u/DesperateEngineer451

System details:

Inverter: Solis-S6-EH1P5K-L-PLUS

Battery: Dyness powerbox G2 10kw

Off grid setup, charging from a generator in the gen port.

No pv

I've installed the system myself (qualified electrician & electrical engineer) and it has been working perfect for the last month. I'm using it for a building site so the generator doesn't have to run consistent for small loads (work lights, charging power tools etc)

Had the generator running and I was using a 2.5kw tool for a few minutes. Power turned off so thought it might be a trip switch.

Checked the board, everything is OK. Checked the inverter and it's giving out about a BMS fault between the inverter & battery.

If checked the connections, powered it off (including the battery shut off) for 15 mins but no difference.

The battery is readying 52.8v so it should be about 80% charged.

Can't get support on a Sunday... Any suggestions on where to start? Or how to figure out if it's the inverter or battery that's at fault

Few bits of info first:

I'm an engineer, my wife to be is not. It has to be an incredibly fuss free system.

It's a new build. (ireland, so US specific switches doesn't work).

Basically I'm looking for a system that will allow me to have more control over the lighting of the house. Currently getting ready to wire the house and in order to be able to turn on & off mood lighting, being able to dim them etc we'd need a load of switches that wouldn't be user friendly and look bad.

For example one of the main rooms is a kitchen/dining/living room. There will be 3 main lighting circuits but also some more chill lighting. I'd like to be able to turn off all the lights when leaving the room from either of the 2 doorways out of the room.

Being able to dim them would also be a massive benefit because Im really sensitive to bright lights.

The kicker is it needs to have a massive "wife approval factor". Ideally the lights would still turn on and off with physical switches, no voice control anywhere. An app is OK for tweaking colour temps and brightness, but this would be more of a set and forget type scenario.

The lights would also have to work when the broadband stops working and I would like to avoid buying into a system that I'm completely locked into, so if they stop selling a bulb in 10 years I have to change everything to keep things working smoothly.

The type of lighting I'd be interested in controlling: pendant lights with standard e27/bayonet bulbs, recessed spot lights, defused led strips.

There is a possibility for some mild automations like a motion sensor in the panty, a handful of smart sockets etc so would like them to be in the same family

House:

200sqm block cavity wall with 150mm insulation.

200mm prestressed concrete floor (insulated lengths cast in, instead of traditional hollow voids) with solid ends.

Is there any benefit to putting insulation on top of the upperfloor? It's all within the thermal envelop of the house so I can't see much of an argument for efficiency.

If anything by having a larger thermal mass your not running the heating for short periods so might be a bit more efficient. You also have more thermal mass to bridge day/night so heating is less likely to click on over night to heat a bedroom.

It'll be harder on the plumber so I'd expect to pay a bit more in labour but it'll still be cheaper.

Is there any actual benefits that I'm missing?

There is a service cavity in ceiling below the floor, so any waste pipes from the showers, sinks etc can go through there as well as supply water so don't think he'll need the extra height to hide pipes

In the hospital for a appointment atm, receptionist gave me my file and said to head to waiting area x.

I was there on my own so decided to have a look through my file, vaguely remembering some of the times I was sick as a kid or broken bones from doing something stupid.

A nurse came in and said that I'm actually not allowed to read my file and took it away.

So 2 questions,

1. why can't I read the file that is exclusively about me?

2. if its so confidential and I'm not allowed read it, why hand it to me? It wasnt in a sealed binder and said nothing about not being allowed read it and the receptionist never said anything about it either.

Just seems strange that it's relaxed about handing it out but strict about reading it.

Not sure if this strictly home automation, but you lot are a very clever bunch.

For my parents farm we have a big diesel generator to use when grid power is down, this has been happening more and more often.

A issue we are having is that we have no idea when the grid power is restored. We had a very simple solution of looking across the road to our neighbors house but he now also has a generator.

The current layout is the power is fed into a shed approx 80m away from the house, where the generator change over Switch is located. From here it feeds the sheds and the house. The generator currently runs every circuit. The shed / generator can't be seen from the house.

One issue is that for a big power outage, it also takes down the broadband and phone tower. Thee is wifi in the shed so some sort of LAN solution would work.

Here is what I've been debating:

1. wire in a light circuit to the grid side, but you'd still have to walk outside to check.

2. plug in some wifi accessable device like a wifi camera. No automatic notification and won't work if it's a large scale power outage, but easy done.

3. buy a device that notifies you about a

Power outage/ restore.

4. use some sort of longish range radio transmitter to transmit a signal to a receiver placed in the house (like a walkie talkie). Could possibly do it with a regular radio placed beside a walkie talking with VOX so it just triggers when the radio turns on.

Is there any more refined options, particularly something that is parent friendly

I understand that the larger bikes like Michael's Ducati are restricted, but doe they not still have an advantage?

The 600s are fine tuned machine to squeeze absolutely everything out of them to the point that they sacrifice reliability.

Wouldn't a larger engine bike allow the engine to be built heavier duty (which they would be anyway since they are designed to deal with larger power) so when it's restricted to be competitive with the 600s it's not at as much of a disadvantage?

The bike could be rode pinned with no mechanical sympathy compared to the 600s.

Edit:

Thanks for all the input, good to get an idea of what others are aiming for.

As a reference, I'm currently on 72k, putting 4% away and my employer putting in 12%. Currently have approx 50k between my current pension and one from my previous job.

I know this is a how long is a piece of string type question, but how much are you aiming to have in the pension come retirement time?

I'm currently building a house so funds are a bit tight so trying to manage my costs.

I'm 32 male, currently no children but we are planning on having 2, within the next 5 years. At that rate they should be in the their mid - late 20s by the time I retire.

I should also have the mortgage paid off at that stage.

So how much would you ball park for "comfortable living"? (no lavish life style)

I understand it's better to have more than enough to cover all scenarios, but how much is enough? Presuming aswell that the state pension is still available to some degree at that stage.

I'm far enough from retirement that I haven't a clue what sort of expenses I'd have at that stage

I just don't want to be skrimping now especially with the build, for it to be completely overkill come retirement