LumexClipsal

Hello Everyone, I am pulling this review out of the archives for good reason. It is now almost 3 years later, and my long-term experience with the Solis S6 Pro inverters has been nothing but a pleasure.
These machines are incredibly reliable and robust in every aspect. I have run my full household completely off-grid on these inverters. Previously I used a Sunsynk that simply could not handle the punishment in a true off-grid scenario.
On a single 6kW unit I have successfully run:
Electric lawnmowers, chainsaws, angle grinders
Oil bath & inverter welders
Borehole pumps, drills, impact hammer drills, circulation pumps
Base load of 6 fridges/freezers, air fryer, microwave, electric geyser 2kW element, CCTV 8 cameras, computers, TV, sound system, external LED lights
12,000 BTU aircon (winter and summer)
I regularly pushed the inverter to its limits and used the 200% surge capacity for short bursts. All of this with zero noise from the inverter.
Other successful tests:
Generator integration Grid and Aux port works flawlessly and allows precise throttling of generator power draw.
2kW wind turbine on MPPT (constant voltage mode) and AC-coupled on Aux/backup port. Solis even created a special firmware to improve charging range. Their strong grid-forming capability makes them compatible with sensitive wind grid-tied inverters where others fail.
Parallel operation: Added a second 6kW unit one dedicated to PV, one to wind.
One unit was damaged during extreme experimentation Solis promptly replaced it under warranty. Their after-sales, technical support, and swap-out policy is second to none.
The Micro-Grid capability is absolutely amazing.
Internal transfer losses are almost zero.
I am deep into the experiment right now and will soon be adding a Solis 4.6kW grid-tied inverter into the micro-grid for further testing of TOU functions, charge and discharge rates, etc.
Their new Energy Management System (EMS) soon to be fully AI-powered makes perfect sense for grid-connected systems, from residential all the way to commercial solutions. It lets users set up Peak, Normal, and Off-Peak rates linked to intelligent charge and discharge schedules.
This maximises financial returns by optimising when to charge from the grid or solar, when to discharge to the loads, and when to export.
The upcoming self-learning AI mode will take it even further by automatically predicting solar generation, learning your actual consumption patterns, and making real-time decisions with minimal user input a big step forward for effortless optimisation. Up to this point I can only applaud Solis for a true Tier 1 product in every aspect.
The ability to create a micro-grid with their Hybrid inverters opens up huge potential for users who have multiple houses or buildings on the same property, with distributed batteries, inverters, PV, generator, or wind power systems all running seamlessly together on the same micro-grid.
Firmware upgrades are mostly for new features and battery compatibility.
The system has been so stable I went over a year without updates at times true “install and forget” performance in normal use.
I am now running an 8kW Solis Pro as the grid-forming master for my 6kW Solis Pro using CT clamp from the 6kW on the 8kW backup output. Each has its own battery bank and power source.
I am also planning a formal review of the Solis 5kW Off-Grid models soon.
Strong note: these are currently the only off-grid inverters that are NRS certified. We will be asking Solis for some units to give away.
Highly recommended!

So I thought I would do a quick update on my progress with getting information from my 8kw OmniVolt.

Happy to report that I have everything I need! All up and running when I workout what addresses were... What pain. But I have uploaded a Modbus reference document for all the addresses I used and what they mean, as well as their unit and scale factor... This should be helpful if anyone needs to get their inverter info into HA .

If you find any errors, let me know and I will update it! I am happy to share my config yaml if anyone needs it, as well as my dashboard yaml.
Ignore the fault... The inverter still seems to be acting weird with the SoC of the battery. I currently have it connected through 485, and WOW.

I have attached some screenshots of my dashboard showing everything working . Still lots to mess around with, but this is a good start!

OmniVolt_8kw_SRNE_Modbus_Reference.docx

Morning guys and ladies on the forum. I am feeling much better this morning due to the fact that I am in the medical ward instead of Icu or high care. I just want to take a moment to thank each and everyone for the well wishes and especially @Scorp007 my friend that passed the message on. It is very scary when it happens, can't breath and your heart start racing and you are overcome with anxiety, it goes through your mind is it a heart attack but I thought when it happened it felt like a blood clot same symptom as in Mauritius until I became unconscious. Later semi conscious with all these pipes and monitors. The physician and pulmanologist want to change my blood thinning regime from Xarelto to Warfarin.
Again thanks to all for your support.
God bless

Update from @TaliaB is great news. The blood clot got dissolved a lot quicker than in Mauritius by administering via a drip. He is currently in the high care ward and if all goes well tonight he will be moved to a general ward tomorrow. 🙏🙏🙏

That theory is solid. Precisely how my Solis operates.
Geyser and Oven are the only 2 circuits I classified as non-essential and is wired grid side. All other circuits are on a separate SUB-DB. CT Clamp on incoming grid feed.
Geyser heats up through various ways depending on PV availability. Enough PV and it heats up using solar entirely. Not enough PV it uses a combination of Solar and Battery. Not enough solar and battery (combined), it uses whatever it can from solar, battery and supplements differences from the grid.
If grid is lost, the inverter does not feedback at all to non-essential circuits (by design). For me, that means, Geyser and Oven completely unavailable during grid loss.

Hi,
Unfortunately I have been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and probably don’t have very long to live at all.
Not long ago, my wife and I moved house which has an 8000W Deye hybrid inverter, 6000W in panels and 9,6 KWH in two batteries.
I myself only have very basic knowledge about solar systems and I haven’t really had the energy to see how our system works.
My wife has no knowledge whatsoever and we would really like to be able to leave the solar running with as little interference as possible, i.e. have a system that just takes care of itself.
We have too many panels for our needs, so would like to run the house during the day using the sun, while also charging the batteries to be used when the sun has gone down. I have tested here that some nights we get by without using the grid, but the batteries are at 20 or 30% in the morning, so I don’t know if it’s a good idea to discharge them so much during the night.
We also don’t want to send energy back to the grid and don’t have cheaper energy rates at night.
I was hoping someone could help me to use the right settings so our house can run autonomously without my wife having to do anything. I have looked for someone in my area to help but no one seems to know much about Deye inverters.
I’m pretty scared of having to leave her and running into problems or to be left in the dark.
Any suggestions would be really appreciated, so thanks in advance.

@Powerforum Store - perhaps any specials on panels?

https://powerforum-store.co.za/collections/solar-panels/products/sunova-solar-tier-1-580-watt-black-frame-high-efficiency-half-cell-mono-perc-module
https://powerforum-store.co.za/collections/solar-panels/products/sunova-solar-tier-1-550-watt-black-frame-high-efficiency-half-cell-mono-perc-module
These are black november prices nice discounts on pallet and container orders 
 

Good afternoon forum members,
Update regarding @TaliaBprogress in hospital. I spoke to his wife this morning and was given permission to post what happened his symptoms and his progress. He suffered a pulmonary embolism and had difficultity breathing. He was placed under sedation for the past 2 days and is currently receiving high flow oxygen therapy and was placed on an Streptokinase drip to dissolve the blood clots in his lungs. He is still in high care unit and not out of the woods just yet but doctors are positive of a full recovery after blood clots are dissolved and clears. 
Derek.

He did contact me as well last night & was in high spirits albeit not in the best shape. Godspeed to him & his family in this difficult time. He has been such a massive contributor to this forum & I hope he continues to do so. If I hear from him I will also revert.

I had a nuisance EL trip and only during rain. I tracked my issue down to water ingress on a junction point outdoors for my pool pump. Perhaps your issue may prove to be something similar?

You are right, it's based on light, in fact heat makes the output worse as the voltage sags.
The two big differences in winter are the tilt of the sun with respect to the panels (the sun is effectively further north instead of almost overhead at noon), and the days are shorter.
Obviously the shorter days mean less energy is accumulated over the day. But you were concerned about power.
The tilt means that the sunlight has to travel through more atmosphere, which reduces its amplitude at the earth's surface. The other thing is that the panels are usually less square on to the sunlight. But you can compensate for that by increasing the tilt of your panels. I have a set of 6 with a 45° tilt (latitude is only 27.5°), so that those panels are more square to the sunlight in winter. They're then worse in summer, but because of the other effects, this doesn't matter as much. Of course, most people don't want the hassle of frames, so they just use the tilt of their roof, whatever that is.
The average temperature is obviously lower in winter as well, so that helps a little, but it's swamped by the effect of the tilt and shortness of the days.

Sounds like you don't have a battery hooked up and it's running as grid tied. Without battery, when the sun goes down the inverter powers off even with AC present. This is by design. 

Full sun in summer on the Highveld heats up the panels by a huge margin.
Hot panels drop in efficiency.
 

As indicated you can never get a voltage higher than Voc when the panels are not open circuit. That is the reason they give this voltage. As you draw more power the voltage will sag a bit. The higher the load at the same other factors the lower this voltage will be. Cloud edge will affect the voltage as the panels cooled down a bit while the sun was behind the cloud. 
For sure no need to worry even if you did over spec. This high output is only for a few minutes while the panel temp increases and the output drops. 
High output always goes with high amps and a bit lower volts. 

If well within the voltage specs it shouldn't go "poof". Curious to know though, when folks are seeing way higher than rated output are they seeing voltages going past the advertised Voc or just amps climbing? 

Item: 16x Svolt 184ah Cells & accessories (I have 2 sets of these)
Age: New
Price: R27 000 per set R25 500
Payment Method Accepted: EFT is preferable
Warranty: No
Packaging: Some of the original packaging
Condition: Brand new, unused
Location: Fourways / Kyalami, Johannesburg
Reason: Plans have changed
Shipping: Yes, your cost & risk
Collection: With pleasure
Link: https://altergrid.co.za/product/svolt-184ah-3-2v-lifepo4-blade-battery-cell/
So I was planning on building 2x DIY batteries each consisting of 16 of these Svolt 184ah blade cells although plans have changed so they're going up for sale.
I have pretty much all other accessories required to build the battery, below is a list of what I will include with each set:
16x Svolt 184ah Blade Cells (9.4 kWh) 1x JK 150A BMS (JK-B1A24S15P) with balancing cables & temp probes 1x JK BMS button 1x set of 5m silicone red & black cable & ring lugs to extend the balancing cables if needed 1x Set of busbars & clips to connect all cells in series 1x Set of nuts & washers to secure the busbars 9x Wago PCT223 Connectors to easily extend the BMS balancing cables (if needed)
As mentioned, I have 2 of these sets and each set would build a 51.2v battery with a total of 9.4 kWh.
If you were to take both you'd then be sitting with 18.8kWh of batteries for under R55k, some of the parts are not available locally and I have to import them (like the clips & busbars)
These are LiFePO4 cells, they are brand new first life cells and are 1C rated. At this price it works out to R2872.34 per kWh 
 

Not currently applicable to Parklands, it is an eskom service area.
I am here in Parklands too and dread the day the coct take over the supply Eskom supply is a lot cheaper than the coct supply.
Coct is in negotiations with eskom to take over everything in WC. I will be vocal when I attend their public consultations when the time arrives as I have no interest in being forced to pay their draconian fees and abide by their draconian rules.

Are these "rules" applicable to Parklands though? COCT seems to be steering the ship off a cliff but Parklands and surrounds is not on COCT but Eskom. That's been my only consolation all along. Eskom and their incompetence can't steer any thing anywhere and will turn a blind eye, indefinitely I hope, to it all 😄

Eskom just entered the chat 🤣

Not at all. They have been running now for a solid hour and still cool to the touch. They are quite beefy so not worried. 

High load at the time of grid disconnect or a load that the battery and/or PV cannot sustain independently without grid would cause the BMS protection to kick in and the inverter in turn to error out and not turn itself off surely? Then wait for a determined timeout period and attempt to "reinitialize" so to speak. Do the 2 inverters actually power off entirely as your title suggests?

Woop woop, super happy! First time I've won something! Thought My weekend couldn't get better after the Bokke slaughtered New Zealand. Best weekend ever! Thank you @Powerforum Store @Energy-Jason 

I have received a quote from them and they phoned me. I might go past and just make sure they legit as I am not too far away from them.

Yes I have a unit in place that replaced my Sunsynk and I am already seeing higher average PV production for the same time vs last year the application is an absolute pleasure to use very intuitive.
Installation was just a direct change of the inverter so same panels and batteries as with the Sunsynk.
No noise anymore the Solis is silent. Big Plus point..
BMS config worked immediately no gymnastics required with the Hubble AM2 batteries SOC Voltages and SOH visible on the app.
Added Features like String Arch detection makes for early warning if there are problems on your strings.
App is in real-time on your phone
Web app updates between 1 to 5 mins max.
Tons of adjustment available under settings..
Additionally the inverter is more robust have not managed to trip it yet..in contrast the other one tripped easily with the same combination of loads. 
So far very happy with it.
Adding a second one in parallel soon with seperate battery bank ... Magneto Super Cap.. and a wind turbine AC Coupled..
Will update as things progress.