wolfandy

Your panel voltage is too low to keep the MPPT consistently running. If you can't add more panels, then swapping the panels is your only option.. No, there should not be anything else required other than a straight swap of the panels on the roof. Just double check that your breakers and protection are able to handle the specs of your new panels, but unless your original installed used something very odd I would expect you to be ok. If you want, post the specs of the new panels you are considering here - and we can take a look.

Panel performance derates as the panel temperature increases. So on cold sunny days you will get higher performance than on hot summer days

I can highly recommend @Leshen

The MPPTs on the 5kW Sunsynk can handle max 13A. Anything above that gets clipped. Based on your panels VMP, you will max produce 408W per panel (31.4V x 13A). So any panel with an IMP around 13A will do. In theory you can mix panels, but it is a whole mess. I would advise against it.

Have a look here for some feedback from another user that is already feeding back to CoCT. Am also contemplating of applying for feeding back, but am not sure if it makes financial sense.

I disconnect myself from the grid to eliminate the trickle feed of my Sunsynk to synch with the grid as well as not be exposed to the voltage swings of Eskom throughout the day. If I see that my batteries will not last me throughout the night, then I reconnect to the grid. I use a 63A smart breaker for that, which is connected between my main breaker and my inverter feed breaker

Thanks. I'm also in CPT - but I was not aware of that limit. That significantly reduces the attractiveness of selling back power to CoCT as it increases the payback duration of the investment required to be able to sell back. How much roughly did you have to invest for the bi-directional meter and the registration? I was planning to also get everything up and running to sell power back to CoCT, but reading this I am not sure if it is really worth it. By when do you think you will have recovered your investment for selling back?

Nice 🙂 I'm also at the moment trying to get my system registered for feeding back. My system also gets throttled by lunchtime, so also have lots of wasted potential generation... Where are you based? And where is this export limit coming from?

Private household and I am in CPT and on a prepaid meter. My monthly account from CoCT includes R245.03 + VAT for 'Electricity Home User Charge'. So this is what I pay only to have a connection to my house, irrespective of whether I use it or not.

I surely can't be the only one here that has broken the 1 Megawatt-Hour for the month 😜

I'm running SolarAssistant on a Pi 4B and a 128GB SD card

If you already have this at home, then I would suggest using this. If you want to use a physical remote with it, you have 2 options: Sonoff RF Bridge and a RF remote. With the bridge you can use RF remotes in your system and you can assign the desired actions to the remote in the Ewelink app. Sonoff Zigbee Bridge and Zigbee remote button. Same as above - the bridge lets you add Zigbee devices to your system and you can assign the desired actions to the remote in the Ewelink app. I personally would go Zigbee as it is the more modern standard and will also allow you to use other Zigbee devices. I have a few of those remote buttons around the house for different things (short click = switch a certain device on, long click = switch the device off). Downside of Zigbee is the more limited range inside a house.

Hi all does anyone know what the latest firmware for 5kW Sunsynk is? Would like to compare to what I am currently running and understand if it worth the hassle of going through the upgrade

Hi all wasn't sure if I should post this in the Inverter or Battery section. I am running 2x Suynsynk 5kW and 5x Pylontech (1x US3000C as master and 4x US3000A). My system was running smoothly for months. After a recent Sunsynk firmware update (not by choice, but one of my inverters went in for repairs and came back with an update firmware - so I had to also update the other one) to Comm: E433 and MCU: 3384-0513, I have been problems with my system after my batteries are fully charged. The PV does not track the Load anymore. Instead, PV is throttled to below Load for a while and Battery is used to supplement. Then PV ramps up again to recharge Battery. This cycle repeats. and This obviously is not healthy for my batteries. After raising this with Sunsynk, their feedback is: 'The difference between the battery current and BMS current is too large. Please contact the battery engineer to check the battery and upgrade the battery firmware.' As my system has been previously been running smoothly, I struggle to see a bit how this is the Pylon firmware's fault (since I did not make any changes to them). I am currently running and I have reached out to Pylontech Support with this and requested the latest firmware. I have lost track where here in the forum I can find the latest firmware. Is @Youda's post from 02 Feb still the latest? And should I upgrade my Pylons as per Sunsynk Support? Or does anyone else have any other views?

Anything connected as non-essentials is connected to the main DB board before your inverter. You can connect whatever you want on that side - it is fed directly from your incoming Eskom mains and not the inverter. Inverters like the Sunsynk will push excess PV back to your main DB to help reduce the Eskom consumption of your non-essentials, but obviously only to the max inverting capacity of the inverter (minus whatever your essentials are using at that point). The balance will come from Eskom mains AC overload fault should only occur when your consumption through the inverter (essentials + Aux) exceeds the inverters rating (inverting capacity if mains are down, inverting capacity plus passthrough when mains are available)

Just to be a bit more specific - the common busbar will allow all systems to measure the battery voltage, not SOC

Correct But as each inverter has 2 MPPT, with 2 inverters in parallel you then have 4 MPPT with each 13A available

You don't wire individual circuits to individual inverters. You wire your whole essential DB board to both inverters in parallel. Same with your batteries. You connect your batteries to a busbar and connect the battery-in for each inverter to the busbar. Paralleled inverters share both the load as well as the batteries - no individual connections (assuming you have a single-phase system - different story for 3-phase system) When everything is wired correctly as above, they will split the load automatically. See my system below:

The R10k+ for getting the required meter and engineering drawings required for the application (to my understanding) is what in my view is killing it I have spare PV capacity in my system to feed back to the grid for most of the year. In summer probably around 15kWh a day, in winter less. But at the current rate the city is paying, it will take me 5 years or so to recover the initial capital required Why would I do that??? I do remember, though, reading comments from the CoCT that they understand that the cost of the meter is very high and that they are looking for cheaper alternatives, so maybe there is hope for the future

+1 on Solar Shop. Have bought inverters as well as a couple of Pylons from them in the past. And their price includes shipping (which for Inverter Warehouse I think still needs to be added)

If you want a single device, then I would suggest the SONOFF Smart Stackable Power Meter Alternatives would be 4x Sonoff POW (either 16A or 20A). Using these, I do not see a real risk of their time settings getting out of synch as they all rely on the same server

Thanks Any idea about changes in this version?

Have you switched off the inverter via the button on the bottom? After I made changes to my system last time, it also gave me an error message and did not go into Normal mode. Briefly switching off the inverters (after disconnecting load and PV) got everything working again. Seemed just to have been a hick-up...

Most inverters will disconnect the grid if outside specified parameters On my Sunsynk I felt that the standard parameter range was a bit too wide, so I manually set tighter limits Same for the Sonoff POW range I actually have a 63A smart breaker right after my incoming mains and am running disconnected from the mains for most of the time. As a result, my inverter does not follow the voltage swings of the mains but rather provides 'clean' 230V to my house. Only when I see that my batteries might not be able to carry me through the night do I reconnect to the grid

Looks like a good starting point. As mentioned, you need to play around a bit. See how you run with these settings - and then tweak when you see that something does not work the way you want it Correct To me this is normal and to my understanding the batteries are built for this. Especially happens on days when you have overcast weather this happens. Like my day today: I am using Sonoffs on my major consumers (heat pump, 2nd geyser, pool pump) to manage by major consumers only to come on when usually I have sufficient PV. A normal day for me looks like this: I do not believe this is possible only for a specific time. 'Prioritize load' is the relevant setting - but if I am not mistaken this can only be set globally