JacoG

Problem solved. I did a Firmware update on the Deye inverter. That did not help and the problem remained.
I then called Deyness and they inspected the network cables being used. They advised me to change the cables and that did the trick.
150A charge and discharge. Solar panels are working and producing and storing at the optimuim with Batt set to Lithium.

I would be very carefull details on the website creation:

Have a look here they have samples for each inverter:
 
https://solar-assistant.io/help/automation/table

There is a company in Europe all of these site use to register 1API. Solarmart was also registered with this company about 5 months ago. See this thread:
 

Do a google search there are some people on facebook complaining as well.

Getting advance warning of a potential strike requires electrostatic monitoring.  These units seem to be much more expensive than the lightning detector that abd7 suggested (hundreds vs thousands of bucks). So the cost appears to rise steeply for the increased statistical protection.  Unless you try to DIY something.

Same happened to me in January this year, lost my inverter, both my batteries, Electric Fence Energizer, Alarm System, Gate motor and many more things. I don't think there is much to be done to protect your home from a strike like this it is very unfortunate, luckily Insurance covered everything and my batteries and Inverter could be repaired.
Make sure you go through your house and test every device you have, learned this the hard way.

Same happened to me in January this year, lost my inverter, both my batteries, Electric Fence Energizer, Alarm System, Gate motor and many more things. I don't think there is much to be done to protect your home from a strike like this it is very unfortunate, luckily Insurance covered everything and my batteries and Inverter could be repaired.
Make sure you go through your house and test every device you have, learned this the hard way.

Just tell them to come remove the transformer you are not going to transfer it to you name, you will be fine with enough batteries and the decent genset you have.

I'm not going to tell them anything.  I'm just not going to register the pole on my name.  At all.  The Eskom guy said that's how it works.  You don't register the pole and you don't run any risk.  They'll come switch it off when they get to it.  Until that happens, I just leave the mains off and that's it.
 
Where I'm going, the weather patterns are sunny.  Sunny sunny sunny.  It's bushveld, so the cloudy rainy days that last days on end are few and far between.

Hi Zabdab, I purchased the geyserwala about two or 3 months ago and have been really happy with the product. No more guesswork or walking up and down to go check temperatures.
The graphs on the app could be a bit better it is very basic, but the ability to boost the temperature helps when you need the extra temperature to keep the wife happy. It is very easy to create and delete timers on the app.
It was very easy to install and get the geyserwalla up and running.
 

If I were you, I'd leave the panels in place, which the new owner, if he's not keen on the complete installation, can utilise when he wakes up to the fact that this is a money saver and allows you to have lights when the neighbourhood may be down... and move the batteries and inverter for a re-install with new panels at the new location... I figure the potential hassle with removal from roof (I assume they are roof mounted) and making good on possible entry points for cabling and the actual mounting hardware may not be too far off from paying for new panels, mounting hardware etc.

I have the exact same experience. what I have noticed is that the temperature in the geyser is still ok.. "above 25"  The problem is probably the placement of the thermometer in the geyserwise setup.. I suspect on the cold side of the geyser. Its worse now with cold water intake close to 0 degrees. Usually the true temperature stabilises after about 20min. 

...Because you can be utilising the battery instead of Eskom at night, so you can save costs and not waste solar power. The batteries\solar enable you in essence, to store power for later use. using battries during the day (or as you put it 100% down to 65% during the day is unnecessary)

The Smart Load is something else, this topic here relates to the essential loads versus non-essential loads. The OP earlier in the thread had his settings on "Zero Export to Load" and now it's on "Zero Export to CT." If all the household loads are backed up by battery, then I'd also say to try this, switch to the Load, which may negate some effects of a CT coil if it's installed incorrectly.

No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying to change it to Load priority. That means that the Solar power will go to the load first, and what's left will be diverted to the battery. If you've got the Battery Priority, then the solar will be diverted to the battery as first priority, and any excess power demand will be drawn from the grid.
It doesn't work like the SUB or SBU etc priority settings on the Axpert inverters where you select the order of priority of the energy source to supply load. Here you're selecting the order of priority of the energy demand.

Not necessarily. One would have to see your graphs of production and consumption and battery power/SOC to be sure, but at this time of the year it could quite easily be that your 4.5kW of panels can produce a maximum of around 3kW at that time of the day. Then if you factor in other loads in the house, and sometimes partially cloudy weather, it can easily be that your system needs to draw on the batteries in-between to keep up with demand. Just making up numbers here.
It would be different if you were connected to the grid, because then you could set it up to run from grid while the battery charges.
Which way are your panels facing? And where are you located? You could try to start the geyser later, like 11:30-13:30, if the panels are facing North, or even later in the day if your panels are facing more to the West, or if you are living more in the Western parts of SA.

I spent the 20k on extra panels when I did my install, summer works fine, 200l geyser and I replaced the element with a 3kw one and installed a geyserwise timer to take the geyser to 65 degrees. Geyser comes on at 10:00 and runs until 13:00. We are 4 people in the house, winter is another story I have to let the geyser run in the morning to have a hot shower.

I can't answer around the heat loss but I can provide my own experience, I have a 200l geyser and replaced the element with a 3kw element, in summer my geyser runs from 10:00 to 14:00 and set to heat to 65 degrees, in winter there is a extra cycle in the mornings from 5:00 to 6:00 set to 50 degrees, this works for us 3 grown ups and 2 children. The kids bath at night and we take 3 hot showers in the morning. The geyser heats from Solar during the day and I have enough battery to heat the morning cycle so no eskom is used to heat water.

Hi Maffs, If your aim is to save on grid usage you can bring your SOC down to 30% or even lower depending on what your battery manufacturer suggests. I also have a geyserwise and only run my geyser from 10:00 to 14:00 in summer to 65 degrees. In Winter my geyser has a second cycle from 5:30 to 6:30 but only to 50 degrees. This works for me and I seldom use more than 4kw/h per day. You did not mention how many batteries you have.

What does you solar production graph look like on a average day? 
I have a 5kw SS, 5kw Hubble batt and 5.3kw north facing array.
We use about 2kw of grid power per day because I'm a bit low on batt capacity. It would be nice to have another batt but at 2 units a day it is not economically viable.
I take my batt down to 33% soc and use about 200w in the morning, the rest is used during the evening to keep the batt at 80% till 23h00 after that it drains down to 33%. Base load is about 200>400w. 

Set the PV priority to "Load Priority," as opposed to "Battery Priority." Move as many loads to daytime as you can. Use "Zero Export to CT"
Try the suggested timer settings as below.
Time Start Time End Power SOC Grid Gen 00:00 05:00 500 40     05:00 09:00 3000 20     09:00 15:00 5000 100     15:00 17:00 5000 100 X   17:00 19:00 3500 70     19:00 00:00 1000 50    

First check for DC voltage at PV2 breaker. If there is none then you have a problem with connections or a faulty panel. This is really a qualified persons job. Best to find another installer. 

I was told, by a contractor, that COJ have this policy too. But I hear lots of stories about people who are going undisturbed by the City, and I hear lots of stories about people getting the feed to their house cut or their meter removed without any negotiation or warning. So IDK. I buy a tiny amount every 2 or 3 months just to ward off the bogey man of disconnection.

From time to time I've opined that a gap must be opening up in the market for maintenance of solar systems. I'm not allowed up ladders anymore (three unexplained blackouts) so I can't even give my panels a good clean. Besides, there's a bit more to it than that. There's more and more systems, getting older and older (mine is nearly 5 years now) and what's a layperson to do?

Anyway, I have a team from my installer coming on Monday. They are going to clean panels, check all wiring between panels and inverter, run diagnostics on the inverter and battery.

I am not naming the installer because it is not yet clear to me if he provides this service only to sites he installed or more generally. I will clarify on Monday. Depending on uptake he may launch a product by which you pay a small monthly fee and they check your system over once a year.

I shall report back. The cash price is 2K - for cleaning and a report. I have asked them to do a small (they say) electrical job whilst they're here, and obviously they will charge separately for that.