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Battery System User Manual for Panasonic LJ-SK56A

BATTERY SYSTEM USER MANUAL FOR PANASONIC LJ-SK56A


Grid Tied PV System – User Manual Version 1.0 © solarcity 2016 UM-1059-PV-1.0

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 CONTACT INFORMATION ........................................................................................ 3 2.0 IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION ....................................................................... 3

2.1 Warnings ........................................................................................................... 3 3.0 ACTIONS IN CASE OF SYSTEM FAILURE ................................................................... 3 4.0 START-UP AND SHUT-DOWN PROCEDURES ........................................................... 3

4.1 System shut-down procedure ........................................................................... 3 4.2 System start-up procedure ................................................................................ 4

5.0 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 4 5.1 How it works ........................................................................................................ 4

6.0 THE STORAGE BATTERY SYSTEM ............................................................................. 5 6.1 Battery enclosure ................................................................................................ 5 6.2 Network adapter ................................................................................................. 5 6.3 Monitoring........................................................................................................... 5 6.4 Server adaptive mode ......................................................................................... 5 6.5 The battery control and display panel ................................................................ 5 6.6 Stand-alone mode ............................................................................................... 7 6.6.1 How to activate and deactivate the stand-alone power outlet ....................... 7 6.7 User settings ........................................................................................................ 8 6.7.1 Lower discharge limit ....................................................................................... 9 6.7.2 Child lock ........................................................................................................ 10 6.7.3 Stand-alone operation start setting ............................................................... 10 6.8 Help ................................................................................................................... 11

7.0 MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM ........................................................................... 11 8.0 SYSTEM ISSUES ..................................................................................................... 12

8.1 Troubleshooting ................................................................................................ 12 8.2 Error codes ........................................................................................................ 12

9.0 WARRANTY ........................................................................................................... 12 10.0 APPENDICES........................................................................................................ 13

Rev. Description Date Issued by

1.0 Released for approval June 2017 TB



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1.0 CONTACT INFORMATION solarcity New Zealand Limited PO Box 1509 / 190 Trafalgar Street Nelson 7010 Customer care phone: 0800 11 66 55 Customer care email: [email protected] Website: http://www.solarcity.co.nz

2.0 IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

Solar power systems are safe when operating correctly, however, there are potentially dangerous hazards

associated with some system components.

Please read the following warnings before operating the system.

2.1 Warnings

DC Electrical The storage battery system can contain potentially lethal DC voltages and the casing should not be

opened by anyone other than a registered electrician.

Electrical Wiring This installation has been installed in accordance with AS/NZS wiring standards by a registered

electrician. Any unauthorised altering of the wiring presents the risk of high voltages being exposed,

and the risk of death or serious injury to users of the property where the system is installed.

3.0 ACTIONS IN CASE OF SYSTEM FAILURE

In an emergency, you can shut down the battery system, if it is safe to do so, as outlined in Section 4.0. For other issues,

please refer to Section 7.0 on ‘System Issues’.

4.0 START-UP AND SHUT-DOWN PROCEDURES

Under normal circumstances, the system should not need any intervention. In an emergency, or should your electrician need

to work on wiring in the house, the system may need to be shut-down. The following procedures should be followed.

4.1 System shut-down procedure

1. Turn OFF the AC SOLAR SUPPLY MAIN SWITCH which is labelled and located in the switchboard.

Do not open the battery system enclosure to isolate or disconnect the batteries.

The battery system will still be energised internally by the batteries.

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.solarcity.co.nz/



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4.2 System start-up procedure

1. Turn ON the AC SOLAR SUPPLY MAIN SWITCH which is labelled and located in the switchboard.

The inverters will take at least 60 seconds to reconnect to the grid following a shut-down or grid outage.

5.0 INTRODUCTION

5.1 How it works

The grid-connected solar power system generates electricity directly from the sun’s energy for use in your home. It is used to

power appliances, lights, the hot water cylinder and anything else that is drawing power at the time. The battery system will

automatically detect when the solar system is generating surplus electricity and begin to charge. If the system is fully

charged, and the supply from the solar system still exceeds your energy demand, electricity will be exported to the grid. This

energy is metered and is purchased by your electricity retailer at an agreed tariff.

When the solar system is not generating enough to supply the load requirements of your home and the batteries are

charged, the battery system supplies electricity to your home. If your energy demand exceeds the battery system’s supply

capacity, or it is fully discharged, additional electricity is drawn from the grid.

You will still purchase power from the grid, on a rainy day for example, when the solar array can’t supply enough energy to

supplement your household loads and the battery is already fully discharged. And vice versa; if the battery is fully charged

and the electricity production of the solar array exceeds the current household demand, clean energy will be exported to the

grid.



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6.0 THE STORAGE BATTERY SYSTEM 6.1 Battery enclosure

The battery enclosure houses the batteries and the inverter. The Panasonic storage

battery system is a stand-alone system and comes with an integrated inverter. The

inverter converts the direct current (DC) electricity stored in the batteries into 230V

alternating current (AC) electricity for use in your home.

Beside the inverter the enclosure contains, depending on the model, 2 lithium-Ion battery

cells with a maximum usable capacity of 2.8kWh each.

The battery system usually operates in the ‘maximum self-consumption mode’. This will

ensure that you get the most out of the solar and battery system. It will only charge when

there is surplus solar energy generated on your roof, and will discharge whenever your

home energy demand is higher than what the solar system can deliver. This reduces the

amount of electricity that is exported to the grid and increases the clean energy directly

used in your home.

6.2 Network adapter The Network Adapter connects the battery system to the monitoring server. This server is managed by solarcity and

operated by Panasonic NZ. The connection to the server enables you and solarcity to monitor the battery performance and

allows early detection of possible faults. It also allows the battery to be run in ‘server adaptive mode’ which is explained in

section 6.4 below.

6.3 Monitoring The battery system can be monitored through a smartphone application that is available for Android and iOS devices. You can download the Panasonic monitor application from the Apple app store or the Google Play store. For iOS the application can be found here: https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/panasonic-home-storage-battery/id1121486441?mt=8 For Android the application can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.panasonic.nz.enerygyapp

To obtain your login details please contact solarcity.

6.4 Server adaptive mode In some instances, it can make sense to charge the battery over night at a lower electricity rate. This can be the case during winter, when your household electricity use increases or your solar generation decreases meaning there is not enough surplus solar electricity generation to fully charge the battery during the day. If your retailer offers a ‘day-night’ tariff, you might gain some financial benefit from using this function during winter. If requested by the customer, solarcity has the option to run the battery in ‘server adaptive mode’ which will take advantage of their specific low overnight prices. In this mode of operation, the battery can receive commands from the utility server. The server uses a smart algorithm to charge the batteries when your power prices are the cheapest and discharge the batteries when your power is most expensive. This will not affect the battery’s ability to store surplus solar energy. The system will work to maximise self-consumption and only charge overnight if required, and if it makes financial sense to do so.

6.5 The battery control and display panel

https://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/panasonic-home-storage-battery/id1121486441?mt=8

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.panasonic.nz.enerygyapp



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The Panasonic battery is a stand-alone system and will be fully set up and programmed at the time of installation. There are, however, a number of functions that you can access, such as the emergency Stand-alone mode, which is explained in section 6.6. The display shows basic information such as the state of charge, mode of operation, current charge or discharge rate and the time and date. The battery will be set to the most suitable and economic mode for your specific purposes. In most cases this will be the ‘maximise self-consumption’ mode, indicated by ‘SELF’ on the battery display. The control panel is in the centre, at the top of the battery system. It consists of 4 LED indicator lights, a display and 4 buttons.

The LED indicator lights are useful to check the current state of the battery system. Under normal conditions:

• GRID shows green - the battery is connected to the grid

• MODE shows green – the battery is operating in Grid mode (changes to orange in Stand-alone mode)

• BATTERY shows green - the battery is supplying energy to your home

• BATTERY shows orange - the battery is charging

The buttons on the right hand side of the control panel can be used to show further information about the current battery state, to change settings, or to confirm or cancel settings.



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6.6 Stand-alone mode

The battery system is equipped with an emergency stand-alone power outlet. This outlet is limited to a maximum load of 2000 Watts and can be used to supply power to certain devices in case of a power cut.

CAUTION! Do not attempt to connect devices that, in total, require more power than 2000 W. If you exceed 2000 W the integrated battery protection device will trip and disconnect the internal battery packs. As a consequence the system will not work. A qualified electrician will need to service the battery so it can be

turned on again. As a precaution, only connect devices to the Stand-alone power outlet that have significantly lower power consumption than 2000 W.

Suitable Devices Unsuitable Devices Cell phone chargers, laptop chargers Vacuum cleaner

Router, modem Microwave oven

LED TV Any water pumps

LED lighting or halogen lighting Kettle

Small HiFi system or radio Hairdryer

6.6.1 How to activate and deactivate the stand-alone power outlet The Stand-alone mode can be set to be activated automatically or manually. Please refer to section 6.7.3 for further details. This section explains how to use the Stand-alone mode manually. If a power cut occurs, the GRID indicator light will be orange and the display will show PF (for Power Failure) followed by 0.0. You might also see some error codes such as E020 for low grid voltage. To activate the emergency stand-alone power supply during a power failure, press the ON/OFF button for 1 second until you see PF followed by 3 hyphens. Press the ON/OFF button again for 1 second to activate the Stand-alone mode.



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If the emergency stand-alone power outlet has been used during a power cut, remember to switch it back to grid operation mode once power is restored to your home. For safety reasons, the battery system will not switch back automatically to grid operated mode after the power stand-alone function is used. The MODE indicator light will be orange to show that the battery is still in Stand-alone mode and the GRID light will be blinking green to indicate that it is waiting for power restoration. To start normal operation, first press the ON/OFF button for 1 second until you see 5 hyphens in the display. Now, press the ON/OFF button again for one second to start the battery. You should see a solid (non flashing) number between 0.0 and 2.0 in the display.

Good to know: The emergency stand-alone power outlet will only work if there is sufficient charge in the battery. A lower discharge limit can be set which will guarantee that the battery will always have a minimum remaining level of electricity stored in case of a power cut. However, this will also reduce the available capacity for day to day power cycling. If you experience frequent power cuts in your area you can set the lower discharge limit to an appropriate level. Example: If you want to ensure that you are able to charge two mobile phones (20 W) and keep your router (30 W) running during a power cut you need 50 Wh (watt hours) of storage to bridge one hour without power. As 50 Wh equal around 1.% of the battery’s capacity, you would have to set your lower discharge limit to 1% to ensure there is backup power to remain connected for one hour. If you set your lower discharge limit to 5% you could charge two mobile phones and stay connected to the internet for 5 hours.

6.7 User settings To access the User Settings you first need to stop the battery operating by pressing the ON/OFF button for 1 second. When the battery is stopped you will see 5 dashes in the display. Go to the User Settings menu by pressing MENU for 1 second.

Use the CLOCK and DATA buttons to scroll up and down between the five User Settings from no-1 to no-6.



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Below are instructions on how to change the Lower Discharge Limit (menu item no-2) and setting the Child Lock (menu item no-5), We strongly suggest you refrain from changing any of the other settings. The operation mode should always be set to ‘SELF’ as this is the most economically viable mode of operation when connected to a solar PV system The other mode is ‘PROG’ for ‘programmed’ and lets you set one single charge and discharge period per day. The times can be set under menu item no-3. We do not recommend using this mode of operation. The Daylight Saving Time Setting is obsolete because the battery automatically receives the correct time from the utility server. You don’t need to change this setting. When finished with the User Setting menu you will need to start the battery again: Press ON/OFF repeatedly to return to the initial display showing 5 dashes. Press the ON/OFF button for 1 second to start the battery. The hyphens will disappear and the display will show a number between 0.0kW and 2.0kW.

6.7.1 Lower discharge limit solarcity recommends the lower discharge limit is set at 0%. This value is a User Setting and can be changed by you any time. The lower discharge limit can be set between 0% and 40%. To access the User Settings use the instructions in the section above. To change the Lower Discharge Limit setting select item no-2 and press Menu (ENTER) - do not hold the button down this time, just give it a short press. You will see ‘Lrb’ followed by a number in the display. Press the MENU button again so that the percentage starts flashing. You can now change the value using the up and down buttons. Confirm the chosen value by pressing MENU.



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6.7.2 Child lock Activate the Child Lock by choosing item no-5 in the User Settings.

When the Child Lock setting is activated press the ON/OFF and MENU buttons simultaneously to start or stop the battery.

6.7.3 Stand-alone operation start setting

The battery system can be set to switch to stand-alone operation automatically if a power cut occurs. However, it will not switch back to normal operation automatically when the power is back. You’ll have to activate normal operation manually after using the stand-alone function. As a safety measure, you should ensure that the stand-alone power outlet is switched off when not in use, if you set the battery to automatic start.



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6.8 Help If you have a question regarding the battery system please contact solarcity on 0800 11 66 55, or [email protected].

7.0 MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM

solarcity agrees to repair the system under the terms of the Limited Warranty.

• The battery system will, under normal circumstances, operate without any intervention. For ongoing optimal performance, a few simple actions can be taken to ensure that the system has a long operating life. The system MUST be shut down to perform the cleaning steps below.

• Do not clean the battery by sprinkling water over it or using a hose.

• Do not use any materials that could scratch the surface. We recommend using a soft microfiber cloth.

• Do not use any volatile or abrasive substances to clean the surface. These may damage the special coating that protects the battery against rusting.

Please follow the steps below to clean the unit:

1. First, remove any dust or debris by gently wiping of the surface with a soft microfibre cloth. 2. Dampen the cloth with water (you can also add a mild/neutral detergent) and wring out any excess

water. 3. Wipe down any debris or dirt. 4. Finally, wipe off all moisture from the surface with a dry microfiber cloth.

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8.0 SYSTEM ISSUES

8.1 Troubleshooting

Please consult the table below if you have concerns that the battery system is not operating normally.

Problem Solution The battery stops discharging Either the battery is fully discharged or has reached

the lower discharge limit set. At very low or high temperatures the battery may stop discharging early to protect the battery

The battery stops charging The battery is fully charged. At very low temperatures the battery may stop charging early to protect the battery.

The Stand-alone power outlet does not work The Stand-alone power outlet can only be used during a power cut. Stand-alone operation needs to be activated manually. The Stand-alone outlet RCD might have tripped. Please contact solarcity.

The battery does not work If timers have been set under menu item no -3, the battery will not work in SELF mode. Make sure all timers are set to 00:00.

The display shows an error Consult section 8.2 or contact solarcity

8.2 Error codes Please consult the list below if the battery displays an error code.

E010 High grid voltage Normal operation will resume once conditions improve

E020 Low grid voltage Normal operation will resume once conditions improve

E030 AC over frequency Normal operation will resume once conditions improve

E040 AC under frequency Normal operation will resume once conditions improve

E060 Abnormal grid Normal operation will resume once conditions improve

E070 Instantaneous over voltage Normal operation will resume once conditions improve

E080 Instantaneous under voltage Normal operation will resume once conditions improve

P620, P690 Over discharged Normal operation will resume once conditions improve

P660, P700 High temperature Normal operation will resume once conditions improve

H010 toH990 The battery switched off to prevent serious damage and needs to be serviced.

Contact solarcity immediately

F010 to F990 Battery failure!

Contact solarcity as battery most likely needs replacement

If you get any of the above error codes on a regular basis it is likely that there is an external issue. In this case, please contact solarcity so we can help to rectify any issues.

9.0 WARRANTY For solarZero+ customers we manage the battery system and replace it when it reaches the end of its useful life as part of our energy service. If you have purchased the battery outright please refer to the Panasonic Warranty on page 30 of the separate Panasonic User Manual which can be downloaded here: http://www.solarcity.co.nz/assets/Uploads/productmanuals/LJ-SK56A-usermanual-20161028.pdf

http://www.solarcity.co.nz/assets/Uploads/productmanuals/LJ-SK56A-usermanual-20161028.pdf



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10.0 APPENDICES



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