GreenFields

Is there any specific reason to use a panel with specs that are basically at the edge of the inverter's limits? Even if it works fine and never fails, there are other options of approx 555W panels that have around 14A Isc (typically approx Voc=49.5V, Vmp=41V, Imp=13.5A). You could put 16 of those 555W panels onto your inverter - 8 panels per MPPT input - and will always be well within the specified parameters, leaving less room for warranty disputes.

Okay, but if the BMS is faulty, it might not be performing the function of limiting the loading on the battery. It would be interesting to know what exact inverter, and what size and number of batteries were in use.

Maybe a stupid question, but does your water drum have any kind of hole at the top to let in air at atmospheric pressure? Or is it a closed vessel?

Possibly the CT coil that is reading a lower current value than what is actually flowing in from grid. Could be from cable extension or interference. Maybe try to turn a major non-essential appliance on and off to see what the difference is in readings inward. For example, if you turn on a 3kW geyser element, but you just register for example 2.5kW jump in loads, while all else remains equal, this might be part of the issue.

Fair points but I still don't see compelling reasons to opt for the 605W panel. I'm just comparing two panels now from the Powerforum site, as of today: A: Canadian Solar 605W Super High Power Mono PERC HiKU7 with EVO2 at R1897.50 Incl. VAT B: Canadian Solar 555W Super High Power Mono Perc HiKu6 with MC-4 EVO2 and New-Frame Length at R1674.40 Incl VAT. To be fair there are other brands and other versions of Canadian Solar panels to consider, but in this case I can't see the 605W panel being better, for the following reasons. 1. To cater for overcast days you can over-panel the 5kW inverter with for example 5 or 6x555W per MPPT, and then the inverter will cap AC output to 5kW and DC to 6.5kW. With the 605W panel you just don't fall as neatly and symmetrically into a configuration near to the inverter's rated parameters, leading to possibly more wastage. 2. The price per Watt is lower on the 555W panel than on the 605W panel. This might not always be the case, but it is today. 3. As I said, on sunny days at mid-day the 605W panel should be capped to around 460W output per panel because you can never reach Imp. 4. With say 5 or 6 of the 605W panels, your operating Voltage is on the lower end of the inverter's optimum range. Not impossible to run, but possibly less efficient, especially on cloudy days. 41.5Voc and 35.1Vmp at STC. 5. The Isc of the panel being above the inverter's rated maximum Isc, as said above by others. The bottom line, maybe someone will do it with the 605W, and maybe it will sort of work okay and wastefully and with risk, but there are better-suited panel options for the 5kW Deye that are more of a no-brainer to me.

After all that, I'm still curious as to why there's this desire to fit a panel with 17A Imp on an inverter that is rated for 13A. It just seems like a waste of money and roof space because of 25% of the panel's rated capacity that can never be used.

My 2c, the simplest to avoid getting lost in terminology and how it gets applied, is in SA to speak of an aircon for room temperature control and making sure in the specs it has dual heating and cooling functions. Many modern aircons do anyway. In other parts of the world an aircon seems to refer to cooling-only devices, as opposed to heat pumps that are ducted for both heating and cooling of rooms, so it's effectively usable all year round. And as you said, a heat pump in SA generally refers to air-to-water-heat transfer devices, but you also get heat pump tumble driers that transfer heat from air-to-air. But nobody calls his fridge a heat pump though it works on a similar air-to-air principle just with the heat transfer directed outward of the appliance.

Check whether you're in battery priority work mode, and if so, try using load priority. Also, if you are in "selling" mode, change it to something like Zero Export to Home or Zero Export to Load and see if the behaviour is as you expect it. Not 100% clear if this will solve your issue, but these are the settings I use, and it works as you would expect it, with using max solar power first, and then battery.

Naja, es gibt hier einige, die einen Deye Wechselrichter besitzen (diverse Groessen, aehnliches Verhalten bei Allen), einige Installierer, und auch welche, die Dyness Speichern benutzen. Ich wuerde vorschlagen, hier generell auf Englisch zu schreiben, falls sich einige nicht die Muehe machen wollen, Dein Text zu uebersetzen. Dann wuerd' ich sagen, geb' die komplette Einstellungen auf jedem Bildschirm durch, Li-BMS Bildschirmdaten, und die BMS Fehlerbeschreibungen. Beginnend mit Fehlercodes, die im Wechselrichter sind, F-codes wie z.B. F20, usw. Erste Vermutung, ohne dass ich wirklich weiss, ist dass Du mit annaeherendem Winter weniger Sonne hast, weniger Stromerzeugung, und dementsprechend zunehmend auf Batterie als Quelle angewiesen bist. Du scheinst mir mit 4x50Ah Speicher mit zu wenig Kapa unterwegs zu sein fuer den 12kW Deye, bzw. normalerweise bestens mit 4*25A=100A bestens laedst und entlaedst, unter Umstaenden aber nicht ueblicherweise mit bis zu 4x50A=200A, und bei 4x55A=220A werden die Speicher schon automatisch ausschalten. Das waeren dann so bei etwa 10.5kW, waehrend Dein WR bis 12kW ziehen kann. Besser waere, die Entlade-Einstellungen im WR auf 100A zu kuerzen, bis mehr Speicher beigefuegt werden kann, und/oder die Akkus auf Schade wegen Ueberladung getestet werden koennen. Vielleicht mal kurz auf den Work Mode "Selling First" wechseln, damit Du ueberpruefen kannst, dass Export noch funktioniert, und das Problem eher bei den Speichereinheiten liegt. Oder ich liege hier voellig falsch. Ist auch mal vorgekommen.

Respectfully - really sorry - but for a professional installer this should not even be a topic of discussion, nevermind something he insists on. Two panels in series at most.

It can handle an input from a wind turbine, but then you'd have to probably give up one of the MPPT's, and that would be a waste. As others have said, more panels, say one more panel per string, and add another battery to help carry you through the night. Later maybe a generator for the AUX port. Looking at your system, I'd suggest the battery before anything else because you're probably getting your batteries charged quite early in the day. Would need to see your generation & load curves to know better.

Not stupid, but fortunately straightforward enough. The current at 18A is at a higher Voltage on the input side of the inverter. Typically around 450-500V max voltage on your string of panels, at around 10-20A. The current at 100A is the output at the battery Voltage, typically around 24V or 48V, depending on your system. Power = Voltage x Current. The flow of energy/power remains basically the same throughout from the panels to the battery, but if the output Voltage is lower than the input Voltage, then the current must be higher to maintain the same power.

Gut feeling, if the solar industry is currently in a slump, and prices are low, would be to consider installing the inverter and solar panels anyway, but leave the batteries for later. If it is possible or sensible to export to the grid, then more so. You don't know a year from now if Eskom gets its way with a 40% tariff increase, if there's not going to be a new demand spike and a hike in panel and inverter prices.

Which is the time slot in which you want to charge the batteries from the grid? Let's say the Tibber price is cheap between 01:00 and 05:00, then you need to tick the grid charge box against that time slot. Wichtig, you also need to set the SOC - State-of-Charge - in that time slot to a higher value like 100% if you want it to be charged full from grid. Then for all the other times slots, the solar and battery will be used first, until the battery is drained down to 20%.

Other comment, if you have got a bi-directional meter installed, there is no reason to keep the grid trickle feed at 20W in the inward direction. Just set it to 0 (zero). You are no longer trying to prevent a back-feed of power to the grid/meter.

A couple of points: 1. You are using the grid-charge in every time slot, 1,2,3,4,5&6. This means that, since you are using the timer activated, that you are setting your grid to charge the batteries around the clock. I just don't see your full timer settings anywhere in your images. Might help to post that to see if there's any room for optimisation. In the absence of knowing what your timer settings are, I'd say to just turn of (un-tick) all your grid-charge boxes. 2. Since you said that your entire house is on the inverter, it's not clear whether you meant that the entire home is on the essential-load port, or whether you are in fact putting splitting out some non-essential loads like the heat pump onto the grid port. Please confirm, and if in doubt, ask your installer to confirm. Be that as it may, first step, change the work-mode setting to "Zero Export, Limit to Load Only." This will eliminate the current situation where the CT Coil is determining how much power to try to export. Basically, something looks wrong with your CT coil. Either it is installed the wrong way around, and is possibly treating your 20W grid-trickle feed like an export. Otherwise, it could be that you have a similar situation like I had, which was that the CT coil's cable may have been manually extended if your inverter is placed more than 15-20 meters away from the DB board, in which case it's possible that the CT coil's output is indicating a lower current than what is actually flowing. Bottom line, change to zero export to load first, and see if the behaviour changes to be more like something that you would expect to see.

Yes, once your battery is full, it will send surplus solar power to the grid. But no battery power goes to grid. If you choose the selling first priority, coupled with the Time-of-Use timer, you will be selling solar and battery power. As @Bobster. said, I assume your municipal approval to export to the grid is granted, but that's your business.

They do, it's the same inverter basically with the same hardware and functions, just a different interface.

You need to change your work mode settings. I only know the setting mode names in terms of the Deye-brand inverter, but right now you are in the "Selling First" mode. You should best change over to the mode "Zero Export to CT," and then tick the "Solar Sell" box, and tick the "Load Priority" box. Or whatever the equivalent name is for the work mode settings in the Sunsynk-brand inverter.

Jy sal meer inligting moet verskaf in terme van die presiese vervaardiger en model-nommers van jou inverter en panele. Sommer die batterye s'n ook. Dit help als om die spesifikasies van die komponente met mekaar in lyn te kry.

You should understand the Watt rating as the performance measured under a standardised set of test conditions in a laboratory. Using a standard amount of radiation, standard temperature, direct 90 degree angle of the rays, etc. You might get better performance under special conditions like icy-cold temperatures, or reflecting extra light onto the panels with mirrors. Usually these conditions are temporary, or the design of the panels should factor it in because it's a known phenomenon, or they are mitigated for by the inverter, up to a point.

Will the inverter be connected with a grid input? If so, it can pass through grid power if the inverter happens to be fully loaded and the surge comes on top. The inverter and batteries in any case have a surge rating to handle this type of spike if you're running off-grid. You could maybe consider a pressure tank if the pump is serving two households. That would rather be for the benefit of saving the pump from continuous start-ups.

Personal 2c' worth. You are right, a 3kVA system is fairly small. I'm estimating if it's a 8x300w panels or thereabouts, you could expect approx 12kWh per day coming from the panels, with a further 4 or 5 kWh coming from purchases. For a small household, with solar geyser and maybe cooking from gas, that could be approaching plausibility, although the pool pump is making it a bit of a stretch. It's good for bare essentials during loadshedding, maybe one major appliance running at a time.Anyway, you've got as you say, quite reputable brand-name equipment there, and it would almost be a shame to get rid of it. It's scalable, possible to add a second of the same inverter in parallel, and additional 2.4kWh or 5kWh Pylontech batteries in parallel. I'd start there, with quotes to double up on your existing kit, to benchmark against a 5kW Deye. All depending on your actual power needs.

I think you're fundamentally under-powered, even with the planned increase in panels. My estimate, 750W of panels, and double the battery capacity. And that's if you're using an MPPT controller rather than a cheaper PWM controller.

What if it's not just you at risk? Recall that on 6th May a building collapsed, right there in George, and 62 people lost their lives. What if your roof caves in while you're entertaining guests? If you have a domestic or a gardener at home by day, who is going to support their families if a breadwinner is injured by debris from the roof collapsing? Will the manufacturer of the trusses carry liability for loss of life and limb? Is it fair on the life insurance company to pay out millions for someone who chose to go his own way. If the aunty on the bike dies with her child, some driver's going to be traumatized and need therapy. I know I would, even if it was maybe not my fault she died. I'm sort of just making this up, not saying it's you or that it will happen. But I know that when NMBM started on its SSEG programme, they were clear in the applications that relevant building standards and local by-laws would have to be upheld, for anything incidental from structural integrity to noise levels from wind turbines, etc. I just hoped that SARS wouldn't wake up to realise I have a new source of deemed taxable income, or for NMBM to require me to register business rights or something silly.