Spys

I thought I’d share a real-world example of SOC drift on the upper end when a lithium battery is operated for long periods with shallow cycling and little to no absorption time, and how a full bottom–top recalibration resolves it.
System behaviour (last ±30 days):
Battery mostly cycled between ~80–100% SOC
No regular sustained absorption phase
Loads relatively light during the day
Result: gradual SOC drift upward, visible as the “compressed” upper band on the graph
This is typical behaviour for coulomb counting:
Small measurement errors accumulate
Without a true reference point (bottom or top), SOC slowly loses alignment with actual capacity
Corrective action taken:
Disabled MPPTs and grid charging
Set ESS minimum SOC to 0%
Discharged the battery under a controlled resistive load (~0.15C)
Allowed the BMS to reach low cut-off (~2% SOC) → bottom calibration
Left battery at rest
Re-enabled MPPTs and charged with no AC load
Allowed battery to reach 100% SOC with low tail current top calibration
Result (visible on the graph):
Clear SOC reset at the bottom (≈2%)
Clean reset again at 100%
SOC once again tracks voltage and real capacity correctly
Cell balance after charge: within ~10 mV
Temperatures uniform
Takeaway:
Lithium batteries do not need frequent deep cycling but occasional full bottom–top calibration is essential when: Cycling is shallow, absorption is rarely reached,SOC starts behaving “optimistically”
This isn’t a battery fault — it’s normal coulomb counter behaviour and easy to correct with a controlled recalibration cycle.
Graph attached shows the effect clearly.

Your meter plugged into a “backed up” outlet or a “non-backed up” ?
Most of these customer units will communicate with the meter at street level via PLC - Power Line Communication and must be a “straight” comms between the meters to communicate successfully. 
 
So if the meter is plugged into an outlet that is backed up and runs through the inverter its breaks that PLC between the devices. Try plugging the meter into an outlet that is not backed up via the inverter and see if that restores the communication?

I have a heat pump connected. I didn't have any issues connecting but did notice that the heat pump seemed to be using 802.11b according to my network dashboard which is old and slow and possibly disabled on your network? Might be worth taking a look.

What @Spysis saying is all correct but some installers are not always interpreting all the parameters correctly. The Sunsynk inverters can accommodate the slight over current and wattage. The 6 x 550w panels will be slightly overclocking the inverter mppt1 max by 50w that would not be a problem. The Voc would be well below max so can't see any reason not to go for 6 x 550w panels on 1 string. In some of my Sunsynk installs i have overclocked the max power input by 1.25 and never had any comebacks just ensure for a better yield during winter and overcast days and in summer peak the inverter will clip the excess wattage but have earlier startup and later pv shutdown.

Personally I am a fan of the “add more panels to existing setup” option. 
 
The additional panels when they are not feeding the geysers can contribute to charging batteries or power other loads. 
 
Panels dedicated to geyser loads will sit idle when not needed.  
 
Nothing technical in my thoughts, just the way I would doing it. 

From time to time I've opined that a gap must be opening up in the market for maintenance of solar systems. I'm not allowed up ladders anymore (three unexplained blackouts) so I can't even give my panels a good clean. Besides, there's a bit more to it than that. There's more and more systems, getting older and older (mine is nearly 5 years now) and what's a layperson to do?

Anyway, I have a team from my installer coming on Monday. They are going to clean panels, check all wiring between panels and inverter, run diagnostics on the inverter and battery.

I am not naming the installer because it is not yet clear to me if he provides this service only to sites he installed or more generally. I will clarify on Monday. Depending on uptake he may launch a product by which you pay a small monthly fee and they check your system over once a year.

I shall report back. The cash price is 2K - for cleaning and a report. I have asked them to do a small (they say) electrical job whilst they're here, and obviously they will charge separately for that.

My inverter is installed in my garage and during summer it gets quite hot in Bloemfontein. When you park a hot car in there it gets even hotter. I realized the Inverter DC side reached temperatures of near 90 degrees during midday. I installed 3 x 120mm computer fans on top with a temperature controller switching the fans on and off. The thermistor is attached to the heatsink. The heatsink temperature is about 20 degrees below the internal temperature indicating by the app. With the fans the temperature stays below 60 degrees.
I 3D printed the bracket and bought the temperature controller from an online store for under R200 with a 12V powersupply. Is anybody is interested visit Thingiverse:Thing6468217 to get the STL files for the bracket. (Search Sunsynk 5kW)
 

Personally I am a fan of the “add more panels to existing setup” option. 
 
The additional panels when they are not feeding the geysers can contribute to charging batteries or power other loads. 
 
Panels dedicated to geyser loads will sit idle when not needed.  
 
Nothing technical in my thoughts, just the way I would doing it. 

Personally I am a fan of the “add more panels to existing setup” option. 
 
The additional panels when they are not feeding the geysers can contribute to charging batteries or power other loads. 
 
Panels dedicated to geyser loads will sit idle when not needed.  
 
Nothing technical in my thoughts, just the way I would doing it. 

This was removed from an inverter installation last year where AC fuse and fuse holder was used on 24v lfp battery curcuit.

Thanks to everybody that responded to my thread on the Prepaid meter that could not load electricity as it was installed on the essential circuit side - and not the incoming side from Council / Escom. As per suggestions on this forum - I had the installer come back and moved one of the plugs in the kitchen to the Escom / Council / incoming side and connected the prepaid meter to that - it now works perfectly.

Cheaper to upgrade in 5kw increments maybe?

Good installers aren't just good with the electrical side of things. They build relationships with the companies whose gear they install. This is worth something when you have some puzzle you can't solve.

Somewhere on this forum there's a thread about how my inverter started behaving oddly (and undesirably) during high stages of load shedding. In short, when there was no grid and the sun was shining, it would draw just enough from the panels to service the load, but the battery wouldn't charge.

The inverter is a Goodwe. There is plenty of moaning (not just in SA) about Goodwe support. But I called my installer about this, and they very quickly got through to Goodwe and the firmware on my inverter was updated (over the internet, no need for a physical visit). Problem solved.

So a good installer who has built relationships and provides decent support (this was 4.5 years down the line, so I was impressed) does add value.

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/04/22/2313206/california-is-grappling-with-a-growing-problem-too-much-solar

100% on the set it and forget it. That’s exactly why I went the “integrated” LuxPower plus Hina route. And it has delivered. 
 
Both companies are very active in the software/firmware development side of things. I popped over the the SNA / LXP change log site this morning to confirm. There is a software/firmware update at least once a quarter. I have had two software updates for my Hina PowerGem battery since installed in December. 
 
As I went with the LXP model I got the free 10 year warranty extension for both the inverter and battery. This was a nice to have, not essential. 
 
They really have put a lot of effort into their management software to the point I have shutdown my Solar assistant. 
 
Having integrated inverter and battery management on a single screen just adds to that whole peace of mind thing. 
 
Something I did learn in my journey is that in the local inverter/ battery / solar space there generally is no such thing as a single authorised importer and agent for a brand, such as we see in other industries. If, for example, (and I am generalising) you see a battery on site A for R25k and the same battery on site B for R21k, there is a good chance that the cheaper battery is coming from a different route to market. The cheaper option might cost you dearly in the long run. 
 

The safest way to do this is with a 60V 5A adjustable power supply with current limit. Set the power supply to 48v and gradually bring up the voltage until the Bms resets. You will draw 5A if the Bms resets. Leave it for 30 minutes disconnect the supply and fully charge with inverter. Do not use another 48v battery!!
Below power supply from Electromann in Jhb.
https://electromannsa.co.za/shop-the-latest-affordable-gadgets-online/wanptek-nps605w-0-60v-dc-0-5a-300w-adjustable-digital-dc-power-supply-2/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwncWvBhD_ARIsAEb2HW998IjA6-Y4Hgk5vDmXcHfgL0GT5aV3FBxJYnFdJ8kjOZ3G8JiWbF4aApWlEALw_wcB

Fyi. Spoke to my wife in Cpt and asked her to switch the kettle on in the cottage where the 3kva system is connected just to show how capable these Revov batteries are, below graphs and stats from SA 
 
 
 

 

I have a 12v BlueNova “drop in” on my electric fence energizer. It’s been running for 2.5yrs no problems. 
 
I have a 24v Red Pole LifePO4 drop in on my garage door motor. Been about 6 months. No problems. 
 
I have a 12v el cheapo lifepo4 on my Centurion gate slider motor. Been about a year. No problems. 
 
I have another of the 12v el cheapo lifepo4 dropped into my house alarm. About 2 years now. No problems. 
 
All of these were direct swaps with the old LA/Gel batteries. No changes to charges etc. 

I have a 12v BlueNova “drop in” on my electric fence energizer. It’s been running for 2.5yrs no problems. 
 
I have a 24v Red Pole LifePO4 drop in on my garage door motor. Been about 6 months. No problems. 
 
I have a 12v el cheapo lifepo4 on my Centurion gate slider motor. Been about a year. No problems. 
 
I have another of the 12v el cheapo lifepo4 dropped into my house alarm. About 2 years now. No problems. 
 
All of these were direct swaps with the old LA/Gel batteries. No changes to charges etc. 

I’m in Kloof with 6x575w panels. Hasn’t been a great 4 weeks for solar. 
 
Some stats from the past week. 
 
 

@Wesley.Davids The issue is with the battery, cell #1 is going into under voltage protection as the cells are not balanced.
 
So you are being limited by cell #1 and therefore are unable to make full use of the battery. It looks like it might be a Pace BMS, in which case charge it up with the full voltage, the BMS should then go into OVP and should continue to balance while in the OVP state.
However looking at how imbalanced the battery pack is, this could take weeks or months or never balance fully by itself and may require some assistance for the cells to be balanced.
 
If it were me, I'd reach out to Magneto support. I would imagine they will just swap the battery out for you and give you a new one.
It could be an issue with cell 1 which is causing it to be imbalanced and at a much lower charge compared to the other cells.
 
EDIT: I see you have been having issues with this battery since you got it. 
 
 
I feel you must push for a brand new battery. If it were me I'd push for a full refund and buy a different brand.
There is clearly an issue with the cells not being balanced and it has been like this for a couple of months so I am quite sure it will not balance the cells and fix itself. Good chance one or more of the cells is faulty or the BMS is just not capable of balancing the cells.

The first question would be what is your budget what can you afford.
Suggestion would be the all in 1 solution Sunsynk Powerlynk X 3.6kw or the Sunsynk Loadshedder they are the same units.
 
https://www.sunsynkmobile.com/loadshedder

Bear in mind that during day time you also need to allow PV to be able to recharge the battery. 
Refer to the modes in the picture. Due to the 4th function of being able to export to grid 1st set the self use mode and work from there. 
Here are some settings that are well documented in the manual. 
As you have 2 outputs working differently it is not just a matter of selecting PV, battery and grid. 
 

Hi
 
This might work for you. You can turn on a light and turn off the appliances your wife keeps turning on. 
 
https://www.sonoffafrica.co.za/product/loadshedder/?utm_source=Google Shopping&utm_campaign=sonoffallproducts&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=8117&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-q7Wu4Ss_AIVN4FQBh3K1wAsEAQYAiABEgIj8vD_BwE
 
 

Hi
 
This might work for you. You can turn on a light and turn off the appliances your wife keeps turning on. 
 
https://www.sonoffafrica.co.za/product/loadshedder/?utm_source=Google Shopping&utm_campaign=sonoffallproducts&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=8117&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-q7Wu4Ss_AIVN4FQBh3K1wAsEAQYAiABEgIj8vD_BwE