How it all began, with a balcony power station
In April 2023, the time had come, my decision in favour of a “balcony power plant” was made and I had the PV modules delivered. Although, to be honest, I added a few more and because I don’t have a balcony …
… only the roof remains.
However, I no longer have the south side free (solar thermal system for heating and hot water) so it will be an east-west system.
And actually, the roof only has a slight pitch, so there’s still room on the north side (!).
After a lot of research, I chose Microinverter from Hoymiles. (I didn’t have Bluetti on my radar at the time) and I have a number of advantages with the microinverters. They are relatively insensitive to shading, as they have their own tracker for each PV input and start working even with the slightest amount of sunlight (approx. 20V per PV module, even if only one of them has sun)
My “balcony power station” works perfectly, but I need a battery for the night …
Another lengthy search, what kind of battery works with microinverters and AC-PV?
In the end, my brother turned me on to Bluetti, not because he also uses such a system, but he had bought an AC300 for camping over the summer and raved about it …
So I picked out the EP600, added a couple of B500s and installed them in the garage.
Over the summer and early autumn, I was pleased with the great PV yield during the day and that the EP600 took over the rest of the day/night with the power supply.
I need more boost, Scotti
Performance, I need more performance!
Over the months of using the EP600, I’ve noticed from time to time that the max. 2kW per phase isn’t always enough (electric cooker, dishwasher, washing machine, etc.) and the EP600 reaches its limit, with the rest coming from the grid.
So I ordered another set of EP600 + B500.
Nice work for autumn 2023, fit a second EP600. Note, at this time only “Grid-tied parallel” was possible for 2x EP600 + 2x B500. Since I already have a total of 6 x B500, “Off Grid parallel” is unfortunately no longer possible …
And yes, it looks strange, the two towers are not symmetrical, should actually be 2 times 3x B500, not 4x B500 + 2x B500 … but I didn’t want to rebuild the first tower again.
In winter, the PV output is no longer sufficient anyway, so I don’t use both EP600s to their full capacity - it’s only intended as a backup in the event of a blackout.
I need more boost, Scotti
OK, take this, we’ll reach warp with it ;-)
So in spring 2024, we picked up the spanner again …
That’s all I can do now, really (or maybe at some point … Earth to BLUETTI, can you hear me?)
Well, maybe convert to “off-grid parallel”, should already be possible with 8x B500.
No sooner said than done, I ordered the cable set for the conversion from Bluetti.
… Wait a minute, wrong length ???
It’s a different story now and I’m sure Bluetti will manage that too.
What does such a “fat” battery add to PV? What can I say after a good year of operation?
My conclusion: I am delighted, here is my personal evaluation of the power consumption over the last 7 years.
The green line shows the average value of the previous 6 years, goes up in winter (heating, light, …), in summer a little less consumption, everyone will probably have the same.
The blue line is last year (summer 23 to summer 24), you can also see that the EP600 went into operation in August 23 and the electricity consumption (from the grid) has fallen massively. In winter, the PV is completely off and consumption goes up again, although it was still less than in previous years because there were always a few sunny days when everything that was not consumed went straight into the battery.
That was the plan and that’s how it works.
Let’s see how this year turns out, orange line, still at the very beginning …
There’s never enough solar, and never enough storage. Your Bluetti set up in your garage looks very professional.