question

Clive Lander avatar image
Clive Lander asked

Auto Start generator stop condition when solar is generating

Trying to find a way to switch a auto start generator off when the solar is meeting the loads for a certain period of time.


For example, the generator starts early in the morning, 10 minutes before the solar meets the load, now the generator continues to charge the batteries to 30% SOC, meanwhile the sun is out and its just wasting diesel.

generator auto start
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2 Answers
Paul B avatar image
Paul B answered ·

use voltage as the start and stop triggers in say quite hours and you can have finer control of how long it runs,

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atebee avatar image
atebee answered ·

Full automation of this would need Node Red I think. Quite a few conditions to test like time of day, SoC and solar output.

A rudimentary way would be to set the generator quiet hours to be during daytime. Quiet hours can have different lower and upper SoC limits which could both be set very low to make it unlikely the generator would need to run.

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Clive Lander avatar image Clive Lander commented ·
I have already implemented the quiet hour setting with different SOC levels, I am interested in the code red, I have heard about it but never implemented it, any pointers for a first timer?
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kevgermany avatar image kevgermany ♦♦ Clive Lander commented ·
Node-RED info is in the modifications space. Note that it's not officially supported by Victron, but by the volunteers in modifications.
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atebee avatar image atebee Clive Lander commented ·
Lots of material on YouTube regarding Node Red. I would just get it installed on your Cerbo and have a play to start.
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