Uni-Solar PVL & SMA Sunny Boy - Home Solar Install Finished & Running :-)

My solar contractor, Ecogelec's boss, came today, sunday, before lunch time, to replace the defective SMA Sunny Boy 3000 Grid Tie Inverter by a brand new one, sent by SMA Technical Service few days before

After installing the new unit on its rack, replacing the MC4 connectors with Phoenix Contact ones, because this is what SMA is using now, it initialized with all the 3 LEDs on along with the 2 lines display, and performed well right away pushing between 8 and 900W for our first solar production :-)

From that moment, everything worked fine, I switched on my Energy Storage System (ESS) and it started charging as it should do when used power is lower than produced power, and it went on until close to 9:15 PM when the Sunny Boy stopped because of the sunset light becoming too weak ...

MC4 connectors had to be replaced by Phoenix Contact connectors


Phoenix Contact close up, no crimping tool required

We used a mirror to see the SMA Sunny Boy 3000 display

First Solar Production !! :-) and not bad at 850W

SMA Sunny Boy 3000 is on, completely silent,  and its top heat sink was luke warm the whole afternoon

I found a spot for Wattson transmitter: right on top of the utility meter
The Solar sub panel is now closed and Wattson sensor leads are coming out of it from the top


Then this board was put back in place and the kitchen cabinet can now be used almost like before, except for the upper storage part of course


The consumer unit is also closed now, after adding an outlet for Wattson transmitter

My ESS is on, in charger mode here, and the chargers are switched on to match the generation as close as possible
Production on the left, Net Usage (Usage - Production) on the right

Staying around 0W ... this is good

Production on the left, Net Usage (Usage - Production) on the right
Here the solar panel are pushing around 800W and the ESS - in GTI Mode at this moment - is pushing 570W, during cooking

And finally during sunset, the Generated Power declined slowly but stayed around 150 for a while at the end, still at 9PM,  - Here Wattson is set to indicate Generated Power -

This is the light I add at this moment around 9PM


until the SMA really quit around 9:15PM, Wattson indicating 0W



Wattson Anywhere power graphs for this first day of solar generation

Solar Install continues ....

Last saturday, my contractor came to continue the Solar install started tuesday morning

Close up on the DC Breaker : 600V 20A

Wattson with EasyFit configuration photographed before unplugging the transmitter

and Easy Fit fitted back in the solar sub panel ( a bigger one here) on the Line wire going back the the main consumer panel

More wiring

Closer look at the solar sub panel and Wattson


Wattson Transmitter is temporarily plugged in and placed here

My consumer unit: See the Wattson Usage sensor is located on the Main Line wire, providing power to the whole apartment; Because the solar sub panel is wired after this, I need to use Easy Fit Y-cable

After going back on the roff the link all the Uni-Solar PVLs together as one string, DC voltage of this big string was then around 360V and the sun was not even shining because of the big white clouds

Now, after closing the SMA Sunny Boy cover panel and wiring it to earth, after switching on the DC and AC breakers, the inverter 3 LEDs blinked for one second, and then nothing ... No display, no LEDs, nothing was on ... :-( and after trying everything my contractor quickly determined that there was probably a problem with this unit ... No Luck


As my contractor advised, on sunday, in the morning sun, I measured again the DC voltage and it was showing 390V; I then tried to start the inverter gain, but still nothing ...

I also read the Sunny Boy 3000 documentation trying to find an explanation in the minimum DC voltage required and in the troubleshooting section

Later on, Mark Elliott from Energeno, Wattson maker, retweeted this pic of Wattson sensors install, with a little comment

I should have an SMA Sunny Boy 3000 Inverter installed soon

I recently talked to my solar contractor and since his home made grid tie inverter is delayed for now, he proposed to install a regular inverter few weeks ago, and last tuesday, he said it would be an SMA SunnyBoy 3000 (with galvanic transformer)
If you remember, bmy Uni-Solar PVL124 and PVL68 had been installed on the building zinc roof back in october ...
We talked a lot about the details, junction box, Wattson sensors, integration of my LiFePO4 ESS, etc
We are now waiting for the bad weather to go away  !!  :-)

Solar Panels Installation - 13 Uni-Solar PVL 124W 68W 31W

Today is the Big Day !

When I woke up, I discovered a very clear blue sky (what a relief !)

I had to take my day off to be there when it happens, but still I could not sleep anymore 

I checked right away and noticed that the forecast had not changed :-) and that it should be a nice day (all day)

My contractor called me to tell me he would come with one or two employees from another project nearby to help him out here and that he should show up right after lunch break so that the roof would be dry

And now they are here, the boss and one employee, on the roof installing the panels :-)

My last recommandations given showing pictures of the roof (from the sky) & Uni-Solar PVL technical documentation, ...

... my wife and I helped them passing the panels to put all of them on the roof

The ladder and opening to access to the roof

They installed some safety ropes between the chimney stacks

and started cleaning and scrubbing the the zinc so that the tar would stick better

It is getting hot on top of this roof in direct sun :-)

More pictures taken by my contractor:

All this was installed in only two hours and the employee told me it was the first time he installed this kind of panels and that it was easy

The PVL 68W and PVL 124W have been placed on either side of the U shaped building roof, avoiding attic air conduits, East and  West, in two strings of 3 68W and 3 124W; The additional small 31W has been added to the East chain

Here is a particular problem I was afraid of: the zinc sheets, overlapping each other, create a bump; I ask my contractor to be extra carefull at these points and not to try to put too much pressure on them because it would damage the solar panels ... He followed my advice and did better: he added a some silicone sealant between the zinc and the panel, blocking water and sticking this part too, which is a good idea :-)

Closer look at the nice result
I know, we have a lot of shade from the chimney stack, because winter is coming ..., but these panels are working do not really need direct sun to work well, they are fine with a white/grey sky
Also, if the shade is really bad, the cells affected are automatically shunted (each cell has a diode for that prupose), allowing better current flow only in sunny cells 

Awesome ! I am very happy with the job they accomplished :-)

Now I will have to be patient because their "Super" inverter is not ready yet, butI think it is worth the wait (I talked about it with the boss for an hour after the employee was gone)

Their website: Ecogelec

Paris - Hausmannian Building with a Uni-Solar Solar Panels Roof

Few years ago, as I started getting interested in Uni-Solar PVL flexible solar panels for our building, I found this quite unique project in Paris, 10 rue de la Boétie, 8th discrict, not far from Champs Elysees ...

They removed the existing zinc roof (traditionnal roofing in Paris and surroundings on older buidlings) and used Rheinzink (already made) metal roofing sheets with Uni-Solar PVL68 applied onto them

For me this is very important because it is a upscale and historical district and it has been approved by Architectes des batiments de France, the key to have this kind of building modification done; I think it is due to the fact that these 4mm very flat panels do not affect the visual aspect of the building from the street

More info about this project here, translated by Google    /  Project French link