Outbuildings and why they're great. (Vanport)

[Joeboy]

Got the ledger side roofing filled in today. Used the closest I could find to mastic. The sheets were a surprisingly neat fit so.i thought we could get away with it. Time will tell.





The NOT a workshop at all vibe continues.

[Moxi]

I'm guessing that the two paver "patch" in the middle is where you plan to put in the inspection pit

Moxi

[Joeboy]

I'm guessing that the two paver "patch" in the middle is where you plan to put in the inspection pit

Moxi

In another life maybe. I did think about it! That area will be scraped back and slabbed. Going to lay out some blocks this evening with swmbo for van position then see what we can do for a shed for her.

[AGT]

Got the ledger side roofing filled in today. Used the closest I could find to mastic. The sheets were a surprisingly neat fit so.i thought we could get away with it. Time will tell.





The NOT a workshop at all vibe continues.

Hope the mastic works, if it doesn’t and you want to put in a flashing, I have an electric 9” grinder with diamond blade you can pick up if you are passing my way

[Joeboy]

Got the ledger side roofing filled in today. Used the closest I could find to mastic. The sheets were a surprisingly neat fit so.i thought we could get away with it. Time will tell.





The NOT a workshop at all vibe continues.

Hope the mastic works, if it doesn’t and you want to put in a flashing, I have an electric 9” grinder with diamond blade you can pick up if you are passing my way

Thank you! Very kind of you. I hope we'll be OK. Finished the mobile workbench this evening. Used some reclaimed 150mm boards from the old fence. It's feels luxurious to not be working out of the shed workshop which is excellent but tight for space.

[Joeboy]

Workbench and covered area paid for themselves this morning. Down at Electric centre at 07.00hrs, a pair of JB's, glands etc. Built on the bench.

Reason being, a fanny up job I did a few years back bit me in the arse. 100% my fault for not upgrading when I knew it needed done.





On the upside, we've found it now. Polarities are split into two JB's. No under rated choc blocs, The conductors are split into position pairs through the glands so i know what's what. Extra washers too to give the heat a better chance of getting away



The 4th unterminated pair are not carrying power. Will trace back but pretty sure they are a defunct pair , no noticeable power drop off seen when re energised.

Feeling like a complete tit tbh, as I should! I knew there was a problem when I could only see 200W incoming yesterday late afternoon when it should have been about 1.2kW. We think what has happened is a slow cook over time, melted through lid and then watering plants yesterday pushed it to a full failure. Hey ho, nobody got hurt and the 100A busbars are on order. Will leave JB's open today to check temperature but looking good so far.

Had planned to upgrade when the next 4 panels go aloft. One hell of a reminder!

Edit, not bad for 09.45.

[Joeboy]

Just realised that I've got capacity most of the time on the Victron charge controller. Rarely it bounces off the limit for any period of time.

Would be smarter to run in the 6mm cable and tie the new 2.2kW of Vanport panels back into the Victron. I can always upgrade to a Hoymiles AC side later if need be.

[Stinsy]

Just realised that I've got capacity most of the time on the Victron charge controller. Rarely it bounces off the limit for any period of time.

Would be smarter to run in the 6mm cable and tie the new 2.2kW of Vanport panels back into the Victron. I can always upgrade to a Hoymiles AC side later if need be.

How closely Voltage-matched are the arrays plumbed into that MPPT? How often are your batteries full?

[Joeboy]

Just realised that I've got capacity most of the time on the Victron charge controller. Rarely it bounces off the limit for any period of time.

Would be smarter to run in the 6mm cable and tie the new 2.2kW of Vanport panels back into the Victron. I can always upgrade to a Hoymiles AC side later if need be.

How closely Voltage-matched are the arrays plumbed into that MPPT? How often are your batteries full?

Pretty close, fractions of a V if memory serves. The batteries would be full by 10am at this time of year if I wasn't exporting. Although I'm also topping up overnight so it's a skewed playing field.

Here's a randomly chosen recent decent day on the Solaredge system. Victron is generally stronger by a few kWh's per day in its current guise. Plenty room for growth? Might see another 8kWh per day once upgraded?



There is around about a 2hr window where we'd be bouncing off the limiter. These rest is to be played for. Beat day this year was 27.35kWh for the Victron. Date matching to the Solaredge graph for the Victron and it is a 26.91kWh value for the Victron on that date.

[Stinsy]

Just realised that I've got capacity most of the time on the Victron charge controller. Rarely it bounces off the limit for any period of time.

Would be smarter to run in the 6mm cable and tie the new 2.2kW of Vanport panels back into the Victron. I can always upgrade to a Hoymiles AC side later if need be.

How closely Voltage-matched are the arrays plumbed into that MPPT? How often are your batteries full?

Pretty close, fractions of a V if memory serves. The batteries would be full by 10am at this time of year if I wasn't exporting. Although I'm also topping up overnight so it's a skewed playing field.

Here's a randomly chosen recent decent day on the Solaredge system. Victron is generally stronger by a few kWh's per day in its current guise. Plenty room for growth? Might see another 8kWh per day once upgraded?

Less than a Volt is way within what is reasonable. The MPPT vs inverter comes down to: when the batteries are full the MMPT shuts down whereas the inverter keeps earning you money. On the other hand, if you have a brief glimpse of bright sunshine, an MPPT will shove more of it into your batteries faster. Comes down to export vs self-consumption.

Obviously this is faffing around the margins, getting the additional capacity up there is most important and if the decision is: using an existing MPPT vs buying a micro-inverter then go with the "not buying something new" option.