Self build in Lincolnshire…..

[Lincs Robert]

Email received from Colin today to advise that shipment 2 is on its way already, tracking # TBC. Shipment 1 has an ETA of 29th Dec and then customs clearance etc.

[Lincs Robert]

Ok, so it gives me great pleasure to advise that BOTH my shipments from China have arrived.

One yesterday, the other on Tuesday. They were ordered 10 days apart and were delivered one day apart, I suppose that’s Xmas for you. I’ve not even opened the second shipment yet. Both are very well packed for sure.

I’ve made some preparations for them, but still a bit more to do. Work is very busy at the moment, so I might be limited to weekends.

Excellent updates etc from Colin over the last couple of weeks - so many thanks for that

I’ll keep you posted

Rob

[Lincs Robert]

Ok, so an update as it’s been a while ……

The reason for my not updating on progress, or lack of, is due to multiple other stuff happening in life. Work, escalating elderly care, you know the sort of stuff …

Anyway. System 1 is in and working well. It’s been said that this project is a “time bandit”. I’ll reiterate that sentiment!

It’s been in about a week now and is configured into the slave setup of my Lux/Pylon stack. It was a 7.2kW system with 3 US2000s (as is the master), but now has the Chinese stack sitting across it, increasing the capacity to just over 20kWh I think.

The build went smoothly, but slowly - and I finally bit the bullet for the interconnect last weekend. I got the voltages into a similar range, linked the negatives, and joined the positives via a 0.3 ohm resistor (length of wire) with an AVO on the 10 amp scale to monitor things. There was a flow of current which fluctuated obviously with the availability of solar etc. I left it to stabilise for about 24 hours, went to look and the current had dropped to well under an amp - but still fluctuating. So I them removed the “resistor” and stood back whilst nothing untoward happened.

Over the next few days the system settled down. As expected, the slave bank takes longer to charge and discharge than the master. The variation in % is increasing - which is good as it reflects reality. That variance started at less than 5% and has now increased. An example being that we had a good days solar yesterday, at 26kWh, and this morning (06:15), the master is sitting at 42% charge, and the slave at 68% - without any overnight grid topup.

The thing that focussed my attention was the looming end of my Octopus Go Faster tariff (currently 5.5 & 14.5p). So I have a few more days left on that before going to 12.2 & 41. The slave needs a bit of cosmetic completion but I’ll start work on the master stack upgrade straight away.

That’s it really, I must admit that I did try and post pics, failing miserably. I access via Safari on an iPad so if anyone has any tips then I’ll maybe have another go.

The one thing I did notice was the sensitivity of the Lux/Pylon setup to temperature once things drop below about 10 degrees C. This was masked when I had 5 Pylons per stack, but now it’s down to 3 it’s more visible. It’s something to be aware of. My installation is in an attic space above our kitchen so does get a variation in temp that other installations might not.

So sorry for the delay - hopefully this update is of interest.

Regards - Rob

[Colin Deng]

Thank you Rob for the update!

Please be careful when handling the battery
And good to know that our battery are working great now

Thanks

[Lincs Robert]

Second system now in and working . It went in so much quicker than before, presumably as I knew what I was doing and had already made much of the stuff needed for the second system when I was building the first one.

I also had a bit of luck with the interconnect to my Lux/Pylon system. Previously, with the initial system there was a bit of a voltage difference. I joined the negatives and then linked the positives via a low value resistor (0.3 ohm) and my trusty old AVO (10 amp scale), letting the current gradually reduce down over many hours until only a few mA were flowing. I then removed the resistor/AVO and went for it. I did the same this time, but as luck would have it the Pylons and new stack were at almost the same voltage and only a few mA flowed - so I made the connection there and then. Hours saved over last time.

So, let’s see what it’s like in practice. I’ve gone from 14 to 40kWh of storage in about a week. The timing is good as my Octopus rates have gone up significantly due to my tariff ending.

All the best - Rob

[Joeboy]

Second system now in and working . It went in so much quicker than before, presumably as I knew what I was doing and had already made much of the stuff needed for the second system when I was building the first one.

I also had a bit of luck with the interconnect to my Lux/Pylon system. Previously, with the initial system there was a bit of a voltage difference. I joined the negatives and then linked the positives via a low value resistor (0.3 ohm) and my trusty old AVO (10 amp scale), letting the current gradually reduce down over many hours until only a few mA were flowing. I then removed the resistor/AVO and went for it. I did the same this time, but as luck would have it the Pylons and new stack were at almost the same voltage and only a few mA flowed - so I made the connection there and then. Hours saved over last time.

So, let’s see what it’s like in practice. I’ve gone from 14 to 40kWh of storage in about a week. The timing is good as my Octopus rates have gone up significantly due to my tariff ending.

All the best - Rob

No words, Huge congratulations