Hi guys. Completely new to solar and planning on a system for our household of 4 people. I feel like the most important part to the system is the inverter. I'm thinking 5kw inverter will be enough to power the lights and essential plugs. Geysers and stove is gas already. 

My question is. Sunsynk/deye are radically more expensive than the rest. Why is that? Are the axpert based inverters sufficient for my needs? Also what I think is critical for me is to be able to remotely setup the inverter or change settings remotely. I have home assistant currently so integration would be pretty cool. 

Prices have come down quite a bit.
So if budget allows try going Sunsynk or the new Solis S6 Pro (solis a bit cheaper and with superior warranty and local support)

Else if constrained budget then look at luxpower sna eco, very good budget inverter with local support.

8 minutes ago, cp69 said:

My question is. Sunsynk/deye are radically more expensive than the rest.

They are full hybrid grid-tie, the axpert types are mostly off-grid type, so less complex.

7 minutes ago, cp69 said:

I'm thinking 5kw inverter will be enough to power the lights and essential plugs. Geysers and stove is gas already. 

A good start. But there will still be some management needed. 5kw is just over 20A. A kettle and a microwave in simultaneous use can get you close to that. If the dishwasher hits its heating cycle round about the same time, you're in trouble. This is a true story. For dishwasher heating substitute a toaster. Also a true story. 

Thanks for the replies guys. Am I right in saying that sunsynk/deye units are capable of settings changes remotely through the app? Other brands their app is only for monitoring purposes?

If you get Solar assistant you can change any setting on the inverter remotely. This is on a Kodak King

 

12 hours ago, cp69 said:

Thanks for the replies guys. Am I right in saying that sunsynk/deye units are capable of settings changes remotely through the app? Other brands their app is only for monitoring purposes?

Luxpower app allows for remote changes as well. And as noted above if you get Solar Assistant it doesn't really matter what inverter / app you have as it gives you remote access as well. 5kw is a good starting point but also like mentioned you may need to manage power consumption so that the inverter doesn't trip - its remarkably easy to do 

 

If you are worried about 5KW not being enough and budget is tight, then 2x 5KW Luxpower SNA5000 inverters in parallel may be a better option instead of an 8KW Sunsynk which is around R36k to R40k. The Luxpowers I have seen retailing for R12k new, so R24k for 10KW of LuxPower inverters.

 

If I had budget, I would likely go for the Solis over the Luxpower SNA & SunSynk inverters.

I've seen a few guys recommend the Solis, may I ask why you say it's better than the SunSynk?

6 minutes ago, WesleyR said:

I've seen a few guys recommend the Solis, may I ask why you say it's better than the SunSynk?

1 - SOLIS - Top World class Inverter Brand
2 - Specs way better than the sunsynk/deye
3 - Better cost point
4 - Better actual LOCAL SA warranty and technical support ( SA Solar Industry best in my opinion )

1 hour ago, mzezman said:

Luxpower app allows for remote changes as well. And as noted above if you get Solar Assistant it doesn't really matter what inverter / app you have as it gives you remote access as well. 5kw is a good starting point but also like mentioned you may need to manage power consumption so that the inverter doesn't trip - its remarkably easy to do 

I think this is not the cae. They support a quite wide of inverters (many of which are Axpert clones), but they list (amongst others) Fronius and Victron as not supported. I have a Goodwe and they don't list it as supported, nor as unsupported. AIUI they can provide monitoring, but not the ability to change settings remotely (since Goodwe themselves cannot reliably do that, this shouldn't be a surprise).

I don't think this is an unfair comment to make, and I am not at all saying that Solar Assistant doesn't work. But there are so many inverters available and there is no common command set, nor a common way of working, and so no piece of software is going to work with all inverters.

3 hours ago, Bobster. said:

I think this is not the cae. They support a quite wide of inverters (many of which are Axpert clones), but they list (amongst others) Fronius and Victron as not supported. I have a Goodwe and they don't list it as supported, nor as unsupported. AIUI they can provide monitoring, but not the ability to change settings remotely (since Goodwe themselves cannot reliably do that, this shouldn't be a surprise).

I don't think this is an unfair comment to make, and I am not at all saying that Solar Assistant doesn't work. But there are so many inverters available and there is no common command set, nor a common way of working, and so no piece of software is going to work with all inverters.

You are correct - i was a bit liberal with my statement. they do support a wide range but not ALL.