I want to explain my findings on how my Smart load output functions.

In my opinion, there are discrepancies in Youtube videos from Sunsynk as well as their newest Installer Manual explaining this function.

I have a 150 litre geyser connected to mine and it operates as follows :

1) The solar power setting has nothing to do with the max power output - which is how they explain it. It is purely the PV power limit at which the relay will close and power the aux load Or open to disconnect, if it falls below the setting for a certain duration.  It does not limit the power output.

2) If you have grid available and the total load - normal loads + Smart load - exceeds the PV available, it draws the balance from the grid and not from the battery.

3) If grid is not available it draws the balance from the battery - Starting when battery reaches the "Aux load ON Batt" setting which is 100 % in my case.

   It switches off when the battery reaches " Aux load OFF Batt" - 95% for me.

   It will not come on again - even if PV surpases the Power setting (4000w for me)  until the battery reaches the ON Batt setting again.

4) On grid always on  will always supply power to the Smart load output, when the box is ticked and grid available.

   This can only be useful if manually enabled, after a rainy day, to "top up" your geyser.

Hope this is useful to someone.

Edited February 13, 20223 yr by Brickman

Hi @Brickman

Yes, I have the Deye 8kW and also run my Geyser off the Smart Load (AUX) port. Works like a charm and exactly how you explained it! 

With my setup, the PV will supply my load first, charge the batteries second and then, once the batteries are pretty much charged up (95%SOC), switch on the geyser. It is basically fit and forget and one always has the option to manually switch on the geyser using the "On grid always on" option! This is also a handy future of you want to manually switch on the geyser if you're not at home (using the Solarman Smart app with your account enabled for remote management). 

In my opinion, the AUX port is the perfect option to run a geyser off. 

30 minutes ago, Freakazoid said:

Hi @Brickman

Yes, I have the Deye 8kW and also run my Geyser off the Smart Load (AUX) port. Works like a charm and exactly how you explained it! 

With my setup, the PV will supply my load first, charge the batteries second and then, once the batteries are pretty much charged up (95%SOC), switch on the geyser. It is basically fit and forget and one always has the option to manually switch on the geyser using the "On grid always on" option! This is also a handy future of you want to manually switch on the geyser if you're not at home (using the Solarman Smart app with your account enabled for remote management). 

In my opinion, the AUX port is the perfect option to run a geyser off. 

Hi @Freakazoid, I  checked out a Deye manual and they actually explain the working correctly. I presume your 95 % is the "On" battery setting ?

I agree it works perfectly for my geyser operation as well.

Edited February 14, 20223 yr by Brickman

@Brickmanon my 5 kW Sunsynk, works exactly as described, except even when battery reaches the On setting, Aux does not switch on, I have to kick start it by switching on a heavy load for a few seconds, eg a kettle, now with the new Sunsynk dongle ( 60 second delay ), I use a cbi WiFi switch to control my geyser

Hi @Tariq

If you need to "Kickstart" your AUX port by switching on the kettle then it means that your Smart Load (AUX) power setting is set too high... The inverter can't determine the maximum PV power available, it looks at what you're currently producing (which is partially determined by what load your drawing). I set my value quite low, around 200W. I then know that my Geyser can then still switch on until approximately 30 minutes before sunset... 

@Brickman, yes, my AUX port switches On at 95%SOC. I found that in the last 5% SOC there is actually very little usable power in my batteries... Also, my BMS seems to slow down the charging rate to top up those last few percent so there isn't much sense in waiting for the SOC to reach the full 100% before my Geyser kicks in, 95% is "full enough" (if that makes sense) 

On 2022/02/14 at 7:48 PM, Freakazoid said:

Hi @Brickman

Yes, I have the Deye 8kW and also run my Geyser off the Smart Load (AUX) port. Works like a charm and exactly how you explained it! 

With my setup, the PV will supply my load first, charge the batteries second and then, once the batteries are pretty much charged up (95%SOC), switch on the geyser. It is basically fit and forget and one always has the option to manually switch on the geyser using the "On grid always on" option! This is also a handy future of you want to manually switch on the geyser if you're not at home (using the Solarman Smart app with your account enabled for remote management). 

In my opinion, the AUX port is the perfect option to run a geyser off. 

Hi I would like to do the same. If I need to use the geyser at night, is it possible for the grid to be used instead of the batteries? I use the panels to run the house during the day and battery at night. Once battery depleted it uses the grid. I want to be able to use the panels to heat the geyser and it must bypass the battery. I have a solar geyser with tubes and geyserwise 

Hi @Shain

As I understand it, the Smart Load will always first pull power from the PV (when available), then the batteries and then, when the batteries reach their minimum set SOC, the grid. I don't think it is possible for it to skip the batteries and pull straight from the grid. 

You should, however, be able to get a workable solution by playing around with your smart load settings and minimum battery SOC value (the point at which your inverter pulls power from the grid). 

I hope this helps. 

Regards 

Thanks all, very helpful. Just to clarify one thing about the “On grid always on” tickbox:

@Brickman you said “4) On grid always on  will always supply power to the Smart load output, when the box is ticked and grid available.”

Does this mean that, when ticked, if there is grid available it will not use PV at all? Ie power the Aux load only with grid?

Like @ShainI would like to keep the Aux load on  at night using the grid (when available). And during the day, when there is PV available, I’d like to use that as much as possible. I’m worried that if I tick “on grid always on” it will power the Aux load from grid during the day even when there is PV available.

On 2022/07/26 at 7:25 PM, Freakazoid said:

Hi @Shain

As I understand it, the Smart Load will always first pull power from the PV (when available), then the batteries and then, when the batteries reach their minimum set SOC, the grid. I don't think it is possible for it to skip the batteries and pull straight from the grid. 

You should, however, be able to get a workable solution by playing around with your smart load settings and minimum battery SOC value (the point at which your inverter pulls power from the grid). 

I hope this helps. 

Regards 

@Freakazoidthanks for this, but doesn’t this contradict what @Brickmansaid under point (2) of his post above? 

He said it would pull first from grid, not battery?

I must say, I can see some room for improvement in the manuals!

I have the same questions as @JAvandermerwe. 

Anyone able to answer from their own experience?

Thanks

Bump...

When "on grid always on" is ticked, does it use PV/battery up to TOU SOC% then revert to grid?

Or does it use PV/grid only?

Or grid only?

 

 

 

When the Grid is connected and "on grid always on" is ticked it behaves like an essential load and your system timer settings will work as normal. Here you can see the Geyser is drawing power from solar and battery while connected to AUX.

Hi! I’m looking for confirmation before I pull the trigger on moving my geyser to Aux: Aux contributes to regular Load capacity, correct?

So if my Load pulls 2.6kW and my geyser-on-Aux pulls 2.5kW on my 5kW Sunsynk, the inverter will instantly trip, correct? (It wouldn’t cut off Aux first to avoid a trip?)

If so, I may undervolt my inverter (from 230V to 200V) to reduce my peak resistive load (including geyser) power…

On 2023/07/18 at 1:45 PM, JayMardern said:

Hi! I’m looking for confirmation before I pull the trigger on moving my geyser to Aux: Aux contributes to regular Load capacity, correct?

So if my Load pulls 2.6kW and my geyser-on-Aux pulls 2.5kW on my 5kW Sunsynk, the inverter will instantly trip, correct? (It wouldn’t cut off Aux first to avoid a trip?)

If so, I may undervolt my inverter (from 230V to 200V) to reduce my peak resistive load (including geyser) power…

That's a good question.

I'm designing my system and though this Aux thing sounds great.

Put the Pool & Geyser on AUX. Then use excess power to run those during the day. IF we need to heat up the geyser at night, switch to 'On Grid Always On' to draw from grid, or even if it's been cloudy and we need to run the pool. 

Now you raised the question. If LOAD (Essentials) are running and the conditions are met to run AUX (Non-essentials), and together they draw over 5Kw, will the inverter trip? Or even if 'On Grid Always On' is set, and AUX & LOAD draw over 5Kw will it trip?

If this is the case it might make sense to put a bypass switch in, run non-essentials from AUX or from the grid, and don't touch  'On Grid Always On'.

Anyone know?

Edited August 8, 20231 yr by Schuits
clarification

13 minutes ago, Schuits said:

Now you raised the question. If LOAD (Essentials) are running and the conditions are met to run AUX (Non-essentials), and together they draw over 5Kw, will the inverter trip? Or even if 'On Grid Always On' is set, and AUX & LOAD draw over 5Kw will it trip?

 

In the first case, the inverter will trip. In the second case - no, because it can handle 6.5k on bypass. 
 

 

2 hours ago, Schuits said:

That's a good question.

I'm designing my system and though this Aux thing sounds great.

Put the Pool & Geyser on AUX. Then use excess power to run those during the day. IF we need to heat up the geyser at night, switch to 'On Grid Always On' to draw from grid, or even if it's been cloudy and we need to run the pool. 

Now you raised the question. If LOAD (Essentials) are running and the conditions are met to run AUX (Non-essentials), and together they draw over 5Kw, will the inverter trip? Or even if 'On Grid Always On' is set, and AUX & LOAD draw over 5Kw will it trip?

If this is the case it might make sense to put a bypass switch in, run non-essentials from AUX or from the grid, and don't touch  'On Grid Always On'.

Anyone know?

Yeah Aux is essentially just a conditional connection to Load; so it’s going to trip the inverter if we exceed the limits.
Useful for running high-power devices during outages/load shedding; but still requires peak-usage management to prevent trips. Would be nice if there was an option to cut Aux first in the event of an overload, to prevent a full trip…

 

That said, if all you want to do is use excess solar for those high-power devices, you can leave them on non-essentials, install the CT coil that comes with the Sunsynk/Deye, and excess power will then be fed back to the non-essentials, since these models are bi-directional inverters. This is what many of us do; it’s pretty fantastic and allows a well-designed system to pay for itself relatively quickly. 

Hi. I have set up my system to do the same, but my Aux load keeps discharging from battery and ignores the “off” setting. 
Aux load off battery:96%
Aux load on battery:100%
AC couple to grid side “ticked”

On grid always on “ticked”

Did I miss understand something?

 

5 hours ago, Zs6q said:

Hi. I have set up my system to do the same, but my Aux load keeps discharging from battery and ignores the “off” setting. 
Aux load off battery:96%
Aux load on battery:100%
AC couple to grid side “ticked”

On grid always on “ticked”

Did I miss understand something?

 

Do you have grid available? If so, then with 'On Grid Always On' ticked, Aux stays on regardless of battery SOC % while the grid is present. Those SOC values will then kick in only when the grid goes down,

If you want the percentages to take effect with grid available, untick "On Grid Always On" and it'll switch Aux off at the desired percentage (96% in your example) regardless of grid availability. Have tested it seems to work OK.

This is the best thread I’ve found on smart load. It answers questions few other threads do. And it’s all correct, not half and half like the Sunsynk YT video.

I’ve spent way too much time trying to understand smart load and trying to use it for something it’s not really suited for: charging an EV with excess solar. Turns out just connecting the damn thing to non-essential loads accomplishes what I want: use any excess solar power that’s available, not use battery power, and be counted as consumption by my inverter.

If smart load could provide ONLY excess solar above a trigger point of 1320 “excess” watts, it’d be great, but that’s not what it does. It’s simply on or off at a trigger point. My car doesn’t know how much solar is available, it just consumes however many amps I tell it to, and much of that is going to be electricity at peak rates.

A smart EVSE could do that but I can’t export so there’s never any “excess” to be measured.

On 2024/12/21 at 3:40 PM, Haysdb said:

This is the best thread I’ve found on smart load. It answers questions few other threads do. And it’s all correct, not half and half like the Sunsynk YT video.

I’ve spent way too much time trying to understand smart load and trying to use it for something it’s not really suited for: charging an EV with excess solar. Turns out just connecting the damn thing to non-essential loads accomplishes what I want: use any excess solar power that’s available, not use battery power, and be counted as consumption by my inverter.

If smart load could provide ONLY excess solar above a trigger point of 1320 “excess” watts, it’d be great, but that’s not what it does. It’s simply on or off at a trigger point. My car doesn’t know how much solar is available, it just consumes however many amps I tell it to, and much of that is going to be electricity at peak rates.

A smart EVSE could do that but I can’t export so there’s never any “excess” to be measured.

I've recently purchased an EV and was wondering about how to setup the EV charger.

From my understanding of how the Aux output works, you could set the on SOC to be 100% and the off to be 95%. That means it will only use 5% of your home battery to charge the EV, and it will only do this when PV is not generating enough power for the house + car. and then the car charger will switch off. Otherwise, the battery will charge the car and immediately be recharged by PV, maintain the battery level above 95%.

Have you tried these settings on Aux Output?