Nowty Towers Vs UK Grid Storage

[nowty]

New re-placement panels are now in operational service at Nowty Towers.

I've had to rewire my system a bit. I'm up to my SMA recommended limit with grid tied panels and when I re-power the main shed it would take me over that. So I resurrected my Victron Charge Controller and DC coupled it direct to my battery instead.

Note - Simple wood block makes it impossible to drop a spanner or screwdriver across the DC busbars.



Already helping keep the battery topped up for this evenings exportathon.

[Joeboy]

New re-placement panels are now in operational service at Nowty Towers.

I've had to rewire my system a bit. I'm up to my SMA recommended limit with grid tied panels and when I re-power the main shed it would take me over that. So I resurrected my Victron Charge Controller and DC coupled it direct to my battery instead.

Note - Simple wood block makes it impossible to drop a spanner or screwdriver across the DC busbars.



Already helping keep the battery topped up for this evenings exportathon.

You rattled through that quickly, nice to see.

[nowty]

You rattled through that quickly, nice to see.

It was already there connected, just needed to re-route a couple of cables, update the firmware and some of the settings.
I noticed its has a great new feature, the APP will display simple real time info without needing to login to the device.

[Joeboy]

You rattled through that quickly, nice to see.

It was already there connected, just needed to re-route a couple of cables, update the firmware and some of the settings.
I noticed its has a great new feature, the APP will display simple real time info without needing to login to the device.

So the charge controller is fresh out of long term storage and reading from zero again? I'd be happy with an extra 1/2 kW incoming when the weather gods allowed.

The offline display capability of the recent Victron software revisions is excellent I've only got the one bit of Victron gear myself but it has been absolutely excellent.

[nowty]

So the charge controller is fresh out of long term storage and reading from zero again? I'd be happy with an extra 1/2 kW incoming when the weather gods allowed.

The offline display capability of the recent Victron software revisions is excellent I've only got the one bit of Victron gear myself but it has been absolutely excellent.

No, it still had all its history intact and I had disconnected it from both solar and battery for a couple of years.

I reset the stats but it still showed the lifetime generation of 108 kWh. In the new year its going to be busy and I think I might have to upgrade the current 150/35 version to the 150/45 one to cope. I am now following your lead.

I was amazed today how DC coupling is better than AC coupling for battery charging. With AC coupling, you have the solar inverters doing DC to AC conversion, then your battery charger doing AC to DC conversion. But DC coupling only has to do a single DC to DC conversion which is more efficient.

If however you want to use power on a live basis, ie. use or export as you generate, then AC coupling is better. I remember a technical paper from a decade or so saying its best to have a bit of both.

[nowty]

I had a short lived nightmare earlier, I noticed I was importing 9kW on peak rate because I had not changed yesterdays battery inverter timings.

I then thought, I wonder if I can get some more cheapslot from the Octopus and as long as I get it in the same half hour slot I will be OK.

When I opened the Octopus APP I had already been allocated more cheapslot from a couple of hours ago.

Sometimes when you get it wrong, it fixes itself.

[nowty]

Back in Nowty Towers with an empty EV battery and I asked the Octopus if there was any extra cheap energy going.

Sorry Octopus, I had to turn down my charge rate as I wouldn't want to overload my circuits, would I ?

Over 17 hours back to back of cheap slot, BANK.

[Stinsy]

Back in Nowty Towers with an empty EV battery and I asked the Octopus if there was any extra cheap energy going.

Sorry Octopus, I had to turn down my charge rate as I wouldn't want to overload my circuits, would I ?

Over 17 hours back to back of cheap slot, BANK.

Did you think about only charging to 60% tonight so you can ask for more additional slots another day?

[nowty]

I turned down the charge rate down to 5A so 17 hours of charging will not even get the EV to 30% SOC.

So plenty of headroom for extra cheap slot’s for days to come.

[nowty]

The Octopus wants as much power as I can deliver so is questioning what my plans are for the surplus panel.

Shouldn't that spare panel be filling in the gap between the extended ladder store and the gate?

In the end ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

There was really only one solution.






Had to chase out a bit of the fence post to get it to fit.



I think I will call it, vanishing point.