Which inverter/charger

tomganleylee

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Sep 5, 2017
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8
HI All,

i have been following many posts over the last couple of months and am wanting to build my own, i have already started collecting and processing battiers wiht no problem.

however i am a little unsure which inverter charger i want to use or a separate inverter and charger.

My requirements for my system are:
- Charger battierrs of eco7
- charger of excess solar
- be able to remove incase i move out
- reduce the amount of daytime energy used
- prefrably not high voltage dc
- not to expensive.


i have looked at the following options with the following pro's and con's

Sofar ME 3000sp
Cost: 700
Pros:
can limit output pwoer and take into account access solar power all in one box
3.3kw
48v
can act as backup

cons:
the battery options need rs485 comicnations, would need to either reverse engineer the rs485 protocol (or find the documentation for it)
or use the lead acid option and just set the parameters best i can.

GTIL 2000W with limter
300 for invter + xx for charger and controllers as need
Pros:
Cheap
limits power

cons:
need a separate charger which cannot find easily of the shelf.
would need separate backup power system.

Solar MMP MPI
pro, can limit power

cons:
expeinve and very little information on this feature

Solax
some great products but none 48 v

Has anyone got any suggestions of other inviters /chrages to look at?

Many thanks

Tom
 
Om running mpi and have a Fair share of knowlwdge in their systems.

You wont get much cheaper than mpp if you ask me.....
 
daromer said:
Om running mpi and have a Fair share of knowlwdge in their systems.

You wont get much cheaper than mpp if you ask me.....

am owndering then if you know the answer to the following questions if you wouldent mind:

- The Intlicard slot thing that you can get modbus card for and you connect a energy meter have you used it if so any info?

I notice that you are feeding your house from the grid side of the output with a modbus energy meter, is that going to your raspberry pi which then controls the invter output? if so can this also be done with the v series?

- are you able to conenct a energy meter or control the output power by the rs232 port?
- are you connecting your load or house from the load points or the grid point filtering back into the house?
 
Many questions.
1. I tried. Did not get it to work and their support never answered.
2. Yes i controll grid callibration via my rasp to get 0grid. Max 1kw per phase is built in limit.
3.no meter on rs232. Yes i controll via 232.
4.both currently. In near future the load out will be Main.
5. dunno abou v series. its a cheaper version. you get the protocoll then i can check.
 
daromer said:
Many questions.
1. I tried. Did not get it to work and their support never answered.
2. Yes i controll grid callibration via my rasp to get 0grid. Max 1kw per phase is built in limit.
3.no meter on rs232. Yes i controll via 232.
4.both currently. In near future the load out will be Main.
5. dunno abou v series. its a cheaper version. you get the protocoll then i can check.

Brilliant thank you, i will try and find the protocol is quite difficult to get information out of them

so to confirm you are able to control the output back to the grid however only up to 1kw even if it s 10kw inverter?

thanks for the help btw
 
Yes max 1kw per phase in manual mode. Safety i assume. I guess the automatic can do more but since i never got answer im not sure and didnt get it to work.
 
That looks like the protocoll for the PIP or PCM series among some others and not the MPI serie. The MPI serie does not end with CRC and have "," between the data.
 
I contacted SoFar Solar and got a copy of their protocol. Now I need to find a BMS that either supports it or that I can modify to support it.

Ideally Batrium!

If its useful to anyone I have attached the info I got from them.

Kevin

View attachment 8

View attachment 9
 

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morrisok said:
I contacted SoFar Solar and got a copy of their protocol. Now I need to find a BMS that either supports it or that I can modify to support it.

Ideally Batrium!

If its useful to anyone I have attached the info I got from them.

Kevin
HI Kevin,

That is amazing thank you for sharing that, i am currently developing my own BMS, and can now include this in it. once it is ready i can happily share it with you,

I think this now solves which inverter charger to use :)
 
The SoFar ME3000SP looks better and better a;ready, have anybody bought one and tested it yet?
 
mormor1971 said:
The SoFar ME3000SP looks better and better a;ready, have anybody bought one and tested it yet?
Not yet, i have had a quote for just the unit which was good, i am planning on buying it after payday and once i get the protoype of the BMS back. however i feel i am about 1 month away from buying it as of yet. as soon as i do i will post pictures videos etc etc.. on here
 
On Facebook Jarad confirmed Batrium should work with the SoFar unit, hopefully the link below will work. If so really good news!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/diy...d=505154366497796&comment_tracking={"tn":"R"}
"this protocol is available with the WatchMon BMS since (version 1.0.23 - February, 2017). I do need to clarify that it is untested for this specific inverter. The final step is to verify that it will run in normal operation mode and obey fault conditions to confirm compatibility."
 
Hey gang - Good thread so far.
What experiences do you have with the EP Solar MPPT Tracer 3214RN (30A 12V 24V EP) -
I picked one of these up a little while ago and am hoping to use it for my DIY Powerwall setup.

The specs say Max battery voltage is 32v, max solar input voltage is 150vdc, but max pv input power is 12v/390W and 24v/780W - pretty good for me.

* What settings are recommended for 18650 use?

* Has anyone had experiences with this charge controller and raspberry connecting to it?
It does have a cool com port to connect to. RS485 port with industrial standard MODBUS open architecture... this has many binding on openhab and is good for rasp folks.
 
Hi Morrisok

Have you been able to find out anymore about the Batrium unit being able to communicate with the Sofar ME 3000SP?

Ive tried emailing Batrium and no reply yet.

Thanks
Jon
 
howiegrapek: Communicating with the Ep solar tracer among others are easy. Just google it and github and you can find several examples of code for it.
 
Jon said:
Hi Morrisok

Have you been able to find out anymore about the Batrium unit being able to communicate with the Sofar ME 3000SP?

Ive tried emailing Batrium and no reply yet.

Thanks
Jon

Hi Jon,

No new news, Jarad said it should work, when I get around to needing it I will purchase it and see, I am sure Jarad and the Batrium team will support if any changes are needed. Hopefully someone else will have done that by then but there always has to be a first :)

Kevin
 
Jaron* :)
 
Yup got it working with the Pi. pretty slick - yes, google/youtube is my friend -- simple setup - 6 x 300 watt panels. keeping this at 24v. I'm still interested in optimal setting suggestions, but it is pretty straight forward otherwise. Thanks Daromer
 
Thanks Morrisok

Had a very helpful reply from Jaron re setting up and testing.
Hopefully will be able to bring it together over the next month or so.

Thanks
Jon
 
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