diy solar

diy solar

New 10kw NHX AIO From Watts247

Quirks using the nhx as a solar battery charger only:

No communications with battery bank so using lead acid setting. Instead of showing voltage on the home page, it shows %. Does not show amps going to the battery on the homepage either, only % and kw.

Set max charge at 100amps. When the last array was hooked up, the battery menu sat at 99.9amps charge. Went into settings and changed max charge to 120amps. The battery menu went from 99amps to occasionally bumping 102amps but the battery icon still says max charge 100amps. I do not know if it took the new setting or not.
 
SolarAssistant does indeed work. Used the adapter Watts supplied with the inverter>cat5>rs485to usb adapter>pi. Megarevo setting.

If using the supplied adapter. The board connector it plugs into is covered in glue. It is a pita trying to be gentle cutting/pulling the glue away, inserting the new plug, tying everything back up out of the way, all while holding the cover open.

Here's the cheap usb to rs485 adapter that was lying around.

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Kornbread said:
SolarAssistant does indeed work. Used the adapter Watts supplied with the inverter>cat5>rs485to usb adapter>pi. Megarevo setting.

If using the supplied adapter. The board connector it plugs into is covered in glue. It is a pita trying to be gentle cutting/pulling the glue away, inserting the new plug, tying everything back up out of the way, all while holding the cover open.

Here's the cheap usb to rs485 adapter that was lying around.

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Click to expand...
So how's solar assistant vs the built in app?
 
Ordered several of the connectors you linked.
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... but this sux. None of the management tools are available.
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1201 said:
If you had an interconnection agreement then you wouldn't have to worry about zero export. That alone would be reason enough for me
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Interconnect agreements are getting worse and worse and in my case I have 13.5k watts of solar which puts me in the tier 2 category which requires a 1 million dollar liability insurance policy and with Fpl! You can never have a 0.0 bill everyone has to pay the 25 dollar minimum so yeah it actually cost more to sell back. I'll attach the file
 
CuriousJohn said:
I have not done the fine testing to see if there are short bursts of export. I'm sure there is, as if you think about it - any system that measures and then responds is going to have some finite amount of lag. Unless you maintain a large buffer of input power from the grid as Victron does, it will be impossible to guarantee no export at all.

For me - I plan using this on a subpanel, so if a little gets pushed backwards into the rest of my house, it is not a big deal. I'm essentially maintaining a buffer of input power by virtue of using this on a subpanel.

Long term - I don't want ANY export either. If I were to use this on my main panel, I would probably set up a small load - perhaps 100-500 watts that are in place up-stream from the CT's. That would be my buffer. I would probably also use a current activated switch to shut down the grid connection to the NHX if any reverse flow was detected.

The nice thing about this inverter - for me, is that it is big enough that I can power a lot of loads on the output, and I don't HAVE to use the export feature if I don't want to. It's appealing to use it, because I don't have to do a lot of rewiring and shifting things around.
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Why the dig deal if a small amount gets pushed to grid? Does the poco know and then comes after you for no interconnect agreement?
 
Ennis437 said:
Why the dig deal if a small amount gets pushed to grid? Does the poco know and then comes after you for no interconnect agreement?
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I cannot verify, but it appears some utilities do have the ability to closely monitor small amounts pushed back to the grid.
 
mciholas said:
Kornbread,

I've joined the N3H-X10-US club. On its way. This will be an 11.7 KW array with one or two EG4 wall batteries. Not sure if the batteries will talk to the inverter or not, willing to go without battery comms.

I am VERY interested in making Solar Assistant work so it can monitor the inverter and the batteries. Have you done so? Any guidance?

Mike C.
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If you are going without comms you can use the Victron smart shunt to get accurate state of charge and use it with solar assistant to handle automations Works great! You just need the Ve direct cable to your pi!
 

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Kornbread said:
I cannot verify, but it appears some utilities do have the ability to closely monitor small amounts pushed back to the grid.
Click to expand...
Modern meters can detect reverse flow.

Whether or not your meter does detect this and report it, it is illegal to feed any power into the grid until you have an approved and inspected system with a connection agreement in place.

Mike C.
 
Ordered longer cables for the Pi/SolarAssistant and I'll clean those up when they come in later this week, early next week.

All that remains as far as power goes, is connecting the neg cable to the second unit. Then all the settings will have to change to parallel operation. May wait till I get the feeder wire for the well trenched into the shop before activating the second unit, as it is not really needed until then.

Yes, it would have looked better with everything in a trough.
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Question about these NHXs...

There is an option for 120/208V three phase output (2/3) on these inverters
To be1 to 1 compatible with my grid type I need to change the Line voltage to 127V so I can get 127/220V three phase for the backup loads.

Do you guys happens to know if such change/setting is possible? Maybe via an installer app?

I saw this option on the new Growatt 10KW hybrid inverter, so wondering if these can do same.

Thanks!
 
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