Wannebe

Hi @Brickman
Yes, I have the Deye 8kW and also run my Geyser off the Smart Load (AUX) port. Works like a charm and exactly how you explained it! 
With my setup, the PV will supply my load first, charge the batteries second and then, once the batteries are pretty much charged up (95%SOC), switch on the geyser. It is basically fit and forget and one always has the option to manually switch on the geyser using the "On grid always on" option! This is also a handy future of you want to manually switch on the geyser if you're not at home (using the Solarman Smart app with your account enabled for remote management). 
In my opinion, the AUX port is the perfect option to run a geyser off. 

I want to explain my findings on how my Smart load output functions.
In my opinion, there are discrepancies in Youtube videos from Sunsynk as well as their newest Installer Manual explaining this function.
I have a 150 litre geyser connected to mine and it operates as follows :
1) The solar power setting has nothing to do with the max power output - which is how they explain it. It is purely the PV power limit at which the relay will close and power the aux load Or open to disconnect, if it falls below the setting for a certain duration.  It does not limit the power output.
2) If you have grid available and the total load - normal loads + Smart load - exceeds the PV available, it draws the balance from the grid and not from the battery.
3) If grid is not available it draws the balance from the battery - Starting when battery reaches the "Aux load ON Batt" setting which is 100 % in my case.
   It switches off when the battery reaches " Aux load OFF Batt" - 95% for me.
   It will not come on again - even if PV surpases the Power setting (4000w for me)  until the battery reaches the ON Batt setting again.
4) On grid always on  will always supply power to the Smart load output, when the box is ticked and grid available.
   This can only be useful if manually enabled, after a rainy day, to "top up" your geyser.
Hope this is useful to someone.

And yes, the Solis S6 Pro Plus has a bi-directional smart port.

A geyser element won't care either which way. 0.5kW would still heat up a 2kW element, it would just be slower.

I'm not sure if you're seeing the function correctly. The Smart Load/Aux port is not dependent on how big your load is. It turns on depending on how much solar power you have available.
So if you set it like this and your panels can generate above 0.5kW, then the geyser should come on drawing the full 2kW of power, but it might not all come from the solar, it might also come from battery and/or grid.
Personally I'd set it to a value where the panels can carry the majority of the load, and try to spare the batteries from powering the geyser.

For the cost, I think it's always worth insulating! In our previous flat, I monitored temperatures and energy etc and worked out that I paid for the cost of insulation in 3 months of electricity saved. I got the cheapest geyser blanket I could find and used off cuts to insulate the hot pipes in the ceiling. It was an older Kwikot so perhaps didn't have the best insulation to start with, but I still think most geysers would benefit - especially the copper pipes.

Our current house has the geyser outside and exposed to the elements which makes insulation a bit more of a challenge. Here I used clip-on foam lagging on the pipes as a start - still need to decide on how best to insulate the rest of the geyser. This is complicated by the fact that I think this geyser is likely to fail soon based on the deformation of the mounts to the wall...

Thanks Denns. I think my system is currently nicely balanced with the PV pannels, batteries, Inverter sizing for our needs / expectations, with no plans to increase the overall capacity.

Below are graphs from a " typical" summer day (Oct '25) ....

You have done very well with your system ..... 👍
mmm, so you are up in GP ... I lived there for 30 years of my working life until we moved back to WP (Langebaan) some 8 years ago ... so I'm still adjusting back to the time zone (sun up and down) here ... 🤣
My panels orientation is not the best ..... 9x are on the standing roof facing mostly Northwest to take advantage of the long summer afternoon sun, but that means the wake up "late" in the morning. The 6x string is on a flat roof with very little incline, hiding behind the low wall protruding slightly above the level of the roof. But that is why I oversized with +/- 8kW solar panels for the 7.2 kW Kodak. Also the reason the 9x string gets very close to the max of 450V.
But, I'm very happy with what I have ... it does what I expected (and more) ..... since day 1 for the past 3 - 4 years.
If it was not for the registration issue, I would not have changed anything. I hope to have the same easy / hands-off setup afterwards again and just continue as is ... then I will be happy.

Hi Denns
Yes, geyser start @ 6am in the morning.
We are in Langebaan, so for us the 8am PV is "normal" for this time of the year with the way my house is build. I do have a little "shading" on one corner of panels with sun rise due to another roof. The house was orientated to give max wind protection, not for solar harvesting unfortunately.
We all have solar for different reasons .. mine back then was to have power 100% of the time during the peak of loadshedding. I had home office working 24/7 for an international company and the little mobile UPS just could not cope anymore. Because I went the full solar solution, I obviously also looked to reduce the Escom as much as "comfortable" for us ... not what would be absolutely possible. We made very few life adjustments, mostly just scheduling the heavy load tasks in and around the house so as not to overload the inverter or batteries. I also like the fact that with the system as is (incl SA automation), I could set it up and forget about it ... everything being taken care of automatically. I would have days on end when I don't even look at the solar. Having said all that, I did adjust the scheduling of the base load of things during the early days of having solar ... so a "normal" day goes as follows:
6am, geyser start. 10am, swimming pools start. 2:45 pm swimming pool stop. 3pm geyser start again (I do have the geyserwise controls etc to control) Looking at the graph above, those little 1kw blips are my coffee machine (don't count) .... +/-5pm was the microwave and the slight reduction at 12 pm was when we went to bed.
The house base load (the whole house is running through the inverter) during the night (before and after solar) was less than 0.5kW/hour before the de-humidifiers ... since adding them that has gone up to +/- 0.9kW during the night.

With all the above etc .... it is normal for us to get through the day in Summer with zero Escom, but in Winter we have the 6am Escom use for the geyser. For me that was / is good enough. It is only me and the wife in the house.

Obviously, when the kids visit, we use a lot more power and then we also use Escom more .... but that is understandable.

I assume the blip in grid usage between 6 and 8 is geyser? Does look much better from grid use perspective vs your previous post.

I see your solar starts generating after 8. Any reason it's a bit late to start? Is there shading? Otherwise, it does look good and looks like you can lower your bills now much more than before and fully capitalise on your installed system.

I think the way you have it now is okay. Experiment on your end to see if you can use up to 10%, not daily but for cases where there is a power outage in the morning and you want to still have power till your solar starts generating. You can just manually set it to 10% and power whatever you want. Otherwise as a daily thing I think 20% is best and leaves you with some extra for power outages. Hopefully your area isnt hard hit with them. Loadshedding is pretty much gone so priority should be saving as much and not using the grid.

And you can run the math, if the payback for adding an extra battery is less than 5 years then I say go for it. If it requires replacing your whole bank then the ROI will probably not be worth it. I would run as is, wait for a battery to give issues and then consider replacing with a bigger bank. Until then, just fully utilize what you have and limit grid usage as much as possible.

You might even find ways of running the house more efficiently at night. Simple things as solar light, better efficient lights, turning off things that are unnecessary, replacing that old fridge that only has sentimental value (new fridges are very very efficient) etc. You can make it a little side quest to see where you can shave just 100 to 200W of baseload and you will find yourself having an extra 10 to 20% battery in the morning. Shaving load is free vs spending close to 60k for a bigger battery bank. There is heatpumps, dozens of ways to go about this.

A bit off-topic, but some time ago I decided to go clean the Kodak 2x external "filters" situated at the top sides of the inverter. I found they were not particularly dirty (inverter is installed in my garage) Below graph clearly show the benefit of cleaning regardless ....

Thanks Denis. The 40% is a carry over from load shedding days, wanting to still have some backup in the morning in the event that we would not have Escom. I also thought not to “work” the batteries to the max, but I have been looking at that also without deciding finally. I think you made up my mind for me …. Will run them to 20% and see how it goes first.

Thanks

If you have Lithium batteries, then daily charge / discharge is fine.
LiFePO 4 batteries are typically rated for 6,000 cycles with a 95% DoD.
6,000 cycles = 16.4 years
I charge mine to 100% SoC daily and discharge to 50-20% SoC.
Below is the 7 day Solar-Assistant Graphs:

True ..... but how else shall we make "progress" ........😉
 

Happy to say that Kodak is back, installed and all seems to be running well again.
 

Happy to say that Kodak is back, installed and all seems to be running well again.
 

We all have to pay school fees …… right? So don’t ask ……
 
I think (know) I have blown the DC / PV side of my Kodak.
 
Is it repairable ?
 
 

Happy to say that Kodak is back, installed and all seems to be running well again.
 

My Solar Assistant arrived Friday. Set it up on Sunday. Been running the whole week. I don’t know any of the “other” systems out there besides the standard WatchPower app the Kodak came with. SA was exactly what I was looking for and very happy so far.
 
I’m sure there are still many functions I do not even know of yet …..
 

My Solar Assistant arrived Friday. Set it up on Sunday. Been running the whole week. I don’t know any of the “other” systems out there besides the standard WatchPower app the Kodak came with. SA was exactly what I was looking for and very happy so far.
 
I’m sure there are still many functions I do not even know of yet …..
 

Guys, my PI and solar assistant is up and running .... I think .....  🙂
Now to collect data and figure it out all .......
 

Hello All
Just created my user here. From my initial reading, I'm sure I will be spending lots of time here, hanging out and reading up.
From Langebaan.
Installation was done last week Thursday, 1 x Kodak OG 7.2, 3 x Kodak FL5.2 batteries, 15 x Canadian 540W panels on 2 x strings feeding the full house. Decided NOT to connect the 2 x geysers at this stage .... maybe in future .....
All up and running well, still based on installer / default settings. I'm happy, but will be looking to optimise my usage / settings etc from here on in. So now I'm ready to start my solar experience ...... and for that I'm going to need proper monitoring / data capturing software etc. How do I get to speak to someone from Solar Assistant ? (E-mails via their website are not being answered ....) I have already searched and read what was said around here. Also looked at Hubble, but from what I could understand it is not going to do what I want to do .... 
Data log "everything" Download to laptop all Do settings etc over wifi / internet / USB Do monitoring / setting from my desk via WiFi ..... laptop All data etc need to be real time ..... I'm not interested in logging data only at certain intervals. etc Yes, I want my bread buttered both sides ........ as much as this is a necessity and a tool .... it is also my latest hobby .....
All advice help appreciated and hopefully I will be able to also one day share back what I have learned.
 
Albert
 
 

Quick update:
 
We are effectively off grid for the past 2 weeks, with the exception of hot water. The house run absolutely as per normal and we have used zero Escom (other than when I was running some tests)
Also experience zero load shedding. 
 
Will run like this now until we receive the first bill to see the impact. Also will sort out monitoring etc and only then think of next steps  
 
😀
 
 

On paper, it seems so. You are allowed short term overloads (e.g. for starting motors), but nothing more than a minute or so (depending on how much overload).
Edit:
Pardon my manners! Welcome to the forum.