I have the Sunsynk 8kW inverter that was installed end of 2022. In Apr last year the dongle stopped working and eventually this year I got a new dongle just to find that the new one also don't work.

I investigated this and found that there are various reports of the comms board failing which is mostly to do with the C9 capacitor. Some people just cut it out and everything works again. However I am not comfortable with that. I contacted Sunsynk but they advised me to get an installer to test the voltage and then report back to them.

My question then is, where can I find an installer around Roodepoort that can assist with something as small as this? I am happy also to just replace the board and get it done with.

53 minutes ago, PearlJam said:

I have the Sunsynk 8kW inverter that was installed end of 2022. In Apr last year the dongle stopped working and eventually this year I got a new dongle just to find that the new one also don't work.

I investigated this and found that there are various reports of the comms board failing which is mostly to do with the C9 capacitor. Some people just cut it out and everything works again. However I am not comfortable with that. I contacted Sunsynk but they advised me to get an installer to test the voltage and then report back to them.

My question then is, where can I find an installer around Roodepoort that can assist with something as small as this? I am happy also to just replace the board and get it done with.

Did you perhaps try another WiFi connection?

A known problem is that phone hot spots do cause a lot of nightmares as they disconnect without reconnecting.

My experience not just on inverters but also on other smart devices.

13 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

Did you perhaps try another WiFi connection?

A known problem is that phone hot spots do cause a lot of nightmares as they disconnect without reconnecting.

My experience not just on inverters but also on other smart devices.

In this case the actual dongle does not get power. Therefor I can't even connect directly with the dongle to do a setup.

4 hours ago, PearlJam said:

I contacted Sunsynk but they advised me to get an installer to test the voltage and then report back to them.

Going a bit off-topic here, but this just makes me angry... Why can the owner of the inverter not check the voltage himself. I'm sure that there are many owners that are likely more capable than an installer, and who can do this themselves. In fact, what are the minimum requirements (academic and experiential) for someone to "qualify" as a Sunsynk installer? My system was installed by an electrician who did not even know that he was not supposed to connect neutral and earth on the load side if the inverter was connected to the grid. I actually questioned him more than a year after the unit was installed, AFTER I did some "research" regarding the earth-neutral bonding requirements for going fully off-grid. Only after I quoted the SANS code in this regard to him, and referred him to some video made by Sunsynk UK,s CEO where he explained the different requirements for on-grid and off-grid connections, did he grumblingly "it's not actually necessary" accept that he had to correct my system...

Also, Sunsynk very proudly informed me via their app of this "great" new support hub for home owners, installers and retailers, only for me to then find out that the only "support" they provided to home owners was to send them information on new products - thus only a sales service, and no support!

Sunsyn's attitude regarding their "end users" who actually pay for what they sell is certainly going to harm them in the long run (if it has not already started to do so). My system has been installed for nearly two years now, and although I initially felt positive about them and encouraged my friends and colleagues to also install Sunsynk products, that has most definitely changed since I've experienced their discrimination against the owners of their systems, and I am now actively discouraging people considering the purchase of any Sunsynk system... and I know that I'm not the only person doing so.

They (and others with the same mentality) should learn a simple truth: DON'T BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU - and that hand is the home owner that pays for your product, and NOT the installer that you are trying to keep in business by nefarious practices such as this.

Edited Thursday at 12:442 days by HennieL

1 hour ago, HennieL said:

Going a bit off-topic here, but this just makes me angry... Why can the owner of the inverter not check the voltage himself. I'm sure that there are many owners that are likely more capable than an installer, and who can do this themselves. In fact, what are the minimum requirements (academic and experiential) for someone to "qualify" as a Sunsynk installer? My system was installed by an electrician who did not even know that he was not supposed to connect neutral and earth on the load side if the inverter was connected to the grid. I actually questioned him more than a year after the unit was installed, AFTER I did some "research" regarding the earth-neutral bonding requirements for going fully off-grid. Only after I quoted the SANS code in this regard to him, and referred him to some video made by Sunsynk UK,s CEO where he explained the different requirements for on-grid and off-grid connections, did he grumblingly "it's not actually necessary" accept that he had to correct my system...

Also, Sunsynk very proudly informed me via their app of this "great" new support hub for home owners, installers and retailers, only for me to then find out that the only "support" they provided to home owners was to send them information on new products - thus only a sales service, and no support!

Sunsyn's attitude regarding their "end users" who actually pay for what they sell is certainly going to harm them in the long run (if it has not already started to do so). My system has been installed for nearly two years now, and although I initially felt positive about them and encouraged my friends and colleagues to also install Sunsynk products, that has most definitely changed since I've experienced their discrimination against the owners of their systems, and I am now actively discouraging people considering the purchase of any Sunsynk system... and I know that I'm not the only person doing so.

They (and others with the same mentality) should learn a simple truth: DON'T BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU - and that hand is the home owner that pays for your product, and NOT the installer that you are trying to keep in business by nefarious practices such as this.

You can't do this.

If Sunsync gets the owner to do it, who is not a qualified electrician, and the owner shocks himself or damages the unit, they incur liability. As a company, you must always protect yourself. Same reason why in some countries you can't change your own lightbulb, you must call an electrician.

I would ask an owner to do maybe visual checks (even this can backfire, a simple misunderstanding of words can make you liable also if the owner does something he wasnt supposed to so I also wouldnt even tell them to do visual checks), but nothing invasive, but at the end of the day, unless you are qualified, don't do it and incur the risk on your own if you are willing to do it yourself.

Edited Thursday at 01:522 days by Denns

4 hours ago, Denns said:

You can't do this.

If Sunsync gets the owner to do it, who is not a qualified electrician, and the owner shocks himself or damages the unit, they incur liability. As a company, you must always protect yourself. Same reason why in some countries you can't change your own lightbulb, you must call an electrician.

Unfortunately I've heard this same "excuse" many times before in my professional career, and I don't buy it... The actual reason is not safety, it is money - now their "installers" can charge another call-out fee and at least an hour's labour just to check a voltage across two pins of a 5V communications port...

Can somebody please enlighten me on what the requirements are to become a solar installer? To my knowledge, there are plenty of "solar installers" in South Africa who:

• are not registered electricians,

• are not registered electrical contractors,

• have some PV training (or sometimes very little),

• physically install the entire system,

and then bring in an IE or MIE to inspect and issue the CoC...

As posted above, I experienced this first hand when my "registered electrician " installer did not know about the regulations pertaining to Neutral/Earth bonding, and bonded my neutral and earth on the load side of my inverter whilst there was also an existing Neutral/Earth bond at the grid supply side. Apart from this (as discussed in detail in this thread https://powerforum.co.za/topic/34086-lfp-and-other-lithium-facts/ ) they also did not follow any rational fire "best practice" code by installing the battery isolation devices, fuses, and AC and DC DB boards directly above the Lithium batteries where one would not be able to access them to isolate the batteries if there was a battery fire - which is something else that a home owner would expect his "competent installer" to know about and do correctly... And the worst part of this story is that a registered MASTER ELECTRICIAN issued the CoC for this install, notwithstanding the above.

Regardless of the above, if I can check my house voltage at any wall plug socket (as I have done many times in my life), why am I suddenly incompetent to measure the voltage at a Sunsynk dongle terminal which is only 5V (what the original poster stated that Sunsynk wanted an installer to do...). Also, why are home owners not allowed to ask technical questions in their new support hub?

9 hours ago, HennieL said:

Unfortunately I've heard this same "excuse" many times before in my professional career, and I don't buy it... The actual reason is not safety, it is money - now their "installers" can charge another call-out fee and at least an hour's labour just to check a voltage across two pins of a 5V communications port...

Can somebody please enlighten me on what the requirements are to become a solar installer? To my knowledge, there are plenty of "solar installers" in South Africa who:

• are not registered electricians,

• are not registered electrical contractors,

• have some PV training (or sometimes very little),

• physically install the entire system,

and then bring in an IE or MIE to inspect and issue the CoC...

As posted above, I experienced this first hand when my "registered electrician " installer did not know about the regulations pertaining to Neutral/Earth bonding, and bonded my neutral and earth on the load side of my inverter whilst there was also an existing Neutral/Earth bond at the grid supply side. Apart from this (as discussed in detail in this thread https://powerforum.co.za/topic/34086-lfp-and-other-lithium-facts/ ) they also did not follow any rational fire "best practice" code by installing the battery isolation devices, fuses, and AC and DC DB boards directly above the Lithium batteries where one would not be able to access them to isolate the batteries if there was a battery fire - which is something else that a home owner would expect his "competent installer" to know about and do correctly... And the worst part of this story is that a registered MASTER ELECTRICIAN issued the CoC for this install, notwithstanding the above.

Regardless of the above, if I can check my house voltage at any wall plug socket (as I have done many times in my life), why am I suddenly incompetent to measure the voltage at a Sunsynk dongle terminal which is only 5V (what the original poster stated that Sunsynk wanted an installer to do...). Also, why are home owners not allowed to ask technical questions in their new support hub?

I somewhat agree with you. But as you said it's money. But I wouldn't say its just to make money for their installers. Its liability which when one has a business you have the responsibility of that system until the warranty has expired. Its just my take but if I had a business like what Sunsync has I also would follow what Sunsync is doing. The last thing I want to deal with is court battles.

And if a system is under warranty I believe you don't pay anything? If there is an issue and you still have warranty from the installer they come to you and fix? Or am I mistaken in that regard. That is how it is with industrial installations so i don't see why it should be any different with residential. So it actually costs them more to send out a guy that to just tell you what to do on the phone when it comes to such a case.

38 minutes ago, Denns said:

And if a system is under warranty I believe you don't pay anything? If there is an issue and you still have warranty from the installer they come to you and fix? Or am I mistaken in that regard.

Thanks for your positive comments @Denns . It would be interesting to hear from installers on this Forum regarding their warranty obligations.

In my opinion, if the manufacturers warranty was registered under the installers name, then he would be liable for the duration of the warranty. If it was registered under the name of the home owner, then the installer is only liable for defective installation - and as in the case presented by @PearlJam in the original post, the installer would not be liable for a manufacturing defect, and would thus be entitled to be compensated by the home owner for his time and expenses to travel to the house, disconnect the dongle, test the power supply voltage (5V, I think...), re-connect the dongle, and drive back to his place of work. It would then be up to the home owner to claim these expenses back from the supplier or manufacturer, but as everyone should realize, these organizations would not pay up without a legal fight, so nothing will ever come from that due to the high cost of litigation. The old law of Transvaal still rules supreme 🥴

50 minutes ago, HennieL said:

Thanks for your positive comments @Denns . It would be interesting to hear from installers on this Forum regarding their warranty obligations.

In my opinion, if the manufacturers warranty was registered under the installers name, then he would be liable for the duration of the warranty. If it was registered under the name of the home owner, then the installer is only liable for defective installation - and as in the case presented by @PearlJam in the original post, the installer would not be liable for a manufacturing defect, and would thus be entitled to be compensated by the home owner for his time and expenses to travel to the house, disconnect the dongle, test the power supply voltage (5V, I think...), re-connect the dongle, and drive back to his place of work. It would then be up to the home owner to claim these expenses back from the supplier or manufacturer, but as everyone should realize, these organizations would not pay up without a legal fight, so nothing will ever come from that due to the high cost of litigation. The old law of Transvaal still rules supreme 🥴

In that case, I do understand where you are coming from. I had assumed incorrectly that the warranty is always handled by the installer, as that is how we do it in the industry. I work in the Engineering sector as an Electrical Engineer, and all the new installs, retrofits, etc., I have done or have been part of, we as the company take care of the warranty for the customer.

If the PLC or RTU dies, for example, the client calls us, and we then deal with the manufacturer in that regard with the warranty. The client pays nothing for us to go to the site and investigate. The first point of call is always us, the installer of the equipment. They don't phone the actual manufacturer. The only issue is that the electricians on the plants, substations, or mines don't exactly go out of their way to actually learn the system. We will get calls as simple as a device not coming on, but the guy hasn't checked the breaker.

In the poster's case, then yeah, I actually wouldn't be happy. You are right there.

Thanks all. At this point I am just thinking to live with it for now and then somewhere next year when the warranty expires to just get someone that can replace the board for me. I am not interested in removing the inverter to send it in to Sunsynk to replace the board which in all likelyhood will take some time and not same day. The risk and cost is too high to go that route.

22 hours ago, HennieL said:

Unfortunately I've heard this same "excuse" many times before in my professional career, and I don't buy it... The actual reason is not safety, it is money - now their "installers" can charge another call-out fee and at least an hour's labour just to check a voltage across two pins of a 5V communications port...

Can somebody please enlighten me on what the requirements are to become a solar installer? To my knowledge, there are plenty of "solar installers" in South Africa who:

• are not registered electricians,

• are not registered electrical contractors,

• have some PV training (or sometimes very little),

• physically install the entire system,

and then bring in an IE or MIE to inspect and issue the CoC...

As posted above, I experienced this first hand when my "registered electrician " installer did not know about the regulations pertaining to Neutral/Earth bonding, and bonded my neutral and earth on the load side of my inverter whilst there was also an existing Neutral/Earth bond at the grid supply side. Apart from this (as discussed in detail in this thread https://powerforum.co.za/topic/34086-lfp-and-other-lithium-facts/ ) they also did not follow any rational fire "best practice" code by installing the battery isolation devices, fuses, and AC and DC DB boards directly above the Lithium batteries where one would not be able to access them to isolate the batteries if there was a battery fire - which is something else that a home owner would expect his "competent installer" to know about and do correctly... And the worst part of this story is that a registered MASTER ELECTRICIAN issued the CoC for this install, notwithstanding the above.

Regardless of the above, if I can check my house voltage at any wall plug socket (as I have done many times in my life), why am I suddenly incompetent to measure the voltage at a Sunsynk dongle terminal which is only 5V (what the original poster stated that Sunsynk wanted an installer to do...). Also, why are home owners not allowed to ask technical questions in their new support hub?

True. If Sunsynk want to be perfectly correct about it, they should be insisting on a datacomms technician to attend the call, because it has to do with the electrical signal characteristics of the RS-232 interface. I am willing to bet that the vast majority of electricians have never encountered it before, making them just as unqualified (and ill-equipped) as you. Can you imagine if the problem was not power, and they need him to plug a loopback connector in and run a BERT? Or to measure the delay between RTS and CTS? 😀

@PearlJam I know the old field "engineering" motto used to be that a layperson with enough of spares could diagnose and fix just about anything, but it does have its limits, which brings me to my point (and I guess Sunsynk's as well): If there is a fault condition with a sufficiently high voltage (say 40V) on pin 9 or 5, it could have smoked the dongle, as well as the new one that you plugged in. If you measure between pins 9 and 5 (ground) you should get +12V. Even less (down to 5V) should power the dongle, but if it's lower than 5V then it won't. If it's way high, then not only is the board faulty, but you have 2 unserviceable dongles as well. 😬

11 hours ago, Yellow Measure said:

@PearlJam I know the old field "engineering" motto used to be that a layperson with enough of spares could diagnose and fix just about anything, but it does have its limits, which brings me to my point (and I guess Sunsynk's as well): If there is a fault condition with a sufficiently high voltage (say 40V) on pin 9 or 5, it could have smoked the dongle, as well as the new one that you plugged in. If you measure between pins 9 and 5 (ground) you should get +12V. Even less (down to 5V) should power the dongle, but if it's lower than 5V then it won't. If it's way high, then not only is the board faulty, but you have 2 unserviceable dongles as well. 😬

Thanks. I tested between 9 and 5 and got no reading at all

@PearlJam ,

If you are a bit OCD and like non electrical DIY , why don't you just ignore the dongle and spend on rather installing a proper management system e.g https://smarthomeintegrations.co.za/

If you go this route, just don't get the V5 version, at this new version requires that faulty RS232 port to work. V4 will work best.

PS, if you have such a management system, you really only need to use the dongle to upgrade your firmware. And you know the classic saying: "If it ain't broke...."

I have disconnected my dongle 4 years ago, as I don't like the idea of sending all my data to a Data Centre who know where, and what they can do with my info, so I keep all my data (stats) at home. Takes a bit of effort to get it all working, but well worth it in the end.

Hope this helps you with your current issue.

PPS. You will need to have a HA server to do this method. Plenty of YT videos on how to install etc.