You have done very well with your system ..... 👍

mmm, so you are up in GP ... I lived there for 30 years of my working life until we moved back to WP (Langebaan) some 8 years ago ... so I'm still adjusting back to the time zone (sun up and down) here ... 🤣

My panels orientation is not the best ..... 9x are on the standing roof facing mostly Northwest to take advantage of the long summer afternoon sun, but that means the wake up "late" in the morning. The 6x string is on a flat roof with very little incline, hiding behind the low wall protruding slightly above the level of the roof. But that is why I oversized with +/- 8kW solar panels for the 7.2 kW Kodak. Also the reason the 9x string gets very close to the max of 450V.

But, I'm very happy with what I have ... it does what I expected (and more) ..... since day 1 for the past 3 - 4 years.

If it was not for the registration issue, I would not have changed anything. I hope to have the same easy / hands-off setup afterwards again and just continue as is ... then I will be happy.

Edited August 26Aug 26 by Wannebe

Below are graphs from a " typical" summer day (Oct '25) ....

Double post

Edited August 29Aug 29 by Wannebe

Thanks all for the input. I still need to confirm one or two things, but for now I have decided to go with the Solis S6 8kW PLUS inverter.

Any reason I should not ?

Edited August 29Aug 29 by Wannebe

4 hours ago, Wannebe said:

Thanks all for the input. I still need to confirm one or two things, but for now I have decided to go with the Solis S6 8kW PLUS inverter.

Any reason I should not ?

None I can think of really. Only thing is, it seems to cost more than a lux power 12kW. Those go around 16k. The 14kW is around 18k. I saw they are both on the pdf with CPT approved inverter. So, it comes down to preference and whether you would think you need the bigger inverter in the future (if you are getting an EV maybe one day). Both great inverters.

Edited August 29Aug 29 by Denns

7 hours ago, Wannebe said:

Thanks all for the input. I still need to confirm one or two things, but for now I have decided to go with the Solis S6 8kW PLUS inverter.

Any reason I should not ?

Excellent choice, I doubt that you will regret it.

Is the gen input port programmable for export?

I decided to do a test (as best I could given the SA gets its data from the Kodak inverter and not the batteries directly) ..... 3x Kodak FL5.2 batteries

Below is what I did.

1. I made sure the batteries were 100% state of charge by running Escom up to just after 12pm.

2. At +/- 12:20 one of the de-humidifiers stopped.

3. At +/- 2:40 the 2nd de-humidifier stopped.

4. At 6 am the geyser started

5. etc, etc

By +/- 12am the batteries were again fully charged.

Below graphs of data as reported by SA. Does this seem "normal" / "good" for 3.5 year old batteries.

20 hours ago, Denns said:

None I can think of really. Only thing is, it seems to cost more than a lux power 12kW. Those go around 16k. The 14kW is around 18k. I saw they are both on the pdf with CPT approved inverter. So, it comes down to preference and whether you would think you need the bigger inverter in the future (if you are getting an EV maybe one day). Both great inverters.

Thanks Denns. I think my system is currently nicely balanced with the PV pannels, batteries, Inverter sizing for our needs / expectations, with no plans to increase the overall capacity.

17 hours ago, frivan said:

Is the gen input port programmable for export?

Just a question. Why would one want to export the gen power?

2 hours ago, Scorp007 said:

Just a question. Why would one want to export the gen power?

I like the smart load feature of the Deye / Sunsynk. You can connect your geyser or pool pump to it.

5 hours ago, frivan said:

I like the smart load feature of the Deye / Sunsynk. You can connect your geyser or pool pump to it.

Thanks. I mis understood what you called export. I know it as the aux port to input the Gen power/AC couple or output to a load.

Would be worth the effort (and costs) to look at an insulating blanket for my geyser ? The geyser is installed in my roof

For the cost, I think it's always worth insulating! In our previous flat, I monitored temperatures and energy etc and worked out that I paid for the cost of insulation in 3 months of electricity saved. I got the cheapest geyser blanket I could find and used off cuts to insulate the hot pipes in the ceiling. It was an older Kwikot so perhaps didn't have the best insulation to start with, but I still think most geysers would benefit - especially the copper pipes.

Our current house has the geyser outside and exposed to the elements which makes insulation a bit more of a challenge. Here I used clip-on foam lagging on the pipes as a start - still need to decide on how best to insulate the rest of the geyser. This is complicated by the fact that I think this geyser is likely to fail soon based on the deformation of the mounts to the wall...

I’m still looking at all my options …..

Question on the smart port settings …..

If one want to connect a second geyser (2kW element) to the smart port, must the power setting of the port be set to >2kW or would 0.5kW also work ?

I need to sharpen up on my basics 🙈

Edited September 8Sep 8 by Wannebe

For the Sunsynk inverters (Solis seems to be similar) this is how i believe the inverter will behave.

The batt on/off and solar power settings work together.

Example Settings:

On SOC - 90%

Off SOC - 70%

Solar Power - 1000w

Even if your batteries SOC was 91%, but with only 900w of Solar power your smart load would not turn on. You would also need to leave "on grid always on" unticked and "off grid immediately off" ticked.

Thanks Mattyboy. I’m looking at the latest Deye data / manual. It seems that the battery SOC and min kW can be set in the parameters for when the smart port will start exporting. One would also have the option to activate only if grid is on etc.

But my question was maybe not clear … will a 2kW geyser element start heating the water with only 0.5kW power (e.g.) being supplied OR will one run into trouble.

I’m looking into dumping my excess PV power into a second geyser, inline but before my main geyser. I need to decide if this is worth my trouble or not and what sort of base logic one would be able to run, before resorting to other automation interventions.

Looking at the above graphs, there seems to be potential to “capture” / “store” more solar energy after 12 am most days.

Edited Tuesday at 11:325 days by Wannebe

52 minutes ago, Wannebe said:

It seems that the battery SOC and min kW can be set in the parameters for when the smart port will start exporting.

52 minutes ago, Wannebe said:

But my question was maybe not clear … will a 2kW geyser element start heating the water with only 0.5kW power (e.g.) being supplied OR will one run into trouble.

I'm not sure if you're seeing the function correctly. The Smart Load/Aux port is not dependent on how big your load is. It turns on depending on how much solar power you have available.

So if you set it like this and your panels can generate above 0.5kW, then the geyser should come on drawing the full 2kW of power, but it might not all come from the solar, it might also come from battery and/or grid.

Personally I'd set it to a value where the panels can carry the majority of the load, and try to spare the batteries from powering the geyser.

Edited Tuesday at 12:235 days by GreenFields

Mmmm .. google’d ….

2kW geyser needs 2kW min … so I would need to set the smart port to min 2kW before it starts to kick in.

Edited Tuesday at 12:545 days by Wannebe

Ah, I think the lights went on … 😁

Set smart port to 2kW, battery SOC to 80%, then

If PV is giving >2kW extra AND battery SOC is above 80%, then the smart port would power on. In my case with 2kW element all good as PV will supply all. If however another load was added of 1kW (e.g.) then that would need to come from batteries OR grid.

Is it possible in setup to only take from grid (saving batteries)

Edited Tuesday at 12:495 days by Wannebe

1 hour ago, Wannebe said:

But my question was maybe not clear … will a 2kW geyser element start heating the water with only 0.5kW power (e.g.) being supplied OR will one run into trouble.

A geyser element won't care either which way. 0.5kW would still heat up a 2kW element, it would just be slower.

And yes, the Solis S6 Pro Plus has a bi-directional smart port.

2 hours ago, Wannebe said:

Mmmm .. google’d ….

2kW geyser needs 2kW min … so I would need to set the smart port to min 2kW before it starts to kick in.

As @Yellow Measure said. A geyser element doesn’t care what power you give it. It will still heat up. My element has been running at 1kW and under for almost a year now.

It’s also a 2kW but getting supplied with half the rated voltage. The Solis though I don’t think works like my Geyser controller. It will push out 220 on that port unless it’s actually dumping the Pv directly which I doubt it is.

So in that case, the element will be 2kW. The voltage determines what power it operates at. The current deficit the element doesn’t see will need to come from somewhere which will be the grid if your panels or battery won’t provide it.

7 minutes ago, Denns said:

So in that case, the element will be 2kW. The voltage determines what power it operates at. The current deficit the element doesn’t see will need to come from somewhere which will be the grid if your panels or battery won’t provide it.

The voltage will be 220V, amps will be 2.27A for 500W vs 9.09A.

5 minutes ago, Yellow Measure said:

The voltage will be 220V, amps will be 2.27A for 500W vs 9.09A.

Yes but the inverter will need to pull the extra current from somewhere. The solis will see it as a load that needs to get its power requirements met. At 220V the element will want to run at full power. My geyser controller supplies at the panel voltage and with whatever current is available. So in that case the geyser element has no option but to run at whatever power its being given. Its not the element I am saying will need the 2kW. Its the Solis behavior that I am questioning. I dont think it will supply only 500W if the load demand is 2000W. I will be surprised if it does.

If they did that, it would damage a lot of equipment. Imagine only having 100W available and the TV connected to that port needs 200W. It will constantly come on and off or give an error. A geyser controller is supplying a dumb resistor. I cant take a geyser controller and hook it up to a DC device and expect it to function correctly when the panels are giving it variable power. That is why an inverter has a battery (assume no grid to blend). Disconnect the battery and the inverter will still supply the load as long as the load is less than the PV coming in. If the PV goes lower than the load, the inverters kills the power and flags an error. That is how 99% of inverters work. I don't see Solis risking damaging a lot of equipment allowing the solis to limit power to a device that needs to run at its required power rating.

Edited Tuesday at 03:395 days by Denns