Neil.inSA

Thanks for the very useful info @Hein! I’m actually JHB based and I find with the good winters we have here I get pretty decent hot water all year round. Only a few occasions when we have a few dull days do I need to top it up via the element and in that case the plan is to just top up via the gensec directly (I have a 3 way cutover for that in place (gensec / off / direct grid not via inverter). I’ll definitely look at changing the geyser pump to an AC version on the inverter. They say adding a second small panel to the existing tube installation will improve battery charging and sort the issue I have currently where the battery dies after a few days of poor sun. But AC would be better. Thanks again!

@heine I'm interested in your setup please. I also have the tubes and a 5KVa Sunsynk. Currently my geyser is not wired through my inverter from my main board and 99% of the time the tubes give me enough hot water. Occasionally, when we have a few bad days, I simply switch on the geyser via Geyserwize, pulling from Escom, for an hour or 2. I don't want to pull from my inverter as I may exceed my load. Ultimately I want to turn off my mains - and disconnect from Escom. I have a gensec wired into my inverter should Inreally need it (lots of rainy days, etc). The problem is if I turn off my mains now, after a few days my geyser solar battery dies and I lose the geyserwize panel. From what I can see the Geyserwize only takes a single mains input and then outfits AC to the geyser and DC to the panel. Is there a way to have the Geyserwize pull it's power from the inverter but the geyser power only gets powered from Esckom (or in future a direct line to my gensec via a cutover switch that decides whether to feed the inverter or the geyser? Hope this makes sense...

Generator installed and tested and working as expected. I’ve also asked my electrician to add a separate cutover to the gensec circuit to allow me to run my geyser separately, should I need to top up on hot water. Geyser is currently isolated from inverter and on its own solar, which works well 99% of the time. This piece of work still to be completed. have my grid turned off at this point and will run it this way for the next few weeks to see how it goes. Next is probably a third battery. To finish it all off.

Just for interest, my current solar profile. I think adding a third battery will cover the small bit of grid importing I do currently. It is usually as a result of my battery low setting of 30% and by morning I sometimes hit that an hour or so before the panels start generating. I can probably optimise my PV cutoffs and timers a little. Gensec going in tomorrow to cover the odd occasion of 5 days of rain… Getting there (with the kind help of this forum!)

Thank you! I’ve ended up going with a 8.5KVa Steko with ATS as they have been on special and for the number of times a year I actually plan on using it the R13k sounded ok…. I don’t plan on using the ATS at this point either. Not the quietest I suspect but that’s ok. Arriving tomorrow and my electrician sorting out tomorrow evening. I’ll feed back on my experiences…😁

Thank you Alex. I’ve been looking at a 8.5KVA genset, but not an inverter type as they are really pricey for the bigger units. From what I’m seeing in the various threads this should work fine if connected via the Aux port for the power stepping it provides. If the frequency is a little out, it can also be adjusted. i came very close to spending on an inverter gensec because of the cleaner line and much lower noise, but they are essentially double the cost and that is out of my range. Our load is generally very low (2 to 3 KW), which I think will help also.

Hi everyone, I’m looking into adding a genset to my current system as a last stop and potentially a means of disconnecting from the grid (in some way). The more I read, the more confused I get, with some referring to twice the size of the inverter others suggesting a small unit to only charge batteries etc. I’m hoping to clarify a few things here. As Eskom costs go up and they speak more about punishing solar users, this is more the route I’m looking at . My current system: We are a Family of 2, I have a 5K Sunsynk inverter, 2 x Freedom One 5Kwh lithium batteries and 8 panels. This has worked exceptionally well for the last 2 years. My geyser is stand alone solar and very seldom do I need to feed grid power into it. Our energy usage is very low and our home is reasonably efficient. We do things like washing and dishwasher use during the day only. My batteries run to about 30% by morning and recharge off solar during the day. I’ve also moved to prepaid electricity. The purpose of the genset would be to carry us through the 2 or 3 times in a year we have a few days continuous rain and I can’t charge the batteries. Perhaps occasionally to push some power to the geyser if we say have friends staying over and need more hot water. I’ve read about inverter gensets and non-inverter gensets but am still not clear on whether I would need the more expensive inverter models for what I want to do. Also not clear on sizing. The idea would not be to run the house off the genset generally. And what would be a recommended brand perhaps Hoping to get a little guidance and clarity here…🙂

Thank you for the feedback, appreciated!!

Hi all, I'm running 2 x Freedom Won E-tower batteries on a SunSynk 5Kw inverter and am a little confused by some of the numbers I'm seeing. I have them correctly stacked and connected to the inverter via Canbus and the LiBMS shows really high charge and discharge values, which don't seem right. Both are showing as 210A. on the LiBs page. System is working well though. I'm also looking to understand the values I should input on the Battery Setup / Batt Type screen for Charge Amps and Discharge Amps. Should I be inputting 126 and 160 as per the Freedom Won manual for 2 batteries? Pics attached. Appreciate your guidance. Thanks