Hi, very newbee.

 

Recently purchased a 5kw Deye.

Question 1: if I have my kitchen & A/C connected to my non-essentials and there is no grid access (loadshedding). Will my PV be able to assist in powering these non-essentials with battery only used for essentials.

 

Question 2: if I have my kitchen & A/C connected to my essentials and there is no grid access (loadshedding). Can I set that my essentials only be powered by PV? Limiting the amount of battery use at all time. (AGM batteries) - but want to be able to use A/C & kitchen in loadshedding (not all at once)

 

Any advise or guidance will be very much appreciated.

There's not enough information. It would be helpful to get some details of your setup, in particular the inverter(s) in use.

It is a 5KW Deye hybrid Inverter.
4 x 180aH Shoto AGM batteries connected in 48V

I am still deciding on how many panels and the wattage to install. Depending on the answer of the questions. If I am able to power the house during daytime (a/c en kitchen) with enough solar if no grid is available I will make sure to install sufficiently.

 

Question 1: Answer is no, when there is loadshedding, the non-essentials will turn off. There is nothing your PV can do to assist with these loads.

Question 2: If your kitchen and A/C are connected to essentials, they will be treated like any of the essentials. It is possible to limit the battery discharge under the battery settings to a specific discharge rate. If you have low AGM battery capacity installed that cannot handle a 100A discharge, then I'd suggest anyway that you set this limit, and the percentage discharge limit, according to the capabilities of your battery. The solar should generally be the first priority to power the load anyway, but if there's not enough sunlight to meet your power demand, you will start draining the battery.

Bonus answer: You might want to investigate the Smart Load function for your A/C or kitchen. That way those loads can run even if there is loadshedding, but subject to enough solar and battery power being in reserve, according to settings you choose. Be aware that you will be limited by the amount of pass-through current that the inverter can handle. Search around,  someone on this forum was speaking recently of running some loads with a change-over switch, so they would normally be on non-essential, and in the event of loadshedding switch to the Smart Load. No idea how to do it, but it sounded like a sensible idea that could work for you.

Thank you very much. Makes sense.

Would you rate 4x180aH Shoto AGM batteries as being capable to handeling an A/C unit or Kettle for that matter?

The Smart Load function makes 100% sense to switch between essential and non-essential when you know you have enough PV. This will probably solve my problem.

Think somebody on the forum has talked about this, but anyway, if the total KW (non-essential and essential) exceeds the 5kw of the inverter while on eskom grid, would the unit trip?

16 minutes ago, Frederikk said:

Think somebody on the forum has talked about this, but anyway, if the total KW (non-essential and essential) exceeds the 5kw of the inverter while on eskom grid, would the unit trip?

Can't speak for the battery. But on the tripping, the non-essentials cannot cause the inverter to trip. It can only cause the mains breaker to trip. While on the grid, the inverter has a pass-through current of 35A, or 8kW when on grid. In an off-grid scenario it's down to 5kW. But that also depends on the power you can deliver from solar and battery. 

1 hour ago, GreenFields said:

Can't speak for the battery. But on the tripping, the non-essentials cannot cause the inverter to trip. It can only cause the mains breaker to trip. While on the grid, the inverter has a pass-through current of 35A, or 8kW when on grid. In an off-grid scenario it's down to 5kW. But that also depends on the power you can deliver from solar and battery. 

What about when you are feeding non essentials from battery? Will it not trip as well if you exceed 5kW when there is no PV

1 hour ago, Scorp007 said:

What about when you are feeding non essentials from battery? Will it not trip as well if you exceed 5kW when there is no PV

No, because non-essentials do not run through the inverter, so they can never overload or trip the inverter.

Non-essentials are basically connected to the DB board as normal. They sit kind of between the mains and the inverter. If the grid goes down, the non-essentials go down, period.

But as long as the grid is active, the Sunsynk/Deye can also work as a grid-tied inverter that can push excess power "upstream" to the DB board or even into the Eskom grid if you let it. Whether from battery or from PV, it will "blend" the inverter's power with the incoming grid power so that you can end up buying less from Eskom. But if the PV falls away on a cloudy day or if the battery is empty, the non-essentials are ultimately still supplied by the grid.