shopee.  I know this could badly but I did a ton of research on the seller and I "think" it will be all good.  He is claims it is new CATL cells unlike 95% of his other build where he uses used cells ( he states used cells for most his builds).  His used cell build seem to be great also.  Funny, he literally doesn't  communicate with buyers which is bad but I knew that going into the transaction.  I sent a few messages and crickets -lol.  He won't even help if they need it need to be returned.  Big risk it would seem 🙂 Total price with shipping 44,600 baht (great price even if the cells are used IMO ).  I bet they will be able to produce 280 AH but if not oh well.

 

Cost Breakdown

Panels and complete solar install minus storage (including 14,000 B inverter) - 83,875

Storage (13.4 kWh)  - 44,600

 

Total -  128,475

Expect about 10K of misc thing I'll end up adding to the system so i guess roughly 140k baht all in.

 

 

Today at 8:30am (probably double the capacity at 1pm is sunny) had both ACs, 2 fridges, lots of electronics,  and 440w pond pump running. Solar was able to match the roughly 2.5 kW!  Yesterday no sun and it still managed to almost keep up with my needs.  Used only 1.5 kWh from the grid.

 

The ROI because of my meager electric needs of 300-450 units will be somewhere around 6 years if using my current needs.  There are other benefits though! I can drop my AC to 24c and precool my exercise room for basically free.  Run my pond pump all 6 hours a day instead of a couple.  If I did all the above pre solar I would have used ~700-800 units and my ROI would be 2-4 years.  Hard to put a value on the extra benefits of solar so I'll just go with a 6 years ROI 🙂

 

So far all good but still have to hookup storage this week.  Should end well 🙂

 

Good price and a normal price. 

[arick]

On 8/18/2024 at 10:58 AM, atpeace said:

I agree, it isn't for everybody.  I'm healthy and only 57 so should be able to easily recover my costs.  It is more of a fun project and not ROI centric.  Not a big investment but positions me well to increase capacity easily enough if I get an EV.  My life is so simple that it is hard to have big saving when my current electric need is not large.

Yes  but you should never have a monthly bill now more 1500bht. My top bill is April May at 5000-6000 when the sun is out would be nice to half that bill. Better then buying a motorbike. Better then buying a condo. At least you are seeing benefits from day one.

[arick]

Anern 6.2kw invertor (11,000) versus Huawei 5kw (22,000)

Any advice.

[Peterphuket]

Can you also connect those Anern inverters in parallel?
Can't find it in the description at Lazada.

[lom]

18 minutes ago, Peterphuket said:

Can you also connect those Anern inverters in parallel?

No.

[atpeace]

25 minutes ago, Peterphuket said:

Can you also connect those Anern inverters in parallel?
Can't find it in the description at Lazada.

Sorry, I don't know but did find this link with limited info but it seems at least the 10kw version can.

https://www.anern.net/10kw-lithium-batteries-parallel-inverter-system-solution-well-installed-in-mauritius

 

[Peterphuket]

9 minutes ago, atpeace said:

Sorry, I don't know but did find this link with limited info but it seems at least the 10kw version can.

https://www.anern.net/10kw-lithium-batteries-parallel-inverter-system-solution-well-installed-in-mauritius

 

Thanks, so it looks like it is possible.

In case my ‘Must’ converters were to fail, I would not buy them again.

[atpeace]

1 hour ago, arick said:

Anern 6.2kw invertor (11,000) versus Huawei 5kw (22,000)

Any advice.

I replied to your PM.  As for advice, I'm a novice and can only go off my limited knowledge.  The Anern is working great the last week.  It is loud when pushing the solar charge limits(6,500w) and also when drawing large watts.  Not an issue since it is outside but might bother some.

 

I just wanted to slowly transition from the grid to solar so and didn't want to spend loads of money on some thing I was not sure about. Figured  I wouldn't lose any sleep over the Anern purchase if it ended up being a bad choice.  

 

The slow transition didn't happen.  My wrong direction panels(7.7kw-over paneled the inverter) facing almost direct north are producing loads of watts(around 6,500 if sunny) and have been off the grid for 3 days since installing the battery.  My PEA bill is now 3 days late that has me mildly concerned and hope they are going to be an issue.