Btw I haven't read the manual of the Solis. If it has an option to tell it that the load connected on the port is a geyser element and pushes whatever PV is there like a geyser controller then I will be mightily impressed and most definitely my next inverter would be a Solis. If it doesn't, I feel an inverter manufacturer must do this. Imagine an inverter also having geyser controller capabilities. That would be impressive!!! I would pay for that for sure.

Not blending and all that. Take only the PV excess and dump into geyser. Zero blending with grid or battery.

Edited September 8Sep 8 by Denns

6 minutes ago, Denns said:

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. 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.

Nope.

Amps =Power / Volts. A 2000W geyser element at 220V chews 9.09 Amps, yes?

We also know I=V/R, or Amps = Volts/Resistance, yes?

The resistance of the 2kW geyser element stays the same at 24.2 Ohms, the voltage stays the same at 220VAC. All that differs is the current (Amps).

If only 500W is available, the voltage fed to it by the inverter does not change, it will still supply 220V. The resistance also does not change, it remains at 24.2 Ohms. The only difference is the current, instead of 9.09 Amps, the circuit will have a current of 2.27 Amps.

2 minutes ago, Yellow Measure said:

Nope.

Amps =Power / Volts. A 2000W geyser element at 220V chews 9.09 Amps, yes?

We also know I=V/R, or Amps = Volts/Resistance, yes?

The resistance of the 2kW geyser element stays the same at 24.2 Ohms, the voltage stays the same at 220VAC. All that differs is the current (Amps).

If only 500W is available, the voltage fed to it by the inverter does not change, it will still supply 220V. The resistance also does not change, it remains at 24.2 Ohms. The only difference is the current, instead of 9.09 Amps, the circuit will have a current of 2.27 Amps.

You missed what I said.

Read my post again. I said I agree with you on the element part. I disagree on the load port capabilities. Can the solis do that without blending in the grid and battery to make up the deficit?

4 minutes ago, Yellow Measure said:

Nope.

Amps =Power / Volts. A 2000W geyser element at 220V chews 9.09 Amps, yes?

We also know I=V/R, or Amps = Volts/Resistance, yes?

The resistance of the 2kW geyser element stays the same at 24.2 Ohms, the voltage stays the same at 220VAC. All that differs is the current (Amps).

If only 500W is available, the voltage fed to it by the inverter does not change, it will still supply 220V. The resistance also does not change, it remains at 24.2 Ohms. The only difference is the current, instead of 9.09 Amps, the circuit will have a current of 2.27 Amps.

Your post is assuming the controller works like a geyser controller or like panels wired directly to the element. Your calculation and logic will definitely be sound in that regard.

My question is does the load port work like that. Does it push out AC, only 500W for example. And not use anything but excess PV without adding in grid or battery to supply the element which wants to run at 2000W?

Edited September 8Sep 8 by Denns

4 minutes ago, Denns said:

Your post is assuming the controller works like a geyser controller or like panels wired directly to the element. Your calculation and logic will definitely be sound in that regard.

My question is does the load port work like that. Does it push out AC, only 500W for example. And not use anything but excess PV without adding in grid or battery to supply the element which wants to run at 2000W?

What "controller"? It's a resistive load.

Just now, Yellow Measure said:

What "controller"? It's a resistive load.

Typo. I meant to say "Your post is assuming the Inverter port works like a geyser controller or like panels wired directly to the element. Your calculation and logic will definitely be sound in that regard."

Do you know the difference between a geyser controller and an inverter? And why a geyser controller doesn't use a battery, but an inverter needs a battery or grid to supply loads. Do you know why that is? You are still focusing on the element and not the inverter capabilities.

Edited September 8Sep 8 by Denns

On 2026/08/24 at 12:32 PM, Wannebe said:

The Kodak does not comply

Run the Kodak off grid with a 48V charger from the grid. Then you can rather spend money on more batteries.

5 hours ago, frivan said:

Run the Kodak off grid with a 48V charger from the grid. Then you can rather spend money on more batteries.

Offgrid installations are not allowed in CPT AFAIK. It still requires an approved inverter. For as long as you have a grid connection to the house, they want you to register.

19 hours ago, Yellow Measure said:

The resistance of the 2kW geyser element stays the same at 24.2 Ohms, the voltage stays the same at 220VAC. All that differs is the current (Amps).

You cannot change only the current. Current is determined by voltage and resistance. Since both are fixed, the circuit will draw the full current.

I=V/R
I=220/24.2
I=9.09A

If you want a lower current, you need to increase the resistance or drop the voltage, neither of which are possible in this instance without additional components.

Edited Wednesday at 11:315 days by JaseZA

1 hour ago, JaseZA said:

You cannot change only the current. Current is determined by voltage and resistance. Since both are fixed, the circuit will draw the full current.

I=V/R
I=220/24.2
I=9.09A

If you want a lower current, you need to increase the resistance or drop the voltage, neither of which are possible in this instance without additional components.

@Yellow Measure is correct. You can lower the current without changing the voltage or the resistance of the element. It is not practically possible to change those two. Lowering the current will just lower the wattage of the element. The screen shot below is of a 2kw element with current reduced. The wattage went down to 1.8kw

Edited Wednesday at 01:165 days by hoohloc
more details

4 hours ago, Denns said:

Offgrid installations are not allowed in CPT AFAIK. It still requires an approved inverter

CoCT only has jurisdiction over inverters connected to their grid. If you operate in an island, the island must be SANS 10142-1 compliant (CoC).

2 hours ago, frivan said:

CoCT only has jurisdiction over inverters connected to their grid. If you operate in an island, the island must be SANS 10142-1 compliant (CoC).

Quick google and it says COCT banned offgrid installations on 2023.

I just heard people getting fined for trying that. I can’t verify the truth behind it.

2 hours ago, hoohloc said:

@Yellow Measure is correct. You can lower the current without changing the voltage or the resistance of the element. It is not practically possible to change those two. Lowering the current will just lower the wattage of the element. The screen shot below is of a 2kw element with current reduced. The wattage went down to 1.8kw

But the inverter can’t do that. It will always supply it at the elements rated power.

On 2026/09/08 at 2:22 PM, GreenFields said:

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.

Hi Guys. May I suggest you read this great post by @GreenFields instead of having a debate about how the port will work. This was posted on 08-09-2026 14h22 as can be seen at the top.

10 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

Hi Guys. May I suggest you read this great post by @GreenFields instead of having a debate about how the port will work. This was posted on 08-09-2026 14h22 as can be seen at the top.

I agree. He pretty much explains exactly how most of these inverter's work. They can't supply partial power to a load. They always need to meet the loads requirements and if they don't, they go into an error state or shut down. This is what I meant when I said it doesn't work like a geyser controller.

1 hour ago, Denns said:

Quick google and it says COCT banned offgrid installations on 2023

Don't believe (anything) everything Google tells you - Coct cant ban offgrid installations!

35 minutes ago, Demo said:

Don't believe (anything) everything Google tells you - Coct cant ban offgrid installations!

They may try to tax sunshine, and I recall they only wanted to register grid-tie systems... But they can also go fly a kite.

Thank you all for the inputs / comments / discussion .... I definitely learned a lot about the smart port logic (between the 2 x threads). My final take is that I will need to ensure the PV setting is >2kW as a start and then optimize from there (I want to dump excess PV to the 2nd geyser). My main geyser is and will remain part of the total house load connected to the Inverter main output.

Edited Wednesday at 06:425 days by Wannebe

8 hours ago, frivan said:

They may try to tax sunshine, and I recall they only wanted to register grid-tie systems... But they can also go fly a kite.

The biggest problem is those in the muni's dont even know what the difference is between an offgrid inverter, grid tied, hybrid etc. An offgrid inverter connected to the grid will do absolutely nothing to cause the grid to be unstable. They talk about the ability to feedback but its is impossible for an offgrid inverter to do so.

So yes, they can go fly a kite as you say🤣

On 2026/09/08 at 6:07 PM, Denns said:

Typo. I meant to say "Your post is assuming the Inverter port works like a geyser controller or like panels wired directly to the element. Your calculation and logic will definitely be sound in that regard."

Do you know the difference between a geyser controller and an inverter? And why a geyser controller doesn't use a battery, but an inverter needs a battery or grid to supply loads. Do you know why that is? You are still focusing on the element and not the inverter capabilities.

15 hours ago, JaseZA said:

You cannot change only the current. Current is determined by voltage and resistance. Since both are fixed, the circuit will draw the full current.

I=V/R
I=220/24.2
I=9.09A

If you want a lower current, you need to increase the resistance or drop the voltage, neither of which are possible in this instance without additional components.

Lightbulb moment, thank you.

The smart port simply turns on and off, depending on conditions (battery SOC, excess PV etc.) It isn't a surplus-tracking dump output.

The controller you refer to is an AC burst-firing or phase-angle controller (PWM), like that found in the Geyserwise (the AC kit, not DC kit). It uses burst-firing or phase-angle techniques to mess with the AC sine-wave, effectively reducing the power.

Very interesting discussion!

Edited Thursday at 03:085 days by Yellow Measure

I like pictures, helps me understand:

As a teenager (many years ago) I recall building a half-wave rectifier circuit to control the speed of my father's really old electric drill. Whilst a lot cruder than the more modern switching techniques, it uses (broadly) the same principle.

50 minutes ago, Yellow Measure said:

As a teenager (many years ago) I recall building a half-wave rectifier circuit to control the speed of my father's really old electric drill. Whilst a lot cruder than the more modern switching techniques, it uses (broadly) the same principle.

You're cruder method is still used today as the cheapest method to control the speed/heat on a few gadgets like hair dryers and even cheap heat guns. 😀😀

8 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

You're cruder method is still used today as the cheapest method to control the speed/heat on a few gadgets like hair dryers and even cheap heat guns. 😀😀

Yep, it may even work on the heating element of a geyser, just needs quite a beefy diode and rheostat.

Edited Thursday at 04:235 days by Yellow Measure

14 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

You're cruder method is still used today as the cheapest method to control the speed/heat on a few gadgets like hair dryers and even cheap heat guns. 😀😀

Uploading Attachment...

Might work, could be noisy though.

Edited Thursday at 04:305 days by Yellow Measure