October 26, 20214 yr Hi Everyone. With this new round of loadshedding and my 2 UPS’s that used to keep some lights and the wifi on failing within a month of each other I’ve decided it’s time to start thinking about solar. Initially I was only looking for backup during loadshedding, but soon realised it’s a lot of money just for backup. I then decided to ad some panels to at least get some ROI in the form of savings while we’re not loadshedding and also start learning more about how these things work for when I want (or have) to become self sufficient. i’m on the brink of purchasing the following: Growatt SPF 5000 ES 2 x 3,5kw pylontech batteries 8x 450W Canadian solar panels Anything I should know before going ahead? Keep in mind that I started shopping for a small UPS to power wifi, so the “Spend a bit more to get a……..” advise won’t work anymore…… 😀
October 27, 20214 yr Yeah - I was also thinking of getting a Growatt, but since decided on a Sunsynk. I'd also advise you get that - lots of people on here have it so there is a pool of knowledge to fall back on.
October 27, 20214 yr Let us know what your current max budget is please. Later on you will spend some more.
October 28, 20214 yr Author Right, so I actually registered and posted on Tuesday night but I think post only appeared yesterday somewhere after approval. When Eskom announced Stage 4 Yesterday morning I went ahead and booked the installation. Got a friend with same system for about a year now with no issues. Thanks anyway! Hopefully all goes well and I’m up and running by next week this time.
October 28, 20214 yr On 2021/10/26 at 8:02 PM, FlipFlop1 said: Hi Everyone. With this new round of loadshedding and my 2 UPS’s that used to keep some lights and the wifi on failing within a month of each other I’ve decided it’s time to start thinking about solar. Initially I was only looking for backup during loadshedding, but soon realised it’s a lot of money just for backup. I then decided to ad some panels to at least get some ROI in the form of savings while we’re not loadshedding and also start learning more about how these things work for when I want (or have) to become self sufficient. i’m on the brink of purchasing the following: Growatt SPF 5000 ES 2 x 3,5kw pylontech batteries 8x 450W Canadian solar panels Anything I should know before going ahead? Keep in mind that I started shopping for a small UPS to power wifi, so the “Spend a bit more to get a……..” advise won’t work anymore…… 😀 Welcome and congrats. I can't see a single problem not even biased since I have the exact inverter. 🙃 The advantage of the es is the ability to blend pv and grid over the tl. But the advantage of the growatt over the deye is full control form anywhere in the world. It's basically a KIA it does everything very well and very reliably without the bells and whistles. After a year of owning mine I've learnt that when loadshedding is announced I just need to adjust my Depth of discharge higher than my usual which is to get the most of my system. I usually have charge source to only solar but it's been cloudy all week. These are my current settings Parameter 1. battery.first Charge source : pv and grid What this does is it charges the battery from grid as soon as it reaches the set Depth of discharge. Which you can set quite low on those us3000c. When sunny days return I'm going to change back to only solar charge source which I can do on my phone. The advantage of lithium is that if I realize that load shedding is starting in an hour I can charge my 10kw batteries to 50% in that hour which should last 2-4hours. Anyways I hope you enjoy your system and realize that CUDand FOMO is just that.
October 28, 20214 yr Newer KIA's seems to be coming with bells and whistles no offense was intended to KIA owners my last KIA was 12 years ago.
October 28, 20214 yr Author 4 hours ago, P1000 said: Did you go with the SunSynk? The price difference makes it a no-brainer. Nope, went for the Growatt.
October 28, 20214 yr Can't help but agree. The Growatts certainly hold their own. And the price difference between an ES and a Sunsynk isn't exactly marginal. It's quite a significant difference in price and, this is likely not a popular opinon but, I just don't see the functional differences justification enough for the price differences. In context, one could potentially get 2x Growatt ES inverters for the price of one 5kw Sunsynk.
October 28, 20214 yr Author 2 hours ago, Buyeye said: Welcome and congrats. I can't see a single problem not even biased since I have the exact inverter. 🙃 The advantage of the es is the ability to blend pv and grid over the tl. But the advantage of the growatt over the deye is full control form anywhere in the world. It's basically a KIA it does everything very well and very reliably without the bells and whistles. After a year of owning mine I've learnt that when loadshedding is announced I just need to adjust my Depth of discharge higher than my usual which is to get the most of my system. I usually have charge source to only solar but it's been cloudy all week. These are my current settings Parameter 1. battery.first Charge source : pv and grid What this does is it charges the battery from grid as soon as it reaches the set Depth of discharge. Which you can set quite low on those us3000c. When sunny days return I'm going to change back to only solar charge source which I can do on my phone. The advantage of lithium is that if I realize that load shedding is starting in an hour I can charge my 10kw batteries to 50% in that hour which should last 2-4hours. Anyways I hope you enjoy your system and realize that CUDand FOMO is just that. Thanks! Looking forward to playing around with it and see what works and what doesn’t.
October 28, 20214 yr 8 hours ago, FlipFlop1 said: Right, so I actually registered and posted on Tuesday night but I think post only appeared yesterday somewhere after approval. When Eskom announced Stage 4 Yesterday morning I went ahead and booked the installation. Got a friend with same system for about a year now with no issues. Thanks anyway! Hopefully all goes well and I’m up and running by next week this time. Congratulations on your purchase, you made the right choice. Budget friendly and does the job, you will not regret it. Growatt and Pylontech, perfect match
October 28, 20214 yr 5 hours ago, Buyeye said: Newer KIA's seems to be coming with bells and whistles no offense was intended to KIA owners my last KIA was 12 years ago. 8 hours ago, P1000 said: Did you go with the SunSynk? The price difference makes it a no-brainer. Yep, its a no-brainer to go with growatt if cost is a determining factor (https://www.inverter-warehouse.co.za/products/growatt-spf5000es) https://powerforum-store.co.za/collections/inverters/products/sunsynk-5kw-1p-hybrid-pv-inverter-48v That is R6k for all other goodies 😀
October 28, 20214 yr 10 minutes ago, hoohloc said: Yep, its a no-brainer to go with growatt if cost is a determining factor (https://www.inverter-warehouse.co.za/products/growatt-spf5000es) https://powerforum-store.co.za/collections/inverters/products/sunsynk-5kw-1p-hybrid-pv-inverter-48v That is R6k for all other goodies 😀 Perhaps, but in the future you might be able to export, or for some other reason you need/want an NRS certified inverter...
October 28, 20214 yr 7 minutes ago, P1000 said: Perhaps, but in the future you might be able to export, or for some other reason you need/want an NRS certified inverter... The main benefit of SunSynk is not the ability to export. Not sure why so many people get it wrong.
November 5, 20214 yr On 2021/10/28 at 3:20 PM, PowerUser said: The main benefit of SunSynk is not the ability to export. Not sure why so many people get it wrong. Would you mind elaborating what the main benefit of SunSynk is? Currently trying to decide between SunSynk and GroWatt.
November 6, 20214 yr 13 hours ago, Roy_ZA said: Would you mind elaborating what the main benefit of SunSynk is? Currently trying to decide between SunSynk and GroWatt. SunSynk is a bidirectional inverter. Besides that it blends all power sources, it can push power back to the non-essential side, when the battery is above specified level and there is excess solar power. This way, you use a smaller inverter 5kW, even if your requirements are higher. It will supplement and reduce your electricity bills for the non-essentials. Growatt can’t do anything about the non-essential loads, even if you have excess PV power.
November 6, 20214 yr 2 hours ago, PowerUser said: SunSynk is a bidirectional inverter. Besides that it blends all power sources, it can push power back to the non-essential side, when the battery is above specified level and there is excess solar power. This way, you use a smaller inverter 5kW, even if your requirements are higher. It will supplement and reduce your electricity bills for the non-essentials. Growatt can’t do anything about the non-essential loads, even if you have excess PV power. This is the reason I am looking at upgrading from a mecer king 5kw to a sunsynk 5 kw .. watching the wasted energy just disappear.
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