GreenFields

Would've had to set Battery Priority or set TOU grid charge, neither of which I wanted. Details are fuzzy. Suggest really you experiment yourself. I just know it's not the same.

Rather always connect the external CT coil when you are connected to the grid, and especially if you have non-essential loads connected. There is a clear difference between "Selling First" and using Zero Export to Load or to CT with "Solar Sell" enabled. It relates to the immediate flow of power to/from the battery, and you'll notice a difference when changing between the battery priority or load priority settings. With "Selling First" you could export without charging the battery, it will stay at its level and slowly lose charge with inverter self-consumption. With Zero Export + Solar Sell modes, you could set your battery to charge by through the TOU settings, and the solar sell will be delayed or given a lower priority until your battery's requirements are met. Or something like that. Haven't done it in a while. You could play around with settings to confirm.

My understanding was that in the Northern Cape only has a small transmission line that is already saturated with PV. Even if you could fill the Karoo with panels you couldn't really power the mines and smelters on it without massive investment in the grid. But that would leave room still for battery storage to supply through the three-quarters of the day, night and evening and morning, when the sun's power is either low or absent.

Still awaiting the afternoon pic to be more sure. But from what's seen here, it's very likely with 135V, that you've got the wrong type of panel installed. Vmp on the typical Canadian Solar or JA Solar or Jinko panels of that size is around 42V, so 42x4 would give you around 165V. If your panels heat up, or as the MPPT shifts closer to Vmp of 31.4 per panel, you're likely to be bordering on the inverter's shut-down Voltage of 125V. If you install just one panel more that should dramatically improve the reliability of power generation throughout the day to around 10-12kWh, but you'd still be faced with the issues of being over the inverter manufacturer's short-circuit current protection specs, and that your peak generation will be limited by the 13A limit of the inverter. That's your cheapest option, but I'd still suggest to start over with 4 new panels. Except if your afternoon pic shows something entirely different.

It's possible, the difference has to be low, but just the Wattage isn't the full picture. Panel Voltage specs must be compared, and this can vary even if Watts are similar.

Try this: On the inverter's screen, find the Status Page, and then give the values for Volts in the blocks for Solar Power 1 & 2. My guess is it's around 125Volts, give or take a bit, when the sun is shining.

Please confirm the exact make & model of your Trina solar panel, or take a pic of the back data label on your panel. Just a quick Google Search, and I found this Trina Solar 545W panel: This panel is not suitable on your 5kW Sunsynk inverter. Even if you put on more panels to increase the Voltage and get it to start up, the problem is that the current rating (Imp and Isc) of that panel is too high. On the assumption/risk that you could have this panel - again, you should please check and confirm, and if it's indeed the same, then get an entirely new set of suitable panels. It's not about the brand or the Wattage, in this case it would be about the current. Maximum rated power 545W Voc 37.7V Vmp 31.4V Isc 18.52A Imp 17.37A Efficiency 20.90% Mechanical warranty 12 years Linear output warranty 25 years Supplier SKU TSM-DE19-545

I rather wouldn't do that. These panels are connected in series, and if you add another panel onto the string, you'd be skirting with the upper end of the allowable Open-circuit Voltage. @CaziquesYou cannot add any more panels in series. The issue as I see it on this series setup is the current limitation that the less-sunny panels could place on the more-sunny panels at any time of day. Improvement should be to place all the panels facing in the same direction, either all North or all West, if it should remain in series. Option 1. Assuming you have enough space in one direction to fit all the panels. Otherwise if you want to place them in parallel, Option 2, then drop one panel from the West-side string, or add one more to the North string, to keep it to the same number, 5+5, or 4+4. Not a mix and match of different numbers either side. Note it's also not clear what's the maximum current input on the MPPT from the specs, but the installer can check that. The simplest to solve all these issues is probably to use a Sunsynk, maybe a 5kW, like the installer suggested, Option 3, but it might not be the cheapest. Then you can go with up to 6 panels per MPPT, but I think 4 North and 5 West will be just fine, as long as you split them into two separate series strings, one per MPPT.

Although if you say "backup load" it somewhat implies there's a backup battery for that port. Just not exactly explicit, I'll give you that.

I don't think you should be looking at upgrading before checking what's the optimum configuration for the current panels, or how to improve the output using what you've got. 4 Panels North and 5 West on what looks like a single-MPPT inverter could be sub-optimal. Please give details on how they are connected. Are they in series or parallel? Either way it could explain your poor output of 2kW on 4.8kW of panels in summer. Also info on your loads at the same time if it can be drawn onto one graph.

First thought is that the CT coil could have been fitted the wrong way around during the upgrade installation.

On the Battery Setting screen there's a setting for Max A Charge. As above, setting it to 15-20A should be okay since you've got lots of solar panels relative to battery power to keep charging throughout the day. A further benefit of this, since you're exporting, is that if you can set it up to still do some battery charging at around 15-20A at mid day, you can hopefully make use more of the full 6300W. If your batteries are already full by 9am, you'll only be generating 5000W of power for self-use and export at noon.

Go check the value under the battery setting menu. That there is the baseline/universal/global setting of maximum discharge on your setup. It is valid whether you run in time-of-use mode or as a ups. Not 100% sure if this would solve your issue.

Would that be under the battery settings or the time of use setting?

For the amount of battery capacity you want, I'd consider just to make the jump straight to a 48V system and shop around for the best offers for a 5kWh battery and 5kW offgrid inverters around.