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Before you climb up to measure, make sure you switched off the PV (isolator and/or fuses). You don't want to mess with high voltage DC. Do you have any shading on the panels during that time period? Also, do you know your PV cable thickness? 4mm? 6mm?

Craigm is using CS3W-420P-EVO2 (https://www.canadiansolar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Canadian_Solar-Datasheet-HiKu_CS3W-P_EN.pdf). Most of the online shops in ZA shows this as out of stock. I did find one semi-dubious site that shows in stock, but given that they don't even list a physical address, I'd give them a skip.

Yes, your PV voltage is too low so the MPPT doesn't start working. You need at least 120V for it to kick in.

Do you mean Mike Thorne? https://www.facebook.com/groups/ThorneSolar/

I'm going to install 2x Sunsynk 5kw inverters with 2x Sunsynk 5kwh batteries soon and the configuration I'm going to use is as per page 17 of the Sunsynk battery manual, ie. the battery bus bar method, with the exception that there will be two connections to the right to the two inverters. This way I can easily add a third or fourth battery later if needed. I plan to have all the cables between bus bar and batteries to be the same length, as advised on the same page in the manual.

You should be able to easily go up to 8 (8*48=384V < 450V) or maybe 9 (9*48=432V < 450V) panels per string using the same size panel. 3 extra panels per string gives you 2.5kw of additional PV, which is in the sweet spot of your wanted 2-3kw. Alternatively the 8kw Sunsynk can handle 26A per MPPT port so you also have the option to add additional strings in parallel on top of the existing strings.

I'm in the same situation and wondering: How are you wiring the E/N Bond relay for 2 inverters? Which relay did you use?

Yip.

It appears I actually have a bunch of 120mm and not that many 80mm fans. I do have 3x 80x80x25mm though: 0.14A and 0.15A. No idea how good their bearings are, but you're welcome to try them.

Okay, so connect cables to separate connectors on the middle battery. Not sure if that would make much difference, but it could be tried. The missing communication cables (green in your photo) could be tried too. The cables to the battery bank seems to be much thicker than the interconnection cables. That's something else which could be tried here: thicker interconnection cables.

@TaliaB I can't see your photos?

It's staggered already. Red to the top and Black to the bottom. The interconnecting cables look very thin though. But yes, I don't see communication cables either.

Looking for a PC fan? I have lots of old 80mm fans. Where are you based?

The only site I could find that might have it is this one: https://www.solareaze.co.za/product/ja-solar-panel-410w-half-cell-mono-crystalline-jam72s10-410-mr/ The obvious disclaimers apply, ie. don't send money anywhere that you haven't vetted properly. I don't know the site nor do I vouch for it in any way or form.

They might be real people but are not linked to this enterprise in any way. They're publically available photos that were grabbed from the internet and placed on their web site. Do not send them any money! And their FAQ is utter junk too: https://jpsolarwholesalers.co.za/?page_id=137

No, the Sunsynk normally uses the CAN or RS485 ports for connecting to batteries. The RS232 port on the inverter is usually occupied by the wifi dongle which is used to manage the inverter.

Photo is only a requirement if you can't find the brand/model of the battery. Knowing what the battery is would help us to guide you in terms of cabling. But if you already found the specification for the cable, none of this is needed. 😀

For anybody to assist you you'll have to give us more information, like the brand and model of the battery. If you don't see that, photos of the specsheet of the battery (should be on a label somewhere on it), along with maybe a photo of the battery.

Here's another thread about the same topic:

I believe it will be fine (and I hope I'm not wrong, or I might have an issue with my future 500w panels). Note the last line in this snapshot from the 5kw manual:

It's a sad state of affairs given the number of scammers out there. 🙁

Minor excess Amps won't hurt the inverter as it will simply clip the excess. Excess Volts will hurt your inverter though, so make sure you connect it as 2 strings of 5 panels instead of 1 string of 10. Voc of 49.9V times 10 is way too close to 500V.

I can only find their sites: https://energygeneration.co.za/ https://www.facebook.com/Egenafrica/ Can't find any reviews about them, not google nor facebook nor hellopeter.

If you want 10x 545/550W panels on a 5kw Sunsynk inverter, you'll have to run 2 strings of 5 panels each into the 2 MPPT's on the inverter. 1 string of 10 panels will exceed the maximum voltage, both on the Sunsynk 5kw and the 8kw models.

My problem is that I have to transport 2 of each, hence me worrying/wondering about the exact dimensions. I can't seem to find these dimensions anywhere, not even on the Sunsynk site. All the sources provide the dimensions of the equipment, not the boxes they ship in.