Loadshedding solutions

[Swift01]

Hi,

Justw wanted to know how to calculate the Low Voltage for setup. It is a 48v setup 5kw inverter. The batteries are 12v 200ah and have the following settings

 

Bulk 14.5v - 14.9v so setting it at 58v

Float 13.6 - 13.8v so setting it to 54.4v

It is setting the low voltage for 50% discharge (or even 60%) that I am unable to calculate. 

 

 

[TheoG]

7 minutes ago, Swift01 said:

Hi,

Justw wanted to know how to calculate the Low Voltage for setup. It is a 48v setup 5kw inverter. The batteries are 12v 200ah and have the following settings

 

Bulk 14.5v - 14.9v so setting it at 58v

Float 13.6 - 13.8v so setting it to 54.4v

It is setting the low voltage for 50% discharge (or even 60%) that I am unable to calculate. 

 

 

When I still had Pb batteries I had bulk on 56.4V and float on 54V.

58V is too high for bulk, you going to damage your batteries.

I suggest 45V for low cut-off.  Anything lower than this will cause them not to last.

Pb - Acid batteries you need to take care of like a baby, very carefully.

Edited October 12, 2022 by TheoG

[Swift01]

12 minutes ago, TheoG said:

When I still had Pb batteries I had bulk on 56.4V and float on 54V.

58V is too high for bulk, you going to damage your batteries.

I suggest 45V for low cut-off.  Anything lower than this will cause them not to last.

Pb - Acid batteries you need to take care of like a baby, very carefully.

Thank you very much

[TheoG]

Also the state of charge depend on the rate of discharge.  Have a look at this for more details info:

https://www.scubaengineer.com/documents/lead_acid_battery_charging_graphs.pdf

[The Ouzo]

On 10/10/2022 at 8:38 AM, The Ouzo said:

I've been waiting for an official quote from the guy so that we can buy the thing, he messages me today apologising, he cant get gel batteries, he'll be quoting on AGM Deep cycle.

Since we're already over budget, extending to Lithium is to much of a push at this stage.

But, with this system we can budget for lithium and panels in a few years.

So after waiting and waiting and the guy not responding to messages the wife got fedup and started looking around.

We landed up buying one of these from Takealot.

 

Arrived yesterday.

So far it looks decent and nicely put together.

Left it charging the entire night (even though it indicated batteries are 100%, I decided to follow the instructions).

Plugged the wifes laptop etc. into it this morning, I need to get an extension cord to get the wifi and fibre onto it, and will probably also add TV to it.

[ChrisF]

Very nice unit 👍👍

 

The pure sine wave inverter was a good call

[Ispeed_V]

35 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

So after waiting and waiting and the guy not responding to messages the wife got fedup and started looking around.

We landed up buying one of these from Takealot.

 

Arrived yesterday.

So far it looks decent and nicely put together.

Left it charging the entire night (even though it indicated batteries are 100%, I decided to follow the instructions).

Plugged the wifes laptop etc. into it this morning, I need to get an extension cord to get the wifi and fibre onto it, and will probably also add TV to it.

Get a WiBox for your Wifi. That way no extension cord/s running all over the pace

[The Ouzo]

12 minutes ago, FondTF2 said:

Get a WiBox for your Wifi. That way no extension cord/s running all over the pace

1) after spending that amount on the inverter I'm not spending more on another backup power solution

2) wifi router takes 220v input

 

I'll run the extension temporarily, and down the line either move the fibre and wifi or have a more elegant wired solution.

This unit is big enough to run lights and TV if we need to, so might look at an easy way to wire it into the house.

[shaper]

20 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

1) after spending that amount on the inverter I'm not spending more on another backup power solution

2) wifi router takes 220v input

 

I'll run the extension temporarily, and down the line either move the fibre and wifi or have a more elegant wired solution.

This unit is big enough to run lights and TV if we need to, so might look at an easy way to wire it into the house.

Wibox is not expensive same as other router ups which are small and designed just for your wifi router and ISP box https://arionpower.co.za/product/wibox/ an

Edited November 3, 2022 by shaper

[The Ouzo]

2 minutes ago, shaper said:

Wibox is not expensive same as other router ups which are small and designed just for your router and ISP box https://arionpower.co.za/product/wibox/ an

yes but still wont work with my router as my router takes 220v input.

[DJuice]

Parents install.

Same inverter and battery than our system, but they went for 9 x 565JA Solar panels.

The panels is overkill for them, 6 could have done the job, but the salesman was good!

Upington is made for PV, average around 23kw per day from our 8 panels.

[shaper]

2 minutes ago, The Ouzo said:

yes but still wont work with my router as my router takes 220v input.

You sure 220v as most wifi routers are 5v, 9v or 12v, same as the fibre box

[The Ouzo]

Just now, shaper said:

You sure 220v as most wifi routers are 5v, 9v or 12v, same as the fibre box

100% sure. I'm using an Apple Time Capsule as my router.

And no I'm not buying a new router any time soon either.

 

Again, we just dropped a big chunk of cash an a unit to power what we needed, not going to be adding additional backup units.

 

Fibre and wifi are in the TV room next door. Since I'd like to add the TV to the setup running power from the inverter next door is the easiest option. I'll either go through the wall, or up into the ceiling and down again in the next room.

But there is also enough slack on the fibre cable to move it, but that will still leave me with no power to the TV

[RiverInTheRoad]

1 hour ago, DJuice said:

Parents install.

Same inverter and battery than our system, but they went for 9 x 565JA Solar panels.

The panels is overkill for them, 6 could have done the job, but the salesman was good!

Upington is made for PV, average around 23kw per day from our 8 panels.

Nice setup! What was the total installed cost?

[LazyTrailRider]

1 hour ago, The Ouzo said:

so might look at an easy way to wire it into the house.

Don’t. Also, temper your battery lifespan expectations and be mentally (and financially) prepared to spend another R10-R12k on better batteries in the next 12-24 months.

I financed a dozen or so (albeit smaller 1kW) systems similar to this for our software dev team over the last 2 years. The most important takeaway so far has been that people generally expect far too much from setups in this price range. My advice would be to avoid disappointment by not doing that.

[The Ouzo]

1 minute ago, LazyTrailRider said:

Don’t. Also, temper your battery lifespan expectations and be mentally (and financially) prepared to spend another R10-R12k on better batteries in the next 12-24 months.

I financed a dozen or so (albeit smaller 1kW) systems similar to this for our software dev team over the last 2 years. The most important takeaway so far has been that people generally expect far too much from setups in this price range. My advice would be to avoid disappointment by not doing that.

I over specked it for its intended use, by wiring it in I wont go the whole house, perhaps another plug circuit to keep the alarm powered and one of the lights circuits.