GTP

Thanks Tariq, will do. Good suggestion

Hi all. I have read the other threads here with regards to calculating PVs. I did some calcs to determine what I can use with my Deye 5kw inverter. Hoping someone can verify my calcs and also shed some light on why my installer says I cannot proceed. I have the Deye 5kw inverter with the following high level spec 1. Max PV array power = 6500w 2. Number of MPPT = 2 3. MPPT range = 125 to 425v 4. PV inout current = 11a + 11a I currently have 6x 330w panels. The panels have a 9.08a per panel max current rating Therefore, Max PV array is 6500w/330w = 19 panels max. Lets round this down to 18 panels. As the number of MPPT strings is 2, this is 9 panels max per string. If the panel VOC is 46.1v x 9 panels, this gives me 414.9v per string. Within the range of 125 to 425v. Despite above, i only have the 6 panels currently. I am restricted to number of panels i can have, so thought an easy way to increase my system spec is to upgrade my panels to for example 450w panels. These have a 10.8a rating. Using the same logic as above, Max PV array = 6500w/ 450w = 14 panels max That allows for 7 panels per string. So lets make this 6 panels per string. With a VOC of 45.9v x 6 panels, this gives me 275.4v per mppt. Well within the MPPT range. So the thinking was to simply replace my 6x330w panels with 6x450w, But my installer reckons I cannot proceed and says the problem is the 10.8a rating of the 450w panels. Why is this a problem if the MPPT is rated at 11a? Does it have to do with a safety consideration to not damage the MPPT? Thanks, and I hope this post makes sense

My biggest priority at the time was getting the battery communicating via the port, and not using voltages. The CAN port and protocol 52 definitely did that. The issue I had (presumably because of older firmware) was that many fields including the charge rate from utility was fixed and could not be changed. Its as if the BMS locked in settings. Operationally this translated to solar power being throttled in SUB mode. It also meant spikes to 4kw odd at night for charging. SBU setting worked fine except for the 90a charge setting. If your inverter has the updated firmware, I guess it should work fine. Let us know how it goes if you try it

This is correct. When I had the 5000es i used the CAN port and protocol 52. The setting did work. I had an old firmware on my inverter though so was getting some crazy recharge amps. I believe the firmware update fixed this issue, but cannot confirm as I never did it on the Growatt Edit.. my bad. Just noticed i responded to old posts. The conversation clearly progressed some beyond this. Apologies

The SUB is supposed to be Solar as 1st priority, followed by utility and finally battery. So during the day the PV would power loads with a top up from utility if PV is not sufficient. At night it would run utility. In the event of a power outage at night, the battery would power the load. I only used SUB when expecting load shedding or on cloudy days. Not sure what your panel performance is like... do your 3 batteries charge up with PV?

If it has an economy mode, try using that. All our appliances run on economy mode now. My washing machine has one energy spike that goes up to about 2kw, and thats about it as far as heavy consumption. It then runs quite low. As mentioned above. Try it out and see how it goes

Don't mean to dig up an old thread. I had a Growatt spf5000es. Worked fine when battery communicated using voltages. The minute the can cable was used, the BMS over rode some of the settings which made me quite unhappy with its performance. We did confirm it needed a firmware update as the firmware on my unit was an older version. Not sure whether the firmware update fixes the issue or not though. I never got that far. My brother in law runs 2 growatt spf 5000TL at home, and 2 of the same units at his business and has not had a days issue with either.

Out of curiosity, are the batteries using BMS? Or set per voltages? The calculations seem ok. I use the same calc and my battery performs pretty darned close to the calcs. I did find on a previous non BMS battery that I got some wild changes in voltages during chatge and discharge cycles. If the settings are per voltage, could it be a settings issue? Am I understanding that the cutoff (low) on the inverter is set to 24v? Isnt that high for 24v batteries?

My roof also faces NE. Not a complete trainsmash. I lose maybe 3 hours in winter of the sun. In summer, my PV starts to generate nice wattage around 7am and whittles down around 17h30 or 18h00. In winter the PV starts pushing wattage nicely around 8am and whittles down around 16h00. For what its worth.

Having made some small adjustments and now understanding the system setup with the times a lot better, i do agree that the performance of this Deye unit is very much what i expected from the unit. Performance is in line with the settings, and with the load shedding, charge times are just planned around the slots. Very flexible. I believe Deye and Sunsynk are the same machine largely, so I hear you Nightcrawlrrinc. Edit. I also now know the answer to question 1. Had the setting at 100%. By changing it to 95, it now cycles as needed. Also, by selecting Priority to load, it basically acts like the SUB setting of the growatt.

JayBee, welcome, I too am brand new to the forum. Infact, this is my 3rd post 😁 I can only contribute to 2 of your questions. I have my inverter and battery in the garage. I considered it inside the house next to the DB, but the installer advised it would be better in the garage as their is a slight hum and because of space. After he installed it, I have to say I agree with his assessment and am happy i followed his guidance. In terms of who I used. Word of mouth really. The installer did 2 installations at some family members, both were really neatly and nicely done. And after installation support was great. I can say my experience was the same. In terms of choosing the right sized inverter, again, I deferred to the installers recommendation. And again, I am happy i did. I can expand as time goes by if I want to. Enjoy and good luck

I have spent a fair bit of time troubleshooting some funnies I was experiencing, I think when considering which inverter, it is worthwhile considering it alongside the other kit you intend installing. Example Battery, lead acid, or Li? And if Li will you want to run it using the BMS or just on voltages? I found the BMS Li battery on the Growatt locked in settings related to amount of charge utility would charge up batteries with. Not a problem if youre happy with high energy use for this. With the Deye, this field remains configurable. It is a non issue on non BMS given my experience with the system but might be a consideration if down the line you want a BMS Li battery. (Disclaimer, it could be that a firmware update might resolve this in the Growatt?) 2. Hybrid off offgrid? The 5000ES i believe is an offgrid inverter (maybe there are different models under the ES banner). 3. I find the Growatt has presets of SUB, SBU, Solar and Utility, quite handy for quick changes. The Deye seems to be a SBU setup but allows the configuration of individualised time slots where grid will charge batteries up in those times. Good luck. I think both are solid choices, just be more or less clear what you expect from the system and how you expect the system to operate.

Hi there. I am curious about your heat pump, have you noticed any material saving on your bill since installing? And the other question that plagues me, how does it perform in winter months?

Hi everyone, I am glad to have found this forum (mainly due to trying to troubleshoot my system) and perhaps not surprisingly, found some answers and lots of really great info, and have learnt a helluva lot from reading through various posts. Let me start with my current system as at yesterday. 5kw Deye inverter, 6x 330w solar panels (facing NE), and a Shoto 5.1kw battery with BMS. Still learning the ins and outs of this system. My initial installation was done back in Feb '21 with a Growatt 5kw inverter, solar panels as above, and a Shoto 4.8kw (sans BMS) Li. The reason for my jumping into solar was threefold. 1. My suburb is affected by numerous unplanned outages ranging anywhere between 1 and 12 hours. 2. Get us through load shedding. 3. Reduce my utility bill with time. I ran the system in SUB mode and the system seemed to work great. I did notice however that solar dropped every 3hrs and utility would take over for some 20minutes, after which solar would return. Weird I thought. Communicated this to my installer for troubleshooting (i have to add, the installer was super supportive during all of this). This issue was new to them and we started dabbling with settings. The battery not talking to the inverter was a massive issue for me. Sometimes the app would indicate the battery at 25%, only for the battery led to indicate 75% SOC. Issues aside, power outages came and went, and the system just worked (except for those random solar drop outs). Eventually the installer suggested it might be due to the battery comms. This was swopped out for a Shoto 5.1 with BMS. Connected it via CAN, and presto, communication and battery info is now correct.. but, solar in SUB is now completely throttled. Ie. During the day, the system used eskom power on SUB, and at night, the system would draw 5kw to charge the battery (ouch).. and this could not be set as the BMS controlled this. Curiously, in SBU mode, it worked as expected, except for the 90a utility charge rate to battery which was locked. Long story short, we initiated a return of the Growatt and installed the Deye. So far, it seems to be doing what is expected, and it appears more flexible ITO settings. Hope this is the end of all the tinkering. Although no real SUB and SBU settings. More like a flexible SBU from what I can tell. Plans going forward, i think I want to add a second battery. This single battery cuts off at 35% SOC currently and carried us for some 6 hours last night (load around 650w, more or less of course), which I am quite happy with. I also want to add another 6 solar panels. So in summary. So far so good with the Deye. Settings are configurable, and what is set seems to be what is happening. It does seem to need more hands on management of the settings to plan around the load shedding times, than the Growatt needed. Some questions. 1. The battery doesnt seem to float during the day. Ie. It stays at 100%. I assume this is due to solar prioritising battery charge. This sound right? On the growatt there was a clear float between 95 and 100%. 2. Is 35% cutoff too conservative for a lithium battery? I know it could go as low as 20%.. i am also just gauging how long it takes to charge up during the day. From 07h30 to now it went from 35 to 75% SOC. I have all my times of day set to 35% currently. Switched 5pm to 9pm to 95 due to load shedding at 6pm. 3. I see a constant 20w draw from grid. Read on a different thread that this is to maintain the unit synced with grid? So this is normal behaviour then? 4. Curious what some of your battery charge settings would be for rainy/ cloudy days. Thanks all. Looking forward to learning loads more