Dinz

I'm busy getting quotes for replacement aircon and new, I'm not an installer, but have learnt a bit from the various quotes and research that might help:
If you're dealing with a very hot area, make sure you have insulation.  Without insulation you're going to have the aircon(s) working way harder than needed.  Insulation helps with keeping it cool in summer.  It's not just about keeping it warm in winter. Get a trust-worthy installer - I've seen 2 really bad installs (one at a friend, one at my work many years ago) where the drip-pipe was done badly and resulted in water dripping inside. Almost every installer I've had come to quote has advised against using pumps for the drip-pipe (except for 1 installer who wanted to use them everywhere).  Apparently they need constant maintenance and if anything goes wrong with a pump you're going to have water leaking everywhere.   

Hi.
 
You sound like you would like to take things totally offgrid.
In that case, my opinion, and I could be wrong, is why are you limitting yourself to Sunsync/Deye. You could go for the Voltronix stuff (Kodak/Mecer). those inverters are much much cheaper, and can take a good bit of abuse also.
 
Going for the fancy bidirectional inverters with CT's are very nice, but if you're going totally offgrid, maybe consider the cheaper inverters that are also fairly robust.
 
 

Hi Everyone.
 
Newbie here.
I have a fair bit of knowledge on inverter setup etc. Not a pro, but I love learning.
I dont have any ESS setup of my own. I have learnt by helping others only. I have also learnt by correcting many installations for people. No monetary gain, just for kicks and knowledge.
 
I will say that the information on this forum is vast and invaluble. I hope I can also contribute.
 
I will be asking many questions.
Hope to keep learning from here....

Hi Everyone.
 
So just an update and some responses to the above.
 
The setup is working.
It is as follows:
I have 3ph Grid supply.
 
I've used 3 8Kw Single phase SS Inverters
I have 6 5Kw Pylontec batteries in a bank.
21 550W panels split between the inverters
Each phase of of Grid goes to a seperate inverter input.
Each inverter output is a seperate phase, obviously.
 
Multi Inverter setting - All 3 are Masters and  each have been assigned Phase A, Phase B and Phase C respectively.
All 3 Inverters are connected to the battery bank.
 
Phase A inverter is controlling or communicating with the battery bank as it has the CAN cable connected to it.
 
2 Things happened to make it work -
SS done an update. I thought I had the latest, but I was one behind on all of them. (6.0.2.6).
Full system power down and restart.
 
 
Hope this helps anyone out there. I can share details if anyone wants to run this sort of setup.
 
System is just as this diagram in the manual:
 

It's fascinating (and I found this initially a bit confusing) - as this happens also in single-phase parallel setups (at least in the case of the my 2 paralleled single-phase 5kW Sunsynks), and is part of the reason why it's important to have both inverters under the same Plant,
Because even in single-phase, the AC load (UPS + Aux + Zero-Export-to-Grid) being served the system is always split evenly between the inverters, and if one is producing less PV than the other,  the DC-transfer-via-battery-bus you describe is used to satisfy the under-performing unit.
So let's say you have a 4kW AC load being served by two inverters with their own arrays - and one array is producing 3kW and the other is producing 1kW (say, due to shading). Both inverters are always going to contribute 2kW each for the total 4kW AC load - but the PV is indeed skimmed off the one array to the other (from one inverter to the other). And when this happens, the 3kW-PV-producing inverter will report a 'Battery Charge' of 1kW, and the 1kW-PV-producing inverter will report a 'Battery Discharge' of 1kW (for a nett charge/discharge of 0kW between the two) to allow the excess PV from the one inverter to be used by the other.
And of course in this case, the LiBMS screen will report 0A charge since no current is actually entering the battery.
By putting both inverters under the same plant, the plant totals are still correct because the they're 'added' together in the app/website which gives the true battery charge values.
 
Good to hear you're sorted and thanks for sharing your experiences with us.
 

Hi Everyone.
 
So just an update and some responses to the above.
 
The setup is working.
It is as follows:
I have 3ph Grid supply.
 
I've used 3 8Kw Single phase SS Inverters
I have 6 5Kw Pylontec batteries in a bank.
21 550W panels split between the inverters
Each phase of of Grid goes to a seperate inverter input.
Each inverter output is a seperate phase, obviously.
 
Multi Inverter setting - All 3 are Masters and  each have been assigned Phase A, Phase B and Phase C respectively.
All 3 Inverters are connected to the battery bank.
 
Phase A inverter is controlling or communicating with the battery bank as it has the CAN cable connected to it.
 
2 Things happened to make it work -
SS done an update. I thought I had the latest, but I was one behind on all of them. (6.0.2.6).
Full system power down and restart.
 
 
Hope this helps anyone out there. I can share details if anyone wants to run this sort of setup.
 
System is just as this diagram in the manual:
 

Hi Everyone.
 
So just an update and some responses to the above.
 
The setup is working.
It is as follows:
I have 3ph Grid supply.
 
I've used 3 8Kw Single phase SS Inverters
I have 6 5Kw Pylontec batteries in a bank.
21 550W panels split between the inverters
Each phase of of Grid goes to a seperate inverter input.
Each inverter output is a seperate phase, obviously.
 
Multi Inverter setting - All 3 are Masters and  each have been assigned Phase A, Phase B and Phase C respectively.
All 3 Inverters are connected to the battery bank.
 
Phase A inverter is controlling or communicating with the battery bank as it has the CAN cable connected to it.
 
2 Things happened to make it work -
SS done an update. I thought I had the latest, but I was one behind on all of them. (6.0.2.6).
Full system power down and restart.
 
 
Hope this helps anyone out there. I can share details if anyone wants to run this sort of setup.
 
System is just as this diagram in the manual:
 

Switch the dip switches off on all 3...you have no slaves in each phase. They are all masters on the respective phase. The Dip switch is a means for a master to know where the last slave lies. In this case there are no slaves. 
Also makes 100% sure to use Quality Shielded Cat 5e utp cable. The other non shielded cables can allow noise through. 

I have never tried this. If the supply is 3ph i parallel 3ph inverters if the supply is single phase i parallel single phase inverters. I stand to be corrected maybe the Sunsynk can do this. 
For 3-phase power you need a source that maintains a 120 degree phase angle between the 3 line outputs. A 3-phase inverter will generate all 3 phases from a single clock source, and keep the phases separated properly in phase.
A single-phase inverter (unless it is designed to be part of a 3-phase inverter) isn’t going to have an input for it to phase-lock its output to. Each of the three “identical” inverters will have its own internal crystal as the reference for its 50 Hz output, but the crystals will be slightly different in frequency. So even if you could get the 3 inverters to be 120 degrees apart when you start up, they won’t stay 120 degrees apart.
Maybe @BritishRacingGreencan weigh in if this would be possible to do with the Sunsynk 1ph inverters.

Hi @Steve87 so you most probably did it and it works on the 3 x Sunsynk single phase to Eskom 3ph supply jolly good so we learn new stuff everyday. 
 

@TaliaBthe Sunsynk as well as even the Humble Kodak Voltronics machines can create 3 phase power with 3 single phase inverters. They have firmware that sorts out the 120° split of the phases. However, they need a means to Synchronize to & they receive this from the Grid AC input then follow along happily. 
I think the Dip switches should sort the Parallel issues out here & true 3 phase power will be generated...
But the yellow Sunsynk cables they provide are very poor quality & are not shielded but are twisted pairs. But there is so many noise sources that can spoil the day that I always try to replace those cables. They are just not up fro the challenge. The Inverters communicate via Canbus Comms & that needs Twisted & shielded cable as a prerequisite. 

Correct what you stating there , and , yes, @Steve87 has confirmed that for SunSynk and MKS/MAX style Axperts , you can configure individual machines for true 3-phase functionality. Sharing of PV power amongst the three becomes a bit of a challenge when the load priority is Solar-Utility- Battery . But in Solar-Battery-Grid mode the sharing is excellent . Any phase that has extra PV power , over and above its own needs,  will make it available on the common battery bus , and the other machines will 'skim' this 'fat' off the battery bus , without any power flowing into or out of the battery itself.! An example of how powerful and simplistic  the way DC blending works.
 

With this setup parallel needs to be ticked. That's how the other inverters will know to recieve BMS info from the one where the BMS is connected to. 
So each will be set as master, different modbus and phases as currently done, but parallel needs to be ticked on all . 

As you can see there parallel is ticked. 

I installed the combination in Oct-23 and so far no complaints from client system running as expected. Link to the installation.
 

Im using 5,32kw.  No issues with comms or anything

Thanks.
No, unfortunately. I live in an appartment, and we have a gen for the building.
 
So my story goes like this (if you have the time, lol):
I'm an elec engineer, and the general idea with people is that engineers know everything, which we dont. When it comes to anything solar, the assumption is made very strongly that we know everything. Trust me, we dont!!!
 
So I had a family member ask me to take a look at his Sunsynk install which was done by a fly by night installer. The system was not saving him any money. He assumed I know everything as I said above. In anycase I did the research and started learning the system and figured I actually enjoyed this stuff. I managed to fix his system, pointed out the errors and its working like a charm. Got the work modes, timers etc sorted.
 
Word got out that I can fix and set inverters and solar setups and fast forward 6 months, and here we are. I've done consults for people on how to make their setup better, also consults for guys looking to go solar and also fixing up many messups made by installers. It is unreal the amount of people that are getting scammed with installers that do shoddy work. Theres also a lot of installers that are really good at installing, but really bad at setting things up to work and get a quick payback time. 
 
 
I'm not going to say that I know my stuff. I think I have a lot of stuff to learn. A lot! I mean it.
I do it for free, and I hope to learn from this forum.
 
 
If you've read up till here on this reply, thanks! LOL sorry for the long post.
 

Thanks.
No, unfortunately. I live in an appartment, and we have a gen for the building.
 
So my story goes like this (if you have the time, lol):
I'm an elec engineer, and the general idea with people is that engineers know everything, which we dont. When it comes to anything solar, the assumption is made very strongly that we know everything. Trust me, we dont!!!
 
So I had a family member ask me to take a look at his Sunsynk install which was done by a fly by night installer. The system was not saving him any money. He assumed I know everything as I said above. In anycase I did the research and started learning the system and figured I actually enjoyed this stuff. I managed to fix his system, pointed out the errors and its working like a charm. Got the work modes, timers etc sorted.
 
Word got out that I can fix and set inverters and solar setups and fast forward 6 months, and here we are. I've done consults for people on how to make their setup better, also consults for guys looking to go solar and also fixing up many messups made by installers. It is unreal the amount of people that are getting scammed with installers that do shoddy work. Theres also a lot of installers that are really good at installing, but really bad at setting things up to work and get a quick payback time. 
 
 
I'm not going to say that I know my stuff. I think I have a lot of stuff to learn. A lot! I mean it.
I do it for free, and I hope to learn from this forum.
 
 
If you've read up till here on this reply, thanks! LOL sorry for the long post.
 

Hi Everyone.
 
Newbie here.
I have a fair bit of knowledge on inverter setup etc. Not a pro, but I love learning.
I dont have any ESS setup of my own. I have learnt by helping others only. I have also learnt by correcting many installations for people. No monetary gain, just for kicks and knowledge.
 
I will say that the information on this forum is vast and invaluble. I hope I can also contribute.
 
I will be asking many questions.
Hope to keep learning from here....

Welcome here. Always keen to learn from those that are working on inverters on a regular basis. 

Welcome to the forum! 👋

Hi Everyone.
 
Newbie here.
I have a fair bit of knowledge on inverter setup etc. Not a pro, but I love learning.
I dont have any ESS setup of my own. I have learnt by helping others only. I have also learnt by correcting many installations for people. No monetary gain, just for kicks and knowledge.
 
I will say that the information on this forum is vast and invaluble. I hope I can also contribute.
 
I will be asking many questions.
Hope to keep learning from here....

Hi Everyone.
 
Newbie here.
I have a fair bit of knowledge on inverter setup etc. Not a pro, but I love learning.
I dont have any ESS setup of my own. I have learnt by helping others only. I have also learnt by correcting many installations for people. No monetary gain, just for kicks and knowledge.
 
I will say that the information on this forum is vast and invaluble. I hope I can also contribute.
 
I will be asking many questions.
Hope to keep learning from here....