Arandoza

Not sure if you have seen this link on the forum ? from Page 16 of the manual ; Uploading Attachment...

My take on geysers is that the thicker the polyurethane in the geyser the better, 60mm, preferred or more, but have not found geysers with more. And then pipe lagging, on all the pipes, cold inlet, hot outlet (for at least 2-4 meters, maybe even better, if it can be almost to the tap and overflow/TP valve and pipe to reduce losses. One problem I have with lagging to the tap is the pipes are not lagged in the walls and hot water pipe loses a large amount of heat to the walls in winter. Timers make no difference, has been my experience, or so little it's negligible. However if you are going to be away for for few days, turn the geyser off, it will save some power, as the geyser will not have try and maintain the geyser temp. The amount of energy used to heat the geyser from, is pretty consistent, but obviously variable based on the starting temp and resultant temperature. So all a timer allows for is remote control or a way to load shift, not really reduce the energy required? One larger geyser is better than many, but can cause more water wastage? due to initial cold water in the pipes? unless you are draining the water into grey water tanks and using it in the garden? or if you have a diverter valve under the counter with each tap that drains the cold water to an alternative pipe which go's to a JOJO tank which can then be used for other uses, once the water heats up the valve allows the hot water out the tap rather than diverting it. Can't recall what the diverter valve is called but saw them some years back. as a water saving otion. Downside Is one has to have a third pip for the initial cold water diversion, at each tap, and or bathroom etc. so best if you are planning to build or do renovations / upgrades. Last thought is to charge batteries first, keep load low, until fully charged, especially in winter, and then only start heating the geyser with "excess / available" pv power :)

For good monitoring software that typically works with Voltronic / Axpert inverters as well as pylontech, one can look at http://www.multisibcontrol.net/ . one then sets the inverter battery settings to user with recommended charge / discharge / float values etc. There are also several articles on the forum to make up the USB - Serial cable for the UP2000 and UP5000 series pylontech cables. One can also use RS485 but with multisib it can only report on a limited number of battery's (8?10? via rs485 I think?) where as with the up5000 you can have up to 16, and on serial it can detect all of them. Or multisib can also do two packs of 16 if UP5000's, via serial or (8? 10? ) on rs485. Serial is preferred for the battery's as it can see all of them. CANBUS will only work with an inverter if the inverter knows how to read the received data. On the topic of firmware for the voltronics, one has to be very careful :) You really have to be sure that you have the correct firmware(s), as from what I have seen they can have multiple firmwares for the inverter, in other words one part for the display, and another for the main board all in one update package, and you have to be sure of what display / mainboard you have etc. search the forum for it and you may get some ideas. However it maybe best to get your supplier involved. As it's somewhat easy to potentially BRICK the inverter, when trying to upgrade versions that are not compatible. Chipsets seem to play a big part here. You could add specifics of the inverter as per the "boiler plate" to the post for the inverter, batteries, panels details voc etc? Photos maybe with the details, it may assist anyone else who can give suggestions on what to look for. You can blank out serial details.

On my Hexing prepaid meter (plugged into a socket before the inverters and main off, one can enter code 808 <enter> and get an instant load reading, which is typically 1-3 watts being drawn by the indoor unit of the hexing prepaid meter I expect. Maybe your indoor meter or customer display has a similar feature to get the instant load reading?

Last thought is, are both inverters showing for menu 28 - PAL (for parallel use) ?? if you need to change this turn off the inverting of BOTH inverters before changing. When paralleled, if settings changes are made, on either inverter, they should reflect to be the same on both master and slave, But i would manually check and verify this, as well. Also assume you have one battery bank ( 2 x volta's) connected to both inverters so the inverters share the bank. Also that you are using the user defined battery setting on both the inverters ? or do the inverters understand the comms (canbus or serial data) from the battery bank? If your inverters have a lithium option they may not understand the battery bank, but this would cause issues more with charging than with one of the units not inverting? I would expect?

Probably best to check with the supplier that supplied the first three units and also with the supplier of the last three units. Hopefully the same supplier? The models of the inverters typically need to be identical, and maybe they only updated firmware? on the 3 new ones? You may find the new inverters even though they look the same are not compatible with the already installed units? possibly due to changes of hardware internally, especially if they months or a year apart? Maybe someone else can assist on the forum, but you would probably have to have to post the spec plate from one of the older and one of the newer inverters with respective versions of firmware installed on them for someone to be able to assist. I had the same issue a few years back and had to buy 4 newer units and sell off the 3 older units, when i wanted to migrate to 4 x inverters for better generation. As firmware updating can brick your unit? The models were significantly different, and did not want to take the risk.

Have you turned on the second inverter ? Usually the small switch under the unit on the right hand side? This turns on the inverting mode? Otherwise if the inverter is connected to batteries and or mains, and has PV power it will turn on and only charge the battery, and night when the PV is off it will turn off completely if no mains supply, to the second unit.

I would turn ECO mode (power Saving) off on both if it's enabled, I expect it could also create a few challenges :) especially if the load is low. Also as you no longer have the pylontechs talking directly to the inverter you may have to set both units to user defined ? As the pylontechs are all talking to SA? Be sure to use the recommended pylontech settings for user defined. The unit that still has pylontech defined, i would it to giving errors regarding the battery as it is no longer connected, directly to the inverter?

Maybe check your parallel cables? maybe they got disturbed and hence the problem? Also check your axpert settings for charging the batteries? Maybe one is on mains and solar and the other one is on mains only or solar only? (charging mode and related settings) Am not familiar with SA so it's possible it may have changed them on the inverter(s)? The axpert inverters when working in parallel will sort of share the PV input load, depending on state of charge and how large the household load is at the time. Once the batteries are full, it will only make a bit more PV than what you need between the two. So one may idle while the other one does a bit of work generating pv?

Tshwane 2025-07 to 2026-06 prepaid, single phase, 60amp, for comparison? The tables from the middle to right, were to get a understanding of average hourly consumption, based on units purchased per month. For example if you only buy 100 units a month, your hourly avg consumption would be 137 watts per hour, maybe enough to operate one or two residential, energy efficient fridges?

More info on the solaredge website : https://www.solaredge.com/za/products/residential/power-optimizers Seems that ARB electrical and Solar edge South Africa are the distributors.

One of the challenges with generator is their duty cycles and actual output. Typically you will find they are rated much higher, but only like to be run at about 50% of rated for limited number of hours. The additional capacity is so they can handle spikes when things are turned on or off etc From a safety perspective you would cable / have breakers etc for 16a per socket from the generator, (combined 32a) but I suspect you would only be able to get about 10-12 amps usable, per outlet. Or at least this was my experience, when using only one of the outputs, as I found the overload breaker would eventually warm up after running at about 10-12 amps, for an hour or so, and then the generators 16a circuit breaker for the used connection would trip. One could possibly combine the two 16amp inputs to a single 32 amp input plug and cable, however if one of the 16a circuits on the generator trips, then the remaining 16a generator circuit would take the full draw for a second or so, before it might trip, due to overload, and I am not sure how safe this is? The AI google response below does not advise combining 2 x 16a into a single 32a output, without proper protection? See below, hopefully others will pickup on your topic and give better information? A single generator with dual 16A outputs cannot be directly connected to a single 32A output. To achieve a 32A output from a 16A generator, you'd need a suitable power distribution device, like a Y-splitter or a power distribution box with the correct configurations. Elaboration: 1. Understanding the Problem: A 32A output requires a higher current capacity than a 16A output. Simply wiring two 16A outputs together without proper protection can be dangerous and may overload the generator or the connected equipment. 2. Solutions: Y-splitter: These devices are designed to split a 32A output into two 16A outputs (or vice versa). Power distribution box: These boxes are designed for more complex power distribution, allowing for multiple inputs and outputs with proper protection. 3. Safety Considerations: Overload protection: Ensure any distribution device you use has appropriate overload protection, such as circuit breakers, to prevent damage to the generator or connected equipment. Proper wiring: Use appropriate wiring and connectors to ensure safe and reliable power transfer. Professional advice: If you are unsure about any aspect of power distribution, consult with a qualified electrician. 4. Example: Some generators are designed with both 16A and 32A outputs. In this case, you would directly connect your 32A load to the 32A outlet and your 16A load to the 16A outlet. If your generator only has 16A outputs, you would need a Y-splitter or power distribution box to achieve a 32A output. In conclusion, while you can't directly connect two 16A outputs into a 32A output, you can use specialized devices like Y-splitters or power distribution boxes to achieve the desired 32A output from a single generator with 16A outputs, while ensuring proper safety and protection.

Use battery view to pull the event and history logs for each of the batteries. Assuming the batteries are correctly connected to each other so you get an even draw thru them, either via each battery feeding a common busbar or by connecting the positive from the inverter to the first battery and negative to the last one? They may need balancing for a prolonged period (24 hours?), maybe connect to mains to fully charge overnight? but if this fails to help it could be a faulty cell in the third pack? Battery view history and event logs will give clues about this, and your supplier will probably ask for these or for the battery to be taken in? Having the same type of issue with 2 x up5000's, (around 500 cycles each) of 11, that will need replacement all the others are working well. Using Multisib control to log full details of charge and discharge and seeing the same type of behavior with 2 of the 11 battery's.

Sounds like the inverter and or battery is overloaded / undersized to be able to carry the load? This is maybe why it shuts down? or the max discharge rate of the battery(s) is being exceeded, and thus the inverter and battery are turning off? Also is the solar producing at the same time? or is it purely a ups config, no solar panels? battery and inverter only? if so max discharge rate will limit you and also inverter output limits? What size /rating / type of aircons? 24000btu? 18000 bth 12000btu? Traditional aircon, or inverter type of aircon? Startup currents required by each aircon? What is the load that's being carried by the inverter and battery, before turning on the aircon? Aircon startup loads could be exceeding the inverter / battery max output, also if a traditional aircon, when the compressor turns on and off and on, the power needs can spike briefly and overload the inverter & or battery. If you have the comms cable connected from the battery to Inverter, it may disable you being able to set the battery type on the inverter. However it you overstate these settings, on the inverter, you could possibly damage your battery and its warranty. Probably the best will be to check with your installer/supplier, share your design docs etc and they will probably be able to advise best.

@JohanS You could try charging the entire bank up to 100% SOC with mains power, for 24 hours. If it fails to fully charge, then I would also think it sounds like two of your units are suspect. If you contact your installer / supplier and pull all the logs via battery view for the 8 units, (has to be done individually, using each batteries console port, for its logs), both history and event logs for each of the 8 units, they will probably be able to advise. Also if you can pull any graphs from SMH that show the volts /amps/Temp / soc for each of your 8 units, one can typically see which of the 8 are behaving differently, for example you will probably see 2 of the 8 units have different SOC and the other 6 units trend similarly in the graphs. Again the Event and History logs will contain info to gain insight. Are the units under warranty?