Battery Pv Battery Storage Retro Fit

[marc8]

Hi All

got call out to a domestic fault on consumer unit totally separate from the job & client mentions to me that they had Battery storage fitted to the PV.

anyway they mention that at present they are trying to contact company that installed it as their electric bills have gone up & they don't think it is working correctly & asked me to have a look.

have a look whilst at the property & found that the original system was a 4kw split on two roofs.

PV 3.68kw SMA inverter with two strings
retro fitted Growatt SP2000

now system is one string into original inverter, second string removed & through the SP2000 & back into the SMA.
not working through the MPPT, first inverter now I don't think is operating at any sort of capacity & think most of time is just sitting looking pretty.

so now we have 8 panels trying to charge 5KW battery storage with any spare electric.

anyway speaking with client I have not touched the system & have passed on the RECC & MCS information for complaints.
the other best bit was that they were cold called & two days later & guy was out shiny suit & all, sign up today & we can install in two days.
bang & job done & any guesses to how much ............?

also customer says they installed on my android device the App & set it up & before they left they removed the system from the android device.
labour looks like about 2 hours as all in loft on the wall all to hand. (nothing wrong with that install a bit messy)

customer has had PV for some time as on top tariff, monitored electric bills for some time around £55.00 per month over the last year or so, now at £75.00 per month.
also has heat pump & solar thermal hot water. all electric but no storage heaters. only 2 at home one working.
asked if they thought Battery storage was for them & I said yes if it was installed correctly yes they would be saving a little. showed them 4 kw system with battery storage on my device only few miles away & we were making savings that day.

won't touch the system until she has gone through complaints & am going back later next week to finish of works on domestic system.
will take pictures at that time & post up.

even today we are generating battery power even with a sh.t start to the day now at 34% & climbing

 

[saggers]

Just to add without trying to change the subject I guess from this setup the overall net generation reading will be lower. Since they claim it takes about 5kwh to put the 4kwh back into the battery. Then further losses when converting to it back.

 

[saggers]

I'd also guess systems which take the power after the meter will then have an additional inverter connected directly to grid, since you couldn't output through the original inverter again.

 

[marc8]

almost certain to have been a 3600TL which is dual tracking, SMA never made a 3680W single tracker to my knowledge.

Hi Gavin
thanks for the information was not sure if it was dual or single as I say I will be having closer look when going in over next weekend & get some pictures up next weekend.
one thing I will say that did sort of throw something in the mix was that with the main AC isolator off for the solar PV & their little consumer unit switched off. I had RED detected & this was all the way through the job.

 

[Gary K]

Hi Gavin
thanks for the information was not sure if it was dual or single as I say I will be having closer look when going in over next weekend & get some pictures up next weekend.
one thing I will say that did sort of throw something in the mix was that with the main AC isolator off for the solar PV & their little consumer unit switched off. I had RED detected & this was all the way through the job.

My meter is displaying RED as it cycles through the different readings, and its dark. I don't think it clears once logged.

 

[Worcester]

RED = Reverse Energy Detected, i.e power is flowing the opposite direction from 'normal'

On a consumption meter (the main one) that means that you are exporting
On a generation meter it would mean that the power is flowing into the inverter.

It's an aniti-fraud measure.

Unless the meter is specifically configured to measure the reverse flow (export) then it will not record it for display purposes. and the RED 'reading' will be blank.

 

[solarhappy]

Hi guys,

Had salesman round the other day trying to sell me an ipower storage inverter. Anyone heard of this before. 48v start up View attachment iPower Storage Inverter Brochure.pdf

Very wary on the storage side of things just now like everyone. Just wondered if anyone could explain the wiring of it to me. I see it as being connected via the main tails straight into the ipower unit, i have no space at my mains so that would be 10mm cable through my house. or have i looked at this wrongly?

 

[marc8]

pHi All
have now been back to customers house, further investigation without touching the system has revealed.

BMS Comms Fault on SP2000 unit. (left as is due to the complaint being lodged)

no paperwork of any sort apart from the invoice / contract & a lovely brochure showing PV installtion process but no mention of battery systems.
so no user information
no user warranty information
no instruction manual that came with system i would think
basically nothing


terms & conditions on the back

no more than 25% taken as deposit but had to pay in full on day customer has cheuqe stub & signed invoice / contract

what is quite noticeable is that on the invoice / contract it says SOLAX not sp2000

customer also informed that the company had setup the monitoring side & would monitor from their end should there be any problems.

I managed to set them up on the Growatt site as a new user on the system but there is no storage information for the system no records just flat line no charge discharge of the system. I will speak with Growatt on Monday see if they have any records of the system & if so could they email any data to the end user.

also mentions on the invoice just above customer signature box
binding contract. sign only if you wish to be legally bound by them.
it also just above that mentions about the deposit & rest to be paid in full upon completion to their senior installer on the site.
also that I wavier my 14 day cooling of period.

bit more about system was 10 & 6 split on system.

4000TL-20 installed early 2011, VDC max 550V, 125-400 VDC MPP, 2 X 15A

 

[marc8]

Hi guys,

Had salesman round the other day trying to sell me an ipower storage inverter. Anyone heard of this before. 48v start up View attachment 31680

Very wary on the storage side of things just now like everyone. Just wondered if anyone could explain the wiring of it to me. I see it as being connected via the main tails straight into the ipower unit, i have no space at my mains so that would be 10mm cable through my house. or have i looked at this wrongly?

Hi solarhappy
for me on my system I am happy, Friday had 100% in battery & used it all that evening / night.
very good generation for the day & it was not that great that day weather wise.

 

[solarsavings]

BMS Comms Fault on SP2000 unit

I would bet that the coms cable has been plugged into the lan/com socket instead of the rs485 socket because the instructions are ****e.

 

[marc8]

bet your right but at present I did not install system & am just trying to help owner sort through it. they were advised 4 letters from citizens advice bureau of which they have had nothing back from company.

 

[marc8]

have been reliably informed that the inverter is a dual tracker so the SP2000 should be fine on the system, I will have to have a look on what string it is on as east west split with 10 & 6 split.
but looks likely BMS fault on the system.
trying to get hold of Growatt Technical see if the system has actually generated anything in it's lifetime since battery installation