Hi All

I recently acquired a 5kW invertor with a single 5kWh battery and 6 panels.

Issue I have is that I'm unable to see the power my non-essentials are using on the invertor, which is one of the key reasons I bought this invertor. I would really appreciate 2nd opinions on this while I engage my installer.

In the System Mode settings, my installer initially set the following:

Priority Load - Ticked 

Zero export - Ticked

Solar Export - Unticked

Limit to Load only - Ticked 

Grid tickle feed - 20W

Inverter power limiter - 5000W

The above works fine in powering my essentials, as per attached flowchart1.

Installer mentioned the above settings would ensure the non-essentials are powered when there is surplus from the panels. I'm not convinced due to the "Limit to Load only" checkbox being ticked. So my first question: Is there any other setting in the invertor that can ensure the non-essentials are powered with surplus from the panels when this checkbox ticked? Based on my research in this forum, my understanding is that this checkbox actually forces invertor to only power essentials (the "load"), correct?

When I unticked the "Limit to Load only" checkbox during the day when I was expecting my non-essentials to be powered due to a full battery and minimal essential usage, my invertor flow chart displayed the attached (Flowchart2).

The good thing is that I can now see the "house" icon. Second question: My understanding is that these are the non-essentials, right?

The 3rd and main question is: can someone please help me decipher what the flowchart2 readings mean, especially why I have such low Watts reading from my panels (middle of a sunny day), negative reading from my essentials (I had just under 300W running) and no reading from my non-essentials (I was running a 2kWh as a test)?

Installer has advised ct coil is installed correctly.

 

I see there is a 3MB file limit upload, here is my 2nd attachment with the odd readings.

If your wiring at the db is done correctly and the ct is installed correctly and the settings are correct then your non-essentials should get power from the excess solar.

Here are my settings and works perfectly to power non-essentials from excess solar.

 

3 hours ago, abisel said:

I see there is a 3MB file limit upload, here is my 2nd attachment with the odd readings.

that negative value from the essentials ( UPS ) side is wrong/incorrect, I would double triple check that the CT coil is installed correctly and wired correctly.

15 hours ago, WannabeSolarSparky said:

If your wiring at the db is done correctly and the ct is installed correctly and the settings are correct then your non-essentials should get power from the excess solar.

Here are my settings and works perfectly to power non-essentials from excess solar.

 

Thanks for the assistance, realy appreciate it. My battery charge setting has Gen Signal selected instead of Signal ISLAND MODE. I don't have a generator nor am I planning on getting one. I see the manual advises on not changing these settings often as it can kill the battery. Is the difference worth correcting to help correct the issue I have?

13 hours ago, WannabeSolarSparky said:

that negative value from the essentials ( UPS ) side is wrong/incorrect, I would double triple check that the CT coil is installed correctly and wired correctly.

Noted, will do, thanks.

Hi All

I'm currently looking for a Sunsynk installer to get an on-site 2nd opinion on my install, would however like any assistance in the interim.

Past couple of days I've been monitoring the flow chart and suddenly the invertor seems to be feeding some of my essentials during the day however the CT coil never goes over 0 to display the portion that the grid is supplementing (See Flow attachment). I can however see what seems to be the supplement on my eskom meter.

Worth noting that the invertor has on a couple of times dislayed -0.1 on the coil picture on the flow chart, which I understand this means I am supplying back to the grid, which should not happen. In system mode, only "Zero export" was ticked.

I have attached my db board and invertor board to show the wiring. The CT coil arrow in the db board is pointing towards the wire heading towards the non-essentials, which in turn splits to invertor. In invertor board, ct coil wiring going to pin 5&6, this is 5kW invertor.

If db board wiring not clear, happy to provide drawing confirming where each wire is going.

Anything out of place at face value?

After above tests, for safety I enabled "Limit to Load only" option to ignore non-essentials for now till I figure out what is going on.

Edited May 1, 20233 yr by abisel

In case anyone encounters a similar issue, the issue was resolved by changing the CT coil wires from pins from 5,6 to 3,4 for my 5kW invertor. Seems some installers mix the two, as 5,6 is for the 8kW.

A massive thank you to @Leshen for his patient assistance in giving me enough info to revert back to my installer to make relevant corrections.

Edited May 5, 20233 yr by abisel

On 2023/05/05 at 8:13 AM, abisel said:

In case anyone encounters a similar issue, the issue was resolved by changing the CT coil wires from pins from 5,6 to 3,4 for my 5kW invertor. Seems some installers mix the two, as 5,6 is for the 8kW.

A massive thank you to @Leshen for his patient assistance in giving me enough info to revert back to my installer to make relevant corrections.

Glad to hear its sorted. My CT coil is being fitted today, once that is done will I be able to see on the app how much excess PV is being fed to the non essentials? Sunsnyk 8kW. 

thanks,