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Same conclusion here. Opted to spend a much smaller portion of the initial battery budget, to add more solar panels instead, then shifted high energy loads (like cleaning appliances) to sun hours where possible. Batteries are dimensioned to be sufficient for stage 8 load shedding. Any remaining budget, allocate to debt (like a bond, calculate the interest saving over the same time as recovering cost on the batteries) or investment.

Congrats on the install Gambit! This happened to me as well in 2020, got the system commissioned as the load shedding reduced. There is always that Eskom mains breaker in your DB that can be flicked to the off position in order to simulate load shedding. Pick a stage as per the known schedule and imitate the Eskom incompetence by switching off your utility feed, did that a couple of times myself 😄 It actually ended up helping with a bit of troubleshooting and optimisation before the actual load shedding kicked in again 😉

Thanks for sharing TimCam. Having resellers provide sufficient after-sale service would be ideal, as that is in essence part of why they add their markup, but it's far from reality in my experience and looking at sites like Hello Peter, for many people across most industries. In the following instances my reseller/installer couldn't help me and I ended up having to deal with the manufacturer to prevent matters getting lost in translation and spending much unnecessary time due to the middle man: 1. Vehicle purchased from a large independent car sales company (team who was servicing the extended warranty maintained a recurring problem was normal behaviour, I took direct contact with the manufacturer, who eventually managed to resolve) 2. Solar inverter (local team was helpful, but pointed to wiring problem when fix required a firmware update which I pinpointed with the manufacturer's tech support, saved the re-wiring effort) and batteries (multiple local resellers said Pylontech US3000 and UP5000 were the same apart from capacity, which was incorrect, contacted Pylontech themselves who provided confirmation of the differences in design and thus warranty) 3. Smart plugs that couldn't connect to my WiFi network, resellers blamed the wifi, then I contacted the manufacturer who confirmed Asus Smart Connect not supported by the plugs 4. Replacement projector lamp where resellers maintained the replacement bulb used was of the same specifications as the OEM. Manufacturer confirmed otherwise and bulb had to be swapped. 5. Hard drive compatibility in a surveillance DVR, which the resellers maintained would be fine, yet the drive purchased after checking with them, didn't work. Confirmed by the manufacturer not to be supported. The good manufacturers, resellers and installers that I've dealt with, have welcomed my contact with the manufacturers for joint troubleshooting and learning between all parties. The potential of wasted time and added frustration introduced by not having direct contact with the manufacturer, is not an option for me. As it stands, this unfortunately rules out Sunsynk.

Still no response from the Sunsynksa.co.za team after the multiple attempts to reach them on multiple email addresses. Forwarded the same email to the Sunsynk.com team, who responded the next day, unfortunately without answering any of my questions though, but with readily available PDF product information instead. Dealbreaker for sure.

Also, referring to the heading in the wiring diagram, 'DO-IT-YOURSELF BY YOURSELF' is a massive selling point

Good to hear, thanks. Also won't be using it all the time, only to switch to my Goodwe ES inverter for backup during load shedding. The aim is to bypass inverter backup the rest of the time in order to do away with the essential load capacity limitation while there is utility power. I'm noticing now that the ATS model I see online seems slightly different in appearance, referring to PV & Inverter instead of generator, as the alternate power source. Link below. Based on your experience with the brand, I might just give this a go. https://e-glow.co.za/products/ats-toq5-63a-ac-2p-230vac-tomzn

Thank you for sharing. Checking in more than a year later, how are these units treating you? Would you recommend this model or something else?

Howdy, what ATS did you end up installing?

As far as customer service goes, poor start with Sunsynk unfortunately. I emailed them on two email addresses ([email protected] & [email protected]) with some questions regarding their 8KW inverter, initial mail sent on 18 June with a reminder on 29 June. More than two weeks later, no response... This isn't even for a problem experienced, but for a prospective buyer instead, hence a reply would be much easier to provide.

This is a pity. I can understand that the manufacturer may want to limit the amount of support requests, but there is also an opportunity for more substantial, direct feedback and eventually product improvement and customer satisfaction, when having contact with the end-user. The installer would mostly be the middle man, acting as a relay, delaying the process if the manufacturer has to answer in any case. Thinking of my interaction with multiple installers, once they got paid and the installed system is mostly functional, getting them to prioritise queries, especially for optimisation instead of alarms, while they're busy making money from the next installs, would be a protracted if not futile exercise. This is where direct contact with the manufacturer could be pivotal to a good user experience. Currently I have a Goodwe ES inverter and am in regular contact with their support team. They differentiate between installer and end-user support. Now some might say they don't need to contact the manufacturer for support because their inverters work. So does mine, but by monitoring and discussing potential performance enhancements with the manufacturer, we're close to realising a 10%+ performance increase from the standard configuration during deployment. At the moment I have an ongoing support request with them that will determine whether I remain a Goodwe user or need to change brands, hence investigating Sunsynk. How is the fan noise with a Sunsynk inverter? Some friends and family have Victron Multiplus II inverters and the fans are disappointingly loud for such premium grade pieces of equipment, which really could have included premium grade, quieter fans, especially since those do exist. My inverter is situated right next to a home office and the Goodwe is completely silent, which was one of the reasons for getting it in the first place.

From those with experience using the Sunsynk brand, any reasons not to opt for a Sunsynk inverter / any inverter brand you would recommend instead based on your experience? Reliability and after sales support (also for monitoring, optimisation and answering queries) are crucially important to me.

I just started doing some research to see if it's worth opting for a Sunsynk inverter. These sound like the type of problems I don't want to have to deal with... Would be great to hear if anyone would indeed recommend this brand.

Much appreciated, thanks @Coulomb. The inverter is indeed set to SUB as you suggest. As for the battery voltages, for now I've settled on the values in green.

I'm noticing that Victron specifies the following for these same batteries: https://www.victronenergy.com/live/battery_compatibility:byd_b-box Your absorption voltage aligns with theirs. They have the float voltage at 55, which is only 0.2 less than the absorption voltage. Is this fine? Currently mine are now set as per the yellow section: It's worth mentioning that I'm not using these batteries unless the utility power goes out. There isn't enough capacity to use in the evenings and then make it through loadshedding. The aim is to keep the batteries full and use only during loadshedding here in South Africa. I would of course want them to provide maximum runtime without voiding a warranty or causing damage beyond standard degradation. Are there any risks associated with using 56V bulk like I'm doing now? Should I also lower to 55.2 and if so, could my float be the same or 55 like Victron suggests? Could you please help me understand why your float voltage is at 53.7?

Much appreciated, thanks @Coulomb. You mention: "So I'd use 52.5 x 16/15 = 56.0 V and 51.8 * 16/15 = 55.3 V. (Personally I use 55.2 and 53.7 for my 16S LFP home-made system)." What is the reason you are opting for the lower voltages on your 16S system and would you do the same with these BYD batteries?