mzezman

PV doesn't have to go to the 2nd inverter if it doesn't make sense, e.g. if you have less than 8 panels splitting them 4 / 4 may actually cause your production to be negatively impacted as the MPPTs will only wake up later in the day due to the low startup voltages. If you have more than 8 then it may make sense to split the string between the inverters
For the battery if you can get a busbar now - it will make additional batteries easy to connect - so battery(ies) > busbar > disconnector > inverter(s).
Make sure the inverters are on the same firmware version before connecting them up in parallel, mismatched firmware may cause issues in the parallel operation

The ROSEN 200 a/h battery was delivered 22 days after being ordered
There was no shipping information from the supplier, one day the courier just turned up

Maybe this newer 6kW Sunsynk/Deye would be a better sweet spot for low-energy users than the older 5kW. Same price basically, with 40A pass-through (9kW), and up to 9.6kW of panels can be supported.
For someone using around 600 kWh per month, maybe if you're already cooking on gas, have a solar-thermal geyser or heat pump, or if you've got a small townhouse or apartment, or if you've in any case just got a 40A circuit breaker, or if you want better ROI, then that 6kW unit could get you far.
If there are no constraints, why not just go all the way and put up a 12kW or 16kW inverter then you don't need to worry about compromising on anything.

Multi-recipient functionality added with whitespace support so you could add email addresses in your .env file like:
For a single recipient: [email protected]
For multiple recipients: [email protected],[email protected],[email protected]
OR
For multiple recipients: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

To update your code, simply run the below from your cloned directory:

git pull
docker-compose down
docker-compose up -d --build

Let me know if it works for you.

Interesting, I get SoH form my SS for my Dyness but only when the battery type is lithium. What I don’t get is cycle count though

SoH at a minimum should be available from the Inverter, assuming inverter comms were active. There are other tools as well you can use to connect to the batteries to find out more detailed Cycle and Cell information

@JFDosReis ,
Irrespective of make and model of Inverter/PV/Battery, just make sure you leave enough space to expand the system (not necessary the Inverter - too costly), but space for additional batteries & PV - specially the cabling & protection side.
E.g. seeing that most Inverters these days have 2 MPPT's, install the protection etc for a 2 string setup, so you can just add the remaining infrastructure later, without have to forklift the protection box, if it does not have space for a 2nd string.

No thanks to your AI response

Howdy neighbour
yeah the power issues this side of the world are enough to drive anyone over the top and you are correct the number of different combinations and suppliers can be very frustrating.
As a start - a 5kw inverter is a good base - most brands can be paralleled so you can always increase this by adding another inverter. If you can get a larger battery from the outset you then benefit in the immediate run by longer resilience during outages. Most 5kw inverters have no issue running a geyser on them - you just need to monitor and manage loads, e.g. if the power is out and you are running the geyser then you can run the airfryer - as an example. a lower wattage geyer element will help with this though - so there are ways and means around it
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I've got the Deye as well that I can set to 0W, and I'd feel sour about the manufacturer wanting to permanently over-ride it, because not all installations are the same. Since I'm connected for grid export, and have a two-way meter, I don't care about the zero-export trickle because I'll never trip the meter that way. When I'm running on solar or battery, my purchasing power is 0, but if I were forced to purchase a steady 100W power in that same period, I mean it's small, but it would really irritate me.

When I'm running on solar or battery, my purchasing power is 0, but if I were forced to purchase a steady 100W power in that same period, I mean it's small, but it would really irritate me.
As per your reply if one is running a low power install and you have to buy 100W all the time it comes to 2.4kWh per day. I buy less than 1kWh a day even if I top up on some mornings 4h to 6h30 as low as 0.1kWh to be save. That is why I switch off my Grid via smart switch after 06h30.
We call it our own choice and do it to suit our own load profile.
PS I wonder what mistake did I make that the text I wanted to quote looks like I typed it all. I for sure did not cut and paste. 😅

I can confirm my Deye does save the grid use from 0 to any value keyed in.

I have only checked as low as my 50W. What I can confirm is each time my top loader washing machine stops to change direction which could be over 12 times per minute I can see the arrow reversing and exporting.
I will check this evening what is the lowest it will save.
Here are the few times I used grid to keep to 20% SOC. I am using voltage and no comms. 51W. At times it is shown as 49W. Timer is set to 03h to 06h30. Used 0.1kWh this morning. Also I have a smart timer set to only have grid on 03h to 07h30.

I have a single pole breaker like this.
Installed after the main incoming breaker and before the inverter feed.

No significant losses BUT your running baseload is higher

Why not have a contactor/relay that feeds power to the HWC/geyser, and let the contactor or relay be powered from the commercial supply side... as soon as commercial supply side dies, the relay drops and disconnects the HWC...
The good point of doing it this way, is, it cannot fail and there is no reliance on inverter/solar assistand/home assistant or anything else, except the grid being there or not...

Regarding option 2 and the fact you want to prevent the inverter from tripping due to overload might I suggest investing in some smart switches that can provide power readings and add a couple of them to the big-ticket items like the stove, microwaves, ac’s, pool pumps ect.  The key is the switches must be able to be integrated into HA, That way you can identify what is pushing you over the limit and then turn them off one by one to bring the power to below the limit with minimum disruption.  Monitoring just the geyser and pulling in solar assistant to HA is a start but might be inadequate for what you want to do.
Obviously this is subject to what you consider expensive whether this is a viable option but at a quick glance what Plentify offers is what I achieved on my own in HA with some automations at the cost of just the smart switches and wiring and some time to identify and setup most of the automations.
E.G.


This effectively monitors these appliances and switches them off if it is on one by one until the load is below the threshold. So the AC's will get turned of but the Stove and Geyser will be left on if the combined load is below 5100.

I made a custom geyser controller based on the Geyserwise thermostat (which you can get for about R260), and a Sonoff THR320 (about R400). I also changed the element in my geyser to a 2kW from the 3kW it had orignally. I was actually fortunate enough to have my geyser pack up, and get replaced by insurance at the time, so I got the installers to fit the new element before it was even installed in the roof.
I have an 8kW Sunsynk, and 10kWh battery. Geyser is on the AUX section of the Sunsynk, though in hindsight, I'd be happy to move it to the essential loads, freeing up the AUX for a generator at some future point.
I am monitoring my Sunsynk using the KellerZA/sunsynk integration in Home Assistant, and the Sonoff is flashed with ESPHome firmware, exposing the geyser as a generic thermostat (heating only).
I also have some automations that monitor the state of the grid (based on Sunsynk grid power, which normally idles at 30W to prevent backfeeding, but obviously drops to zero when the grid disconnects), the state of charge of the batteries, and the rate of charge of the batteries, and apply automations to turn off the geyser whenever load shedding is active after 16:00 and before 9:00 (i.e. when the solar is not producing). If the geyser thermostat changes to heating overnight (i.e. 16:00 to 9:00), it turns off the inverter timer, and sets the battery charge current to 0A. This runs the whole house from the grid while the geyser is heating, but doesn't charge the batteries. This change gets undone when the geyser stops heating, or if the time crosses the thresholds.
One of my best automations checks the battery State of Charge (>70%), and rate of charge (>2500W), and then sets the thermostat to 70C, or back to 45C if it goes below 70% or charge power goes negative for 5 minutes (i.e. discharging from the battery to run the geyser). This can be quite effective at absorbing an additional 4kWh from the panels as hot water, which would otherwise just get discarded when the batteries are full.
To answer your questions more directly, it depends on the size of the element in your geyser as to whether this will be feasible for you, and what other loads you expect to handle. Trying to run a 4kW element on a 5kW inverter, with other loads as well is asking for trouble, obviously. If you can downgrade to a 2kW (which just means that the water takes longer to heat up), then the impact on the inverter will be a lower magnitude, but require a longer run time to get the same result. If you can install a heat pump, the energy requirements drop significantly too. Roughly 1kW for a 4kW equivalent heat output. That becomes a lot more reasonable to put onto a 5kW inverter, but is obviously a lot more expensive.

Thinking of my system, Stage 6 exposed a problem that was eventually solved with a firmware update. Do that myself? I'm sure I could install the firmware (because I have IT skills) but maybe not everybody would fill confident to do that, but getting it was another problem. And there was a length of wiring on the roof that was a bit weathered

So I am and have been totally off grid for 3 Years already that includes all services electricity water sewage garbage etc.
Current system
7.3KW PV East West configuration JA Solar all Black panels.
2 x Solis S6 6KW advanced inverters
7 x Hubble AM-2 Batteries
1 x 2KW Odin Wind turbine.
My Summer off grid production and consumption hovers around 25 to 30 KWH per day
I run 6 Fridges and freezers air fryer microwave oven LED flood lights most are on 24 Hours per day 3 small hydroponics systems CCTV system with 8 cameras laptops wifi equipment laser printer (not useds a lot) Aircon always on in the day in summer and 1 hour at night 3 electric fans always on in the summer 1.8KW Borehole Pump once a day for 30 Minutes 350 Watt pressure pump for Irrigation runs 20 Minutes twice a day 2KW Geyser element always on Element kicks in 6 times over a 24 hour cycle for 10 minutes and 45 Minutes after a Shower I use a electric 1.2 KW lawn mower to mow around 3000 squares of grass once or twice a week I can use my Angle Grinder Welder electric drills skill saw etc almost any time of day.
I have a 3KVA petrol generator and in the 3 years that i have been off grid I have only run the generator for about 18 hours
Cooking is mostly done on the Gas Oven Stove. We cookc everyday no takeaways here.
In winter time my consumption goes down a little to 18 to 20 KWH using the aircon a lot less use gas heaters and a fire for heat in the winter.
Adding a Donkey to my system for this coming winter with a piggy back geyser with an 2KW element however the donkey will provide most of the hot water in winter I have tons of decent Black wattle firewood so reducing my need for electric elements will have a small 15 watt solar geyser hot water pump to circulate the hot water between the geysers.
The water tank that feeds the main house with water is on a 5 Meter Stand so I don't need pressure pumps to provide pressure on my taps in and around the house.
I have a water filtration system for drinking water etc.
All our toilet waste goes to a bio digester and we have a grey water system that feeds shower water and dishwashing water into my garden.
The reason for the large battery bank is as follows.
If you want to have off grid power when using solar only you will need a battery bank equal to your normal 24 hour consumption however this does not cater for overcast and rainy days.
Hence the reason I have 35 KWH Storage got this before I got the turbine installed.
Because my consumption goes down in winter and my production from the PV in winter is lower the storage is perfect and I never run out of power however if we do have rainy overcast days in winter I would switch the Geyser off to reduce night time consumption and only run it when we need it the Donkey will eliminate this need this coming winter.
Because I have the turbine it will help a lot with Winter energy production because my Windy season starts and maintains through winter so my turbine will produce anything between 15 and 25 KWH per day
During that time and would make my battery storage and solar power almost obsolete.
However in Summer time I rely very much on solar production because the wind power production in summer per day would only be about 1 to 2KW per day.
The short and long is if you go solar alone and want to be completely off grid I would say your battery storage needs to be about 150% of the Power Consumption for a 24 Hour cycle that is if you do not want to run a petrol generator for emergency power needs.
You can reduce your nightly consumption by adapting your heavy consumption times to when you have solar power available.
Certain things you cannot get away from is your 24 hour loads or base loads and you need to cater for those in battery capacity or alternative power generation.
My Base loads in winter is a lot lower because the fridges and freezers have lower ambient temperatures so I turn them all down in the winter reduces base load significantly.
I don't need the aircon or fans to run all the time and that reduces the base loads at night quite a bit 3 electric fans can run at about 250 watt.
Other factors to consider is redundancy for potential failure that is why I have 2 x 6KW inverters if one fails I still have power and all of my appliances can still work with a little management.
I hope this gives you some context each person will have varied loads and base loads however it is important to plan you system and size it correctly to suit your specific requirement.

You did not specify what the size of your geyser is, but a typical 200L geyser has a 4 kw element. If this is your case, consider switching the geyser element to a 2k element, on cloudy days where the sun is sneaky you will find you can still run the geyser long enough to heat the water suitably, We are a family of 6 +2 farmworkers with their own fridges, I outlawed their electric cookers outright. I have a near identical system to yours in sizing, I switched Eskom off completely in Jan 2024 and have not looked back.
I few this to consider: Off grid does require subtle lifestyle changes at times. ex the dishwasher doesn't HAVE to run after 16:00, nor does the washing machine or pool pump. Invest in a 5-6km generator, you can pick up almost new ones REALLY cheap now that they have lost their appeal. They are very useful as top up units to the batteries early evening if you have had a low sun day. Winter sun may not be as hot as summer but its brilliance that the panels respond to, not infra red. So winter sun generally is more stable and outperforms summer sun, although admittedly their are less hours of it. If you do add extra panels consider facing them true west to get the most of late sun in winter and summer.

I would not recommend mixing batterys like that can just think strange things will start happening as the pack starts to run down.
How do you know the batterys are fully charged 100% as you not communicating with cable and so you using volts for setup ?

That 300 odd days without load shedding killed off whole chunks of solar business. The company that installed my system - and was providing backup service - was amongs the casualties. So I think that not only is there a market for cleaning, there is also a market for maintenance. Or a combined service like cleaning and checking all cables and connections, making sure that everything is properly secured. There's a lot of people out there who bought systems and now the guys they bought from have gone out of business. Who do you turn to when you have problems or want some changes made?

Were the batteries properly balanced before the new one was added?

State of health 99%, 131 cycles