iMercury

Hi all, to add my 2 cents. I have recently had 5 x 2000’s returned to the supplier for evaluation. Installed in 2020 and registered with Pylontech for extended warranty. Two batteries recently started flashing alarm with no charge occurring and I contacted my installer as a result. The 2 batteries in question were horrendously swollen and the other 3 already starting to burst casings. I don’t have any graphs or further information. Only that I had what I believe was a good installer install my system (recommended by Solar Advice) and never played with anything i shouldn’t. I never pushed the batteries all that hard nor had more than a few trips on the inverter. 2 batteries to 1 x 5kw Deye and 4 batteries to another 5kw Deye covering 2 of my 3 phases. 1 battery seems to be ok at present. Patiently waiting for a view from the supplier with a way forward.

Hi Dean, PM sent. thanks

Hi guys, I’m watching this thread with interest. I currently have a 5kw Deye on 2 of my 3 phases. I’m considering the change to this new 3-phase but want to make sure I understand the power output available. Off-grid assuming available PV / battery it would be 4kw per phase up to a max of 6kw per phase and a total rated load of 12kw (although spec sheet does say max of 13.2kw). When on grid then AC pass through allows 45 amps which I’m assuming is per phase and thus a phase could have 11kw of load (6 from PV / battery and balance from grid). Would one be able to do this on all three phases simultaneously or would there be another limiting factor? I ask because on my single phase 5kw inverter I can go to about 7.75kw when on grid before there are any issues. In practice I’d never get to 11kw per phase simultaneously but I’m trying to understand the above to ensure there is sufficient room for all appliances and spikes of draw. I’d obviously put oven / pool pump / heat pump / aircons on non-essential side across the phases but believe this would still contribute to load when the grid is available. Any real world experience is appreciated and corrections of misunderstandings as well. Michael

Hi all, to start let me make it very clear that I’m no electrician or engineer - so should anything I say sound weird I reserve the right to plead ignorance. Now, I have a 3 phase power supply and use around 30kWH per day (25 - 37 max). I have 2 x 150l geysers (one used far more than the other so let’s say 8kWh & 3kWh respectively), a pool pump (6kWh / 8kWh if I need Some extra filtration of my pool), 8kWh of ‘essentials’ which is basically all plugs and lights and an oven (3kWh every other night) with a pool heat pump I run from a little in to Spring until a little in to Autumn (7kWh once pool at temp). I recently installed a 5kWh Deye hybrid and 9.6kWh Pylontech battery bank with 13 x 410w JA mono panels (5330 watts). All is running beautifully however there is a but... or a few. 1) I only got the one inverter and so put all plugs and lights + oven and pool pump (and by implication heat pump in summer) on to this phase. All works fine but that leaves just 1 geyser for each of the two remaining phases (one of which is seriously underutilized). So PROBLEM 1 - phase balancing concerns me. 2) my battery bank is full around 12h30 so I figure I’m losing around 4 / 5 kWh of power each day. And I don’t think I can slap a geyser on to this phase as well (refer PROBLEM 1). So PROBLEM 2, unoptimised system. 3) my oven saps my battery bank so going to move this to a non PV phase. Not really a problem as easy fix. My intention is to 1) add a second deye inverter on to a second phase and parallel. I’ll put the pool pump (and in summer the heat pump) plus the lesser used geyser on this phase. I’ll put all the PV through this inverter and time everything to run during PV hours. My array will cater for the power draw and I will set battery to switch to grid at 90% SOC (should it be a cloudy day I don’t actually want the batteries drained for the geyser or pool kit). I think this will solve the phase balancing issue QUESTIONS Can one parallel just 2 phases of a three phase supply (and leave the third purely on grid?) How important is phase balancing if I have no 3 phase equipment? What if I had nothing on 1 phase? With PV am I not effectively eliminating any draw on said phase in any case? (As far as it would concern the supply of electricity to my residential area) 2) I’ll leave the essential (back-up) dB as lights and plugs on phase 1. Batteries work perfectly. 250w - 600w hourly draw (average around 350w) and takes me from sun down to sun up with discharge to around 40 / 45 / 50% depending on previous night cooking requirements. This phase will then draw constantly through the parallel battery bank (if I understand correctly the other phase with all the PV will cover pool kit and geyser. Excess will flow in to batteries and charge / supply power to this phase as required) QUESTION Does this mean the batteries are having to work harder than otherwise or if there is sufficient Pv is it really just a pass-through? 3) phase 3 will have main geyser and oven once moved. For the future I can see myself adding an ITS heat pump on to phase 2 and moving the spare geyser to phase 3... but effectively switching both geyser elements off and using only the heat pump (I may use one geyser as prefeed or run in serial but still researching this). Again I’m worried about phase balancing. The purpose of this change would be to cover all my energy needs with my currently installed PV system - while not having EVT tubes etc (and not really having easy roof space to expand or use in any case). by doing this phase 1 would be around 8kWh. Phase 2 around 6 - 11kwh (also reducing pool pump size). Phase 3 would be just oven (with geysers on circuit but turned off) - so say 3kWh every other day. thanks! Any input very welcome.

Hi all, dead keen to go the ITS 5HDP Super route and looking for a great installer in the Randburg / Sandton area. As luck would have it I have 2 x 150l Kwikot geysers right next to one another. Looking to convert both to running off this one heat pump. Also want the installer to be knowledgeable about perhaps combining these two geysers in series or using one as a prefeed if that has benefits. I’d prefer to do the majority of heating during solar hours but a ‘top-up’ for my morning shower may be necessary (unless can keep the cold water from my wife and baby bathing at night out of the equation until next heating event. Thanks!

Seriously enjoyed the read and great build. You look like you certainly know what you are doing!

Thanks Coulomb, I thought that might be the link and presumably this will require the batteries to work harder in shifting power to where it’s needed most (charge / discharge more often or even continuously) thereby reducing the lifespan of them? Are Pylontech batteries then able to charge and discharge at the same time (charge from inverter with excess PV & discharge to load with insufficient PV)? Still have to work out if split phase parallel on just two of the three phases will work (is inverter clever enough to know there is a third phase and thus provide correct phase angle instead of working as if just two phases in total)

Hi Steve, thanks for the reply! So if I understand you correctly a parallel 3 phase system (3 x single phase inverter capable of parallel 3 phase) will share whatever PV strings are providing power and likewise the battery bank (for anything on the battery back-up circuit). how does the PV get distributed across the three phases?

Thank you for the reply Plonkster! I think the second phase install and planned load split is still my best bet for a number of reasons but appreciate the knowledge that just 2-phase parallel split is possible depending on inverter. Any info on my second question I.e. what does a split phase parallel actually do / mean?

Most online at R21k. So +-5% discount and reputable store (not ever sure about who to trust) was more my point... but I’m also gonna give Jaco a shout as he seems to be the go to guy on this forum

Hi all, I recently had my installation done. After lots of researching and many questions I settled on 4 x 2.4kWh US2000’s with vertical cabinets, 12 x JA solar 410w mono’s & a 5kW Deye hybrid. Off the bat I must say I’m incredibly pleased. Eskom reliability is no longer a concern and as all plugs and lights are now on my essential DB I don’t have to worry about damage to electronics etc. Batteries do a perfect handover to PV each morning at around 40 - 50% charge and are full again on surplus PV by around 11h45 I shopped around and used solar advice for hardware and a recommended installer. All in saved me a packet vs turn-key quotes I had received. Install is incredibly neat and both solar advice and the installers were very professional and helpful etc. At present my concerns are: 1. I generate around 20 - 24kW per day (theoretical) and am only using around 14kW Rest is going to waste which means no ROI for that. 2. I have 3 phase and have serious load imbalance now having done PV for just the one phase and having moved all plugs and lights + pool pump to said phase (2 x geysers + oven left for the other two phases) My proposed solution: 1. Move pool pump to second phase. 2. Install a 2nd Deye 5kW inverter in Parallel. 3. put one geyser on a phase selector switch (in winter it will be on this phase to balance load but also use excess PV and in summer heat pump for the pool will run so I’ll move geyser to 3rd phase purely on grid) With timers I am able to plan my geysers and pool pump / heat pump draws. None of these will be on battery back-up. My questions: 1. Can one do a split phase parallel with just two phases? 3rd remains fully grid supplied? 2. what does it actually mean to parallel? Do you share the PV array (thus better utilizing your generated PV and maintaining your peak PV array generation capacity which is really critical for running a heat pump or geyser and making full use of PV)? Do you share the battery bank (even though I don’t need to)? Do you also increase potential kW output even though on separate phases (5kW to 10kW maximum draw at any point)? Thanks, Michael

I see solar advice is running a special. Have used them before and got excellent service. Also lots of good reviews on this site and helloPeter. Just South if R20k.