Hi all, I have a Sunsynk 5kW connected to 5kW of solar and a 10kWh Revov battery pack.  Since installation (about 1 year ago), I noticed there is continual draw from utility (Eskom) of about 250W when there is ample solar and/or battery power available and the inverter reports 0W import. This amounts to about 5kWh of purchased power a day or 150kWh a month of wasted money through purchased electricity.

The current drawn from utility can be seen on the attached graph (Image2).  One can clearly see the continual draw of about 1.2A which can be verified with a clamp meter.  This current drops to 0A during loadshedding, which can be seen in the graph (in this case 2-4am).

Interestingly, the inverter shows 0W draw from utility at the exact time it is actually consuming about 250W (Image1).

Has anyone noticed this issue and found a resolve?  I would greatly appreciate assistance, please.

Regards, T.

This is normally done to ensure that your prepaid meter doesn't go in to error mode or trips. Check the value under Zero Export Power.

Hi Jacques,

Thanks for the response.  Zero-Export is selected and Grid trickle feed is set to 0.

Regards,

T.

18 hours ago, TSmithers said:

One can clearly see the continual draw of about 1.2A which can be verified with a clamp meter.

That will probably all be reactive power. The inverter may only generate unity power factor when connected to the grid, so the reactive load is offloaded to the grid. You cannot measure real power with only a clamp.

Edited January 11, 20232 yr by P1000

Thanks P1000.  

That makes perfect sense.  Is there a way to reduce being billed for this reactive dumping without power factor correction capacitors etc?  I saw there is a PF adjust possible on the inverter but surely this would only apply to certain operation conditions of the system?

Thanks again for the response, I look forward to further discussion.

21 minutes ago, TSmithers said:

Is there a way to reduce being billed for this reactive dumping

You should not be billed for anything other than real power, unless you are a commercial user.

Do you actually see power being used on your municipal/eskom meter, or are you just measuring with a clamp like the Efergy?

This is not the first time this has been mentioned on this forum in relation to the 5kw Sunsynk / Deye inverter, though.  Here's an example, but there are more if you search:

There was someone who reported that changing firmware versions changed the amount consumed - but I cannot find it now.

Myself just had a 5kw installed, but it is still being comissioned.  I noticed the same during initial testing with my Efergy meter.  Am now waiting patiently for a prepaid meter to be installed so that I can verify if this is "real" use or "reactive" power - e.g. whether I'm billed for this or not.

I have my trickle feed set to 20w. Even though I did not use any power from the grid, except for the trickle, and the app only showing less than 1KWH, I was using 1.3 - 1.5KWH per day as per the prepaid meter
Once stage 6 loadshedding came into play I noticed that this amount reduced dramatically because the grid was simply not available
I started physically switching off the mains in the early morning once the PV was active, and only switched it back on before retiring for the night. This way I have managed to reduce the grid usage (as per my prepaid meter) down to 0.1 - 0.3 KWH for the day
I have since added a smart switch between the mains switch and the CT coil which allows me to remotely switch on/off the grid, as well as schedule automatic switch on times so that I don't end up with no grid power in the early mornings because I forgot to switch the grid back on
Sunsynk is bringing out a smart switch feature in the next few months which I am hoping will be able to be integrated so that the switch can be switched on based on SOC and switched off based on PV and SOC parameters (yet to see how far they take this idea of a smart switch)

4 hours ago, sgs said:

Do you actually see power being used on your municipal/eskom meter, or are you just measuring with a clamp like the Efergy?

This is not the first time this has been mentioned on this forum in relation to the 5kw Sunsynk / Deye inverter, though.  Here's an example, but there are more if you search:

There was someone who reported that changing firmware versions changed the amount consumed - but I cannot find it now.

Myself just had a 5kw installed, but it is still being comissioned.  I noticed the same during initial testing with my Efergy meter.  Am now waiting patiently for a prepaid meter to be installed so that I can verify if this is "real" use or "reactive" power - e.g. whether I'm billed for this or not.

It is actually using municipal power.  I used a PowerUp 5kW inverter for many years and since switching to the Sunsynk we are consuming more Eskom power. 

1 hour ago, AndrewinPlett said:

I have my trickle feed set to 20w. Even though I did not use any power from the grid, except for the trickle, and the app only showing less than 1KWH, I was using 1.3 - 1.5KWH per day as per the prepaid meter
Once stage 6 loadshedding came into play I noticed that this amount reduced dramatically because the grid was simply not available
I started physically switching off the mains in the early morning once the PV was active, and only switched it back on before retiring for the night. This way I have managed to reduce the grid usage (as per my prepaid meter) down to 0.1 - 0.3 KWH for the day
I have since added a smart switch between the mains switch and the CT coil which allows me to remotely switch on/off the grid, as well as schedule automatic switch on times so that I don't end up with no grid power in the early mornings because I forgot to switch the grid back on
Sunsynk is bringing out a smart switch feature in the next few months which I am hoping will be able to be integrated so that the switch can be switched on based on SOC and switched off based on PV and SOC parameters (yet to see how far they take this idea of a smart switch)

Thanks Andrew, I have reverted to switching off the mains feed to the inverter in the mornings and switching it back on in the evenings as you mentioned, but this defeats the whole point of supplying non essentials should there be enough surplus power. 

I did also consider installing a contactor driven by the auxiliary output that I use for my pool pump.  This is configured to only switch on when a defined SOC is reached and a certain number of watts of solar power is available.  Maybe you could explore using this functionality in the workaround.

Update:

I just did a comparison of the power reported by Sunsynk as imported vs the prepaid meter tally over the last 3 months.  The difference between the two is 7% amounting to 25kWh (Eskom 25kWh more than Sunsynk).  Therefore, the Eskom meter is not tallying the continual consumption as I originally thought as it reactive.  

Thank you so much for the assistance and comments above.  I greatly appreciate the time and effort taken.  

What an amazing forum.