Moffat

Very best wishes, hope and prayers to @TaliaB

What happens or what is the plan for redudancy if the whole battery packs up or come cells develop issues? Would your supplier be able to give you a temporary battery replacement whilst the other is being repaired or replaced under warranty? Smaller is cheaper to add additional storage and if one battery packs up, one can limp on one or two in the pack. Space considerations would also be a consideration @MuneebK how tight are you for space?

Understandable that API, App and Web portal updates would naturally take time moreso between different vendors, however over 8-months of asking for simple visibility is poor of: Correct battery capacity (200ah/300ah) Number of cycles for each battery pack or even averaging out the cycles (add pack-1 plus pack-2 and divide by 2) to give rough average would help Information on number of parallel or series battery connections is also missing Also missing is ability for system, once connected to automatically pick up total battery capacity (10kw/15kw) etc. In short, this granular information may not be important to the average end-user but some of us do find it useful (see screenshot attached here)

@Pho3niX90 a different brand may have a firmware solution to mitigate this grid issue. @AlexTZA on the whole, the inverter has worked well for me, however, my issue with Solis is with the BMS not having been set properly with Freedom Won eTower batteries. Specifically: The number of batteries is not shown on the App or Webportal The batteries Cycle count for each battery is incorrect (I’ve confirm the discrepancy/variance by connecting to batteries directly using RS232 cable) Even if one wants to assume it’s taking average of Cycle count of all batteries, this is way off The battery pack size 100ah/200ah/300ah was only recently resolved in terms of reporting via a firmware update that took over 6-months to get I must give credit and a “thumbs-up” to Freedom Won support for continued pursuit of Solis team but it’s been like pulling teeth to get Solis R&D to get stuff done. There’s also consistent intermittent connectivity issues as well, but for me that’s more a nit pick as inverter performs very well for me and my plant. Am now headed into winter so it’ll be interesting to see how the system performs and holds up. Initially I only had 1 x 100ah eTower battery, now I have 2, so will see how efficiently it performs. Am also rather limited with a small panel bank of only 12 x 200w (2400w) generation, which had hoped to upgrade by now with additional 595w x 5 (2,975w) onto 2nd MPPT but hopefully may find reasonable priced panels given price rises caused/blamed on Iran war and fuel hikes. That info that I would love to see seems to be available easily on Victron Plants. Also the size of Battery capacity has to be input manually as well. Would be great if BMS picked it up automatically. Would I recommend Solis as my first choice? Likely yes for someone with an installer very well versed in the product ONLY. Otherwise, no. Installers who have general knowledge & experience, no. The placement of CT (either within the inverter or at whole house main grid input) and ability to send excess power to non-essential loads seems to elude some installers and how to the find a way to use Gen Port for this and also configure it for a generator appears not to be easy. As a set and forget inverter it still needs some tweaking (Solis S6 6kw Hybrid Pro Single-phase).

Will the “off grid mode” still allow charging from the grid if battery goes below set point like 30% if I have incremental weather like overcast days during this rainy season?

@Sam79 did you ever get any joy with your setup requirements? Am also keen to follow a similar setup.

It's not just about Chinese manufactured inverters or batteries only, this issue I raise is a worldwide one. Case in point, the Victoria government in Australia insists that the inverters that are to be part of a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) need to have the ability to be shutdown virtually or online in order to protect the national grid from instability. This means when getting a Certification of Compliance (CoC) for your system the inverter manufacturer needs to install that backdoor to ensure this happens (https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/vic-remote-solar-shutdown/). Now as I keep harping on, imagine a nefarious hacker gains access to several VPPs or a particular manufacturers inverters and this may even extend to batteries and they either remotely shut them down or change parameters that mean batteries are overcharged resulting in fires or a in the case of an electrical vehicle that relies on being connected to manufacturer and vehicle (e.g. Tesla; Toyota; BYD; Geely/Volvo) is taken over, what then happens? This would result in either accidents, vehicle shutdowns, hardware "bricking" etc. So the question then is, when you buy a product, is it really yours or not? Most endusers also rely on installers and resellers for information (aside from you the enduser needing to do your own research and due diligence). When certain systems are shutdown they may now feed power to residences or sites and are rendered totally offline meaning one is left in the dark and with no backup or redundancy. Even if you think of having a generator, the way the generator is connected may be such that it's connected through the inverter and you're up the creak, and in darkness. Now imagine worse off, the system being one that is used for someone with critical medical equipment or water infrastructure.

The CT or Eastron meter controls anti-islanding, that's not the subject nor concern here. The concern would be "someone" other than you choosing to shutdown your inverter or batteries as they desire leaving you without even power for your home. If they are stopping you from just exporting, that's a different story. If the grid fails, you should be able to run autonomously offgrid but what if that option is taken away from you because your inverter or batteries can receive or has a "kill-switch" command sent via the internet? Does your inverter or battery manufacturer insist your battery MUST have online connectivity in order for your warranty not to be void? These are terms and conditions to look at which may be hidden in the "fine-print".

For me, the issue isn't just about having remote access but more security and safety and having the ability to block off remote access totally without the manufacturer having the ability to brute-force password, disable it entirely or bypass my own controls. In most software codes the manufacturer puts in a back-door "master access", which is were my real concerns are. There's always the perfunctory print that says, I as the hardware or plant owner can disable this feature or the other, but in reality, it's not full-proof. What stops manufacturers to initially reel us in to make a "one-time-purchase" and then down the road push us towards subscription-based payments in order to get updates and or new features or scare-monger us with threats of "you need to update/upgrade" or your system may be compromised. Whether this is real or not, we may not be able to verify such messages/statements. Case in point the back and forth issues going on in respect of Windows Operating Software support for legacy software and on older hardware or mobile phones and vehicles being made to last a set number of years and then you have to purchase a new one or pay for an update. In respect of backup power, the risks are infinitely more complex and higher because there's risks of fire and total blackouts... Perhaps, this should or must be one of the considerations someone takes when buying an inverter and batteries.

Let's have a conversation regarding how most of, if not all, our so called "high-end" inverters and batteries offer the online option for 1. Online support 2. Online data backup 3. Remote firmware updates - which may also include ominously, remote shutdown. With the rise of Internet of Things (I.O.T) there's always a risk to hacking, systems manipulation and as earlier mentioned, remote system shutdown by either the product manufacturer or nefarious players. How many of us are looking into securing their hard-earned investments into Solar systems (inverters and batteries) and what can we do to push back as end-users in this regard before we become fodder and lose our autonomy and investment? How secure are the data servers for how our systems are performing and where are they, do we ever ask? Can we run all our systems offline without having to have them rely on being constantly online and still get data on-site? Am putting a YouTube link here for added contextual thought and insight (https://youtu.be/6mOIOEwcIe4?si=R2uXt58lDHukWjIv)

@CalTech is this still available?

Totally agree on with @TaliaB in respect of owner doing due diligence and having a huge part to play in the process, no arguments from me there, AT ALL. It goes only right that the homeowner or equipment owner is well versed with a set minimum standards of their equipment as well as even safety as some homeowners, can also be problematic and unreasonable during installations in relation to equipment location or even spacing around an inverter for instance e.g. having an inverter put in a cupboard that leads to a huge increase in ambient temperatures, fire hazards and premature equipment failure. It's the sneaky Insurers who I have a gripe with. In pursuit of knowledge and due diligence, I count myself fortunate to be on this forum (amongst others), to be part of a community of experts that have taught me and continue to teach me so much on my journey in the renewable energy space.

I think I like the idea that the Insurance companies should insist on a Certified Electrician be used in the process of a CoC being issued and secondly that in the event that there's issues, then the Insurance Company should go after the electrician or have a list of approved electricians. When things go "pear-shape", Insurance must pay up and seek compensation or redress from the Electrician. There's no way, an ordinary end-user or homeowner would be competent or qualified enough to know differences in cable sizes, breakers, fuses SANS guidelines etc.