Hi Powerforum community 

I've been going down the road of getting an inverter and battery so that i can beat Eishkom, after lots of reading on this forum i can see the brand Sunsynk comes very highly recommended here , so decided to get a quote for the 3.6kw hybrid inverter (which is more than enough for my small 2 bedroom flat) and after calling a few ellies branches ive got mixed reasons why they dont have stock of any, i.e its being discontinued / theres been problems with this inverter.. just wanted to know if its true? or know who may have stock?

 

Besides sunsynk , which inverter would you guys recommend. For now its just to power my lights ,tv's internet etc maybe even a fridge or PC with the possiblity of adding solar panels down the line should i get approval. 

 

obviously  it depends on many factors but just need a trusted inverter that wont break the bank

The 3.6kw SunSynk is not discontinued AFAIK. My theory is that inverter imports into South Africa market and hence supply and stock are coupled to whatever trends the installers are following at the moment. And to me it would seem that installers don't "bother" with smaller 3.6kw installations anymore. Moreover, at a time the price difference between 3.6 and 5 was the same. Having recently gone through a quoting and installation process at my home a 5kw inverter was not offered as an option to me - just 8kws (before I used less than 400 units a month and I already had a gas stove and solar geyser). So the trend might have knocked on from 5 to 8 already.

Possibly SunSynk might be product funneling certain sizes only for the South African market as well.

Again just some thinking aloud theories and no offence to any installers or suppliers. At the end of the day the client still get the benefit of a bigger inverter as it provides options for future expansions on panels and batteries, etc. The worst would be that after the bug has bitten that one need to upgrade the inverter size after a year or two.

If your heart is set on a 3.6kW Sunsynk, you could also consider the Deye-branded 3.6kW hybrid, or the 3.6kW Goodwe EM-Series or ES-Series inverter. These are all capable of on-grid or off-grid operation, but you'd have to check whether it's on a list somewhere. Not sure.

However, for the cost difference it may not be worth it compared to a 5kW version, which is more popular and may have better support for repairs.

If you are not interested in exporting power but you still want panels, then something like the Kodak King or Luxpower 5kW inverter could be worth looking at.