Kalahari Cruiser

I also can’t find this online - the CS3W series only up to 455W, but not 550. There have been stories of fake CS panels being sold…were they sourced from a reputable supplier (not if they were bought from SunPower)? Another clue might be their size - my 550w panels measure about 115(w) x 227 (h).

Interesting question. All the fuse links I’ve seen (Keto, Bussman etc) are rated 500V or even 690V IIRC. The Jean Muller Keto 160A fuses in my battery disconnector are definitely 500V rated. Some significant price fluctuations too, from around R50/fuse to a few hundred each - 160A size 00…

Read my post to a similar question you posed yesterday In your scenario, those 8 panels seem like the perfect pairing, assuming they’ll be connected in one string in series, facing one direction. Again, just divide the inverter’s max volt input by the panel’s VoC spec (or multiply your 8 strings by the VoC of a panel), and you have what seems like a great pairing well within the inverter’s spec. Regarding the amps, should you go slightly over (per spec), then the inverter clips the current. I don’t think the panel spec poses any issue for your inverter but perhaps others can confirm.

SS 5KW inverter specs: Solar Input Max power input – 6500W Max V DC input – 370V (100V~500V) Max current input – 13A + 13A MPPTs – 2 MPPT Range – 125~425V The 500V max input should not be exceeded under any circumstances, and considering safety margins, aim for max 450V for planning purposes. Divide 450V by the VoC spec of your panels if connected in series = 8 panels per string should be good and safe (450/52.24). In fact 7 versus 6 panels per string already brings you closer to what I understand is the 370V sweet spot. 9 panels might even be possible but perhaps sailing a bit close to the wind then.

Ah right, I did a cursory google and found various sites saying the Voc for that panel is 49.9V ( online vendors as well as solardesigntool.com). But just read the specs off the C Solar website product sheet and indeed, the Voc is quite low and 10 panels in series no problem. 👍🏻

I also don’t think 10 on one string would be advisable as you’re going to exceed the MPPT max voltage and margin. 10 panels give a Voc of around 500V (I think the spec you quote is the Vmp, not the Voc…). That would effectively limit you to 9 panels on a string unless you split them into the two MPPTs.

When I log in to my account on their platform I log in to Zone / System 2…and receive no reconnect notifications. Maybe this is the common denominator then. 👍🏻

I stand to be corrected but the sync/refresh is about once per 5 minutes. When you're in the app, and older readings still show, just pull down the screen view to force an update, provided it's been more than a few minutes since the previous update of the readings. Not sure whether the app pushes a regular refresh once opened.

If my time of use SOC setting at night is < than the actual SOC (i.e. "spare battery charge available), then non-essentials are running off my battery, not grid (albeit gris is present). I was a bit surprised by this - already enquired elsewhere today. Basic setting is "limited to home" rather than just "limit to load only".

Yes I agree @GreenFields. The default however is 50% for restart. I'm trying not to go below 30% SOC (and haven't so far). Mine are the SS 5.12KWH batteries (IP65) but agree, one wants a sufficient gap between shut down and "restart". The wording got me I guess, restart for me was a power recycle, rather than "start up again following a shutdown and partial recharge" which is what's clearly meant by this. Thanks again.

Thanks, I had an installer explain it roughly in the same way, but he wasn't sure. So it's almost like one tells the inverter to wait for the battery to get to a decent battery SOC before inverting again, following a shutdown at the prescribed shut down percentage. He had changed mine from 50% to 48% but it's not clear how this is significant - I changed it down to 25% since then (and shut down to 15%). Perhaps these values are a bit aggressive, although to date my SOC has only gone to 40% so it's been moot for now.

Is someone able to explain what exactly the Battery / Restart % setting is for? Why can't that be set to say 20% and the shut down to say 15% (or 25/20...). If the SOC reaches 49% on above settings, what exactly gets restarted and why? I changed mine to much lower, but don't fully understand the setting. On the charge / discharge side, my BMS put discharge / charge amps for 2x 5.12KWH batteries at 185 / 40 respectively (I lowered the discharge to 170 later). 8KW SS and 2 x 5.12KW SS batteries.

Thanks @system32. I'm an iphone user but a mate uses an Android and his wife an iphone - both receive dual notifications, but their inverter is on what seems the most recent firmware. Mine's an older version from late 2022, and maybe the notifications system needs that update too. On the .net I don't have any notifications stored at all i.e. equipment/events, plant report, etc. Under account / notifications it's also blank - this all being on the web interface.

many thanks. Yes this is exactly what is happening. But then to understand, if I want surplus solar to be able to go to non-essentials, then my current situation is unavoidable? (unless I tweak things using a high min SOC setting in respective time blocks? That would mess a little with my planning, as eg overnight I want to not have the geyser doing a boost off battery while grid is present). If I export to load only, that also rules out surplus solar going to non-essentials during the day?

Many thanks for the guide, have downloaded, will go through shortly. My geyser and oven aren't on aux, but standard non-essentials (to the best of my knowledge). No aux settings on app either. Mate with similar system doesn't have this situation, battery never feeds non-essentials, only grid and solar (surplus). Yes @Bobster. my understanding was that the inverter makes that distinction, based on the settings, and that the battery just does what the inverter tells it to do basically.

Waking up an older topic as I have the same question. Did the re-connect notification option come with recent firmware upgrade? My FW is a few versions behind (too weary of updating it), and I only receive disconnect notifications, but nowhere on app or web platform can I find a setting to enable reconnect notifications (it may not be an altogether bad thing that the rest of family doesn't see the reconnect on app and goes big on loads....albeit there are indicator lights on the DB to indicate this). Mate of mine receives reconnect notifications on both android and iphone app, on latest FW it seems.

Greetings, I very recently had my solar added to the SS 8KW setup, with geyser and oven both on the non-essentials side. Both are off when the grid is absent. I'm still busy trying to set up an appropriate time-based charging regime (especially with winter and rainy days in the Cape currently) and setting fairly high thresholds for minimum battery bank SOC (i.e. evening slot had at 80% min SOC). We had to boost the geyser briefly last night and I noticed that it was taking all power from the battery. Tested same with the oven and that also consumed from the battery - all while the battery SOC was still > the 80% threshold I set. When battery SOC hit 80% it takes from grid (grid was present, presumably in absence of grid no charging off the battery would happen). I was surprised by this as it means that in future, if using the oven in the evening (while grid is present) the load will be taken from the battery down to the pre-set SOC, meaning I'll need to maintain a fairly high SOC setting to force grid use, rather than battery. Is this correct and expected behaviour? Or has something been wired incorrectly, or do I have an inverter setting / priority setting wrong? Pic 1 below is last night at around 9:30pm while grid was present and SOC was still above 80% - non-essentials using battery. Pic 2 is when it hit 80% SOC and reverted to grid use. I do obviously want surplus solar to go to non-essentials during the day, and have the zero export "limited to home" setting enabled. I had thought that the non-essentials will always only use grid and surplus PV power as input. Anyway who's able to guide me on this, please? -------- Non-essentials while SOC is still > 80% Non-essentials while SOC is 80% (reverts to grid) Inverter settings - my understanding is if I check zero export + limit to load only then my PV wont provide surplus to non-essentials during the day.

I think current will be clipped, your main consideration should be number of panels and string size (i.e. I assume you're not intending to put all of those onto one string as that would not work with sufficient safety margin). Also, you don't want too few panels on a string and be too far off the sweet spot or even below the minimum. What is your plan with string size and direction? 2 strings with 5 panels each?

If I remember, then I'll check tonight. Still have the boxes in my shed.

One will easily fit in your boot and the other on the back seat (sedan type cars). I fitted my 8kw sunsynk into the boot of my A4 - but only just.

CAT6 is a little thicker and has higher bandwidth and frequency specs, presumably helpful to carry the CT signal over longer distances. I extended mine with speaker cable rather than lan cable, on advice of installer. However only needed a short run...

I needed a small extension for mine too - albeit only a meter or so - and installer asked if I have some spare speaker cable lying around which I did. He said that he prefers using speaker cable rather than LAN cable (maybe he never used the correct lan cable previously). Edit: I also offered him LAN cable (have plenty), but he wanted speaker cable.

For what it's worth, since Enpal started appearing as Instagram ads and their website promised turnaround times that I found impossible to believe. I contacted the German company Enpal (they are legit in Germany), and asked whether they had a South African subsidiary. The person who responded initially said they don't install in SA, only in Germany and Italy, and didn't know whether they have a South African agency, but promised to get back to me. I followed up again a few days later and got no response apart from "we're still working on a response to you, please be patient". The comms were with [email protected] The fact that the official contact email address in Germany couldn't provide me with a definite answer is both an indictment on that company, and would make me extremely weary of using them in SA. Their website is more or less a clone of the German site, certainly a lot of overlap. Address resolved to a small business park in the Cape Town area IIRC. But if they have arranged a site visit and there's some human in-person interaction, this could be a positive sign. But to me there remain too many unanswered questions and the head office clearly doesn't care to give this the attention it deserves with a straight and definitive reply, despite further follow up (and reminding them there's a company using their name in SA advertising installations). Talk about potential reputational damage!

The SunSynk 5.12 IP65 (outdoor housing) battery is also 1C. Perhaps the issue relates more to a previous batteries with CATL cells as opposed to the more recent ones (mid/late 2022 on?) with BYD cells. Details are at best sketchy on the SunSynk website. And the two cell types are apparently not compatible. 5.32 and some 5.12 (REPT and BYD cells respectively) are.

Just a small correction, I believe the 5.32 kwh SunSynk battery contains REPT-made LiFePo4 cells, not BYD, but they use the same BMS and are compatible with other BYD SunSynks (apparently all the newer ones, incl. my IP65 rated 5.12kwh). The older ones used CATL cells and not compatible? I still don't have an authoritative 'from the horses mouth' source.