We have a 5kw Deye Inverter and 2 x 5kw Deyness (1c) batteries. Our entire home runs as essential, so if we want to, we can power anything from solar in the day, or batteries at night.

We know what we can / cant run at the same time, to ensure we dont overload the inverter.

Obviously using the stove and other kitchen appliances at night drains a lot of the battery.

I was wondering if anyone has had any issues running things like this?

8 hours ago, CESPACH said:

Our entire home runs as essential

You could have used an off grid inverter to achieve the same result. The beauty of the hybrid inverter is that heavy loads like the geyser doesn't have to be connected down stream. The Deye also gives an Aux output you can use for managing battery energy.

I would put money on you overloading the inverter and running out of juice if you didn't notice the grid is down.

12 hours ago, CESPACH said:

We have a 5kw Deye Inverter and 2 x 5kw Deyness (1c) batteries. Our entire home runs as essential, so if we want to, we can power anything from solar in the day, or batteries at night.

We know what we can / cant run at the same time, to ensure we dont overload the inverter.

Obviously using the stove and other kitchen appliances at night drains a lot of the battery.

I was wondering if anyone has had any issues running things like this?

I s running a 5kW Deye off grid 95% of the time. Saves me drawing the 36 units a month from grid by using 50W from grid to prevent export.

I run any kitchen gadgets at night and also my lawn mower during sun periods. Everything is on the UPS circuit. What I do 50% of the evening period is to switch on my grid to keep the battery at a good SOC for during the night via a smart switch on the grid input. This switch is also timed to have my grid on from 04h00 to 08h30. Some morning it would use as little as 100Wh to keep to my SOC. This mostly when fridges start that it gets some assistance from the grid.

The last 3 days I had to use grid even during the day due to the cloud. This cost me about 3 units a day. Up to Monday I only used 1 unit from the beginning of the month from the grid. Yes I use grid the way it suits me and not how Eskom would prefer.

Thanks Scorp007. What's your setup to be off grid 95%? How many panels and batteries do you have?

I've also flipped to my grid manually from time to time and was wondering whether there is a breaker that could do that for me. What do you use?

I've only had my solar panels a couple weeks, not even a full month and I've been able to cut my grid usage in half, so I'm already very happy!

There are many brands of smart switches or smart MCBs.

Here is one.

I have say 3 x 5kwh batteries but they are old and perhaps only 3-4kwh.

There is not setting for the 95%. I decide based on my PV, battery SOC and weather and set my timer on the inverter and smart timer what hours to switch on the grid.

3 hours ago, CESPACH said:

7 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

There are many brands of smart switches or smart MCBs.

Here is one.

I have say 3 x 5kwh batteries but they are old and perhaps only 3-4kwh.

There is not setting for the 95%. I decide based on my PV, battery SOC and weather and set my timer on the inverter and smart timer what hours to switch on the grid.

Awesome, thanks! I use the Zigbee on my Geyser and Pool, so know them well. Didn't know they could be used for a switch over breaker

6 hours ago, CESPACH said:

flipped to my grid manually from time to time

Why would you want to manually control supply to the inverter and not just use the settings?

1 hour ago, frivan said:

Why would you want to manually control supply to the inverter and not just use the settings?

Because some times, running everything in the kitchen is necessary, so bypassing the inverter makes that possible then

49 minutes ago, CESPACH said:

Because some times, running everything in the kitchen is necessary, so bypassing the inverter makes that possible then

Inverters have passthrough and if you check the manual, you can find out what the passthrough rating is. You might not need to do all of that.

My Cheap 3.6kw 24V inverter has a passthrough of 40A or about 9.2kW.

Edited Wednesday at 05:123 days by Denns

On the Deye, its automatic and enabled by default and supports up to a 35A continuous passthrough, approx. 8kW, so not enough if you run an oven, stove and microwave at the same time.

51 minutes ago, CESPACH said:

On the Deye, its automatic and enabled by default and supports up to a 35A continuous passthrough, approx. 8kW, so not enough if you run an oven, stove and microwave at the same time.

I doubt that running the mentioned items in the kitchen at the same time is harvesting the maximum saving which for some people is important. My 36 units a month saving by being off grid is more than my actual grid use of say 50W from grid all the time.

When my grid is on then it is on pass through as I see it. I don't use the grid for charging but keep a high enough SOC if the power has to go off. I don't think switching the grid off via a smart switch is complicated.

12 hours ago, CESPACH said:

On the Deye, its automatic and enabled by default and supports up to a 35A continuous passthrough, approx. 8kW, so not enough if you run an oven, stove and microwave at the same time.

I have a Sunsynk 5K, 6kWp on roof since 2020, and recently upgraded storage to 32K Hina (Knyee white-label), been off-grid since January 2026. I have been optimising usage and current drain over the past 6 years:

• Outdoor heatpump for hot water;

• Gas stove, oven is still AC, but I built a Pizza oven outside (and a whole outdoor kitchen too!);

• Added 2x Inverter aircons (24000 + 18000 BTU);

• Gas heater;

• Slowly migrated current hungry devices, like firewall / router / NAS / security cameras / NVR to fanless low current models;

• Don't operate Class-A amplifiers continuously, or moved to Class-D.

Next on the list is the fridge freezer, eyeing a Bosch AAA+ model.

Optimising a power budget is basically the same as running a bank account: You either create more income, or you cut / replace expenses, or a combination.

28 minutes ago, Yellow Measure said:

I have a Sunsynk 5K, 6kWp on roof since 2020, and recently upgraded storage to 32K Hina (Knyee white-label), been off-grid since January 2026. I have been optimising usage and current drain over the past 6 years:

• Outdoor heatpump for hot water;

• Gas stove, oven is still AC, but I built a Pizza oven outside (and a whole outdoor kitchen too!);

• Added 2x Inverter aircons (24000 + 18000 BTU);

• Gas heater;

• Slowly migrated current hungry devices, like firewall / router / NAS / security cameras / NVR to fanless low current models;

• Don't operate Class-A amplifiers continuously, or moved to Class-D.

Next on the list is the fridge freezer, eyeing a Bosch AAA+ model.

Optimising a power budget is basically the same as running a bank account: You either create more income, or you cut / replace expenses, or a combination.

That's a great setup. Similar Journey to what I took also. We got the house in 2024 so right off the bat we got the most efficient items we could. We have 2 fridges, one outdoor by the pool house and a much bigger one indoor. Both Hisense and I kid you not when the big one runs it registers as 60W on the app. It uses nothing pretty much.

Only thing I need is the aircons but everything else is similar to you with Gas stove and Gas heaters. Might even add a 15kWh LFP battery in the next 2 years. No extra panels as I already generate much more than my consumption but that battery would allow life to continue without needing to switch off pool pump and fish pond during 3 days cloudy days.

19 minutes ago, Denns said:

That's a great setup. Similar Journey to what I took also. We got the house in 2024 so right off the bat we got the most efficient items we could. We have 2 fridges, one outdoor by the pool house and a much bigger one indoor. Both Hisense and I kid you not when the big one runs it registers as 60W on the app. It uses nothing pretty much.

Only thing I need is the aircons but everything else is similar to you with Gas stove and Gas heaters. Might even add a 15kWh LFP battery in the next 2 years. No extra panels as I already generate much more than my consumption but that battery would allow life to continue without needing to switch off pool pump and fish pond during 3 days cloudy days.

You reminded me of something quite important, which I forgot: Whilst house-hunting during 2019, I made a point of only viewing properties with:

• a clear W-->N<--E view; and

• 0 degree azimuth (10-15 degrees max either side); and

• a roof that can take 24+ panels.

I did not have to look long for a suitable home, and having made my wishlist upfront helped a lot.

4 hours ago, Yellow Measure said:

You reminded me of something quite important, which I forgot: Whilst house-hunting during 2019, I made a point of only viewing properties with:

• a clear W-->N<--E view; and

• 0 degree azimuth (10-15 degrees max either side); and

• a roof that can take 24+ panels.

I did not have to look long for a suitable home, and having made my wishlist upfront helped a lot.

I didnt have experience with solar before we got the house but did get lucky in that the house can take 28 panels from the measurements I took. Currently my 12 panels are sitting on the garage roofs which dont have the best orientation to be honest but I am offgrid with how it is now. It was very easy to do the DIY install on the corrugated roofs they have than deal with the tiles on the house.

I can add another 16 to the house roof but will get a professional to come do it as it does get hot up there and have no interest in going through that exercise again. The orientation there is much better and will generate way more if I did. These are plans for the long long future though.