Yellow Measure

It should not be too much of a hassle if not, can easily be made up. Nothing special about MC4 solar panel connectors or the coaxial power connector (also known as a DC barrel connector).

Agreed. And if the feedback rates improve, those with large battery banks and oversized arrays could consider selling or wheeling themselves.

Flexibility, if / when adding another possibly larger inverter which could fulfil the role of grid.

6-7 years ago Sunsynk was top of the pops, the darling of installers and homeowners alike. That honeymoon period has expired and lots of water has passed under the bridge. Their South African country manager (David Drake at the time) made written promises of loaner units for repairs / swop-out under warranty, which were later dishonored and rescinded, and which left a bad taste in many people's mouths. The Sunsynk is not a bad inverter at all, I have one that hasn't skipped a beat for the past 6+ years. I have another that had a calibration issue since day one, which ought to have been returned under warranty, but I haven't done it (since 4 years ago) because it would inconvenience the client to be without a unit for the 6-8 weeks that it takes to decommission, ship, await repairs, reship and re-install. It's OK, does what it says on the box, but today it is hardly worth the price premium. If I were to turn the clock back, in hindsight the Deye would have been the better choice (at the time). If I were to do the same installations again today, I would rather install a Solis S6 series, far better support and warranty, and far more advanced technically than any Deye / Sunsynk, as well as a far cheaper price. Moreover they are a Tier-1 manufacturer with an excellent global reputation vs the Sunsynk / Deye's tier-2/3 status (at best). Let me put it this way: If my own personal Sunsynk blows up today, I wouldn't even shop around, I would gladly replace it with a Solis S6 in a heartbeat. The 16K Solis S6 made its debut in April this year, the 5, 6, 8 and 12K quite a few months earlier than that. Check out Powerforumstore's reviews on the S6 range, they are great.

You make a good point, I was seeing it as an off-grid portable point solution, and it can only function as an off-grid inverter if it is Franken-monstered into a "solar house". Not impossible, but potentially troublesome. It's still overpriced though, compared to the far more extensible and feature-rich the Hinen / Knyee combo at R18,342.50: 11.4kW solar input vs 6.5kW ; 2x low amperage MPPT vs 1x high amperage MPPT; Parallel capable; Hybrid connection possible vs off-grid; Integrated Type II DC SPD & Type III AC SPD (amazing!); Built-in aerosol fire extinguisher; 10-Year Warranty vs 5 on inverter only. Power Forum Renewable Energy Store | By Powerforum.co.zaHinen H6000-EU 6kW Hybrid Inverter + Knyee ES-LV-5 5.12kW...Combo DEAL: Hinen H6000-EU 6kW Hybrid Inverter + Knyee ES-LV-5 5.12kWh Wall-Mounted Battery Combo High Performance Ultra-Quiet Advanced Safety 10Year Warranty

No floodlights, security cameras, electric fence and alarm systems running 01H30-04H00? 🤔

This is cheaper, same size battery, half the wattage but more than enough for TV and laptop.

Powerforumstore. https://powerforum-store.co.za/collections/batteries

You reminded me of something quite important, which I forgot: Whilst house-hunting during 2019, I made a point of only viewing properties with: a clear W-->N<--E view; and 0 degree azimuth (10-15 degrees max either side); and a roof that can take 24+ panels. I did not have to look long for a suitable home, and having made my wishlist upfront helped a lot.

I have a Sunsynk 5K, 6kWp on roof since 2020, and recently upgraded storage to 32K Hina (Knyee white-label), been off-grid since January 2026. I have been optimising usage and current drain over the past 6 years: Outdoor heatpump for hot water; Gas stove, oven is still AC, but I built a Pizza oven outside (and a whole outdoor kitchen too!); Added 2x Inverter aircons (24000 + 18000 BTU); Gas heater; Slowly migrated current hungry devices, like firewall / router / NAS / security cameras / NVR to fanless low current models; Don't operate Class-A amplifiers continuously, or moved to Class-D. Next on the list is the fridge freezer, eyeing a Bosch AAA+ model. Optimising a power budget is basically the same as running a bank account: You either create more income, or you cut / replace expenses, or a combination.

Indeed, even the Tesla Powerwall 3 has a charge rating of 0.37C and a discharge rating of 0.85C.

And that's how savings are achieved, whilst balancing lifestyle options. It uses the solar panels' DC in a super-efficient way to heat the water, but ensures that, regardless of solar conditions, you and you family will always have a warm shower (even if you have to pay extra for it). It's still just a better mousetrap though, and will suffice if you have zero aspirations of becoming completely independent from the municipality for electricity.

...if the temperature of the water in the geyser is insufficient. Otherwise it will do nothing. ...if the temperature of the water in the geyser is insufficient after a whole day of using the DC power from solar. Any "smart" system is fallible, you always need an override.

How does that help the Elon decide on whether to use DC or AC to power the geyser?

FYI: I am not the OP. And according to the product write-up (which is publicly available BTW) it's a little more complex than that, apparently it analyses usage patterns, time of day and other factors.

It doesn't, it uses a "smart" thermostat to choose whether or not to drive the existing element via DC, or to use AC from the grid.

Hello @holtand is there something that we can assist you with?

After reading your posts, and understanding your approach (and limited budget), I think that it's worthwhile to think about the ultimate end-state as well as "systems thinking" in your visioning. First-off: Good on you for focusing on the biggest culprit, and the area where the most possible gains can be realised. Secondly, be mindful that you don't lose your peripheral vision in the process. People with limited budgets can rarely, if ever, create their dream system in one big bang. Each component is one building block of the bigger system, like a grain of sand in the mortar, the mortar holding one brick to another, a brick in a wall of bricks, a wall in a room, a room in a house, and a house in a home. Each component should be reusable. Even wealthier people make this mistake, and those that aren't as wealthy are prone to do so because of "sticker shock", or they limit their big-picture thinking because they are either 1) unable to prioritise their spending, or are 2) unable to see how the gradual spending / investment of smaller amounts eventually adds up to total independence from the Socialist Eskom / municipality. 6 years ago this wasn't my own goal, but in January the greedy socialist municipality forced me to choose it, at very little cost to myself because the foundation was solid. Today you are solving one problem, but tomorrow will bring another, and so your solution needs to be extensible and not just a "point" or standalone solution. A parallel can be drawn to those that purchase Mecer trolleys to "keep the TV on" during loadshedding. It was a great solution at the time, for short periods of outage, but the downsides were that it was clunky, required a place to stay and trip-me-over extension leads, emitted explosive hydrogen gases, produced motor-killing square waves and was subject to the shallow cycles and maintenance requirements of lead-acid batteries. Woe betide anyone who had a surge-protector after the inverter, or who had plugged them into wall sockets when the power returned. When load-shedding intensified, some people simply bought more of them, so we found households with two or three of them. Those who were smart enough to realise that Eskom's inability to keep the lights on, as well as their constant billion rand bail-outs and price increases was endemic to Socialist agenda, went for solutions earlier on that were more extensible and could be upgraded without risk of the big BOOM! Granted that point solutions have their place: a 10,000mAh power bank is useful and portable, and can be repurposed in hundreds of different ways, but it isn't a power or money saver. Many who have had solar-powered geysers before installing a full-blown integrated solar system argue that in hindsight, precious North-facing roof space used by the solar geyser heating system would be better served if they could replace it with traditional solar panels, purely because the electricity generated could be redeployed to either charge batteries or service other loads Someone who seems to have achieved his clear objectives (off-grid!) in record time, and very limited budget is @Denns in his post https://powerforum.co.za/topic/34183-exciting-long-term-review-new-hubble-energy-am16-am5-in-a-real-micro-grid-setup/#findComment-230500 You can bet that he didn't arrive at it all in one month though, so I leave it to him to expand on his journey and budget, which I am sure that you will find to be inspirational.

Indeed, especially when they are a mix of LiFEPO4 and NMC. Impressive.

And I discovered some more treasure! https://sonoffafrica.co.za/treasure/

My goodies have arrived! 😎 Thank you once again @Powerforum Store @Energy-Jason and @Sonoff Africa !

Yes. But now I have some work to do to pull neutrals, and Sonoff devices are really cool in that they can be flashed with open-source firmware, so I'm not restricted to eWeLink, so after that I will probably be diving down the rabbit-hole of eWeLink / Zigbee / Tasmota. So basically what I am saying is don't expect a quick response 😎 😄

Thank you @Energy-Jason , @Powerforum Store and @Sonoff Africa !

Yippee!

I don't understand how overcharge occurred. Did you have comms between the Sunsynk and the batteries, or were you using voltage to determine SoC?