xtoswanepoel

@GreenFields @Scorp007 This is exactly the info I was looking for! Thank you two so much for sharing your expertise. I'm super glad that there's a chance that the setup could work like we want it to before we get the chance to buy batteries. I'll be back if I have any more questions, you guys are legends! Thanks again As an aside, do you have any recommendations on devices that can measure whole-house power usage? We don't know what our peak draw is so we don't know what "capacity" inverter to go for (i.e. 5kW, 8kW, etc.)

Oh I think I understand what you mean now. By grid-tied, do you mean an inverter that feeds back into the grid and by doing so just lowers the amount you pay per month by effectively building up a credit on your account? This means that all your power comes from the grid and not from solar, but it reduces the cost as if you're getting the power from solar directly. If this is what you mean, that sadly won't work for us since the electricity meters that can do that here in Namibia are awfully expensive, and our levies are massively increased with that meter, and you can only receive credit for what you use. It's a bunch of strange rules and regulations, but in the end it ends up being more expensive than having no solar at all if you have a small home. What I was really hoping for was an inverter that merges two input power streams into one, i.e. solar and grid. And it just uses more of the grid if it needs extra power that the panels can't produce. I hope I'm not misunderstanding what you're saying! @Scorp007

@WannabeSolarSparky @Scorp007 @spotity @Chris_S @Moffat Thank you all for your replies! I appreciate the info. We definitely want to get batteries as soon as possible, we just do not have the funding yet. So we'd like an inverter that can run with just solar and grid and that can later be connected to batteries, hence the post. However, what I'm really concerned about is this: say we're generating 2.5kW from our panels, and it's powering the whole house. All is well. Our draw is ~2kW for argument's sake. Then I turn on an aircon or something that uses ~400W (just an example, pretty sure they draw more). Now when the compressor for the aircon kicks in its draw will likely spike to more than 1000W, meaning my draw will, for a few milliseconds or so, be more than 2.5kW. Will the Deye be able to draw the extra watts (that exceed 2.5kW) from the grid for those few milliseconds? This is what's really bothering me, because if it can't it means that the aircon would likely switch off due to insufficient power being provided to it. Also, if my panels produce 2.5kW but the house draws 3.7kW, will the Deye inverter be able to split the draw between the solar and the grid (2.5kW from panels and 1.2kW from the grid)? Or will it then draw all 3.7kW from the grid? Sorry if these are basic questions, but these are the types of things that I don't fully understand about solar power in general yet. Thank you!

@WannabeSolarSparky How does the Solis grid-tie inverter differ from the Deye 8kW? Would the Deye not be able to switch as fast between solar and grid? Also, we do intend to install batteries at a later stage, so buying an inverter that would work both with and without batteries would be ideal.

@Buyeye Thank you so much for your reply! I'm sorry, but I don't exactly understand what you mean by this. Would you please clarify? We want to operate without any batteries for the time being, hence the question that I posted.

We live in Namibia (so luckily no loadshedding!) and are looking to install a solar system for our house. We have been gifted some solar panels, however, we are unsure which inverter would fit our required use case. We would like to get the solar up and running without batteries, at least initially. My question is, would an inverter like the 5kW or 8kW Deye Hybrid Inverter be able to handle switching between solar and grid power for power spikes? Let's say a few of our aircon compressors kick in at the same time and that the spike in power draw would exceed, at least for a few fractions of a second, what our panels are producing. Would this spike in power draw be able to be pulled from the grid in that instant? Or can the inverter not switch inputs quickly enough? Can it perhaps aggregate inputs (i.e. draw only the excess power from the grid, thus drawing from two power sources at the same time)? Is there an inverter that can manage any of this? This problem would be negated with batteries in most setups, since all of the power would just be drawn from the batteries. However we would like to set up the system and start benefitting from it before we gather the funds needed for a proper battery system. Also, we are unsure what our peak draw is (regarding power spikes) and would appreciate some recommendations on devices that can measure and log power draw, especially the instantaneous spikes, so that we can decide what class of inverter would be best to buy (i.e. 5kW, 8kW, etc.). We are still very new to this, so apologies if anything is unclear or if this is asked in the wrong place. I'm really hoping someone can help us with this, though!