Hi there,

First time posting here. I recently had a  Deye 5KW Hybrid inverter and 2 x Volta Stage 1 batteries (2 x 5KWh in parallel) installed with 12 x 550W solar panels.
I want to run everything from the "essential load" from the inverter (I think it is called the "backup load" according to the manual) during high solar panel output but run my geyser as a smart load where there is excess solar output.

My panels are East / West split (4 x 550W east facing / 8 x 550W panels west facing).
I get a lot of early morning sun and can fully recharge my batteries by 10am on a sunny day. The rest of the day the inverter only run my desktop computer (around 500W load) with the occasional use of the kettle / microwave / toaster. I therefore waste a lot of potential solar power when my batteries are already fully charged.

In regards to my stove, I use one of those glass bowl convection ovens which only need around 1100W, so no need to power a big power hungry stove using the "essential load".

From my understanding and doing some research online the following need to be done:
- Run an output from the "Gen Port" on the inverter which goes to a breaker on my AC DB which in turn connect to my geyser. (For safety reasons)
- Set the Gen Port to SmartLoad Output.

Assuming that my geyser element draws 2000W, what do I need to set the "Power" value under SmartLoad Output to?
My best guess would be to set "Power" to 2500W?
From my understanding, the "Power" value is the minimum available solar power needed to run my "essential load" as well as the "non-essential load" (SmartLoad) ?

Assuming that the 2500W "Power" value is correct, what will happen if the "essential load" exceed 500W while SmartLoad is providing power to the geyser?
My best guess is that the inverter will turn off the SmartLoad and prioritize the "essential load" until drops back to 500W?

Thank you in advance.

Regards,
Niel
 

Further to my original post, I left out the following:

Under the Micro Inverter section there a ON and OFF % which I understand refers to the battery SOC.
Do Smart Load only turn on if both the "Power" is available AND when when the battery SOC is between the ON and OFF range?

Example photo (not my own inverter) as reference:

I'd expect that on most days you'd have either enough sunlight and therefore spare solar capacity, or otherwise battery capacity for the inverter to either just start generating more power to meet that load, or run from battery until you drop down to the pre-determined cut-off percentage. Yes, the Smart Load is dependent on two variables, the minimum solar power AND the desired minimum battery level in order to switch on the Smart Load. Maybe try it out at something high like 95% or more battery level, and then the 2500W minimum solar generation sounds reasonable also.

5 minutes ago, GreenFields said:

I'd expect that on most days you'd have either enough sunlight and therefore spare solar capacity, or otherwise battery capacity for the inverter to either just start generating more power to meet that load, or run from battery until you drop down to the pre-determined cut-off percentage. Yes, the Smart Load is dependent on two variables, the minimum solar power AND the desired minimum battery level in order to switch on the Smart Load. Maybe try it out at something high like 95% or more battery level, and then the 2500W minimum solar generation sounds reasonable also.

Thank you for the reply.

Just to clarify, in order to run a 2000W geyser I will need 2000W surplus solar power over and above the [current] nominal load that I typically run?

 

Something that I just realized and never asked in my original question (So many things to consider):

During the morning my batteries recharge and draw around 2000W from the solar panels.
The inverter currently provide power to the load first and use whatever surplus is available for battery charging.

How will this work if SmartLoad is enabled?
Assuming that the battery SOC % is higher than the ON %, will the inverter prioritize the surplus solar output for battery charging  and leave SmartLoad disabled?

Edited March 10, 20242 yr by Niel Kotze

22 minutes ago, Niel Kotze said:

Something that I just realized and never asked in my original question (So many things to consider):

During the morning my batteries recharge that uses around 2000W.
The inverter currently provide power to the load first and use whatever surplus is available for battery charging.

How will this work if SmartLoad is enabled?
Assuming that the battery SOC % is higher than the ON %, will the inverter prioritize the surplus solar output for battery charging  and leave SmartLoad disabled?

While SOC is higher than switch on up to the switch off smart load should work on its own and not be affected by surplus PV. The trigger stays between the 2 levels of SOC. 

My view of your question. 

1 minute ago, Scorp007 said:

While SOC is higher than switch on up to the switch off smart load should work on its own and not be affected by surplus PV. The trigger stays between the 2 levels of SOC. 

My view of your question. 

The ON and OFF battery % make sense, however  the "POWER" is also a factor?
From my limited understanding both conditions need to be met, e.g. 2500W available power and required battery SOC.
I turned off the AC input to inverter to prevent any Eskom power being used.

36 minutes ago, Niel Kotze said:

The ON and OFF battery % make sense, however  the "POWER" is also a factor?
From my limited understanding both conditions need to be met, e.g. 2500W available power and required battery SOC.
I turned off the AC input to inverter to prevent any Eskom power being used.

Will it not help to limit the PV power used for the inverter. eg charging the battery or powering the load to have enough available for the smart load? 

3 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

Will it not help to limit the PV power used for the inverter. eg charging the battery or powering the load to have enough available for the smart load? 

The most solar power that I've ever pulled was around 3KW in the morning.
I'm confident that I have enough surplus solar output to run the geyser on SmartLoad.

I was just curious as to what happens in the morning when the battery need to charge while there is 2500W  solar power available while SmartLoad is enabled.
 

2 hours ago, Niel Kotze said:

I was just curious as to what happens in the morning when the battery need to charge while there is 2500W  solar power available while SmartLoad is enabled.

When the grid is down... Loads are prioritised.

When grid is up... try to select battery priority or load priority under the work mode according to your preference. This is on the understanding you select Smart load to be always on when grid is on.

Not 100% sure, but it's what I would try.

15 minutes ago, GreenFields said:

When the grid is down... Loads are prioritised.

When grid is up... try to select battery priority or load priority under the work mode according to your preference. This is on the understanding you select Smart load to be always on when grid is on.

Not 100% sure, but it's what I would try.

When the grid is down... Loads are prioritised.
- My grid is always down and I only use solar / battery power.
- The goal is to be completely off-grid.

My current System Work Mode is set to LoadFirst.
"PV power is firstly used to power the load and then used to charge the battery"

Let's say it is 10 am and my batteries are still recharging from the previous night while there is 2000w surplus solar power.
With my current setup without SmartLoad, all 2000W goes to battery charging.

With SmartLoad enabled, will the inverter prioritize the 2000w surplus solar power for battery charging instead of using it for SmartLoad?

Since I only use solar power, I assume that SmartLoad can only use surplus solar power and will never use any of the battery power?

Thank you all for the comments. I am going write a new post and write down my thoughts in a more structured manner.