EEVblog 1628 - Home Solar Re-Install + Upgrade + FAIL

[EEVblog]

Reinstallation of the 5kW Enphase microinverter home solar power system, and installation of a new 5kW Deye Hybrid inverter string system did not go well...

Forum:

00:00 - New Trina, old LG, and even older LG panels
03:44 - Salute the old Sunnyboy 3kW string inverter
05:23 - New 415W Trina, old 370W LG, and even older 250W LG panels. Plus some bonus 440W Trina panels.
06:45 - The old fuse box
10:00 - Roof racking installation
14:49 - Old 370W LG panels are getting reused
16:36 - Panel installation on the roof
20:46 - Timelapse
21:35 - New 5kW Deye Hybrid inverter installation has problems...
24:35 - And now the Solar Analytics system fails!
25:56 - I got it working!
30:30 - The Electrician with no Multimeter!
31:02 - Solar Assistant running on a Raspberry Pi 3
33:51 - Summary of the dodgy half and half pizza install
35: 28 - Update on the various monitoring systems, Enphase, Solar Analytics, and MyEnergi Zappi

[Xandar_009]

Great video Dave.
You certainly have been a bit unlucky with your solar reconfigure.
I have been looking at a very similar setup with an enphase install plus a deye inverter with batteries and a zappi charger.
There seems to be a specific way to configure the cts on your electrical setup so that you do not drain you batteries when charging the car overnight yet still catch excess solar.
From the research I have done, the Zappi ct is the last one between your house and the grid, except for your solar analytics one. I am thinking the order would be grid, solar analytics, zappi, enphase then deye. You also need to have the Zappi supplied from the house side of the Zappi ct but the grid side of the deye if you are going to run hybrid mode.
Does your reclaim hws have a ct as well?
The load/ups port on the deye can be sensitive to the controlled load ripple I have found out. Lights flicker, unit output drops to 0w.
When you get your board rewired, it might be worth splitting your circuits to be on the load port but having a bypass method(changeover switch). The plan I have is to run mainly in hybrid mode and switch to backup if needed. Keep the heavy loads direct grid feeds, the rest on load port.
There are some great outdoor rated cabinets made in Australia by powerplus that might fit nicely where the bike shed was.
Hope that helps.
Look forward to seeing more of your solar expedition.

[EEVblog]

Great video Dave.
You certainly have been a bit unlucky with your solar reconfigure.
I have been looking at a very similar setup with an enphase install plus a deye inverter with batteries and a zappi charger.
There seems to be a specific way to configure the cts on your electrical setup so that you do not drain you batteries when charging the car overnight yet still catch excess solar.
From the research I have done, the Zappi ct is the last one between your house and the grid, except for your solar analytics one. I am thinking the order would be grid, solar analytics, zappi, enphase then deye. You also need to have the Zappi supplied from the house side of the Zappi ct but the grid side of the deye if you are going to run hybrid mode.
Does your reclaim hws have a ct as well?
The load/ups port on the deye can be sensitive to the controlled load ripple I have found out. Lights flicker, unit output drops to 0w.
When you get your board rewired, it might be worth splitting your circuits to be on the load port but having a bypass method(changeover switch). The plan I have is to run mainly in hybrid mode and switch to backup if needed. Keep the heavy loads direct grid feeds, the rest on load port.
There are some great outdoor rated cabinets made in Australia by powerplus that might fit nicely where the bike shed was.
Hope that helps.
Look forward to seeing more of your solar expedition.

Yes my reclaim HWS has a current clamp on the Solar Analytics for measurement, I have done videos on this.


No plans to have a changeover switch, happy to just have a small emergency power circuit for the fridges, whcih I have been doing with the EcoFlow battery.

[Geoff-AU]

Do I spy a dedicated earth wire hole (underneath, rear right corner)?

[EEVblog]

Do I spy a dedicated earth wire hole (underneath, rear right corner)?

Just spoke to them this morning about the earth and mentioned that. They are back on site today to solve the broken string issue. Hopefully by end of today I have a fully working system.