Lux ac battery controller

mickyduck55

EVandPV said:

Dave_Fowler said:

I don't know what the problems are with Jake; he was so helpful in the early days when the system was being installed and setup.

Yeah, that's pretty much been my experience too. 
Seem to be getting radio silence from Luxpower too these days. A couple of us have emailed them about the missing settings but no reply.

I can only echo the above.. did not even buy from "Jake" but he updated firmware and responded to email, same with Lux in China surprisingly quick replies to emails ... but now nothing

Starfrog

I notice that when i have good days of Sun that i have obvious clipping of my production, so i have 12 solar panels that can theoretical produce 12x455w = 5460 but during the day I see this clipping at 3.5 as the absolute maximum it will produce. I wonder if I can adjust that slightly via the hardware I have in place currently or would i simple need to purchase a bigger inverter ? all my items that I have are in my signature file so you can see what i have. I know that over time all the systems will degrade but with my current over capacity I shouldnt really see any difference in my actual production during a 25 year life cycle ?  any suggestions or tips are most welcome 

timmo65

Hello,

I am likely going down the same route as many on here but a couple of questions please.  Firstly I am in contact with Jake/Mick and have a quote for either the newer Lux pod AC plus either 2 or 3 batteries. The choice here is the Uhome Aoboet batteries if I wait as not in stock or the Pylon Tech sooner that seem to be more common and equally as good. The upside of the Uhome is apparently better at lower temp and individually wifi contactable. What are peoples views on the differences ?  I also wanted to check if I am in the ball park for the quote - no one seems to mention the costs on here so please remove its not ok to post  but my quote was for supply and fit the  lux squirrel pod controller plus 2 2.4 batteries £3075 and x 3 2.4 batteries at £3675 - all plus VAT.

As mentioned support seems keen right now and generally appears to be good post sales but from recent messages waning a bit - maybe too many customers !

Thanks

Martin

htsoft

Starfrog said:

I notice that when i have good days of Sun that i have obvious clipping of my production, so i have 12 solar panels that can theoretical produce 12x455w = 5460 but during the day I see this clipping at 3.5 as the absolute maximum it will produce. I wonder if I can adjust that slightly via the hardware I have in place currently or would i simple need to purchase a bigger inverter ? all my items that I have are in my signature file so you can see what i have. I know that over time all the systems will degrade but with my current over capacity I shouldnt really see any difference in my actual production during a 25 year life cycle ?  any suggestions or tips are most welcome 

In the datasheet (Enphase IQ7+): Peak output power 295 VA. 12 x 295 adds up to 3540 so I'm guessing that is the max they can give you.

htsoft

timmo65 said:

.... The upside of the Uhome is apparently better at lower temp and individually wifi contactable. ...

Not sure about the rest, but with a tiny extra investment and a bit of "coding" (more like playing in Node Red) I am getting cell level info directly from my Pylontech batteries from anywhere, anytime. They text me on Telegram when I ask how they are and also have set some alarms up if anything goes out of normal. 

EVandPV

htsoft said:

timmo65 said:

.... The upside of the Uhome is apparently better at lower temp and individually wifi contactable. ...

Not sure about the rest, but with a tiny extra investment and a bit of "coding" (more like playing in Node Red) I am getting cell level info directly from my Pylontech batteries from anywhere, anytime. They text me on Telegram when I ask how they are and also have set some alarms up if anything goes out of normal. 

Yes, there's a wifi mod on youtube or you can hook them up to a Windows machine via serial cable and view module/cell info via the Batteryview app.

Re temperature, would only be an issue if you store them outdoors otherwise Pylontechs will provide max charge/discharge power at room temperature.

Starfrog

htsoft said:

In the datasheet (Enphase IQ7+): Peak output power 295 VA. 12 x 295 adds up to 3540 so I'm guessing that is the max they can give you.

fair point I think i read that originally and forgot about it, wonder how easy it would be to increase that ? but then think if my inverter is only 3.6 then it would just be limited by that then so for 100 watts theres no point in trying to increase output with my current setup and would need to add a bigger inverter and larger peak output Enphases 

htsoft

Starfrog said:

fair point I think i read that originally and forgot about it, wonder how easy it would be to increase that ? but then think if my inverter is only 3.6 then it would just be limited by that then so for 100 watts theres no point in trying to increase output with my current setup and would need to add a bigger inverter and larger peak output Enphases 

I don't think the Lux inverter's max output limits what you're getting from your solar production - but agree that the cost of upgrading 12 microinverters would not worth the difference anyway.

Solarchaser

Starfrog said:

htsoft said:

In the datasheet (Enphase IQ7+): Peak output power 295 VA. 12 x 295 adds up to 3540 so I'm guessing that is the max they can give you.

fair point I think i read that originally and forgot about it, wonder how easy it would be to increase that ? but then think if my inverter is only 3.6 then it would just be limited by that then so for 100 watts theres no point in trying to increase output with my current setup and would need to add a bigger inverter and larger peak output Enphases 

I think you are getting confused between the micro inverters and your battery storage inverter. 
Micro inverters are your actual generation,  the lux inverter is for storage only.
So if your micro inverters made 4kw, and the house was using 1kw, then the lux will store 3kw potentially.

Timmo65 if you have a complicated install its probably about right, but to me that seems excessive for the lux and batteries.

A good general rule of thumb is £750 for everything. 
Lux is around £750, batteries are around £750 all inclusive of vat.
No idea what the squirrel pods cost, but without seeing one, it sounds alot like its just a Pi computer in a box, so it shouldn't cost much.

My suggestion would be to look at how it would be installed into your home.
You need a 4mm or above twin and earth supply to the lux (in theory,  in realitynormal 2.5T&E will be fine) and you will need at least one wire to run from your lux to your home consumer unit (leccy box), if you have solar, you will need another wire to report the solar to the lux.
 
I used cat5e for this which cost £25 for 100m from screwfix 
If this is easily done, then diy would be my advice and save yourself what looks like £700 odds for instalation, if not then its probably worth paying a professional. 

I'd advise going for pylontech as they are more readily available from ebay etc.

EVandPV

Solarchaser said:

No idea what the squirrel pods cost, but without seeing one, it sounds alot like its just a Pi computer in a box, so it shouldn't cost much.

From what I understand, it's basically a parallel Lux unit with a firmware tweak that allows it to scan for the cheapest Agile half hourly time slots.
So the same as any other Lux plus a Pi (or any other computer that can run Ruby code) running Octolux.

I'm not sure why you'd be on Agile though, given the crazy high prices lately. Go makes much more sense with a battery system at the moment.