Johandup

I am shocked by these reports.
My 8kw Sunsynk has been going well for two years now with no problems.
If you want to sink any brand it must get a bad name from South African consumers.
There are plenty of car manufacturers who can vouch for this.  
I wish Sunsynk well for their venture into Australia as they don’t have our patience.
Oh, and the Aussies read our forums.
Keith would do well to take action in this market.
My brother had a not so good repair experience with Deye recently - will I recommend it. Obviously not …

I did the same (3x18db). Note Sans require a mains isolator for the low and high amp parts. This will also serve as the overload for the amperage necessary. For my 4kw inverter it was a 20a overload. Plugs must be 16a and lights 10a.You can buy a rcd which is also an isolator but it is very expensive.
The only plugs you can really dedicate to the inverter are the ones for the computers, router and tv. The other ones will feed things like heaters which must stay on the high amp side.
I also protected the supply to the inverter with its own isolator and 40a overload. That way I can isolate it from the house if work needs to be done on that side.
I also put in a bypass to the low amp side from the mains (via the inverter bypass switch) son the inverter can be bypassed when necessary. I also isolate the inverter this way when there is a highveld storm.
I put my control circuit in the middle slot. It makes the wiring easier. Here I also installed surge protection - which I will never leave out. R400 is much more affordable than repairing surge (aka lightning) damage.
My bypass switches are seperate on the outside. They are the +R1k items. My mains bypass also includes the generator. When I isolate now in heavy thunderstorms I just switch it to the middle. I use the inverter bypass when my borehole pump is running as it takes too much power from the inverter.
i see you have a 3 phase supply. That should make it even more complex 🙂

I am shocked by these reports.
My 8kw Sunsynk has been going well for two years now with no problems.
If you want to sink any brand it must get a bad name from South African consumers.
There are plenty of car manufacturers who can vouch for this.  
I wish Sunsynk well for their venture into Australia as they don’t have our patience.
Oh, and the Aussies read our forums.
Keith would do well to take action in this market.
My brother had a not so good repair experience with Deye recently - will I recommend it. Obviously not …

I am shocked by these reports.
My 8kw Sunsynk has been going well for two years now with no problems.
If you want to sink any brand it must get a bad name from South African consumers.
There are plenty of car manufacturers who can vouch for this.  
I wish Sunsynk well for their venture into Australia as they don’t have our patience.
Oh, and the Aussies read our forums.
Keith would do well to take action in this market.
My brother had a not so good repair experience with Deye recently - will I recommend it. Obviously not …

I am shocked by these reports.
My 8kw Sunsynk has been going well for two years now with no problems.
If you want to sink any brand it must get a bad name from South African consumers.
There are plenty of car manufacturers who can vouch for this.  
I wish Sunsynk well for their venture into Australia as they don’t have our patience.
Oh, and the Aussies read our forums.
Keith would do well to take action in this market.
My brother had a not so good repair experience with Deye recently - will I recommend it. Obviously not …

I am shocked by these reports.
My 8kw Sunsynk has been going well for two years now with no problems.
If you want to sink any brand it must get a bad name from South African consumers.
There are plenty of car manufacturers who can vouch for this.  
I wish Sunsynk well for their venture into Australia as they don’t have our patience.
Oh, and the Aussies read our forums.
Keith would do well to take action in this market.
My brother had a not so good repair experience with Deye recently - will I recommend it. Obviously not …

I am shocked by these reports.
My 8kw Sunsynk has been going well for two years now with no problems.
If you want to sink any brand it must get a bad name from South African consumers.
There are plenty of car manufacturers who can vouch for this.  
I wish Sunsynk well for their venture into Australia as they don’t have our patience.
Oh, and the Aussies read our forums.
Keith would do well to take action in this market.
My brother had a not so good repair experience with Deye recently - will I recommend it. Obviously not …

Okay gents, I’ve gotten the final report on the Aus battery test project - which was concluded after TEN years in March 2023.
The report is VERY interesting to say the least. It is also of note to observe that we are so far behind Aus in solar (not just rugby 😂) that this guvament will neva eva catch up. They call it their Arena projects.
A quick summary on the Pylontech US2000B batterues of which I have four.
After 6 years of trial where they have been constantly (I think twice per day) discharged and charged they have completed close to 2800 cycles and retained 75% of its capacity. These batteries had zero problems during the trial.
Being on pension for 7 years and pushing 70 I won’t think about this issue anymore. 
An observation is that I need to add a big new lifepo4 battery at some stage when capacity starts being an issue - not before the time. Having a Sunsynk 8kw makes it easy.
The indicator will be when the soc reaches 20% after a night shift.
The link is: https://arena.gov.au/assets/2018/05/lithium-ion-battery-testing-public-report-12.pdf for people who have time to read.

Okay gents, I’ve gotten the final report on the Aus battery test project - which was concluded after TEN years in March 2023.
The report is VERY interesting to say the least. It is also of note to observe that we are so far behind Aus in solar (not just rugby 😂) that this guvament will neva eva catch up. They call it their Arena projects.
A quick summary on the Pylontech US2000B batterues of which I have four.
After 6 years of trial where they have been constantly (I think twice per day) discharged and charged they have completed close to 2800 cycles and retained 75% of its capacity. These batteries had zero problems during the trial.
Being on pension for 7 years and pushing 70 I won’t think about this issue anymore. 
An observation is that I need to add a big new lifepo4 battery at some stage when capacity starts being an issue - not before the time. Having a Sunsynk 8kw makes it easy.
The indicator will be when the soc reaches 20% after a night shift.
The link is: https://arena.gov.au/assets/2018/05/lithium-ion-battery-testing-public-report-12.pdf for people who have time to read.

This is a manual process that involves a lot of work and safety procedures.

Remember that the earth leakage is in your DB, there is no earth leakage on the minisubs however, as you say the best is to install a surge protection device in your on DB.
On the minisub transformers are usually a type DYN, the D side is the primary winding usually 11 KV and the Y windind the LV side is 420 V the neutral of the Y winding is connected to earth.

Transformers have tappings that can be adjusted to compensate for losses as well as overloading. So in a perfect world it would be set for 230v because there is no overloading etc. But in our world all transformers are overloaded and the startup voltages would be above 230v to compensate for this - so as the transformers start up the volts are above 230v untill the demand stabilises.
Watch the sparks on online videos to see how hazardous switching on transfromers is - well designed systems use remote switching.
I trip my db main breaker when the power goes off - but I’m retired and at home most of the time.

Guys,
I date from the bc (before computers 😂) generation so be patient please.
Why do you convert the Sonoffs to Tasmota? 
And then you use Node-red?
Some explanation to put all of this into perspective wil be appreciated.
I have Sonoffs and they work ok’ish. The only nuisance for me is when Ewelink needs login. And the consumption stats for the power monitoring is not so hot and up to date historical.

Lots on this topic in the forum: Sustainable Landscaping
If you are fortunate (like me) to have good water it is a blessing. I had one access into my yard and thats where the water (20kl hr) was.
There are many ways to clean water to make it potable.
Once Eskom goes the water supply will follow …
 

So true as it is the same for me.
As I get older I get a lot more intolerable for guvament errors.
The convenience of having solar power and borehole water means a lot to me.
Saving for me is in the same ballpark.

Ok, so it will be on the market in November.
Nothing available now.

Mine draws straight 3000w (displayed on a Sunsynk 8kW) upon starting. 
Check the amp draw with a clamp meter. 

The replacement costs of a solar system should be included in your selling price.
Don’t assume that every installation would be the same.

Have tested mine and it is within spec. 
But it a gray area. 

The inverter needs its own neutral bar. You will have an interesting time sorting it all out. Inverters give the most interesting errors when the neutrals are mixed up. It also indicates house wiring problems which must be sorted before thing will run properly.
Btw, Id and mark all cables (I used heatshrink) before stripping and replacing the db.

Please bear in mind that an inverter generates power that can kill. 
So test your plugs with an earth leakage tester. A 16a plug can only carry 3,5kw +-  
Like all overloaded electric devices an inverter can fail in a spectacular fashion. 
If you can push it to beyond its design output it indicates that your overload mcb connecting it to the db is an incorrect size. For my 4kw Infinisolar it was only 20a - I kept it like that with my Sunsynk 8kw as it manages my low amp db. For a 3kw device it should be 15amp.

“No need to separate essential and non essential loads.”
Dependant on your model and amps you’ll draw. 
I had the 4kw hybrid replaced now with a 8kw Sunsynk) and it would go to 5kw amps overload with mains backup.
The Infinisolar performed faultlessly for three years as a backup on a low amp db setup m
It is better (my opinion) to look at the amps you pull from the db.
I had to create its own neutral to earth connection on its delivery side when I installed it. This gave me lots of problems as my house is old with connections going everywhere and I had to sort all the neutrals out. 
At the time I used the opportunity to replace my 60 year old board with new equipment. It was worth it as it has performed faultlessly since. 
Keep to the isolator sizes prescribed by your inverter manual. 
Photos of your db will help. 

I must say I’ll pay Eskom gladly their 0,78c per kwhr which they charge the local robbers. Plus my account will always be up to date. Promise ...
I don’t feel under obligation to pay for the caders..
 

Disagree totally. If they can charge me I must be able to penalise them for loadshedding and power failures.
I get supplied by the munisipality who owes them R3b btw.
When last could they meet their demand 100%
They keep their lips flapping - thats all.
No discussions of any kind will save their (and the ainncee) asses.
 

Don’t buy electric stuff from Takealot. 
They give a 6 month’s warranty only on electrical items. Read their Terms and Conditions. 
Burnt my fingers with them - just returned a faulty expensive battery charger to them. Still waiting for refund after one week. And there were signs they’ve sent that item out previously. I broke my own rule not to buy electrics from them anymore.